Flight log: 06/21/2019

My yellow Shoestring on left, powered by SAITO 100 four stroke.
Cliff's white Shoestring on right, powered by RCGF 20cc gas two stroke.

Note slimmer fuselage on white one because Don rebuilt it
and trimmed about 3/4" of the bottom of the stock fuselage off!

Both are beauties!

We flew together twice.  It was no contest, Cliff's is much faster. 
He had to throttle back often to keep from chewing off my tail!
I cut corners to make my route shorter, plus did a lot of diving,
and still came out looking like a snail.  I can only say I landed better, lol!

THE WINNER!

I also flew my Stinger II three times today to satisfy the need for speed!  It flew well.  The YS63 is singing sweetly!

Cliff’s man cave then flying!

Guessing that it would be foggy early, the guys decided we would meet up at Cliff ‘s man cave at his house first, and go flying after the fog clears.  Words cannot do the man cave justice.  I took several pics and will add them later.  There was plenty of room for loads of chairs for all 8 of us to sit and talk, Don brought doughnuts, Cliff provided fresh coffee, and we talked and joked.  It was my first time there, unlike everyone else, so I was in awe and roamed the room and inspected all the great planes! Cliff is moving towards large planes and it was inspiring to see the big guys with wingspans perhaps 85” upwards of 100”!   Mr Mulligan, DG Howard, Cessna 192, RV-4.  The work of love nearing completion is his 60cc Corsair with Saito 3 cyl gas four stroke engine,  OMG! Great visit with the guys to Cliff’s man cave which by the way has its own bathroom, TV, fridge, wood floor, heat, man cave decor, etc. in an area about the size of a large two car garage.

All 8 of us headed to the field to fly, and indeed the fog had cleared.  More great fun.  I flew my Shoestring 60 twice, and it did well.  The new grass is sprouting up well, thereby making it safer to roll off the matted runway without damaging a plane.  Thus I was willing to risk flying the tail dragging Shoestring which would damage something in the previously loose dirt and gravel surrounding the runway.

Flight log: 08/19/2018

Had a good morning of flying today.  Four flights of the Goblin 700 followed by two of the Shoestring.   Conditions were great...mostly calm, sunny with light haze, cool but not cold.  Got some decent inverted turns going with the G700...left turns so both sticks towards the center.  Only did it a couple times...cajones are hard to grow!  I am liking the G700 for this due to the big size for visibility, and the lighter disc loading that doesn’t feel like the heli is zooming around too fast.

The Shoestring flew great, perhaps best ever.  Many, many full throttle, low passes/circuits over the field were made.  That is exhilarating and entertaining!

Two good flying days in a row!

I flew yesterday...the only one there likely due to slight winds, lol.  Got in three flights with new 3000 packs on the Aerostar 76, and four flights on the Starstreak.  These were the maiden flights for the Starstreak.  Found it to be passable on power with 3s packs, but it could use 4s for more fun.  I do like its stance on take off and landings...reminds me of an F-18.

Today I flew its low wing brother, which i call the Starstream.  Took it up four times and i must say the thing is growing on me the more i fly it.  Very quick, maneuverable, and light on its wings and the landings.

Also flew the Shoestring 60 twice and loved it.  Engine ran good, and it felt like a warbird...i made many low passes at full throttle.  Not super fast but very enjoyable!

Tues and Wed flying

Yesterday was fogless.  Flew the Toledo Special twice, and the Starstream 4 times.  Good day with wind slowly building.  Today I flew the Shoestring 60 once and the RV-4 twice.  Fogless at first, then light fog blew in from the East where the river is.  Still a good day of flying with wind again slowly building.  I like the bunch of nuts flying at the Dallas field.  They all fly glow and/or gas, very little electric, and they sure are a quick witted bunch.  They make me laugh a lot!

5 day flight log!

