2015 Flying Season
2015-10-23 With the outdoor flying season winding down or at least becoming less comfortable my son and I went out to the field at 4:00pm today. It was beautiful with clear skies and just a light, steady breeze coming from the east, right down the airstrip. We each flew two batteries each (around ten minute flights) with each of our planes. I flew my Super Cub and Apprentice. It was a just plain relaxing and fun, low stress flying experience. And a new fellow stopped by, referred to us by our local HobbyTown in Lake Geneva who have been very supportive of our club and tell anyone who is buying a plane about us. This gentleman had purchased a Super Cub from them about a month before and taught himself to fly as best he could. All went well until he hit a tomb stone! But the only damage was a wing sheared off which looked repairable to Charles and me. But wings are pretty inexpensive too so he clearly should be able to get it back in the air. We were able to share a few simple tips that should help him fly more "safely!" One of the most helpful I think is to always input flight joystick movements from the center or neutral position by "bumping" the control a little and then letting it go back to neutral rather than holding it. That is what helped me more than any other tip when I was learning to fly. Hopefully Frank will join the club.
2015-10-07 Went out to the field around 2:15pm. It was dead calm, sunny with clouds and about 68 degrees, perfect flying day. Two guys were already there flying glow planes. I had my Apprentice and Super Cub with me. Wanted to practice landings to see if I can improve my ability to come in on a nice glide path to the runway and avoid those sudden meetings with the ground that come way to natural for me. Flew the Apprentice through two batteries, probably eight or so landings and all pretty good. Then flew the Super Cub, again "mostly" through two batteries, maybe six or so landings. About 3:00 the wind suddenly kicked up, fairly gusty and mostly from the East. The Apprentice handled the winds very well thanks to is size and stabilization software. The Super Cub was a bit more challenging since it is both smaller and has no stabilization. But all went well until the last approach where I was not lined up where I thought I was and parked it in the top of a pine tree about ten feet off the ground and right at the northwest corner of the airstrip. The only damage was the prop so it will definitely fly again.
2015-09-26 This morning was an absolutely perfect flying morning. Clear sky, upper 60s dead calm until about 10:30. One other club member was at the field when I arrived at 8:30. He was flying a micro biplane. Made me want to get my Micro Fokker Eindecker back in the air! I flew my supper cub for a while and enjoyed that. It was good to be back in the air after weeks doing other things. Others started arriving around 9:00 or so and my noon we had about fifteen people there, most flying.
The day was probably made by John flying his new FMS 1700mm F4U-Blue PNP (V2). Now that is a real plane! It was a maiden flight for him and went beautifully. He did lose a tire on takeoff but after about ten minutes in the air brought it in for a perfect landing with no damage at all! He did find the tire so all is well.
After flying the Super Cub I put the wing on my Great Planes .40 sized Escapade, checked and adjusted the servos and ran up the engine, An ASP FS-52 4 stroke. All seemed well so off it went. It took off nicely. It took me a few minutes to settle down and not over control it as it is VERY responsive. After a good simple flight around the filed a number of times I brought it back in for a landing which was a bit fast and rough but no damage. Later I flew it again and again after adding 30%Expo to the flight controls. That helped a lot and I flew it about ten minutes, still pretty conservatively but just trying to get comfortable with it. Then later still I took it up again. You know how you have that feeling you probably shouldn't..? But I did. Smooth takeoff, good flight, actually chasing my son around in his Escapade MX, the first time I ever tried that and it was just plain fun.
He decided to do a number of touch and go's. So I decided to do the same, only NOT touching down, simply doing an approach followed by a low pass and then climb out again. That too went well for probably four or five approaches. Then, I slowed a bit too much, should have landed, but instead tried to climb out and stalled in the process, doing a cartwheel. The firewall broke loose with consequent related damage. I haven't studied it real well but I think it is repairable without buying another fuselage. The moral...? Don't take that last flight! :-)
I also brought the repaired AT-6 to the field today. The engine ran well so I decided to take it up. Well, no damage but I couldn't get it off the grass field! It tried real hard but just couldn't get to flying speed with that little .15 engine. I plan to take it out to the Bong State Park where they have a paved strip and try it again. It certainly is not overpowered!
But it was a good day all around and in addition I have a project to work on!
