DB x3

Logged three flights on the Dirty Birdy.  The engine ran well, the plane flew great.

Helped Geno with his Avistar.  We could not get it to run any better that Don had obtained.  But we got her up in the air three times and Geno logged about 15 minutes stick time.  I had him start the engine for all tuning and flights, which amounted to lots, lol, because the engine kept dying when it would load up after some idling.  It in fact died on final approach for all three flights, but the good news is it never died while we were flying about getting Geno valuable stick time....never quit in his hands.  He appreciated the help.

Dirty Birdy

3 flights on the DB.  Nobody else there, so flights were pretty soon after each other.  Turned in low end screw to try to eliminate little burble from low throttle to high when done quickly.  Improved transition....will fly this way for a bit to assess over time.

Dead calm!

Super busy flight line!

Flight log: 06/16/2019

The Dirty Birdy had two good flights yesterday....first flight was average with the OS65AX not running as good as usual, and some vibration sound in the engine or airframe.  We are moving into the warmer time of year so I richened the high needle after the flight.  Also removed some velcro I had previously stuck to a bulkhead in the fuse where the nose steering metal rod rubs.  Turns out it created more noise than without it as I did not hear the noise on the second flight.  The engine ran sweeter with a little smoke too, so the richer setting was the right move.

The Aerostar 40F was its usual easy self to fly and relax with...four flights.

POLAR FLY DAY!

On a cold day of mid 30F-40F a sizeable bunch of diehards turned out for our Polar Fly Day!  At least it was calm and sunny with great friends to warm our spirits.  Flew my Dirty birdy twice and it was great....so good to be rolling and flowing again!  Landings were good but on the first one, i noticed the plane not slowing as much nor sounding quite right....louder.  As i came in I saw the back half of the muffler hanging low.  Made a good landing but hit the kill switch to keep the plane on the runway.  Yup the back bolt fell off midair.   Forget if there were two to lock on.  Luckily Don had a bolt that fit, with nylon lock collar, so i used it.  After the next flight , it was still there, but i could see the back half vibrated to a new angle.  Tightened it more and hope that sticks.  That second landing was pure butter....greased on!

There were two crashes to start the New Year!  Pat Long drilled his new electric stik into the winter stream first.  Skimming the water on a pullout, the plane went up from there, stalled, and dove in from maybe 20'.  It just stuck like a lawn dart, tail and wings in the air. Didnt look too bad upon inspection at the field.  Then later, Cliff lost all control to his Uproar.  I think it totaled, luckily staying on the field and missing the houses to the west.  There is a vid of Gary helping Cliff by throwing the old Futaba 7 ch xmitter into the ground, ensuring it would not destroy another plane.  YIKES!😂  It was a fun day, more than ten of us out there to start 2019 right!

Foggy flying!

Flew in medium fog this morn.  Too low to do my dirty birdy...did it once and the plane almost disappeared on one half loop back to me.  Flew the x5 twice.  Getting more relaxed with side flip to inverted, due to sim time.  Die hards Don, Bill, Ken, and Gary were there, but only Gary and I flew. They didnt like not seeing my dirty birdy in the fog at times, lol.

Dirty Birdy

Sweet airplane, got in just two flights but sublime ones...the plane is so clean unlike its name, and it slips through the air on a rope.  Both landings were good.  One was completely on the runway til dead stop, the other ended a few feet off the end.  The second was IMHO the best final approach I ever had...gradual and steady with no noticeable bounces or wing tip bobbles at all, all the way to touchdown where the DB just stuck to the mat.  The fuel tube brakes help for sure.

More DB

Flew the Dirty Birdy again today to test the fuel tubing braking action.  It helped but all three landings still carried beyond the matted runway.  That was somewhat due to coming in hotter or not touching down as close to the beginning of the mat as I would have liked.  I tried moving the collars to apply more pressure to the fuel tubing, but it didn't make much difference.  Later, at home i used a harder tubing with a little thicker slices to hopefully create more friction.  So far I have only put the tubing on the main LG, and i might have to add it to the nose gear too.  My flying was ok, not very thrilling due to flying higher and further out to avoid the rising sun as it migrates southward for Winter.

