Flight log: October 20, 2020

 Finally got this heli out again just to be sure it still runs, lol.  Haven’t flown it a couple years!  It flew fine, 2x.  It’s my lightest flying 700 size heli, so I have been saving it as my fave.  Time to fly it more before it’s more obsolete, lol.

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!

Flight Log: 07/01/2017

For the first time in many months, Tad and Quang came out to fly helis!  It was good fun like the old days.  I got in 4 flights on the G500, 2 on the G630, and 2 on the 690SX.  Felt nerves but did not do any dumb thumbing, and everything is still in one piece.  For some reason, my nose in hovers are getting very iffy and making me nervous.  Gonna have to practice those up high and bring the heli lower and get comfortable again, or maybe I never was!  Tad had four flights on his G570, getting smoother with each flight after the long layoff since last September!  Quang was crazy man as usual, and flew his G770 stretched to 800, and his nitro T-Rex 700.

Flight Log: 06/26/2017 and 06/29/2017

I flew on Monday with the Dallas club.  Took the Yak 54 up for a couple flights.  Spent more time watching and fraternizing than flying, but the guys are nice, and I am trying to learn the customs there.  They seem to like my flying, and I think its a good fit for me!  Good fun.

Then today I went to the old KRCA field and flew my helis.  Four flights on the G500, 3 on the G630, and 2 on the Logo 690SX.  All flew well and came home in one piece, yay!  I was relieved to get the 690 back successfully just because i have not flown it in a very long time, since Sept 2016! I got in a zillion flips to inverted and built more comfort with bailing out of inverted with side, back, and forward flips.  All good!  Breeze was 5mph+, which was not an issue at all.

Labor Day

Nice day for flying early due to no traffic.  Surprised to see JB working on the holiday, but all was good because I got there at 7:15, and as I got my things out of the truck, JB was already sending a full semi-load of sod on its way.  The harvester was in fact back in the midfield area instead of on the south end where the sod was harvested from.  They must have been working in the dark!  To my benefit, they were done and I had the place to myself until Don and Jerry and Bud showed up.  By then though, I was about half done with my flights.

Flew the X5 twice, G500 three times, 7HV once, and 690SX three times.  I wanted to fly the 7HV twice but a vibration has shown up , and it needs to be eliminated.  I actually noticed it last time out, but thought my eyes were playing tricks.  Not so, the vibe is real today.  Got in lots of inverted practice and just am building the time and muscle memory.  A good day of flying.

New record!

Today I took just 1 hour and 45 minutes to go to and from the field and fly 7 flights on my helis there!  2 on the X5, 2 on the G500, and 3 on the 690SX.  Light fog but flyable.  Everything behaved well, no JB workers surprisingly, and calm and cool air, around 55F.

Funtastic 4

Flying was exceptional this morning, again early bird style.  I was there by 7 and home by just after 9.  Got in 11 flights.  Eight were on the helis, with two each on the X5, G500, G630, and 690SX.  Gosh they all flew good.  It was clear and cool with JB way out on the south end of the farm.  Nobody else came to fly.  Flying was better than normal for some reason, perhaps due to no extraneous distractions, workers or other pilots and aircraft.  Felt very comfy doing inverted practice as usual.  Seems I might be getting a little lower at times due to the comfort level rising.  I practiced coming out of inverted by all means I know...pull half loop, flip forward/outside, roll right, and today I did many roll lefts too.  I can feel coordinated inverted turns coming soon!

 
I also flew the Aerostar 40  three flights.  Love that slow silly plank.

Early birds

Hit the road early again and was at the field just after 7AM in hopes to beat the heat and beat JB.  JB won, lol, as they were already loading the first semi trailer with sod.  Still they were distant enough that I flew my helis over the north field with no issues.  I got in two flights on each of the G500, G630, and 690SX.  Just relaxation and fun, more comfort and time at flying inverted.  All flew well, but I was most relaxed with the 690SX because by then JB had hauled the second load of sod out of the farm and I could fly unworried.  I was able to do a number of inverted high passes connected by shallow stall turns/pyros.  Getting more used to the negative pitch for maintaining altitude.  My early tendency has been to apply more than needed to assure no loss of altitude, but soon the heli is too high!  Today I maintained a more constant altitude.  Very fun.  Should have charged more packs!