Lazy bones I am...forgot to record flights  for five days of flying!  I flew Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, and today Tuesday.  Today i flew the Bravata again, twice, at Dallas.  The DLE-30 ran well with the 1/8 turn of the high needle inwards to lean it.  Ran strong without the slight missing.  It also proved to be perfect for the idle and mid engine speeds with little to no missing that i can recall.  Yesterday I flew the Ministar four times and the Shoestring 60 twice.  The fix to the tank of the Shoe did the trick for obtaining full engine runs again.  On the weekend I flew the Goblin 500 about five times each day at the Keizer field with a couple flights of the X5 too on Saturday.  Both weekend days I also flew the Aerostar 40F five times.  And last Friday I flew the Intruder at Dallas for one flight, plus the SNAFU several times.  Hey, pretty good recollection after all!

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: 07/12-14/2017

Three days in a row flying, some kinda recent record.  Seem to have got bit to fly again, both heli and planes.  The planes enthusiasm comes from flying with the Dallas Wingdingers club, to which I now belong as a paying member.  I flew there Wed and Thurs, with my T-28 first, then the MiniStar.  Actually had my Toledo Special to fly on Thurs, but it would not run so I flew the MiniStar.  Took the TS home and it ran fine the next day without any work to it or the fuel system.  I think I simply flooded it at the field.  Been having fun at the Dallas field with the many retired flyers there.  They are very funny guys, cordial, welcoming.  It is easy to fit into that environment.  Plus I love that they are still glow and gas guys, not a lot of foam toys.

Today I went to KRCA because I wanted to mow first, then fly a heli plus a plane.  Got in four flights on the X5 then one on the Shoestring 60.  I was real happy the Shoe ran and flew well.  Just a couple weeks ago I was twirling the prop in the garage, and there was no compression due to a sticky lifter.  I opened the valve covers on  the Saito 100 and worked in WD40 to turn the valves loose.  Today the engine ran like a top.  I didnt have to touch the needle valve at all!   The Shoe flew so well, better than I recall it did.  Its ready for the Dallas field now.

No pics because my iphone was out of memory.  I have deleted some older pics so I can use the camera again!

Forced Flights

Forced myself into the air on Saturday, to get over the humdinger crash on Fri.  Took 7 flights with my 9 remaining packs.  5 with the X5 and 2 with the G630.  Also got in four flights on the Mini Aerostar.  I flew kinda conservatively due to the memory of the day before, but I still managed some inverted circle attempts.  Just did not trust my vision and abilities.

Flew again today, Sunday.  I focused on planes today and had fun with 4 flights on the Toledo Special, and 2 on the Shoestring 60.  Great stuff, flying low and fast, and looping and rolling all about.  Followed that up with 2 flights on the X5, although I had 3 more packs.  I decided to quit while tired and ahead!

Also sold my MCPX with spare airframe, LG, and tail blades...all to new guy named Brian who has been seeking help on helis.  He has a Blade 200 with CP and flybar that just is not set up right.  While Jer tried to help him with that 200 last week, the thing is still not set up right this weekend.  I tried again to help Brian with it yesterday but the heli had little power, and pitch seems too little. Mentioned to him that Tad has an MCPX (turned out to be Nano CPX), and took my own MCPX with parts and charger to him today.  He liked it lots after I showed him how it flies.  Since he has the same xmitter, he copied setting from mine to his easily, I test flew it on his xmitter, and it now resides in a new home.  I was not using it, so good deal for both of us at just $70.

Helis and Shoestring

Great flying today in super clear and sunny weather!  Must have got to 70F while I was there.  Too bad JB was harvesting sod but I was affected very little.  For helis, I was not affected at all by JB since I fly over the North field almost exclusively.  I had 4 packs through the Goblin 500 and 4 through the Gaui X5.  Good stuff...almost crashed the X5 on the last flight when I did multiple pyros on the stall turn turn-around, and was too low to fully pyro to get nose down.  Managed to recover over the dirt road, but got hairy.  Needed to change undies after that one.  Whew!

I fixed my Shoestring 60 by unsticking the stuck valve at home.  A little pushing broke it loose, then I added some thin heli oil to loosen it up good.  The engine was a little finicky since I lost the needle setting while fixing the engine.  So today I reset the low idle screw and the high needle, plus trim on the xmitter.  It did not die in the air, so good enough!  I only took one flight since JB was on the field.  Per our rules, I had to take off to the west, head north, and eventually land from the west which was slightly downwind today.  To make it easy I just landed on the sod farm just off the runway, with plenty of runout room that way.  In summary though, the Saito 100 ran well enough, and the Shoe was delightful to fly.  I forgot how it flies since it has been a long time since last flying it.  It really does pretty axial rolls, and good four point rolls.  Not noticeably bad coupling while in the knife edge portions of the four pointer.