Clean Dirty Birdy Today

Okay, the adjustments to the nose wheel worked well today.  I had more turning sensitivity so the DB would turn sharper...it turned around in 12’ instead of almost 24’, easily remaining on the new matted runway.  It also rolled straighter thereby making takeoffs and rollout after landing much easier.  While the plane rolled straighter, however it still rolled long, off the ends of the runway,  but it is relatively safe to roll off there, unlike the north edge of the runway.  In the air, the plane was great with the OS running strong.  One small adjustment I made for the third flight was to richen the low needle just 1/8 turn, and that seemed to stop the sputter and tendency to die when throttling up from low idle.

At home, I added thin rings of fuel tubing to the axles of the main LG to cause  braking action with the wheels and cause the plane to slow down faster on the runway.  Ken is using this method with success to slow his Stik with on the new runway.  Hope I got the wheels set evenly so that the plane still rolls pretty straight!

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.

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: 08/23/2018

Flew yesterday and today.  Yesterday I got the Toledo Special up three times.  Today it was the Dirty Birdy twice.  Tomorrow is declared big bird day and I am prepping the good old Bravata for three flights...it is my biggest bird.  Yesterday and today I tried something slightly different but new for me...medium speed roll to the right to inverted then immediately reversing to left roll to upright.  Not that easy yet but it will come!  OF course it was easier to do it today with the DB than with the Toledo Special yesterday due to the pattern plane being what it is...very neutral with little coupling.  Good fun, I need to up my game.  I feel like the Dallas guys are trying to expand their aerobatics as they watch me go for it all the time.  Been there over a year and really like the gang and the field.

Dirty Birdy

I felt the need...the need for speed!  So I flew the Dirty Birdy with the Dallas gang.  It ran well, flew great.  Did some crazy low flybys, what exhilarating fun!  Just took two flights...lotsa time there is spent sitting with the guys and joking, plus commentating on whoever is flying, lol.  The regulars were there...Don with the Pulse, Bill with big stick, Ken with Chipmunk, Dougie with Carbon Cub, and Gary with the giant Sportster.  Walt brought his cute dogs Bear and Lily.  Went to snack at the Dallas McD with Don, Ken, and Bill.  I had a senior coke and a sausage burrito for a whopping $1.80!  Fun talking to the guys.  Was home by 11:30.

YESTERDAY, Tad and I flew at Dallas too.  It was his first time to try it out...he flew his G570 twice nicely and impressed Don.  Tad says he likes the field, so it looks like he will join too at some point.  I flew my Ultimate three times.  I think I will change props to try get a little more speed out of the plane.

Lots of flying and no blogging!

I have flown lots since last reported two weeks ago.  Can’t remember the days nor exactly what I flew, lol, and I am getting tired of this blogging. Attempting to sum it up, I have flown the helis (7HV, G700, G630, G500, X5 all at least a few flights each), plus a host of my planes including the Intruder, Dirty Birdy, Yak 54, and the  Bravata.  Yesterday the Bravata was just sublime for three glorious flights at Dallas.  What fun...it  started nice, ran well, flew brilliant.  That is indeed my favorite plane at this time.  It may not do great aileron rolls or inverted flying, but it is just a sweetheart plane that does its share of aerobatics gracefully in slow motion.  Playing with the flaps is so satisfying.  

Today I flew helis at keizer.  I have hit the wall on improvement.  Just cannot get the balls to do turns in forward inverted flight.  I got inverted many times today with the 500 and 700, did 180 or 360 pyros, then rolled or flipped out.  I tried to just yaw the tail each way and hold altitude and location, but doing a full circle inverted at one altitude is super hard for me.  The good news is I did not get disoriented and did not crash.

Lotsa flying!