Still catching up!

Must be a lazy bones because I just am not blogging the same day as flying!  I think I flew three times more since the last post, including a day with Tad last Thurs on his day off.  My usual SOP of around 7 flights each day with helis, rotating among four (X5 left at home due to falling back in love with the G500 with its new XNova motor), so that is 21 total, or 5 per heli...G500, 7HV, 690SX, and G630.  I have had probs with the 7HV overheating...the motor, esc, and batteries come down super hot, so actually I have flown that a little less than the others.  Gear train seems smooth.  The can on the stock Compass motor is shifting such that it touches the bottom motor housing...burn marks from overheating are self evident.  Thus after much consideration, I blame the motor as the cause and have ordered a new Scorpion motor.  $275, arg!  Lucky I had a $25 coupon for AMain or it would be $300.

Been flying various Stars a couple flights on each day too, including the StarStream, Aerostar 40, and MiniStar.

Catching up!

I have not been blogging because Cousin Ron came for a visit from July 29 till August 8.  Out of nine days of his stay, we flew eight!  It is too hard to remember exactly what i flew how many tome, but this will be close.  I flew all five helis over the 8 days, and typically had an average of 7 flights each day.  That makes 56 total flights distributed over five helis, so that makes about 11 flights per heli over the period.  I also flew the Star, Ministar, and Starstream during someof those days.

Ron put all my helis except the X5 on governor mode in the Castle escs.  Seems to work fine except i am having a possibly unrelated overheating issue with the stock motor in the 7HV.

On one of the first flying days, Ron detected my Quantum motor in the G500 overheating.  Combined with the weird noise issue in the heli, which i have noted in other blog entries, i decided to replace the motor with an XNova motor like Ron did.  The motor came from Amain in just two days.  It solved the noise issue and is just lukewarm to the fingers after flights.

Here are a few pics from the 8 days we flew:

Great flying conditions AND NO JB work!

I have neglected to enter my flight log the last few times.  Flew Thurs, putting on 4 flights of the X5, 4 on the Star, and 4 on the StarStream!  (NOTE to self: on 07/17 I added two very thin washers on bottom motor mount flanges to give more neutral thrust...stock setup has too much down thrust as exhibited by plane diving slightly on sudden application of full throttle.)

On Saturday, I flew the Aerostar 40 three flights, X5 4 flights, and 7HV 5 flights!

Then today I flew the MiniStar 6 flights X5 4 flights, and 690SX 5 flights.  It was good flying conditions each day.  No harvest work witnessed on Sat and Sun, and today I duly noted that the harvest machines are NOT even located at the field now.  Only the mowers and sprinklers are still there.  JB must have moved ops elsewhere for now.  HURRAH!

I actually tried to fly turns inverted today with the 690SX.  Kinda hard to see because I was too scared to try lower.  I feel like I will have a brain fart and not even know how to recover, so I need to be high enough to allow my brain to think!  Slight success because I made half a circle twice, and lesser arcs a few more times before bailing out to upright.  I guess it is a start.  I attempted left circles today, with left aileron and opposite rudder.  So much to think about with elevator and throttle to coordinate.  Upcoming plan....practice, practice, practice.

Another good day

While JB was harvesting, they were on the far south side of the sod farm, so flying was possible and easy.  Flew the X5 4 packs, 690SX 3 flights, and the StarStream 6 flights.  All went well.  Did not like the 9x4.7sf prop on the StarStream (no guts), so I upped it to a 10x4.7.  That was good and torquey and slightly more efficient on the packs compared to the 9x6 prop provided with the new plane by Dick.  Plane had seemingly same top speed with the 9x6 and 10x4.7 but the latter was punchier so I am sticking with that for now.  Flight times still are about 3.5 minutes though, nothing to brag about.

