Flight log: October 29, 2020

 Supposedly nice all day, the morning had a thick wet mist almost a steady drizzle but not really falling.  But walking through it, I felt like being wet misted!  That postponed our morning flying.  Doug and I decided to fly at 1PM.  It looked grey and like it was just after dawn but by then the wet mist was gone and it was as calm as could be. Cool but not cold.  Doug really wanted to fly his 550 , and he successfully got through four packs without damage.  A couple landings were rough with the tail rotor sliding into grass, dirt, or the runway berm.  One was just in the ryegrass, but no damage!  He even got in some forward flight back and forth parallel to the runway , never nose in to us.  Gutsy guy did well.

I flew my 7HV twice and my Osiris twice.  No probs.  Dang Turnigy 4000 packs Must weigh all over the place because the plane behaves different in KE with almost every pack even though I place the packs at the same mark each time.  Too bad the pack doesn’t go right at the CG!  Fun flyer nevertheless.

Still too lazy to post flight logs, lol!

Its been a month and a half since doing by flight log blog, terrible!  I have been flying albeit not as frequently due to wind, rain, cold. 

Today I flew my SNAFU.  Mainly I wanted to get it out to tune the engine better since I know it was not running well last time.  Before heading out, I fattened up the low speed idle screw on the OS52FS in the plane.  That helped but the engine faltered a little on the first flight, and also died after landing runout.  I fiddled with it out more, back in , and then finally found a sweet spot which I am sure is richer than what I started with.  Also had to richen the high speed needle.  The engine seems to be singing nicely now....stronger with more smoke trail.  Got in four flights today with many touch and gos to practice landings.  We'll see if it still runs as well next time out.  BTW it was light fog with a low ceiling at first, then burning off enough for regular flying.

Two days ago, I flew my Osiris in slightly less fog.  Got in four flights.  Nobody else there on both days....too cold or dreary looking for them.  It was above 40F both times, with very light winds.

Since last posting in mid October, I got the wheel pants installed on the Val with new mounting hardware that Alex designed and printed for me with his 3D machine.  They look awesome!

I have been flying the Giles 202 several times since putting the new OS160FX engine into it.  Runs well, still breaking in each flight with a slightly leaner setting each time.  It's good not to be running so rich that the power is questionable.  Now there is power to avoid trouble.

The RV-4 has been back up as well.  I installed the wheel pants and have not destroyed them yet, as almost any grass landings just wear FG wheel pants out.  The plane is a joy to fly, and so impressive in the air.  My fave view of the plane is a steady landing approach with flaps down...so pretty.

I have actually made a little progress on the Stinson Reliant!  The elevator is perfectly (so I say) squared up to the fuselage and wing, and now firmly glued in place.  I have also epoxied all hinges for the flight surfaces.  Note I replaced the stock CA hinges for the elevators with hardy Robart point hinges.  Phoenix used big point hinges everywhere else on the plane and it baffles me that they didnt do so on the elevators too.  it was tedious work to clear the hinge locations, test the hinges as located, put vaseline on the hinge lines to prevent epoxy intrusion, then epoxy one side, let dry, then epoxy the other side of each pair of mated surfaces.  I am going to move on to servo installation for the ailerons and flaps next.

Last news.  I ordered the Old School Model Works Robinhood 80 laser cut kit!  $200 plus $5 SH.  Crazy me....heres hoping I actually build it someday!

Last last news.  Tad has long promised me the DLE-35 he never used.  So I decided I want the Hangar 9 Ultrastick 30cc for that engine.  The boys are giving it to me for Christmas!

Flight log: 06/12/2019

Today I flew the Osiris five flights.  I tried different pack locations in the plane.  Seems the most rearward line that Rudy drew on the battery plate in the fuse results in the least adverse coupling when in knife edge.  Might try a little more rearward too since my packs are 6s vs the 5s that Rudy gave me with the plane...different weights.  My landings are much better when I bring in the plane on final just a little higher than my others, cut throttle at the edge of the tall grass, then glide in steeper per no throttle, and flare inches above the ground.  Seems to be greased on most of the time now!

Tad flew his Avanti S for the first time at the Dallas field.  Ended in a hard landing when he did not flare, hit the nose first, which then caused a bounce back up with no thrust on.  Left wing tip hit, then the nose, which collapsed in front of the nose gear.  Fixable but it wont be a pretty boy like when new.

I flew the Bravata perhaps last Friday, just once.  It flew fine.  Could not restart it for the second flight, as I think I flooded it by propping it over and it turned out the transmitter was not on.  

Today I replaced the left axle on the RV-4.  Heres the rest of the story:

I drove my boxster the other day so I moved some planes away and placed them next to the truck. Then yesterday I wanted to go out in the truck....I forgot to move the RV-4 and two other planes before moving the truck. The truck tire rubbed hard over the left axle of the RV and brushed the left wheel. That broke the axle and bent the left side of LG. Lucky I had a spare axle (from replacing the one that fell off in the air). So I got out my workmate to use as a vise for the LG. I bent it back straight, and I overcorrected so now the left side of the stab and wing are higher off ground then right...it was vice versa before the repair. It’s ok, I expect first landings to relax what I did. Should be good enough. This plane might be cursed, but I will try it again tomorrow!

Still alive

Just been so darn lazy to add to the blog after my frequent flying days!  But today was perfect so here we go.  Preface by saying I have been going to the Dallas club field about 90% of the days that I do fly.  When I go to the keizer club field, it’s typical on a weekend so I can catch up with heli flying.  And normally my keizer flying is all electric while most of my Dallas flying is glow and gas.

