Catchup catchup catchup!

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!

Young Day

It was weird for a cool but nice Sunday for flying...nobody else showed up to fly except all of the Youngs, lol.  That means me and all three sons, plus all the wives, girlfriend and granddaughters!   That made it a uniquely wonderful day because we rarely have all four of us flying together, plus the fams rarely come.   So very special!

Tad flew his G570 and Forza 700.   Jer his Warp 360, blade 130x, and quad.  Alex flew my mini Aerostar.   I got in 2 packs on the G500, 2 on the x5 and 2 on the G630.

Later jer, alex, and i got in a number of flights on the three battlewings.  Great fun.   Alex and i tangled twice, and both times my plane fell to the ground.   Actually on one, i mistakenly loss track of my plane and crashed it while i thought i was flying another!  I did this with the Scythe too, yesterday, so i need markings or colors on the wings to make it easier for me to follow my own plane.

Flight log: 10/02 and 10/03/14

Logged in 4 flights on the G500 and 3 on the X5 this morning.  Yesterday with Tad, I had 4 on the G500 and 6 on the X5, plus 3 on the Battlewing with Tad. We had just one hit where I got Tad good, but then we both proceeded to fly the other guy's wing down, haha.  Both ended up in the dirt of the north field, so neither could claim a kill, lol.

Flying helis was good and I am doing a little bit of inverted at the top of many loops, going so far as to piro 180 and then complete the downward half of the loop.  Getting more and more comfortable and I can tell I am getting lower on the inverted flight so that I can see the heli better.

Flight log: 10/01/14

The first day of October was a beauty for flying.  Got 4 packs in the G500, 4 in the X5, and 3 on the Battlewing.  Very clear sky, bright, and mild, with little to no wind.  WOW!  I was not the only one attracted by the fine conditions:  Rudy, Ashton, Glover, Bob R, and Mike L were there too.  Hmmm, that is as many guys as some Saturdays or Sundays!

I enjoyed doing more inverted with both helis.  In fact I was able to do a half piro while hovering inverted up high, my first one, and it was uneventful and grin producing.  :)  Did many inverted longer forward flight paths at the top of loops, and adjusted with up or down pitch to maintain level flight (sorta) and not build up speed.  Also worked in more slow back flips vs the usual full back stick I have used in the past.

Nobody was there to combat, but I just flew sport with the Battlewing, and maybe can be better in actual combat sorties.  Made a couple good hand catches and flubbed a couple others off my finger tips.

So gorgeous

Wow the weather was perfect today for flying.  Only around 55F when I went out, but it warmed slowly and was calm at first to slightly breezy near noon.  I got in 4 packs on the G500, 6 on the X5, and 3 on the Battlewing.  All heli flying was good, no disorientations today in the bright sun and clear sky.  Got in more inverted time and felt happy doing it.  Also did much slow flying in circles  and often trying to stay at one altitude to force better collective control.

At the end I flew my wing against Dick's Scythe.  He has propped it down and it flies just about the same speed as my Battlewing.  We finally had contact on the 3rd flight today, and I won because mine stayed up in the air while the Scythe fell to the ground with a busted prop.  I can see where his stiff prop made a gouge on the top of my wing, fore of the aileron.  I think it means I hit him coming from behind and under, but the whole thing happened quick and in all honesty by chance even though we were chasing hard.  Good fun, and I think the two different wings match up real good such that I do not need to buy a Scythe.

Great first day of Fall!

Slight wind from the South, but it was great flying nonetheless.  Got in 4 packs on the X5 (two were new 30c Glaciers), 2 on the G500, 5 on the Star, and about 5 on the Battlewing.  Whew, kinda tired after all that.  On the helis, I tried to do a little longer straight line inverted forward flight at the top of loops.  Seemed more comfortable today.  Also did a little straight line backward upright flight, trying to prolong the lines.  Tad flew 3 packs on the G700 and 4 on the G500, all in usual graceful fashion.

Tad, Quang, Dan, and I had 3 Battlewing sorties.  Out of all that air time, there was only a single touch between Quang and Tad, with both safely recovering flight in the air.  Dan and Quang like to fly fast, therefore higher and farther out, so it makes it hard to make contact under those conditions.

The Star was its usual well behaved self.  With the South wind, it was fun doing landings on the heli-mat, approaching over the dirt road.  Spent a whole battery just shooting landings continuously.

