2019 Flying Season

2019-04-08 Finally.... It was in the low 70s today! Bright sunshine. Nearly calm winds. So my son suggested that we go out to our Silver Eagles RC Flying Club flying field and do some flying. It's been a long time since I last flew so with some trepidation I charged up a plane battery and my Spektrum DX-8 and headed out with my Apprentice in tow. One of our club members was there mowing and rolling the field. The grass was gorgeous and the airstrip was smooth as butter! Our field is in the midst of a tree farm and the airstrip is the end of a private airstrip so with the green grass, evergreen trees and fluffy clouds in the otherwise deep blue sky, it was amazing. Made me want to run home, get my hammock and camp there!

But we stuck to business. Charles fired up his glow engined plane and had a great flight. It was his second time at the field since he braved it a week or so ago when it was in the 50s. Then I took Apprentice up. My takeoff was not one that should be witnessed but it was up. And being pretty rusty my poor plane was all over the place but stayed airborne! Then came the time to land. As an excuse, the wind was a bit gusty (a very small bit) from our backs and I misjudged the position of the plane with reference to the trees lining the far side and yes, hit one! Thankfully the Apprentice is tough and was going slow so only my pride was damaged!  But also thankfully, my one battery was now low so I couldn't go up again! :-)

Then Charles decided to take his up one more time. We both noticed that the throttle cable connection to the engine seemed a bit "strangely loose" but after somewhat more than a casual inspection we decided it was OK. So up he went. After a bit I was just about to make some comment about he must be really enjoying flying full throttle.... His response was, I don't have any throttle control! So nothing to do but fly it until it ran out of fuel. Having never flown down a full tank he had no idea how long that would be!

Somewhere around ten minutes in it coughed a bit and then not long after stopped! He was in a very good position to line it up with the airstrip and made one of the most beautiful landings ever! We packed up and came home... a successful eventful but not bad day at the airstrip! 2019 is under way! We just need to wait a bit whole the pit area dries out so we can park cars and all will be good.

2019-03-14 Today was the first day since way last Fall that at least I could imagine flying one of my RC planes again! The temperature rose to about 55 or more. The sun shone several times and a ton of snow has melted! So tonight's Silver Eagles RC Flying Club meeting may just have a bit more hopeful feeling than the ones the past few months!