Busy Day at the Field!

Yesterday was a beautiful flying day with light wind changing directions all the time, over 45F, and partly sunny skies!  That brought out a lot of flyers...me, Tad, Jer, Dean, Mike, Joe, Bob Ross, Anthony, Quang, and the Kudna cousins.  That's the most we've had out at once this year.  It was good to see.  I took my SNAFU and Imagine 50 out, putting in at least 4 flights on each.  I think I burned almost 1/3 gal of fuel!  Joe and I flew the SNAFU and Reactor, doing some lowest and slowest flybys for much entertainment and fun, haha.  Tad flew his AW Extra 300, and Jer flew his Extra.  One stack on his Pitts muffler fell off in midair...which Brandon observed.  He has sharp eyes.  Rachel found it in the field on the ensuing hunt!  Needle in the haystack!! 

Worst news of the day was that Dean totalled his AW Edge 540 due to unknown reasons.  He said the radio did not respond.  A gang of us went out to gather the shards in bags.  It is definitely not repairable.

Tad's plane flew fine but did not start easily.  The engine often barks then dies after the prop flip.  He will check out adjustments to the two adjustment screws.  Mike and Joe suggested filling the hole in the butterfly so that the engine will suck gas better.  Other than that, the plane flew great and sounded quieter and smoother with the new Mezjlik prop on it.  Tad still needs to program some down elevator when in either KE...the plane likes to fly to the canopy when top rudder is given.

This was the first time for Jer and Tad to meet Quang, who is a highly skilled RC helicopter pilot.  Quang brought along a new electric chopper, very large like his 90 size nitro one.  This new one is flybarless!  Anyway, he put on a couple very incredible flights with it that thoroughly impressed Jer and Tad, and all the rest of us as well.  Also, he and Anthony brought their electric Funjets that wowed us with crazy quick speed.  Jer flew Anthony's 2 jets, the old and the newer stiffer and heavier one that seems to be even quicker than his older version.

It was a good day with lots of good company and a wide variety of planes to entertain all!  I was at the field from around 9:30 till 2:30PM!

Flight Log: 04/08/2011

Expecting good weather, I took both the Toledo Special and the SNAFU out.  I was not disappointed because I was greeted with sunny skies, light wind not exceeding a few mph out of the North (for a change), and good company...Mike and Dean.  I got in 3 flights on the TS and 4 on the SNAFU.  Had one dead stick on the SNAFU, but landed on the runway AOK.  Great fun as usual.  Something funny happened at the end of the day.  Mike departed before me, and when I went to fly my TS just one more time, I could not find my transmitter!  Holy Moly!!!  Mike and I were talking about xmitter cases and he opened mine, so I thought he put the xmitter into the case.  NOPE...it turns out he walked off with it and took it home.  By the time I got home, there was a message on my phone that he just discovered he had my xmitter in addition to his, hahaha!  He brought it over later in the day, and I showed him the AW Ultimate and my squadron in the garage.

Lake Tranquility

Felt the creative painting urge after watching Bob Ross (twice yesterday), so I borrowed some ideas from his show and made my own version.  The sky is made up of yellow ochre and black only!  Making grassy meadows and bright bushes is my current nemesis, so I practiced.  I scraped the lower left area off twice, I think, before settling for what is drying now, lol.  Also scraped part of the mountain off a couple times to make myself more satisfied too.  The overall feel is very calm and tranquil...I am satisfied for now.  Next one will be better!

Flight Log: 04/05/2011

The forecast was wrong this AM.  Instead of windy and rain, it was calm and sunny.  I headed out but the wind began to build on my way to the field.  Still I had about 4 flights with the SNAFU, and had a ball.  Wind was directly out of the south, so I used the short N/S runway.  Landings were fun, coming in slow with hardly any ground speed over the dirt road, and having a very short rollout after touchdown.  Don't know if the throttle has always been this way, but I had to use all my trim to get the engine to stay at low idle.  I adjusted the control rod at the field, to have a good idle at neutral trim again.  Maybe this will stop the engine from dying during another funfly event and getting zero score, lol.

Flight Log: 04/03/2011

Today marks the 4th year to the date of my last day of work.   I celebrated in fine style by flying most of the day, lol.  Luck was with us, and we had good weather, the few that showed up.  I flew my Yak 54 for 5 flights, all without mishap.  I leaned out the OS 120 Surpass III today a bit, and she responded with nice power.  I do think the front bearing is wearing out because the plane is starting to sound like tractor, like when the bearings in my Saito 82a (T-28) went out.  Still, the engine ran strong and the Yak had great pull through the verticals.  Lots of nice stall turns, avalanches, cuban 8's, reverse cuban 8', and a towering vertical 8.  Also did the requisite slow rolls and 4pt rolls.  Landings were all light and spot on.

Who else flew?  Joe with his ME-108 and Ultra Stick, Doug with his Nexstar, the Kudna cousins with all kinds of planes, including some from Joe...Sportster, Jaguar, Tsunami, Cessna.  Mike flew his Giant Sportster and Uproar.  Not a single crash by anyone today!  Only mishap...the muffler came off Mike's Sportster while in flight.  Brandon found it easily.

Flight Log: 04/01/2011

The trick was on us today.  Tad, Mike and I went to fly and were disappointed to find the JB field being sprayed with weed killer.  The north field was also being sprayed by about 10 guys with hand held sprayers following a large tank.  Mike and I got a couple flights in when workers on both fields were far away, but we gave up and went home rather quickly.  The stink of the chemicals in the air was not that pleasant anyway.  My two flights with the Yak 54 felt good though!  No probs except for loose wheelpants.  Landings were light as a feather.

Hangar Hangers

Too many planes were on the garage floor, so I bought more shelving brackets and pipe insulation, and attached them to the wall per the pic.  The storage on the left side of the pic is the new stuff...it has 3 fuselages on it.  I still have the Yak 54 on the floor and the SNAFU on the workbench.  Additionally I have the 50cc planes to store somewhere...the Extra is on the floor next to the car, and the Ultimate is still in the bonus room!  SOMEDAY I have to part with some planes to get any new ones, but I love em all!