Been a lazy man and haven't been posting my flight days. So many days have gone by that I cannot recount exactly, but this will have to serve as a catchup to fill the time between July 14 and today, August 8! I have been flying lots. Cousin Ron visited July 21-31 and I was flying helis lots in prep for that visit. Then he came and we flew for 8 out of the 9 mornings available to us for flying. Up at dawn, out at the field by 7:15 every day! Kinda grueling at first but then just lots of fun, lol! Then after he left, I was in the habit of getting out there so early and here we are over a week later, and I have gone to fly probably everyday but two since he left. Been doing much with helis, flying all of my heli fleet while Ron visited. Typically I flew about 5 or 6 heli flights everyday, and then another few plane flights. Tad came out two days of Ron's visit, Jer two too, and Quang also two, but not all the same two days for each of them, except once. Those days when the boys played with us, we flew Battle Wings like crazy and just had a ball. Many midairs were experienced, and some videoed by Jer! Nothing was damaged beyond repair.
Before Ron came, I bought another Aerostar 40 from Dick, this one with flaps. Very cool plane. I let Jer fly it and for some reason the plane became unresponsive on final about 30' high. It just nosed over into a dive and crunched resoundingly. The motor nose housing area completely came off the fuselage, and the structure between there and the forward wing bulkhead was obliterated. Jer and Ron retrieved the plane and brought back every piece of wood they could find. I did my forensic post crash analyses and guessed that there were elements of a perfect storm that caused the crash.
1. Plane head on to pilot where receiver was blocked by large airborne battery pack.
2. Large sprinkler system down runway edge, the one on wheels, running from pilot to past the plane.
3. Steel fence posts and rails running in front of pilot towards the plane.
4. Pilot holds xmitter with arms hanging low and xmitter pointing down and out.
Altogether, this led to blackout to the receiver. Jer said there was full control of every surface and the motor at the crash site.
After a few days I decided to start repairs and see if I finished or just would give up on the plane. I got her done, and it looks better than new, lol! And today I flew it with the same receiver because I figured the same four conditions would not ever occur again, mostly because I don't hold my xmitter low like Jer. As added precaution, I relocated the receiver up higher in the fuselage. Due to one or both changes, there was no issue today with reception. The plane flew fine...actually better because during the repair, I added a couple washers under the right side of the engine mount to reduce the right thrust built into the firewall by Dick. It was too much, causing right turns under power. Glad to have the new Aerostar 40 repaired and flyable again because it is a beauty and flies well.
For planes during the delinquent period, I flew the Battlewing, Aerostar 40F (flaps), Mini Aerostar, StarStream, Star, RV-8, Toledo Special, maybe something else! And finally, I sold the Aerostar 40 to new guy at the field who could use it. I don't need it now with the new Aerostar 40F in the fleet.
That will have to do as catchup for the several weeks of failing to report the flight log!
This is just a place for me to ramble (sometimes rant) about my hobbies which include radio controlled airplanes, oil paintings, my sports cars, and any other random blithering from me.
Aloha and Welcome to my small speck of cyberspace! Dec 8, 2010 is the birth date of my blog. Never had one before, but my son encouraged me to have one, and it seemed like a good way to at least keep a log of my RC airplane building and flying. With the initial design kicked off by my son, I'll carry on from here and have fun with it. Now that I have it, I will use it to also keep track of my oil painting efforts, and any other ideas, hobbies, travels, or whatever else that come up. LIFE IS GOOD!
Update on 02/25/2011. It's been a few months since I began this blog, and I am enjoying creating and having it! I like documenting the things I have done in my hobbies, and sharing with my small family. I think Jer and Tad actually view it fairly regularly, as a means to see what I've been up to lately. At worst, it serves as a reference for my own use.
Update on 12/22/2011. This blog stuff is habit forming. My blog is a year old now, and I make an entry about every other day or so as that seems to be the frequency of doing something in one of my hobbies. Like my hobbies, this blog is a lot of fun, and it has become in itself another hobby that I enjoy.
Years are flying by...update on 01/11/2013. Still enjoying maintaining this blog even though hardly anyone sees it. I don't advertise it anywhere or to anyone, and it is mainly just a way for me to keep my own notes and thoughts on my flying, painting, and cars. If a stranger happens upon it, I think it is by pressing NEXT at the top of the current blog they are visiting, lol. It's a great device for me.
August 2014: still here! Took up flying RC helicopters one year ago and got hooked. Had flown micro Helis up to then, but got serious with 450 size for a couple months, then bought the Goblin 500 and Gaui X5 . Also got my Boxster in April 2013. Most importantly, Ariel was born 12/02/12 followed by Skylar 07/20/13, and they are little beacons of joy in our lives. Life is indeed good!!!
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