Not quite mayhem yet!

Quang brought his friend Dan down, and both brought Battlewings to do air combat with Alex and me.  Great fun, but not as many hits as one might expect.  There might have been 6 hits at most in 6 sorties.  Nobody incurred significant damage.  Worst damage was done by rough landings on the north field, haha.  It's exciting and I think we got Brandon/Bruce interested, lol.  My personal highlight of the sorties was one of my hand catches.  I had to stretch as high as I could with my right hand, caught the wing, then lost my balance as I came down on the dirt road.  Almost fell flat in the dirt with xmitter in the left hand and wing in the right, but I regained my balance and footing.  Whew, lol.

Alex flew his Trex 450 DFC twice and I got in 4 packs on the Goblin 500.  I had the X5 and as many packs but did not get to fly it.  I think Battlewings tires us out!

Beautiful day but....

Only Rudy and I were there to fly!  Ridiculous level of inactivity in our club, lol.  It was gorgeous with very light wind, one guy working on the field that did not bother us, nice temperature.  Oh well.  I flew my Goblin four packs, and X5 two.  THe sky rapidly filled with clouds and overcast so I lost orientation a few times over the north field, same orientation each time...chopper facing west generally , me facing north, sun rising on the right/east.  That typically gives pretty good silhoutte conditions and I see the chopper profile the same for either NW or SW orientations of the nose!  Kinda scarey.  Hoping for better prescriptions for my glasses this Friday when I visit the optometrist to really fine tune to minimize the astigmatism effects...I see too many double edges on objects.

Also took my Battlewing up for 4 packs and had a ball just zipping it around.  Good practice for future battles!

Note to self:  I lowered the gain one point last night, so it is now at 42.  Seems just right now, rock solid tail, with no tail wag sounds.  That doesn't make sense, but the tail wag was not visible, it was audible.

Heli of a day!

Sunday was cousin Ron's last full day in Oregon and therefore the last day to fly.  Great that my three sons joined Ron and me, and quang was there to boot.  We all flew Helis!  Add to that the battlewings and we had a blast and came home tired.  I only took three flights on the X5, but had several on the battlewings.  I was very content to watch and enjoy the others presence.   Sandy was a sweetheart, coming to watch us fly, and bringing spam musubi, grapes, and carrots for a light snack for us...even quang enjoyed the spam musubi.

Crazy Jeremy jumping OVER the helis!

450FBL, 450DFC, Warp360, Logo480, X5, G500, G500, 7HV, G700

Helis and pilots, too bad Jer is on other side of camera!

Flying kung fu masters!
Actually I was just clicking my heels, and
Tad was doing a flying kick.

Everyone got some good kills with the Battlewings today.  Lots of broken props and lost o ring prop savers, haha.   I think we get pretty noisy and raucous with the crazy Battlewings sessions, what a rush!  Ron gifted us with the three Battlewings and 27(!) batteries for them, as well as spare props and o rings.  Such a generous guy.  Other members have taken interest due to seeing us fly and making so much noise and excitement, lol, so a couple have already bought different wings.  Unfortunately those are too large, heavy, or fast to fly with ours.  While they would like to fly with us, we will not do so due to the uneven match should their wings hit our small ones.    It was great to hear that Quang ordered a couple of the Battlewings to do aerial combat with us.  Gonna be real mayhem with 4 of them in the air at once.  I can hardly wait!

Sad to see Jer crash the Warp 360 today.  He lost orientation doing piro flips facing the sun, and a little low.  While he gained control, he lost it again and hit the throttle hold button, and in she went.  Damage doesn't look too bad...new main and tail blades and tail blade grips.  He already has blades so it could be a cheap repair!

Flight log: 08/12-15/2014

Ok, forgot to log my daily flights and now I forget what happened.  San, Ron, al, and I went to Spirit Mountain on Monday, which is about all I remember for sure.   Flew on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with Ron.  Al came everyday except Thursday.   I think he is as hooked as me on flying combat with the Battlewings that Ron brought, and is gifting to us  along with all the battery packs (27) and extra props and o ring keepers.

