2017 Flying Season

Summer is almost gone!

2017-09-02 I had my first flight today since in July 12 when we awoke to water flooding into our home. The largest amount of rain overnight had hit our area and our house being one of the lowest ones in our particular neighborhood got the worst of it. Obviously flying RC planes took a back seat to getting the house cleared out and dried out. It is now in the process of being rebuilt. My planes and radio were all fine so today I joined my son and four others at our Silver Eagles RC Flying Club field. I took my Apprentice, the only plane for which I could find batteries! I had two successful and relaxing flights. It was good to be back in the air. The weather was perfect, sunny with white fluffy clouds and a reasonably low, predictable breeze.

​My son, Charles, had two flights with his Hobbico Twin Star twin engined plane. It took us a long time to get them both ASP .25 engines tuned so they'd keep running. Then we discovered that one of the fuel tanks was leaking. The "cork" through which the pressure and fuel lines pass had worked loose. After fixing that they engines tuned reasonably well and he had two pretty good flights with it. On his first flight as he banked right after takeoff something white flew off it. Turns out the left engine nacelle cover had come loose, the same engine with the leaking tank. I guess the little screws had been removed and replaced too many times, stripping out the threads. He put some tape over the engine nacelle and flew it again. It flew well. One of the few flights where both engines keep running through the entire takeoff, flight and landing!

Chris, one of the other guys had a very nice, pretty large low winged plane with a SATO 4 stroke .80 engine. He flew it several times. I love the sound of those 4 stroke engines. Got to get my glo planes back in the air. My engines are almost all 4 stroke engines.

Paul, our club treasurer had a full sized Escapade, also with a 4 stroke engine. He flew it several times successfully. It is such a nice flying plane. I have the smaller version that I need to get in the air again. It was a good day for the Silver Eagles!

​Chilly, windy and Rainy Spring

2017-05-30 This has been a very chilly, rainy and windy Spring here in southeast Wisconsin. As a result there has not been a lot of flying so far. Last Saturday was an exception, an absolutely beautiful day. Almost no wind. Bright, sunny skies filled with fluffy white clouds. The airstrip was in about its best condition ever. So, my son and I and two other men went out to fly. I only flew my Apprentice as I have not even gotten my glow powered planes down off the rack in the garage yet! My son flew two of his glow powered planes. The third fellow just had one electric plane and the fourth guy just came out to watch! It was fun and I was happy that I still retain a semblance of flying capability. All flights ended up safely back on the airstrip. I didn't even flip over upon landing! Now today we're back to windy, cool and almost rainy!

First Flites of 2017!

2017-02-18  We are having amazing weather in Wisconsin this February. Today it was in the upper 60s, wind was barely above calm and the sky was bright and sunny. It would be hard to imagine better day for flying anywhere, anytime! So, I met my son and four other guys at our Silver Eagles RC Flying Club field at 1:30 today to see if I can still fly! The field was a little tricky as the warm days have thawed the top few inches of ground but is still frozen solid underneath. So we had to be really careful with our vehicles not to leave nasty tracks. But the pit and airstrip areas were fine or walking and the matted, wintered, dry grass formed a perfect flying surface! There is a good side to everything.

I took my Apprentice and three batteries and my Spektrum DX8 transmitter. I didn't take any pictures but was really pleased to make three flights for a total of about thirty minutes with no mishaps at all. I was a bit concerned as I've had left eye problems the past few weeks and wasn't sure my depth perception would be good. But no problems. Once again I am very impressed with the Apprentice. It is just a very nice flying plane. I suppose there are some just as good but this one is a real keeper. The perfect plane for a first flight after a long winter.

My son also has an Apprentice. His is the older model without E-flite' SAFE technology. He flew it a couple times then we worked together to get his RAV-4 plane going. It has an ASP .52 4-stroke engine. After a little trouble getting it going which turned out to be his glow igniter, it fired right up and ran perfectly. It was really neat to have the sweet 4-stroke sound in the air again!

So the 2017 RC flying season is off and running. Exciting!