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!

POLAR FLY DAY!

On a cold day of mid 30F-40F a sizeable bunch of diehards turned out for our Polar Fly Day!  At least it was calm and sunny with great friends to warm our spirits.  Flew my Dirty birdy twice and it was great....so good to be rolling and flowing again!  Landings were good but on the first one, i noticed the plane not slowing as much nor sounding quite right....louder.  As i came in I saw the back half of the muffler hanging low.  Made a good landing but hit the kill switch to keep the plane on the runway.  Yup the back bolt fell off midair.   Forget if there were two to lock on.  Luckily Don had a bolt that fit, with nylon lock collar, so i used it.  After the next flight , it was still there, but i could see the back half vibrated to a new angle.  Tightened it more and hope that sticks.  That second landing was pure butter....greased on!

There were two crashes to start the New Year!  Pat Long drilled his new electric stik into the winter stream first.  Skimming the water on a pullout, the plane went up from there, stalled, and dove in from maybe 20'.  It just stuck like a lawn dart, tail and wings in the air. Didnt look too bad upon inspection at the field.  Then later, Cliff lost all control to his Uproar.  I think it totaled, luckily staying on the field and missing the houses to the west.  There is a vid of Gary helping Cliff by throwing the old Futaba 7 ch xmitter into the ground, ensuring it would not destroy another plane.  YIKES!😂  It was a fun day, more than ten of us out there to start 2019 right!

Stir Crazy!

Haven’t flown for so long!  It was grey and cool in West Salem with light drizzles now and then, but it was calm.   So I quickly charged packs for the Aerostar 40F and headed to Dallas.  The closer I got, the more it was raining.  Oh well, I was determined to fly after several weeks of no flying.  Doug B showed up and provided good company.  Got in two flights in pretty steady light rain.  Felt good that I never missed the runway on many touch and go’s from both directions.  The new grass is looking plush.  I got that out of my system, sorta.

Ode to the Professional Leaf Blower

Fall colors ablaze
Red orange yellow haze
Many large, many small
Falling leaves all

Yards sheathed with leaves
Bright colors turning brown
Crying to be picked up
Most to be blown

Some by oblivious neighbors
Most by the ubiquitous
Lawn maintenance laborers
Hired by those nice neighbors

Where do they go
Those leaves upon leaves
Blown into the street
Blown into my yard

Next week comes
Here they go again
Blowing the leaves
Rarely picking up

I pick my leaves up
Why don't they!
Heck i think i should
Just blow them too

After all most leaves
Are not really mine
They arrive in my yard
Some by the wind
Most blown by leaf blowers
Of the yard maintenance kind.

Sloppy buggers All of them
To just blow the leaves around
Rather than pick them up
They don’t mind because
It gives them all job security
Blow the leaves into another yard
Or on the street
Then another neighbors hired men
Do the same
And so it goes again and again.

Only I am the fool
Who does his own yard work
The fool who doesn’t blow
The leaves into the street or neighbors yard
The fool who picks up the leaves
To break the cycle of the evil yard men.

Flying with Tad!

It has been too long since flying helis with Tad but we finally got in another session today at Keizer.  We both got in four flights; Tad with his Goblin 570 and me with my 7HV.  Conditions were around 40F but no frost on the tables like yesterday, lol.  Air was calm, sky blue and clear!  Perfect too that nobody else was there.  As we finished a flight , the other guy would be ready to walk out to start his.  Tad flew his usual fancy self, lol, while I demonstrated my new found skill of inverted forward flight complete with turns!  Like I said yesterday, the progress feels wonderful.  We had a great time.   Oh, Tad tried flying with nitrile gloves on his last two flights, and he said they kept his hands warm enough with no effect on his touch on the sticks!  Cool find...i might try it if necessary this Winter.

And Tad scared the 💩 out of me a few times, when doing pyro flips and nose up funnels!  Thought he was gonna bury the 570 on the funnel recovery, arg.  But he said he was calm and just depended on muscle memory for recovery.  Lol, I would depend too....on Depends!

Major Heli flying progress today!

Gaui X5

Major accomplishments today in heli flying!  I did many flips to right and left to inverted and back out, plus I made a good five or six circles inverted to left and right.  All done high and I will work lower with time.  Feels so good.  I am gonna claim I can do forward inverted flight albeit high.  First 3 flights were with the X5, then 3 more with the 7HV.  Much easier to do with the 7HV due to ability to see it, and because it moves slower.  The X5 is pretty agile with its light disc loading.  WHAT A GREAT DAY FOR MY HELI FLYING!

Compass 7HV

Look at the clear sky!

I have had the goal of inverted forward flight complete with turns for a couple years and each year ended with little or no progress.  Just a month or more ago I decided to push harder by doing some sim time.  That built some muscle memory and today it all worked in the air with a real heli at risk, lol.  Like I said, it was high to be able to hopefully recover , but not so far I could not tell the heli attitude. Now I can work towards lower heights.  FEELS GREAT TO REACH THIS GOAL!  Now I will add stick time and get comfortable lower and connect maneuvers like in pattern plane flying...that is my goal for 2019!

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.