Flight log: 11/13/2021

 We had a miracle break in soggy weather this morning….calm, over 50F, no wind.  Flew my 7HV twice and Toledo Special twice.  Both fine.  Nice to have company this time…Lucas and Brad, plus Gary.  Last week, I flew once with my Aerostar 40F. Alone that day, I got in four long flights.  While I had the 7HV that day, I forgot the battery tray and couldn’t fly the heli.

Flight log for many days

July 5:  2 flights of Toledo Special with the new aluminum spinner provided by don....good flights.  Definitely the front bearing is loosening up and causing the beginnings of the tractor sound.  Gonna fly it til it cries to be replaced!

July 6:  Warbird Day at the Wingdingers!  3 flights of the P-47 and one with the Val.  Oh so fun!  Best flight was my single flight of the Val in tandem with Bob’s blue nose P-51.  We had so much fun flying formation and zipping fast low passes.  A couple guys told me that was the best entertainment of the day.

July 7:   I arrived first...flew the X5 twice and 7HV thrice, plus the Starstream four times.  It’s a funny lil fun plane that flies kinda touchy yet totally spirited and controllable.   I like it lots but just wish the  3s 2200 packs would provide longer flight times than 3.5 minutes!

 Tad flew his Avanti three times, twice with Quang and his Avanti.  They might awesome closeby, low, and fast passes over the runway.  Actually Quang was too close, lol, but all went well.  Those jets took off in nay 2/3 of the grass runway.  They landed well too, but the grass makes good brakes.  Might be tough to stop on a smooth surfaces runway.

Kaos and Toledo Special

This morning I flew the Kaos and Toledo Special once each.  Both are purring along and the flights were great. The only negative was the blue matching spinner on the  Toledo literally just exploded when i tried to start it with the Align starter.  I can only guess maybe the prop was loose.  Don is going to look in his stock and see if there is an aluminum spinner that will work.  The flights were fun, with many rolls, loops, inverted flight, etc.  The landings were happily nice and easy!

Nice January Day

A bunch of us Wingdingers flew at the Dallas field yesterday morning in clear but pretty cool skies, winds maybe 5mph first from the west then from the north.  I got the Toledo Special up three times and had nice flights.  Landings varied though.  First one good, second looked like three bounces, and last one best.  The plane flew well.  Noticed no rudder before first flight, as the plane would not steer.  I caught it quickly, pushed on the rudder a few times, and it woke up.  The servo might be getting old and tired.  Ken and Don each took one flight, electing to not fly when the wind changed to crosswind and they saw my crummy second landing, lol.  Doug flew his foam Corsair and was doing many landings for practice, but on one extended flight, the plane crashed pretty badly on the field to the west.  Totaled, but he says he has another NIB at home, lol!

Deja vu!

It has been a week since flying due to wind and rain and busyness.  It was foggy again, so we spent time huddled around the heater like hobos until the fog lifted enough to fly.  I got in 2 flights on the X5 plus 2 on the Toledo Special.  Nice day of flying with the die hards Don, Ken, Gary, and Bob.   I didn’t get to venture much with the heli due to the fog on the first flight, then discomfort on the 2nd...I think the X5 is too quick and small for the inverted forward flight attempts after my RF sim training.  Gonna try with the 7HV next time.

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.

Flight log 08/04/2018 and 08/06/2018

I flew Saturday at Keizer with Dave, Ted, and Dan.  Got in 2 flights on the G500, 2 on the G700, and 4 on the Aerostar 40F.  All flew well, no probs.  Got lower on inverted stuff, just trying to wiggle the tail more, stabilize, and do it again until I can turn while holding altitude and not dive or climb.  Tendency now is to climb for fear of diving all the way to the ground!

Today four of us from the Dallas club went to the McMinnville field to fly there.  Three of us are actually members...doug, Doug, and myself.  We had fun there....no locals showed up to fly...weird on a gorgeous day that was not too hot.  It was weird flying with a very closed in or confined feeling although it is not really that tight.  The brain just takes over.  Nobody crashed, we hit the runway on landings, and we hopefully did not overfly the owners fence around his home.  I flew the Toledo Special and Kaos twice each.  Nice to have the Kaos stay upright through complete landing rollouts, lol.   No pics..I had my iPhone but as per usual the darn thing said storage full fool!

Here is one pic I snapped at home...my new hat for $20 plus ID badge for $5.  Badge is nice 3D printed one that costs almost nothing to print, lol.