Been flying super lots since last posting, especially the last five days with cousin Ron here on his annual visit to fly , fly, fly.  We have flown everyday so far but will skip tomorrow for the annual Spirit Mountain trip with him.  Not much to say except I have flown lots of Ultimate, Dirty Birdy, etc.   Over the weekend we flew lots of Battlewing missions...with Jer and Alex on Sunday, with Tad and Quang on Monday.  At least a few heli flights everyday with Ron, but six today...two each on the X5, G500, and 7HV.

Today Ron set up the G700 on my transmitter for me.  Now it is ready for me to fly after having it about two years.

Dirty Birdy

I need to document completion of my first new ARF in a few years...drum roll...the Dirty Birdy by Great Planes, their rendition of the famous design from the 70's or 80's by Joe Bridi.  I bought this thing perhaps five years ago and finally got the desire back to keep it and actually finish it a few months ago.  In the interim period I lost interest in it because I had wanted to power it with a four stroke engine, but that would entail replacing the stock tank with a larger fuel tank to feed the thirst of a four stroke engine.  That hurdle turned off my interest and i actually even tried to sell the ARF as NIB!  Lucky I had no takers.  Then a few months or so ago, I traded Don for a beautiful Kaos that he had finished but decided not to fly.  That bird rekindled my interest in the DB, and so a few months ago I started assembly of the ARF.  Of course I am horribly slow, so it took me til just a few weeks ago to complete the DB.  It is powered with a brand new OS 65AX two stroke engine so that I would not need to replace the stock tank.  I kept the fixed LG for simplicity.  The servos came from my T-28 that died last year.  I had a new 617 Futaba receiver.  Pics follow.

I maidened the plane a couple weeks ago.  It only needed about three clicks right aileron for straight and level flight.  Balance is per the manual mid range with 1/2 oz lead weight on the tail.  Wings are balanced with 6 nails buried in the light wing tip.  AUW is 7.5 pounds dry.  Still running slightly rich as the engine has just 5 tanks of fuel through it.  Knifes like a dream right now with no obvious tuck to LG or canopy.  Just flies straight and true.  Does arc to nose down when I do KE on a slight climb, so might be nose heavy a tad.  While I can try to trim that more, right now I am just having fun with it.  For me it is just an excellent sport plane...I am not pattern contestant.

I quit flying RC!

Hahahahaha, no way Jose!  I have been flying lots since early June when i last blogged here.  I have just been too awful lazy to make entries. I have flown at least a couple times each week, and often 3 or 4 times.  Been flying the pants off my planes, very little on helis but enough to avoid completely rusting out!  I cannot be too rusty because Ron comes in a week formthe annual visit of ten days or so t fly, fly, fly.

So today i flew the CG Ultimate three times.  Love that old bird, now 26 years old!  A few weeks ago it would not take on fuel. The old Robart fueler was plugged.  This is the second one to go bad in that plane.  While i got the plug out, i decided the design is poor and just chucked it.  I ran the fuel filter externally on the bottom of the cowl, and it is now a simple matter to unplug the line, fuel up, and reartach the fuel line to the filter.  KISS METHOD WORKS BEST!  Also, the bearing replacement is working fine...the engine is hauling butt like it used to.

A couple weeks ago, i completed my first new ARF in years, the beautiful Joe Bridi design,the  Dirty Birdy!  I maidened it with two flights the first day.  Took it out yesterday and had three flights.  On maiden day it only needed a few clicks of right aileron.  With no changes yesterday, it flew great again.  Even knife edge is real satisfactory right now, with no obvious tuck to either the LG or the canopy.   It is very much a joy to fly.  Landings are cool with a nose high touchdown.


One last update!  I sold my AeroWorks 50cc Ultimate to Joe a few weeks ago for $900!  He had fun with it a couple days then during a low roll the plane just failed to respond and it demolished on impact.  It always flew fine for me.  Joe thinks the battery packs may have slipped and disconnected.  I do not think so as he said he used servo safety clips like i did, and what are the chances of both unplugging at the same instant?!  I would investigate his receiver.  That is the only component inside the plane that changed with the change in ownwership.  I kept my Airtronics receiver and he installed a Futaba.  Of course the other diffs are the transmitter and operator.  C’est la vie.  I am sad it is no more.