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.

Flight log: 07/04/2019

Happy 4th!  2 flights of the Yak 54.  Ran well, flew well, landed well.  Just wish it had more power.

RV-4 x3

I had three good flights with the RV-4 today...nothing fell off!  Engine ran well, everything went fine for a change.  Starting was a breeze, much quicker than the DLE-30 and DLE-55.  The 35 coughs after about 12 flips with choke on.  Then with choke off, it coughs on the 4th flip and starts on the 5th.  Pretty routine and reliable.  My flights all were around 9 minutes, and that only uses between 1/4 and 1/3 of the tank of gas.

Nobody else flew today.  Geno, Walt, and Doug B visited but did not fly.  Cliff came to get the OS 91 Surpass II started for the first time in what appeared to be a Sopwith Camel.  He was getting it prepped for Warbird Day this Saturday.  After some fuel tube switches, the engine started up and ran nicely.  Later Lonnie came but I did not stay long enough to see him fly.

I am getting used to the RV-4.  It will be a hoot.  I am getting comfier with it....loops, rolls, inverted, and flaps.  It must be driven down with flaps by good management of throttle.  Zero throttle does not work, the plane will stall.   I must be right on the back edge of the CG.  While inverted the plane does not need down elevator at all.  In fact I have to be sure on loops to kill throttle and feed in some up to get the plane to begin the dive for the second half of the loop.  A great day with the RV-4.

Flight log: 07/01/2019

The Aerostar 40F had five packs run through it today on a nice day at Dallas.  Originally I was going to fly the RV-4 but due to seeing winds at home, I changed to an expendable plane.  Flew great, by the last flight the wheels were both breaking!  At home I replaced them with nice aluminum wheels from an old parts box I got from Rudy with the Osiris.  The bearings however, are plastic.  One fit perfect, the other had to be drilled out to fit the axle.  Wheel collars,had slipping set screws, so I switched those out too.

Tad flew his Forza 700....had a great first flight.  On the second flight something gave out towards the end, the heli made a loud noise, then tad killed the motor and he had to keep the heli inverted as it landed pretty softly in the tall rye grass.  He investigated back at the truck and found that a tail rotor bearing was missing, so it must’ve gave out in flight.  Unfortunately the Forza 700 is not sold anymore and it’ll be impossible to find parts.  Looks like it’ll be stripped so the electronics can be reused in another heli, perhaps the new SAB Kraken?

Kaos and Stinger II

Wow we had a gorgeous morning with full on sunshine but mild temps...the kind where you start with a vest on, then end with a t-shirt.  Flew my Kaos once .  Made a perfect landing.  Gonna jinx it by saying I am learning to land it better so that I don’t nose it over in the grass after too fast an approach and touchdown.   Great fun doing the aerobatics and low passes.

Flew the  Stinger II twice...that sucker is a great plane.   Just wish it was bigger! Love how it still howls on fast passes powered by that YS63!  It can do all the pattern aerobatics like the Kaos but in a different, sport airframe.

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!

Flight log: 06/25/2019

 Yesterday  I maidened the Aichi Val.  It was good!  Pretty unremarkable actually.  The OS70 Surpass II ran very well, on the rich side purposely since it’s brand new.  First flight was pretty perfect with a long straight takeoff and nice climb out, a couple clicks of down trim, some rolls, loops, inverted
flight, and a good landing with no flaps.  Full six minutes.

The second flight was not so good.  Takeoff was too fast with too much power too soo, resulting in the button hook left on takeoff and steep climb out to near stall conditions, lol.  No prob, it recovered, and the flight was great until I ran out of fuel at about four minutes.  I had to keep the wings level and fly just above stall speed, luckily into the tall rye grass on the south side of our runway.  That tore the left LG pants apron off the wing, taking some wood with it.  Looked worse than it was, because after maybe two hours of work at home, it was all repaired and ready to go.