Windy Day!

But I went flying with the SNAFU anyhow.  This plane loves to play in the wind, flying at a standstill, hovering, landing on the short N/S runway all day long.  The OS 52 FS is still running great and sipping fuel.  Wind was likely about 10mph from the South, making landings over the dirt road necessary and lots of challenge and fun, especially due to the lawn mower attachments on one side of the runway, and our own fence and pits on the other.  Nobody came, so I was up and down, up and down, and up and down in less than an hour.  I made the whole roundtrip from my house in just under two hours!

No Better Than This!

Holy moly, absolutely a beautiful day weatherwise with sunny blue skies, scattered clouds, 50F-60F, and very light wind from the North.  It was a great day with 2 out of 3 sons there.  Tad brought his AW Extra 300 and nano Blade.  Jer brought his Carbon Z Yak and mcpx Blade.  I flew my P-47 Thunderbolt four flights and declare it ready for Warbird Weekend at the end of May.  Also brought the Blade 400 which Jer flew for one pack, and I refrained when he said the wind was a bit much at that time.  All went well till Jer cracked the Yak in half during slow inverted flight.  Terra firma won.  Next Doug cartwheeled his Mentor on landing and tore off the fin and rudder.  Things happen in threes, so next up, Wilfredo lost power on his TRex 500, and autorotated it into the North field's grass.  Smashed a LG and tail fin, but remarkably that was all.  Sleuth work by Wilfredo found that the tank clunk line was disconnected, possibly and probably due to his filling the tank with the exhaust plug ON the muffler, which caused backpressure on the clunk and blew the line off.  Sounds plausible!  A small adjustment was needed on the P-47 to get it to roll smoother.  Apparently the main gear had too much toe-in, causing the tires to rub sort of sideways on the axles, and torque the struts inward.  I adjusted the axles, lining them up as straight as I could to minimize these effects.  I could not notice better rolling performance on the next takeoff and landing, but the adjustment had to help in my mind.

Ultimate Day!

After a foggy/hazy start, the sun burned it off and popped through to make today as nice as yesterday.  I flew my CG Ultimate three flights. That old OS 120 Surpass is just puttering along with strength and reliability after 21 years.  I am amazed the bearings have not worn out like on the newer Saito and OS four stroke engines I have.  A good day.

Stinger Time

Got in three flights with the Stinger II today in absolutely perfect weather...55F, calm, sunny with broken clouds.  Can't get better except if my sons were there too.  Stinger flew well, but I think the YS63 might be getting tired.  It does not zip along like it used to, and the lack of whistling in a shallow dive attests to the lack of speed.  Also, it does not have unlimited climb like I thought it did...it runs out and stalls in a long vertical.  Nevertheless it still flies nice but it's just not as exciting as it used to be!  Time to retire it?  :)

Holy Toledo, a Gorgeous late Winter Day!

The temp was 55F, sky blue, the wind...what wind?  I stayed home early on because I saw trees moving around and thought I should drive the Corvette instead.  After that, I washed the Winter dirt off it, in prep for selling it hopefully soon.  But when I was done and looked around, the sky was still blue and the wind was non-existent!  Decided to pack up the Toledo Special quick and go fly.  Got there to see Mike driving out, and Rudy packing up...all done already.  I unpacked and got in 3 fun flights with the plane, the Saito ran great and strong.  Just a relaxing time flying by myself in perfecto conditions.  With nobody else there to fly when I was done, I went ahead and mowed the field, and cut in a gasser pit area and taxiway in the longer grass on the east end of the pits.  Tad and I discussed this this weekend.  The short grass will help taxiing or dragging the planes in that area without damaging wheel pants.  Anyway, it looks kinda cool, haha!

Pass the Gas!

Tad and I took out our gassers today on a nice but cool and overcast day at the field.  He flew his 50cc Extra 300 for the first time this year, and I took out the 30cc Sbach.  Last time I had it out, the muffler came loose as usual, and one bolt was already lost in the air.  After cleaning it up, I used red thread locker ("permanent") on the bolts holding the muffler to the engine.  Seems to still be tight after 4 flights today.  The Sbach slows down nice for landings, but I still am not setting her down light enough to my liking.  I think this accounts for cracks in the wheel pants, although any grass runway will quickly crack FG pants even with consistently perfect and light touchdowns.  Anyway, I will continue to work on the landings, and to repair FG wheel pants.  Tad had 3 crisp flights with the Extra.

Trojan

While not 65F like forecasted, it was probably 55F and plenty "warm" enough to fly.  Winds were from the South at between 5 and 10mph.  I used the N/S runway for 4 flights of the T-28 Trojan.  Enjoyed playing with that plane again...fast, slow, flaps, high, low, rolls, loops.  It is fit for another season, and of course for Warbird Weekend at the end of May.  Used full flaps, some low-mid throttle, and down elevator to keep the plane on steady and gradual nose down descent to just over the dirt road, then letting off throttle and down elevator to settle early on the N/S runway.  Hope my new RV-8 does the same thing with its flap setup.