2015-08-26 Great afternoon/evening at the Silver Eagles RC Flying Club field today. Had at least a dozen people with four or five aircraft in the air much of the time. Two glow planes were flown and one gas plane, the rest were electric. Only one mishap when a plane apparently lost connection with its transmitter and wend down. But fortunately it went down in a an area with tall grass and weeds so no damage was done to the plane!
I flew my old electric Super Cub and P-51. I had my Apprentice in the car but had so much fun watching all the action that I didn't even get it out of the car! And I had forgotten how much fun the Super Cub is to fly. I didn't need one more plane.
The day was probably made by John flying his new FMS 1700mm F4U-Blue PNP (V2). Now that is a real plane! It was a maiden flight for him and went beautifully. He did lose a tire on takeoff but after about ten minutes in the air brought it in for a perfect landing with no damage at all! He did find the tire so all is well.
After flying the Super Cub I put the wing on my Great Planes .40 sized Escapade, checked and adjusted the servos and ran up the engine, An ASP FS-52 4 stroke. All seemed well so off it went. It took off nicely. It took me a few minutes to settle down and not over control it as it is VERY responsive. After a good simple flight around the filed a number of times I brought it back in for a landing which was a bit fast and rough but no damage. Later I flew it again and again after adding 30%Expo to the flight controls. That helped a lot and I flew it about ten minutes, still pretty conservatively but just trying to get comfortable with it. Then later still I took it up again. You know how you have that feeling you probably shouldn't..? But I did. Smooth takeoff, good flight, actually chasing my son around in his Escapade MX, the first time I ever tried that and it was just plain fun.
He decided to do a number of touch and go's. So I decided to do the same, only NOT touching down, simply doing an approach followed by a low pass and then climb out again. That too went well for probably four or five approaches. Then, I slowed a bit too much, should have landed, but instead tried to climb out and stalled in the process, doing a cartwheel. The firewall broke loose with consequent related damage. I haven't studied it real well but I think it is repairable without buying another fuselage. The moral...? Don't take that last flight! :-)
I also brought the repaired AT-6 to the field today. The engine ran well so I decided to take it up. Well, no damage but I couldn't get it off the grass field! It tried real hard but just couldn't get to flying speed with that little .15 engine. I plan to take it out to the Bong State Park where they have a paved strip and try it again. It certainly is not overpowered!
But it was a good day all around and in addition I have a project to work on!
2015-08-26 Great afternoon/evening at the Silver Eagles RC Flying Club field today. Had at least a dozen people with four or five aircraft in the air much of the time. Two glow planes were flown and one gas plane, the rest were electric. Only one mishap when a plane apparently lost connection with its transmitter and wend down. But fortunately it went down in a an area with tall grass and weeds so no damage was done to the plane!
I flew my old electric Super Cub and P-51. I had my Apprentice in the car but had so much fun watching all the action that I didn't even get it out of the car! And I had forgotten how much fun the Super Cub is to fly. I didn't need one more plane.
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2015-08-22 Took my Apprentice to the flying field this morning. Turned out it was NOT a calm day but very gusty winds seemingly from all directions! Took the Apprentice up and it handled the winds fairly well so decided to mount my GoPro Hero 3+Silver camera on it and have another go. I mounted the GoPro on the top of the wing so it would get a good view, which it did. But it had a pretty dramatic affect on the handling of the plane, particularly in the strong gusty winds. Here is the resulting video. I edited the actual landing out as it hit the ground and popped the camera off which went rolling along the grass. No harm was done to plane or camera.
This is my first attempt at making an inflight video. It was fun to see the result. But I do need to find a better way to mount it. |
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2015-08-05 Went out to the flying field this afternoon with the intention of flying my AT-6. But after a fairly good takeoff run I stalled it on lift off and did a cartwheel. No major damage but needs some work before the next attempt. I think I lifted it off too soon so it wasn't really up to flying speed yet. Another day another time!
Flew the PT-40 twice. First time was uneventful. Second time, not so much. Engine stalled on climb out. Fortunately It went into some tall grass and damage is minimal, mostly to the Monocot covering on the wings. For an update on this see the PT-40 page.
I need to figure out how to tune that OS48 engine. It has an air bleed idle adjustment and I'm pretty sure that is not set right. I messed with it after finally getting the ASP FS52 engine adjusted "perfectly" on his new plane. The key was to set the low speed needle so when you pinched the incoming fuel line it sped up just a bit and then died in about a second or two. I tried to duplicate that on the OF48 but can't seem to find that point with the air bleed idle adjustment.