Today I took the Osiris out for a spin with the 7HV, to keizer. Knocked out 11 packs...six on three flights on the 7HV, then five packs on five flights of the Osiris!  Everything was working today in the light breeze and slight overcast.  Heli was great, no brain farts.  Then the Osiris flew better than I have ever felt like I flew it.   Very smooth and precise.  I flew it mostly 3/4 throttle so it was very relaxing.  And I nailed all the landings by coming in higher like I recall Rudy did, with lil or no throttle, then flare just before touchdown...the plane doesn’t really stall this way.

It was a really GREAT DAY!

Flight log: 08/08/2018

Main news today is I sold the Factor 3D to Eric at the Keizer field this morning.  It was a good plane but not my fave so I let it go to make space in the garage.  Just $65 for the airframe in great shape plus the motor and ESC.  I had scavenged servos out of it for other plane repairs.  Eric and I were both happy.

I flew the G500 twice, then the G700 four times, and the Osiris twice.  All flew well.  Notable is I flew the Osiris on the usual 6s 4000 pack for four minutes, then with my sole 6s 5000 pack for perhaps just under five minutes.  Both checked out at about 3.84v per cell after flying.  The plane seemed to handle the extra weight without issue.  Landing was same as normal.  The 5000 pack was one of a pair from Tad when he sold me the G7000.  One cell in one pack did not hold a charge well, so I disabled and chucked the pack, thus just one 5000 pack remains.

Fun flying with Eric and Dave today, funny guys.  Too bad Dave lost signal to his electric Funtana, and it augered into terra firma with finality.  I hand launched a new plane for Eric today...some small foam racer style plane with no LG.  Gawd that thing lept out of my hands and proceeded to fly about 100 yards at 6’ while Eric wrestled with the sensitive ailerons.  Finally he got enough control to climb to safe altitude and then blew our minds with the sheer balls to the wall speed!  It carved up the sky and quickly became tiny at the end of each pass!  Eric managed a perfectly flat touch down in the middle of the runway, whew.  Wish i had pics but my dumb iPhone was out of memory.

Penultimate Flying Day with Ron

Flew again today, in better conditions....light wind at first, sunny skies, and temp near 75F.  Got in one flight on the X5, two on the 7HV, two on the G700.  Three flights on the only plane i brought...the Osiris.  The great thing is all aircraft used the same battery size...6s 4000mah.  Everything flew great.  Very pleasant flying the new Goblin 700!  I just at this time fly the G700 for 4:00 vs 4:30 on all other helis. Another observation is that the Osiris flight time needs to be about 3:45 or else the cells check out at about 3.5V when flown 4:30.  Will try the 5000mah pack i have next time out; that pack was intended to be used in a pair in the G700, but one pack went sour, thus the need to use 4000mah packs in the G700 instead.

Also need to report we flew yesterday at Dallas.  Due to the winds not many flights were taken by anyone.  I just had one flight on the Osiris and two on the 7HV.  Ron had two on his Slick but busted one side of the main landing gear due to a rough landing strong crosswinds.

Last two days

Flew yesterday with my pattern planes, the Kaos and Osiris.  I put in one flight on the Kaos, with a nice successful landing on the retracts, without the axle spinning to trip up the plane.  Finally!  I didnt however, taxi back.  I just went and picked the plane up at the end of the runway without trying to taxi on the grass, lol.  Then i put up three flights on the Osiris.  Both planes flew well and i was pleased.

Pattern birds day

It was pattern birds day to me, so I took the Kaos and Osiris out for fast fun.  Got in three flights on the Osiris and two on the Kaos.  Had trouble with the LG on the Kaos...the axle kept slipping on the strut, and I could not get the little hex nut tight due to L wrench slippage.  Got it home and used my good heli set plus some blue threadlock to secure it, hopefully for good.  The Kaos nosed over on both landings, but that could have been due to the turned axle, or the retracts being too close to the CG.  I changed the ply shim on the back of each mounting plate from 1/16" to 1/8".  that moves the wheels forward another 1/4" and hopefully that is enough to stop the nasty warbird habit of nosing over on each landing.  So ungraceful and disgraceful after a sharp flight!

Hope that does the trick!

Osiris

Flew the Osiris twice with the Dallas gang today...it was in the high 40F range and little to no wind.  Osiris flew great, but i think i was amped up and flying too fast, so my pattern was long, larger than i want.  Will try to moderate my speed next time.

Mild winter day!

Ahhhhh yes, love the winter days that are sunny and calm , and at least 40F to fly without hurting!  Got in six flights of the  Ministar and five on the Osiris yesterday at KRCA field.  Five other guys showed up for the good flying weather.  My planes flew fine.

For the Osiris, I added one more percent down elevator mixed when rudder is deflected for knife edge.  I like the looks of the four point rolls better.  This plane is so neutral that i need to avoid hitting too much down elevator when inverted, or the plane climbs when inverted.  Dang it flies well.  Yesterday i tried to fly slower like i see the good electric pattern guys fly on youtube.  More fun and more challenging to do so, with lots of throttle management in play.  I love it though because then much more activity happens closer and lower in a smaller flight window.  Well, that at least is the way i like it.  I dont like pattern that happens so high and away that it becomes too hard to see and disconnected from me.  I even try to keep my faster and heavy glow pattern planes closer.

Exceptional Good Weather!

Blessed with exceptionally nice weather, i got to fly Saturday and Sunday!   I flew Saturday at the Keizer club field.  Had 2 flights on the X5, 2 on the 7HV, and 4 on the Osiris!  Then today I had 3 flights with the Bravata!  Great conditions both days with sunny skies after light spotty fog, and calm wind becoming light breezes over a few hours at the fields.  Temps were mid 40's at the start of each day, and mid 50's by the time i left the field...ultra nice and rare in the middle of January.