Car Cruzin'!

We began in Carlton and ran the pink route clockwise.  Short lived...road turned to gravel around the 8 o'clock spot.  Paper map shows entire loop to be paved.  Came back to Carlton, drove due N to Yamhill and went east on rest of route...very nicely paved smooth with good shoulders.

MR2, 911, Boxster

Meeting up in Carlton near the popular Carlton Bakery

Choosing some nice pastries at $3.50 each...they were ono at home!

We finally got a car cruz in this morning...me and my three sons, Tad, Jer, and Alex, plus Mark (friend to Tad).  Weather was not the nicest since Fall is here, so we had a few sunbreaks but mostly grey sky with drizzle sometimes, and temps near 60F.  We met in Carlton, chosen for being halfway between where Jer and Alex live in Hillsboro, and where Tad and I live in West Salem.

The route I selected did not pan out perfect because part of the route shown as paved on a paper map was in reality gravel when we got there!  Anyway we met near the bakery in downtown Carlton just before 10AM, got some pastries, then headed out with me in the lead, and Alex riding shotgun with me.  Good navigator!  Headed west on Main Street and about five miles out the rather bumpy road turned to gravel, so we could not complete the loop to Yamhill.  We turned around, stopped in Carlton to discuss new plan, and then headed north with Jeremy in lead this time, to Yamhill, and thence east and south per the original planned route.  That portion was nicely paved and maintained so it was a joy to drive.  We completed our loop back to Carlton.  Not a long route but adequate for us due to the less than perfect weather.

the Young family...good looking sons!

Full complement of cars...Boxster, 911, MR2, CaymanS

Mark has joined us

Jer's MR2 on the prowl

On the road

We broke up from there.  Jer and Alex went north, Tad and Mark went east, and I headed south via Mc Minnville and 99W to home.  Nice time.  Need a better and longer route next time.  My roundrip mileage was 93 today.  I was out from 9AM till about 12:30PM.  We should do this more!

TGIF BRAVATA!

Flew the Bravata twice this morning for the first time on the new Dallas runway.  It flew well like always, but landings were just ok.  The prob is maintaining a straight rollout after touchdown.  It just wants to  groundloop which is bad at this time due to the soft dirt with rocks and gravel in it on the shoulders of the matted runway.  After thinking on it later, i think i need to feed in full up as soon as possible after touchdown (without lifting off again) to establish tailwheel authority quickly.  It will be awhile till i fly it again.

I meant to fly the Giles 202  yesterday but that did not pan out.  When i got to the field and began to assemble the Giles, i realized i had packed the wing rod for the Yak, not the Giles!  Arg.

STINGER II!

 Fun day of just two flights on the Great Planes Stinger II!  I chose it to fly today because I felt the need, the need for speed!  And I thought it could slow enough on landings to avoid running off the new pink mat, and becoming another dirty birdy.  It started great, ran fine, flew finer. Indeed it slowed enough to easily stay on the mat, plus the turn radius is small enough to turn around without stress.  Really enjoyed the fast low passes!  The YS63 is idling well and singing nicely at WOT.

Too bad Bill had a crash today with his Ugly Stick!  He was flying it well, then decided to do a medium speed, low inverted flyby.  That went well until he pitched up and added throttle...and the engine died right then.  Compounding the situation, the plane was right in the sun just past the east end of the runway.  Down the plane came from maybe 40’.  He couldn’t see it and did not put in up elevator, although I don’t know that the plane would have pulled up in time anyway...40’ up, no speed, pointed straight down.  The plane burrowed into the ground a few inches, demolishing the front end all the way to the wing saddle.  Arg!  Before we wrapped up an hour later, he already had a new one on hold at Trump’s Hobby Shop in Corvallis.  Attaboy!

Clean RV-8!

Flew with the guys this morning and had two good flights plus excellent landings on the new pink mat, with no dirt expeditions, lol.  Of course it’s much easier to land and stay on the mat with a plane that has flaps for slowing down!  Great fun watching everyone else deal with the new runway.  Poor Gary landed his Giant Sportster on the dirt and when trying to get back to the mat, got dumped on its nose in the dirt and stones, splintering his wooden XOAR prop, a $20 error.  Almost everyone had some off runway adventures with the dirt, but without serious damage.  Likely we will try it again tomorrow because the weather is good and we know the rain and cold are fast approaching.

Filthy Dirty Birdy!

I took my DB to the Dallas field for my initial flying off the new runway and taxiways.  First landing,    the plane touched down just before the new pink mat on the west end, then rolled all the way to the east end where it was slow enough to turn around!  Second landing I touched down on the sloped shoulder of the north edge then rolled onto the pink mat.  Sure made a filthy mess on the plane!  Third landing was from the east end, opposite approach direction, and the plane touched down on pink mat but rolled onto north sloped shoulder and made another mess on itself, lol.  Then I tried slowing the plane more by approaching higher and just feeding up elevator to get the nose up.  That helped.  The plane was rolling semi slowly right so I think I corrected it at home and will see the effect next time.  Also, the plane was barely turning around in the 24’ wide runway, so I switched the nose control from the inside hole on the servo arm to the outer.  That required switching the rudder control from outside hole to inside hole on the same servo arm.  Should have lots more nose wheel control, and less rudder throw.  To partially compensate, I moved the rudder control rod one hole in on the rudder horn.  And while at the fiddling, I lowered the nose wheel to raise the nose some, so that the prop doesn’t strike the new pink mat at the transition point from taxiway to runway.  If that doesn’t work, I need to physically smooth out that transition area with help from Doug B.