Flew the PT-40 twice. First time was uneventful. Second time, not so much. Engine stalled on climb out. Fortunately It went into some tall grass and damage is minimal, mostly to the Monocot covering on the wings. For an update on this see the PT-40 page.
I need to figure out how to tune that OS48 engine. It has an air bleed idle adjustment and I'm pretty sure that is not set right. I messed with it after finally getting the ASP FS52 engine adjusted "perfectly" on his new plane. The key was to set the low speed needle so when you pinched the incoming fuel line it sped up just a bit and then died in about a second or two. I tried to duplicate that on the OF48 but can't seem to find that point with the air bleed idle adjustment.
7/11/15 This morning was a good morning at the flying field. About a dozen showed up with more planes than that ranging in size from a small hobbyzone champ to a large Sig Astro Hog. One pilot, my son, did a maiden flight with his RV4. All went well. We still have to figure out how to adjust the engine, at 4 stroke Magnum .52 sized one mounted inverted. There is something we don't know about adjusting them while inverted.
I flew my PT-40 twice with no mishaps, just not-so-impressive landings. Seems I always come in too hot and then "stick" the nose wheel. I planned to fly both my Great Planes Spitfire and AT-6. But fussing with the riding mower again used up too much time so I brought them home un-flown yet one more time! Perhaps I was once again spared some heartache!
I flew my PT-40 twice with no mishaps, just not-so-impressive landings. Seems I always come in too hot and then "stick" the nose wheel. I planned to fly both my Great Planes Spitfire and AT-6. But fussing with the riding mower again used up too much time so I brought them home un-flown yet one more time! Perhaps I was once again spared some heartache!
6/30/15 I'm so thankful for my trusty Great Planes PT-40. It just flies! I've had several of my other planes at the field intending to fly but due to various "issues" none have been in the air yet. But to their shame, the PT-40 has flown many times with no hitches at all. It is, kind of like my Apprentice, a go-to plane, always ready to go when you want it to! And since putting on the "sport" wing it is really fun to fly, almost relaxing!
6/4/15 Being in a flying club involves more than flying. Last evening at our Silver Eagles RC Flying Club, for most of us it involved mowing and trimming the field, repairing one of our riding mowers and just a bit of flying for a couple of folks. But perhaps that will mean we can just fly on Saturday!
5/27/15 After several quite rainy days, including heavy rains this morning, four of us met at the flying field around 5:30pm. The nearly half day of sun and nearly clear skies warmed things up nicely and dried off the grass. You couldn't ask for a nicer evening to fly. I got two very good flights in with my PT-40 and my son had one good flight with his SIG Astro Hog and did a successful maiden flight with his new Great Planes Escapade MX. He put an OS 55AX engine in the Escapade. That is a very nice running engine with plenty of power for this model. I almost took my Cessna 170 out but decided I didn't need the pressure of a maiden flight on this rebuilt plane yet!
2015-05-23 Today was a perfect flying day as was yesterday. We got out to the field in the afternoon yesterday and after mowing the airstrip and pit area got a few flights in. I flew my PT-40 and Super Cub. The wind gusts were a bit rough on the Super Cub but the PT-40 handled it quite well. Today I flew two ten minute flights with the PT-40 and a couple batteries each in the Super Cub and my Horizon Hobby P-51. The P-51 has a 39 inch wing span and is quite responsive to the controls. It handled the gusts pretty well. Made me want to get my Great Planes Spitfire in the air again. Have to replace one aileron servo because one stripped out.
I intended to fly my Great Planes Escapade 40 yesterday but realized I had not checked the CG after replacing the 2 stroke engine with an OS FS-48 4 stroke. When I checked it this morning before going to the field it was to the rear about 1 inch beyond specification. Didn't have time to fix that so it has yet to fly this season. Once I get it up and flying successfully along with the Great Planes Combat Spitfire I'll be ready to have a go with the Fokker V.23 and the Texan. I want to be as comfortable flying again as possible before risking them. Too much work in them!
I intended to fly my Great Planes Escapade 40 yesterday but realized I had not checked the CG after replacing the 2 stroke engine with an OS FS-48 4 stroke. When I checked it this morning before going to the field it was to the rear about 1 inch beyond specification. Didn't have time to fix that so it has yet to fly this season. Once I get it up and flying successfully along with the Great Planes Combat Spitfire I'll be ready to have a go with the Fokker V.23 and the Texan. I want to be as comfortable flying again as possible before risking them. Too much work in them!