Two more days of flying

I flew yesterday at Dallas.  Got the Toledo Special up for three nice flights.  Still movin and groovin good with Saito 82a and airframe holding up well enough.

Today I took only electrics to be able to fly early and often.  The Aerostar 76 went airborne for two flights while the Aerostar 40F had four in really clear skies and little to no wind.  A good day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!!!!

Been too lazy to enter blog reports , but indeed i have been flying since the last entry on 10/25/2017! I was however sick a bunch of times and did not fly as frequently, but i have been flying almost  weekly.  Suffice to say i flew mostly planes while sick, and i flew mostly at the Dallas club with the old gang that is super entertaining.  I will just pick up now and report that i flew the Polar Fly Day, New Years Day, with the Keizer guys.  Anticipating cold conditions i just flew the Aerostar 40F, using all five packs that i have for that plane.  It turned out so nice at the field with sun and almost no wind that it was very comfy, and i should have flown a nitro or gasser!  The turnout was great, and so was the flying and lunch...chili, hot dogs, fried chicken, corn bread, chips, desserts.  The open fire pit kept warm those that found it too cold....not me.

Then today, Jan 6, i flew again and was all alone most of the time.  I wanted it that way though because i needed solitude to fly my X5 for the first time in months.  Got four flights in without incident, yay!  After that a visiting flyer from Florence, OR showed up and i invited him to fly as my guest.  He had a foamie Cirrus SR-22 and flew it well enough.  At that time i flew my Toledo Special a couple flights.  All went well with that plane, as groovy as ever.

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!

Awesome Thursday Flying

Gorgeous morning for flying!  Flew my Toledo Special twice, as well as my Stinger II twice.  Both engines ran flawlessly and the planes were a joy to fly all over the sky, especially low and fast strafing passes over the runway and field.  I was surprised the YS 63 in the Stinger ran so well and steady because it ran pretty good at home the other day, but it never keeps a good tune from day to day.  Hope it retains this for the next time!

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!

Flight Log: 11/02/2016

Great day of flying with the field all to myself.  Couldn't figure why no one else came, with temp over 50F, dead calm, mostly sunny skies, no rain at all.  Oh well, go figure!  Enjoyed 5 flights of the 7HV and 2 with the Toledo Special.  That runway officially sucks now with all dead grass being taken over basically by lumps of soil brought up by the night crawlers every where on the field.  Worse it has ever been in my 10 years of membership!  My guess is it will be like this all Winter since the powers that be started the whole reseed operation too late in the Fall.  No worries, the helipad is fine!  I will stick to helis most of  the time anyway.  Got in lots of inverted stuff, and even did some coordinated half circles.

Weekend flying

Yesterday was the KRCA annual picnic and fly-in, so I took just my Toledo Special and Aerostar 40 to fly.  Got 3 flights on the Aerostar, and maybe 4 on the TS.  I forget!  Hamburgers and hot dogs were great!

This morning I flew helis with Tad.  I charged all 14 of my 4000 mah packs and got in 2 flights on the X5, 2 on the G500, 2 on the G630, and 3 on the 7HV.  When Tad came at 8AM I had 4 flights in on the smaller helis, and then we took turns from then on.  Tad had 4 flights on the beautiful Forza 700.  I did a lot of inverted practice again.  Keep on piling on the time and something is bound to improve, lol.  Tad said my pullouts from inverted were lower than ever, so that shows more confidence.  Or stupidity!  Great fun flying with Tad in the perfect weather, with no interruptions from JB or other fliers today.

G500 G630 TS

Looks like a crazy code in that title!  Yesterday,  I flew the Goblin 500 4 times, then the Goblin 630 3 times, and finished with 2 flights of the Toledo Special.  Great day again, and the norm seems to be that nobody else shows up.  JB was there with one machine vacuuming the sodfarm but it was no big deal with the long circuits the tractor took across the field and back.  Easy to take off and land the TS when the tractor was away.  Made heli progress in inverted flight, slow progress, but good.  I am able to keep the heli at one altitude better, and doing many pyros, full or partial and coming out in a different direction.  Also am recovering to upright with forward, back, and side flips.  It's giving me practice in coming out of forward inverted flight with slower rolls too, which helps to construct a Cuban 8 or Immelman turn later.