Surprise company

Jer and Ariel joined me at the field early this morning.  Jer flew my new StarStream for three packs and loved the design by Dick.  I got in three flights on it too, and also 3 on my X5, as well as the Logo 690SX.  Nice to have no JB workers at all while we were there a couple hours.

Flight log: 05/29/2016

Had a real nice time flying with Tad today.  Great calm  and cool weather again, and no workers on the field.  He flew his G500 and G570.  I had my G500 and 690SX.  Tad got in four smooth as silk flights on each of his.  I got in four on the 500 and three on the 690SX.  Also got in four flights of the Star plane.  While there, Tad inspected my 500 and deduced that one of the bearings in the tail has play due to wear, and might be the cause of the sounds the heli is making.  At home later, I switched the tail assembly out with another used one from a previous crash.  It seems to have less play in the tail bearing.  Hope that eliminates the noise.

Yes it is HIGH but it is INVERTED, lol.

Flight log: 05/21/2016

We thought or hoped it would be calmer but it was about 5-10mph with only about 50F, so the wind chill made it pretty cool and a little uncomfortable.  Tad and I were surprised by the coldness, but he got in his 4 flights on the G570.  I put in 2 on the G500 and one on the 690SX.  I had packs to do another on the 690SX but decided against it due to the cold, wind, and my gut feeling.  Had a good time anyway, with Tad putting up real nice flights with much forward inverted and upright backwards flying in very smooth style.  He treated me to the Big Breakfast at MacDonalds on the way home , as part of my birthday celebration.  Good times!

FLight log: 05/20/2016

Very gorgeous morning, cool but not cold, beats being hot!  Calm, cloudy at first.  No workers although the sprinklers were running right off the south edge of the runway.  No worries.  Flew helis first, and got in 4 flights on the G500, and 3 on the new Logo 690SX.  Still had echo issues on the Goblin.  Seemed less than last time, but not gone.  Upon further examination, I noticed that I used just one zip tie to hold the CC esc in place, and that has loosened, so the esc could wiggle side to side.  That is the only thing sorta loose that I can find, so later on at home, I replaced that zip tie and added another.  Hopefully that takes care of the echo sound.  BTW I tested with canopy off and the heli still made the noise but not as loud.  Other than that the Goblin is flying well.

The 690SX makes me smile when I fly it.  So darn quiet!  And the light disc loading just makes it smooth and responsive, and effortless compared to the other helis.

I also flew the Aerostar 40 for 3 flights.  Can't be more relaxful than that plane.

FLight Log: 05/13/2016

4 flights of the Gaui X5 followed by 5 flights of the Logo 690SX.  The new Logo is super quiet and smooth...might be my fave heli now!  The adjustment I made to the pitch curve on the xmitter is really good and provides for smooth transition from normal mode to IU and vice versa.  It is weird because I had to make the pitch greater numerically in normal mode than what it is in IU in order to get the blades to not change pitch when I flick the mode switch.  Shouldn't be that way to me, but if it works, I will accept the weirdness.

Long time no fly...

...the Stinger II!  I checked this blog, and the last time the Stinger flew was in Sept 2013!  Holy Moly that is a long time ago, but I left it alone due to my growing interest in helis and my worsening long distance vision due to cataracts, which have since been removed. In addition the YS 63 was not running real great.

Over the past few days, I took the engine off the plane and was going to replace it with either a OS40 two-stroke or a OS70 four-stroke.  After seeing how much work that is to mount different engines on the mounts, I said humbug and looked at how to fix the YS 63 instead, lol.  So I reset needle valves to factory settings, both high, and idle.  I opened the regulator and found small debris in it, which can plug the fine holes in there and make it run inconsistently...I was happy to find that and remove it.  Also checked the fuel lines in the tank but they looked ok.  I replaced some external fuel lines that looked loose or worn.  Next up was the engine had no compression from laying unused so long.  Turns out the valves were ok, but the push rods were not moving.  Upon further dismantling, I found the little pushrod sleeves that contact the cams were stuck in place from not running for about 2.5 years!  I was able to force them out.  Used the Dremel and some polishing compound to shine the sleeves up, then they slipped in and out of the engine block real smooth again.  Since I had the pushrods out and they were looking stained, I polished them too.  Next I reset the gaps at the rockers.  I don't know how much 0.1mm is, but for the OS engines I just use a slip of paper as the gap feeler gauge, so I did the same on the YS.  And finally, the flight battery pack was dead so I put a new 6V 2000mAh pack into the plane.