2015-05-16 Our Silver Eagles RC Flying Club is up and active at last again after the long winter. The field has been mowed several times and several of us have been flying a few times. Until yesterday I had flown only electrics but yesterday I took my Great Planes PT-40 to the field after spending a couple hours on Thursday firing up its engine along with the engines on a couple other planes. The wind was probably around 8 or 10 mph and somewhat gusty but mostly from the west right down the airstrip. Over the winter I built a new wing for it, choosing this time their sport wing rather than the trainer wing which I originally built. The trainer has considerable dihedral which gives the plane a self leveling tentency. The sport wing has much less meaning that if you give it right or left aileron tilting the plane to the right or left it tends to just stay in that attitude.
It took me a while yesterday to get it trimmed out as it wanted to go left and climb pretty badly but once I got that adjusted it flew very nicely. I have to say I was not expecting the change in turning response to be as great as it was with this new wing but once I got used to it I really like it. With the other wing you have to consciously keep it in a turn. With this one you have to remember to take it out of a turn! It was fun to hear the sound of that little OS FS-48 4 stroke engine again and smell the aroma of glow fuel, not to mention getting some all over the place and having to wipe down the plane after the two 7 minute flights.
My son flew his SIG Astro Hog a couple times too. It is a beautiful flying and sounding plane with its "big" Magnum XL 91 RFS Blue 4-stroke engine purring away up front. And being a perfectionist he made it look nice too with Miss Piggy at the controls.
Today, according to my son, was apparently a perfect day for flying at the field but my wife and I took two of our grandkids to the Milwaukee Museum Overnight last night, which except for (not) sleeping on the cold, hard floor without a pad or mattress! Actually it was a ball! Perhaps a reminder that although building and flying and talking with friends about RC planes is a good thing, other things are perhaps even more important and can be really fun too. After all who said us old folk should ALWAYS get a good night's sleep in a comfortable bed!
It took me a while yesterday to get it trimmed out as it wanted to go left and climb pretty badly but once I got that adjusted it flew very nicely. I have to say I was not expecting the change in turning response to be as great as it was with this new wing but once I got used to it I really like it. With the other wing you have to consciously keep it in a turn. With this one you have to remember to take it out of a turn! It was fun to hear the sound of that little OS FS-48 4 stroke engine again and smell the aroma of glow fuel, not to mention getting some all over the place and having to wipe down the plane after the two 7 minute flights.
My son flew his SIG Astro Hog a couple times too. It is a beautiful flying and sounding plane with its "big" Magnum XL 91 RFS Blue 4-stroke engine purring away up front. And being a perfectionist he made it look nice too with Miss Piggy at the controls.
Today, according to my son, was apparently a perfect day for flying at the field but my wife and I took two of our grandkids to the Milwaukee Museum Overnight last night, which except for (not) sleeping on the cold, hard floor without a pad or mattress! Actually it was a ball! Perhaps a reminder that although building and flying and talking with friends about RC planes is a good thing, other things are perhaps even more important and can be really fun too. After all who said us old folk should ALWAYS get a good night's sleep in a comfortable bed!
2015-05-14 I've been out flying several times this past week as the weather has finally warmed considerably. So far I've only flown my Hobbyzone Super Cub (no longer available) and E-flite Apprentice S 15e with SAFE. They are both very forgiving and electric so no fuss to get them in the air. Well, almost no fuss. The Super Cub is highly altered thanks to a number of "mishaps" and rebuilds. It now has a much more powerful brushless motor, carries a 2200 mAH battery instead of the original 1300 one and has ailerons made from foam board.
A couple days ago I had it out at Bong State Recreation Area here in SE Wisconsin where they have a nice pair of paved runways. It flew very nicely for the five guys there to watch. But my landing was not "spot on" and it tipped over in the grass next to the runway, breaking the prop. Not a big deal as I have a number of spares. But I decided to put a standard electric prop instead of a the much lighter slow flier version that broke. So today, failing to check the CG with the considerably heavier prop, it did a cartwheel when attempting to take off from our club grass strip. Damage was limited to a broken elevator clevis. I didn't have a spare with me so the poor thing is grounded again! But the Apprentice flew nicely, even though it was pretty gust up above the tree tops. But it is so nice to be outside again! Can't wait to smell the glow fuel!