Sweet Seven

I expected to do lots of plane flying, so I only took 8 packs for helis.  That yielded two flights each on the X5, G500, and G630.  The 630 was good to have out again.  Ever since I maidened the 7HV, the 630 has been sitting at home.  It was very cool weather and overcast, so chilly.  First time since Spring wearing a jacket, arg!  Had fun also with the Toledo Special but just for a single flight.  JB brought out the mower and I went home before 10AM!

Jeez is this really Winter?

Wow for another fine mid Winter day with 50F when I headed to the field in sunshine, some clouds, no wind.  As good as it gets, actually better, haha.  Flew my Toledo Special about 4 flights; still smooth running and a groovy airplane in the sky.  Lots of loops, inverted flight, Cuban 8's, rolls, and low slow circles.  Very gratifying.

Flew my Gaui X5 for 4 packs.  That flew fine as well.  Tad came and he said I am getting "ballsy", so I think that is a very good thing, lol.

He flew his G570 first and it flew well.  Needs to lower the gain due to a small tail waggle caused by changing to a bigger pinion on the motor.  Flew great though.  THEN he flew his G500 and was doing so very well...lots of nice continuation moves with inverted flight and also tail first flight.  Lots for me to aspire to.  BUT on one flight, he was up around 60' inverted and power went out.  He had no motor but still controlled the servos for a very flat inverted landing at as slow a speed as he could get it.  Landing was on the north field so maybe that helped cushion the crash because only the canopy was broken.  The mains did not even break!  That does not mean they are still usable, but I thought surely they would have snapped.  He will do a full autopsy at home to see what needs to be replaced, but it appears minimal at first inspection.

Toledo is Special again

My Toledo Special behaved badly at WOK yesterday.  Last night I re-plumbed the fuel tank with new fuel lines, repositioning lines, tightening the stopper, plus I reset the idle mixture screw on the Saito 82a to factory setting.  Today I had to retune the engine and ended up turning the idle screw in  or leaner at least a couple turns, so maybe it is back to where it was, but it ran good again.  With a little more fiddling of that screw, the high needle, and the throttle trim on the xmitter, it seems to be running pretty nicely...rich, smokey, and quiet.  Power seems to be ok but it has been peppier at times in the past.  I will take adjustments slow to fine tune it.  After one deadstick this morning, I had a couple full flights with power on landings, what a novelty, lol.

I ran just one pack through the X5 due to incoming showers.  Will use the other packs hopefully tomorrow before the monthly meeting at the field, wind permitting.

TOO Few "Wings Over Keizer"

The turnout of pilots today was deplorable.  Me, Mike, Brandon, and Ken.  At least Ken came and flew, gotta give him credit.  I flew as much as all of them combined.  And that was even with the Toledo Special not completing a single flight due to a funky running engine.  I would say Mike had two flights in two hours due to a balky engine in the Stearman.  He flew the UcanDo once and the Stearman finally once.  Brandon had two flights due to various things bad in their planes.  Ken might have had 6 flights.  I think I had over 10 on the T-28 and SNAFU, with two partials on the Toledo Special.  We never had four up at once with only four pilots, two of whom had bad engines or other issues.  What a farce, very disappointing club turnout.  My opinion is skip it next year, but that won't happen.  So then we need much stronger coordination and communication to ensure good participation.  And maybe the guys just don't want to support the event.  There are more guys on a regular day of weekend of flying.  Venting!  

Ken's planes.

Jon's planes.

Brandon's planes.

Mikes planes.

Noon show was electric jet by Brandon, Pawnee smoke by Mike, Radian crash on launch by Bob Ross, Pattern flight by Rudy's friend.  Only a half hour show.  Just ok. While the pattern flight was cool to me personally, I think most of the public would think it was way too far out and high.  That is the impression I got when I flew the demo in past years.  The overall noon show was too short due to a lack of pilots, two of whom bailed at the eleventh hour and left the whole club in the lurch as far as I am concerned.  On the other hand I do not know with certainty the level of coordination completed with these pilots.

Pat Harris and his 2m pattern plane.

Good crowd on hand and I felt bad for them to have to watch the same guys fly over and over and over, and that was mostly me and Ken.  I would have got bored and left if I was them.  

The hot dog lunch was not even free for KRCA members.  I slaved away and had to buy my own dog!  Lol, just venting.  The weather was good and sunny and HOT, the wind was light, and the crowd in Ron's estimation might have hit around 150.  We need to do better as a club to make this a hit with the public, and we need buy-in from our own members.  The apathy is depressing.

Display on the runway.

Display on the runway.

Display on the runway.