My final comment though is that the new runway and three taxiways are a tremendous improvement to the club field, something we can be proud of.

Flight log: 09/23/2018

I had a nice five flights on helis this morning at the keizer field.  First up was the G500 twice, then the G700 three times.  Still just not feeling the cajones to go for forward inverted coordinated turns.  I don't fly enough to build the stick time to get her done!  At least i got her upside down many times and keep trying to get familiar.  Not getting the throttle feel while inverted, dummy.  Anyway, no crashes and it was fun.  Didnt fly at all last week due to major field renovation at the Dallas club.  I worked there T, Th, and Sat.  Work took place Monday through Saturday!

Eleven!

I got in 11flights at the Keizer field today, and I did it very quickly because not a single soul came to fly today!  So I put up 4 flights on the X5, 4 on the Aerostar 40F, 2 on the Aerostar 76, and one on the lil Ascent electric glider.  Not really liking the Asssent much so I might return it to Jer with a free orange receiver in it so he can fool with it in parks or schools where he lives. It was a ball flying the heli and the planes.  With the X5 I did a whole bunch of flips and rolls, and I put it inverted frequently.  Just gotta keep doing it and hopefully turning will come gradually.

Foggy season again!

Well, the foggy season is upon us again as the weather changes from summer to autumn.  Upon arrival at the Dallas field, the guys were standing around talking since it was foggy enough to prevent flying.  It wasn't too long before we took to the sky.  I flew my Dirty Birdy and it slipped through the air with the greatest of ease.  Just two flights were enough for me.  Ticked the APC prop on the mat when i taxied the plane back after the first flight.  Flew again anyway since i did not observe any vibration, but i am going to rebalance the prop now to ensure it doesn't damage the motor or airframe.

Flight log: 09/08/2018

Flew at the Keizer field prior to the field work day.  Turns out there was little to do except move some tables to the east end of the pit area so that Bob can load them easier for transfer to the new field near Silverton.

I flew the repossessed Ascent electric glider...I gave it to Jer years ago, saw it in his garage last week, and asked for it back, lol.  Once at home, I removed the old 72FM receiver and put in an orange 2.4mhz receiver.  I don’t like orange receivers due to reliability issues in my book, but the glider is low risk....i.e. dispensable.  With the orange housing removed, the receiver was not overly large and I slipped it under the servos in the fuse.  I found a couple 500mah 3s lipo packs, charged them up, and one slipped into the fuse easy enough, with decent CG.  The plane flew ok but needed much right rudder.  This is just a rudder and elevator ship.  At home later, I found warps in the wing and elevator, plus the wing and elevator are not parallel. I added 1/64th ply to the right side of the fuse wing saddle with CA, and used a heat gun to easily remove warps in wing and stab.  Also, on the last flight, the rudder pulled out of the fin on landing, so I replaced one CA hinge and glued both in good.  The Ascent should fly better next outing!

I also made one flight with the Goblin 500 which behaved nicely.  Robert was there, first time in a long time to see him again.  Not sure what his problem is but all he did was complain about the three 450 size helis i sold him last year.  He complained that the blades were junk on the Forza 450 kit, that two cyclic servos on one of the Trex’es were different brands from each other, and maybe something else.  Mostly I ignored him...I gave him a good deal so tough!  I sold the helis to him in good faith.

Flight log: 09/06/2018

I flew yesterday and today.  Got in three flights on the good old Goldberg Ultimate 10-300.  Since last flying it, I changed props from 16-6 to 16-8 to get a lil more speed.  The plane indeed seemed just a little faster and groovier.  Idle was still good for slow landings.also today, I dialed out some up elevator that kicks in with right/top rudder during the four point roll.  Basically I zeroed it out.  There is still some up elevator mixed to the left/top rudder.  Looks like the knife edge on either side is pretty straight now.

Yesterday I flew the P-47 twice and it was plain old fun making all kinds of low passes over the field.  Plane flew great, with no issues, and the retracts worked fine yet again.

Back home!

I laid off flying while on a week long cruise to Alaska with wife and many family members!  Actually I tried to fly yesterday but I assembled my planes at the dallas field only to find I had not brought the battery packs I had charged for the day!  Dumb dumb dumb.  Today I returned to the field with the batteries  and flew by myself the whole time.  Two flights on the Aerostar 76 and five on the Aerostar 40F.  I just took it easy with many touch and gos from both directions, and many long ascents under full power with flaps deployed, then slow gliding descents with no power.  Fun stuff!