A couple days ago I had it out at Bong State Recreation Area here in SE Wisconsin where they have a nice pair of paved runways. It flew very nicely for the five guys there to watch. But my landing was not "spot on" and it tipped over in the grass next to the runway, breaking the prop. Not a big deal as I have a number of spares. But I decided to put a standard electric prop instead of a the much lighter slow flier version that broke. So today, failing to check the CG with the considerably heavier prop, it did a cartwheel when attempting to take off from our club grass strip. Damage was limited to a broken elevator clevis. I didn't have a spare with me so the poor thing is grounded again! But the Apprentice flew nicely, even though it was pretty gust up above the tree tops. But it is so nice to be outside again! Can't wait to smell the glow fuel!
3/11/15 Today my thermometer registered 70 degrees. I know that was not the official high but it was VERY NICE. It occurred to me that the it really won't be long until we can go back to the field and stir the air with our electric motors, glow engines and props! Think I'll charge a couple batteries so nothing delays heading out. Just a week ago it seemed impossible.... I am so grateful for warmer weather. Think I'll fly my simulator for a few minutes before turning in.
4/18/2015 Yesterday my son and I went out to our flying field. It was absolutely beautiful - the field, the weather.... My son flew his two WWII war birds and got them both back safely. He said it was a little breezy and gusty but not too bad. I decided to fly my trusty old hobbyzone Super Cub. It has been significantly modified from the original with flaps, a bigger brushless motor and a 2200MAh battery. I did a pre-field checkout at home and then just before takeoff did a pre-flight check to make sure all the control surfaces did what I expected and then put it on the runway. Applied full power and it immediately lifted off as I expected but what I didn't expect was that it would dive to the right into the bramble bushes along the side of the runway. Total flight time? About 3 seconds. The cowl was destroyed along with the prop. When I got it back to the flight line and did another check of everything I realized that the rudder was reversed! Later reflection brought to mind that I had changed the receiver over the winter and apparently failed to check EVERYTHING. Lesson learned. Triple check control movements for both direction and deflection, especially after winter!
Damage was limited to the propeller and cowl and motor mount, all very inexpensive pieces. Unfortunately the motor mount (which I replaced once before) was still affixed to the plane so firmly that I was afraid I would ruin the fuselage if I forced it off. So I fabricated an aluminum plate which I screwed onto the motor mount and then mounted the motor to that. Still need to do some trimming of the cowl so it clears the motor but I think it will work fine.
I love this plane. It just keeps on giving.... It looks like it has been in battle, but that just makes it look prettier to me! It was my first successful plane about three years ago so I'm pretty attached to it.
After the crash I took my Apprentice up and flew it for quite a while including two takeoffs and landings with no incident. It feels good to be back in the air after the long winter.
4/18/2015 Yesterday my son and I went out to our flying field. It was absolutely beautiful - the field, the weather.... My son flew his two WWII war birds and got them both back safely. He said it was a little breezy and gusty but not too bad. I decided to fly my trusty old hobbyzone Super Cub. It has been significantly modified from the original with flaps, a bigger brushless motor and a 2200MAh battery. I did a pre-field checkout at home and then just before takeoff did a pre-flight check to make sure all the control surfaces did what I expected and then put it on the runway. Applied full power and it immediately lifted off as I expected but what I didn't expect was that it would dive to the right into the bramble bushes along the side of the runway. Total flight time? About 3 seconds. The cowl was destroyed along with the prop. When I got it back to the flight line and did another check of everything I realized that the rudder was reversed! Later reflection brought to mind that I had changed the receiver over the winter and apparently failed to check EVERYTHING. Lesson learned. Triple check control movements for both direction and deflection, especially after winter!
Damage was limited to the propeller and cowl and motor mount, all very inexpensive pieces. Unfortunately the motor mount (which I replaced once before) was still affixed to the plane so firmly that I was afraid I would ruin the fuselage if I forced it off. So I fabricated an aluminum plate which I screwed onto the motor mount and then mounted the motor to that. Still need to do some trimming of the cowl so it clears the motor but I think it will work fine.
I love this plane. It just keeps on giving.... It looks like it has been in battle, but that just makes it look prettier to me! It was my first successful plane about three years ago so I'm pretty attached to it.
After the crash I took my Apprentice up and flew it for quite a while including two takeoffs and landings with no incident. It feels good to be back in the air after the long winter.