LIFE IS GOOD!

New Girl at the Field!

Had the PLEASURE of meeting Quang's daughter Tyra at the field today.  There is going to be competition between Tyra, Ariel, and Skylar to see who solos flying first, haha!  Tyra is a a real cutie, 4.5 months young, 16 pounds, and all angel.  She loves to smile at both Tad and me, and of course daddy and Uncle Anthony!  She was at the field at least 2 hours and never cried once.  Check out the new cutie at the field, haha.

So the day started pretty ugly and I debated a good hour at home about going, but finally decided I needed to try.  I took the Star and Shoestring 60 at around 8:30.  Sure enough it was raining on and off, but never real hard.  I flew the Star first in anticipation of being rained out quickly, and got in 2 flights before stopping for a passing shower.  I just tucked the plane under one of the big table.  Luckily the rain was straight down and not blowing horizontally.  As soon as it was just a light drizzle, I got the Star out for the the 3rd battery pack that I had with me.  The Star shines brightly...great little plane and seems to be dialed in now.

At this point I was considering whether to stay or leave, and decided to stay and set up the Shoestring.  As I set up my stuff at the table, Tad drove up...sure surprised me!  He set up fast since he brings his plane assembled in the car, and we got in 4 flights together over the next couple hours.  It was fun making lots of passes and trying to grease on the landings.

Soon after Tad arrived, Quang arrived with Tyra, and a little while later Anthony showed up too.

The new chopper is a Quang's 700 size GOBLIN by SAB, out of Italy.  Wow, it is futuristic looking, well-engineered, high quality, sounds good, flies good, and did I say EXPENSIVE!  So Tad loves it!

Anthony flew his 500 size Goblin super smoothly, and I think this is the size that interests Tad.  Quang says he had a minor crash on his 500 yesterday.

I should mention that on Quang's 2nd flight today, the engine cut out while inverted and in the middle of a 3D manuever.  He miraculously flipped her over and auto-rotated it with only a small thump upon landing, which caused no damage.  Further investigation revealed that the heat of the engine or current caused the wires to unsolder from the T connectors (Dean) at the battery!  The heat actually burned part of the carbon fiber frame near that connector too.  Wow! What a SAVE!!

If the Shoe fits!

After a good work effort to lay down very long, wide, and heavy matting over our pits, some of us flew what we brung.  I took my Shoestring 60 up thrice and had a ball.  Wind was pretty much out of the West and made takeoffs and landings easier than usual.  The Saito 100 ran well, the plane flew great.  With the 75F temps, I tweaked the engine to run a wee bit leaner with about 2 clicks in on the needle valve.

Shoe-fly!

Only Dave and I were there again this AM, a rather typical OR Winter/Spring day with totally grey skies but light wind and cool temps near 50F.  Atypical, the wind was from the east, requiring takeoff and landing from the opposite direction than prevails here.  I took the Shoestring 60 out today, and the Saito 100 purred along, and made flying fun.  It's a good sport plane that looks prettier than most!

Yellows and Reds Only

What incredibly and abnormally warm weather we had today.  Sunny and in the 50's when I headed to the field, and 64F when I came home and checked the thermometer again!  Geez, it was also mostly calm the whole time.  I took my Shoestring 60 and SNAFU, both are yellow and red planes.  EIGHT FLIGHTS, 4 on each plane today!  Both were a joy to fly, engines ran great, no issues.  Had a ball hovering the SNAFU today.  For some reason, it was just easier today than other days, and I had my longest hovers with that plane.  Also landed the SNAFU in every possible direction on the regular runway and the short N/S runway.  I leaned out the high end on the Saito 100 in the Shoestring today, and also fattened the low speed screw about 1/4 turn.  It seemed to give a better idle, same transition, and stronger high end.  Still running the high end kinda rich to keep well lubricated.  I don't like how Saito's seem to eat up bearings.