We flew Battlewings everyday with all 3 in combat, save Thursday when Ron and I pretty much just practiced flying low and slow.  Alex must be a good pilot because he seems to be involved in most hits.   He seems to be able to come from behind and underneath to get most of his kills.   I am learning to not stay ahead of him and smooth for long before just getting out of the way and trying to get behind him.  Today I got at least one good kill on him, but we both were low and flopped flat to the ground about 15 feet apart, lol.  Crazy fun planes and event.

I know I got in 3 packs on the x5 today, most days about the same 3 or 4 packs.  Took the star several times to be comfortable using it tomorrow in the electric funfly event.  Should be good enough to play.

Alex has flown  the 450 dfc everyday, preferring it over the 450 fbl.  He is showing off and trying to fly backwards often!   Gives me the yikes.  Also has flown the star, and of course the Battlewings with great zeal and delight.   I consider it a "live" video game and thus so attractive to Alex.   Al is another good Young family RC pilot!

Ron has flown the 7hv for two packs just about everyday, the goblin 500 about the same, and the logo 480 a little less.   The 7hv seems to be dialed in pretty well, with only a slight tail wag at times.   The logo is being more of a challenge with its more visible and frequent wag.  Fortunately both can still be flown and enjoyed as he works out the issues.  Ron is flying his Helis well...very focused on smoothness and deliberate control in all attitudes.   Doing well, and his nose in funnels are looking good!  He has also been taking out the Addiction  XL almost everyday.   I have flown it a couple full flights and really like it....might have to get one or the mid size one.

Flight log: Aug 8-10, 2014

Time flies when cousin Ron visits and we fly, fly, fly!  I sorta forget what really happened.  Ron brought a truckload of his helis and planes to Salem, from his home in San Jose.  Arrived Thurs afternoon, and we flew the mornings of Fri, Sat, and Sun.

On Friday, Tad, Ron, and I flew.  Besides flying my X5 a few packs, and Factor 3D, I flew a handful of flights of the Battlewings.  Ron brought 3 of them, one for Tad, Jer, and me/Alex, and he brought 27 battery packs!  Crazy fun but this was the first day of flying them and getting used to them.  Tad flew his G500 and G700 both with not a brownout, so hopefully these helis are cured for good.  Both flew nice and Tad is just impressive and smooth.  Ron flew his Logo 480 and Compass 7hv.  The Logo had a definite tail wag, the 7hv not so noticeable.  He also flew his Addiction XL and jet.  Of course Tad and Ron flew the Battlewings with me.

I broke this one on a horrible  launch!

Attentive BW pilots

Action!

On Saturday, Jer and Al came to fly with us, and Tad had to work.   I got in a couple packs on the X5, and a couple more on the Star, plus another handful of Battlewing flurries with Ron, Alex, and Jeremy.  Ron's big Addiction was again impressive, and Jer got to sample it with positive compliments afterwards.  Jer had two flights on the Warp 360.  On startup of the third pack, one cyclic failed and luckily he was not off the ground, so no damage.  Alex flew the Star, and had one flight in the wind with the 450 FBL.  He was not too happy with the wind so did not fly it again.   Ron had fun with his Addiction and G500, but did not get to fly the 7hv.  Too much going on!

Today Ron, Jer , Al and I went out again.  Weather was better...not as windy as Fri and Sat.  I got in 4 packs on the X5.  Ron flew his Addiction XL again...very sweet flying and looking plane.  He also got his 7hv up for two flights.  Higher head speed after Fri is now helping reduce the tail wag...this heli looks great in the air, sounds good, flies nice.  Jer fixed the Warp 360 issue yesterday afternoon...the iKon "forgot" one cyclic servo and he programmed it in again.  The heli was pretty awesome again today, for 6 packs!  (He had 3, and Ron gave him another 3 this trip.)  I think Alex flew the Star 3 times today, with good proficiency all the time.

We had a real ball of fun flying the Battlewings.  Everyone scored hits on each other with no permanent damage.  In fact I think everyone recovered after hits, and never hit the ground due to a hit.  Probably Jer scored the most hits in the later sessions that we flew...we had 27 packs, 9 each, therefore 9 sessions.  While Ron handlaunched all of us for the first 5 sessions or so, we all got the hang of hand launching our own wings after that.  We all made some hand catches too.  Unfortunately I had the most crashes due to pilot error, probably 3, all on the last flight I think!  Really good fun, and I think other members watching are getting enthused to try these with us.