 I took the Stinger to the field today, and after flying the X5 four times and the Logo 690SX three times, I went to work on the Stinger.  The factory settings were decent as starting points, but my xmitter throttle was set too low to maintain idle.  Changed the control rod length at the servo connection, and that helped.  Next I ran up the engine and she held high idle and I took a flight with a rich high needle setting.  She ran the whole time but was weak, so for the next flight I leaned it out half a turn and also opened the low end, which is also equivalent to leaning the low end so that the idle was smoother, lower, and did not die.  Seemed to do the trick as the engine really pulled the plane fast, with a slight smoke trail.  Felt like a new plane and engine...lots of speed and authority.  Gonna be fun flying this bugger again!  Feeling satisfaction that I got that engine to run well again.

The Logo spooled up much better with the main blades loosened a little.  The shaking is less, but still there.  My throttle curve adjustment did not do the trick...the heli still jumps up when switching to IU mode, and it drops when I go from IU to normal, so that is not good.  It must be pitch curve differences, so I am going to adjust those to get a smooth transition between IU and normal mode.  Other than this, the Logo 690SX really is amazing for how smooth and quiet it runs and flies!  It is light on its toes like the X5, very spritely performance.

Maiden success!

 Yay, the second attempt to maiden the new Logo 690SX was a success this morning.  After flying the Gaui X5 4 times and likewise the Goblin 500, I was ready to maiden the Logo.  The programming mistake from last time was corrected, so that the self corrections in the iKon were in the correct directions.  There is a new bugaboo though, in that the heli has a bad shake for a few seconds in the middle of spool up.  Once past that, the heli is super smooth and quiet.  Probably my smoothest and quietest heli of the whole fleet.  Everything seemed to be fine...CG, nice responses, very lively but not touchy, and did I say smooth!  Got in 3 flights.  At home later, I loosened the main blades a wee bit and adjusted the throttle curve.  The former hopefully eliminates the shakes (advice in a thread on HeliFreak), and the latter should smooth out the transition between Normal mode and Idle Up.  That transition is a bit too much for my liking going up or down between those modes.  Great maiden day!

Failure to maiden!

Doggone it, I took the Logo 690SX to maiden today.  First I flew the G500 4 flights, all good.  Then got the Logo on the flight pad, and it misbehaved by tilting over every which way as I spooled the motor up.  Main blades hit the ground and cracked.  That makes them useless, but I tried to spool up again just to see what is happening.  Same result of course, but it showed that the tail was ok, but the main rotor was the malfunction.  So I got it home and hooked the iKon to the laptop to analyze the beast.  Turns out I had the rotor responding correctly to stick inputs, but that can be correct while the self leveling action of the iKon can be wrong.  So as I tilted the head forward, the iKon reaction was to tilt forward some more instead of tilt back to correct the situation.  Same wrong reaction was true for tilting the head backward, or either side.  Bah...I failed to observe the moving slide bars on the xmitter page of the iKon setup menu.  The slide bars moved opposite to my stick movement even though the head tilted the correct way on stick movement but not on the head tilt test.  Anyhow, with enough servo reversing in the xmitter AND the cyclic head page of the iKon menu, it is possible to get the correct head responses to both xmitter input and the head tilt test.  I would have saved myself the aggravation of this issue if I observed the menu better.  Got too cocky from prior successes I guess, as this is my 4th heli to have the iKon FBL, and I did not run into this issue till now.  And so I have ordered a new set of Zeal blades for a mere $95 to replace the stock blades that I murdered through stupidity.  I need those blades to come fast, lol, so I can have a successful maiden to rid myself of this bad taste in mouth!