Flight Log: 02/02/2013

Wow it was nice again, so I got to fly for the 3rd day in a row.  No handwarmer needed at all!  Flew my Stinger II three times, and the 60 size Shoestring twice.  Both engines ran well and the planes flew nicely.  At least today more guys showed up...Bob R, Mike, Ken, and Dave.  Dick came by to say hi.  Wilfredo showed up late to fly his chopper.  The grass was short since Bob B mowed yesterday.

Flight Log: 12/27/2012

It was too sunny and rainless to pass up.  With temperature about 42F, I headed out and had a quick couple of flights with the Shoestring 60.  Naturally, nobody else was there!  Wind was at least 5mph as our windsock was straight out, and of course it was crosswind from the South.  Takeoffs and landings were on the N/S runway headed due South with a slight curve to the East as needed.  I am really liking the Shoestring 60 with the Saito 100 in it.  The match is perfect and results in a wide speed range.  The plane flies very well, better than the 46 size due to the ability to slow down much more for landings.  It must be slightly rearward on the CG as evidenced by the bouncy tail during taxiing on the grass...full up elevator holds the tail down, but the tail bounces up and down readily!

Flight Log: 12/08/2012

Woke up to calm air, no rain, overcast, and 41F.  Waited till 9:30 when it was a whole 43F, then headed to the field.  Flew my 60 size Shoestring three times, eight minutes per flight.  The CA held the two lower cowl mounting blocks to the firewall securely.  This Shoe flies on rails like the smaller one, but definitely slows better for landings.  I like it very much.  The Saito 100 has good power, and gives the Shoe a wide speed range.  I was able to just putter around upright and inverted at half throttle or so, further demonstrating the speed range of the airframe.  I probably can increase rudder throw for tighter turns on the ground, and also to kick the tail over with more conviction in stall turns.  There is a little roll coupling when the rudder is deflected in knife edge, making the plane want to roll to upright.  Might just leave it as is for now.  So far so good with this plane...it looks great on the tarmac and in the air, and flies like a good sport plane.

Flights of the Intruder

It was a nice day for flying today...just over 40F but clear and calm.  I got in 4 flights of the Intruder.  The OS 91 Surpass II ran well all day with no adjustments necessary.  The only adjustment needed today was to the nose wheel to make the plane track straighter on the ground.  It is pulling left much less now.  I also had the 60 size Shoestring with me and made one nice flight.  Before I took off for the second one, I checked the cowl and found that two of the lower hardwood mounting blocks were not fixed to the firewall anymore!  I don't get it because those were epoxied on by me.  I will get them stuck on good with CA this time, since it seems the epoxy might have not been compatible with whatever came stock on the firewall?  I thought I coated the whole firewall with epoxy too though.  Nobody else came to fly on the last day before more rain is supposed to arrive.

Big Shoe

Finally a day came that was not too windy to fly this week!  Flew my new 60 size GP Shoestring today, making 4 nice flights.  First one surprised me at the end as I came in on final, and discovered the engine stopped in the last few seconds.  Luckily the plane was set up for landing perfectly, and it just rolled to a stop after a gentle touchdown.  The Saito 100 is a great engine for this plane.  I might not need to add any tail weight at all if the plane keeps flying like it has been.  If I do add tail weight it would be to keep the plane from nosing over during taxiing, which it has done just once, but it is obvious to me that the tail is bouncy on the runway.  The Saito 100 was not making much smoke on  the first flight, so I opened the needle valve a couple clicks and it seems to be as powerful and makes a nice smoke trail now.  The plane flies great, and will be a keeper.  It could be better only if the roll coupling when rudder is applied in KE was less prominent.  Hmmm, would tail weight help reduce that roll coupling?  That might be another reason to add some sticky lead under the stab as an experiment at least.

2012 Additions to the Build Log

Due to way too many planes populating my garage, for 2012 I concentrated on flying and repairing more than expanding the air force.

09/24/2012:  My only addition so far this year is the 60 size GP Shoestring, the predecessor of the 46 size plane with fiberglass fuselage.  For power I installed the Saito 100.

Theoretically I have a subtraction from the air force because I gave Jeremy my GP Extra 300SP, but it will remain in my garage and take up space until he buys a house.