It was a beautiful clear day, quiet and just a great day of flying. It was calm one minute, blustery the next. As usual the winds were from the south, right down the runway. The challenge was the wind's unpredictability, blasting along at about 15 mph one minute so that the Alpha 450 was harriering in on low power on landing, fighting to make way, then suddenly be gone so she was dropping with no airspeed. I learned to make the approach with power, but I could maintain nothing that looked like a regular glide path. Sometimes she'd hit a wind shear and rise or fall suddenly straight up or down, often both, 1-2 feet vertically! That was especially cool to see when I had her humming along in cruise about 50 feet up over the runway and she would bob and weave while I did nothing on the controls. It was a great day of flying, learning how to handle winds! I did put her down hard once after some of that harriering and I snapped off the landing gear. Some epoxy and an hour later she was back in the air doing the bobbing and weaving! I also solo'd the Cornell. With Arnie's help we tuned up the rates and expo and I practiced flying and landing her in the winds. I still need to work around the fact that her nose drops with pulling back power, so I need to come in with power on a clean glide path, or use a steeper approach and flare late. Otherwise she would land nice but immediately tip forward on touchdown. Landing without style or grace...
Cubby flew magically! I had a little problem with the split elevator not operating together like it is suppose to (the side with the control horn would move, but if there was any resistance the other side would not move out of the airstream as the connector rod between them was slipping). I tried CA, to no avail, but fixed the problem when I epoxied it. I accidentally broke the spring control horn for the tail wheel that linked the rudder to the tail wheel, so had to remove both springs. Turned out she ground handled 100% better without it, just castering about! I also learned I needed to apply power slow on takeoff, and as the tail came up, blast the throttle and she would takeoff nicely but with a very short rollout. Otherwise trying to roll it out scale like she would tip over her nose. I had her cruising, flying sweet, though she was a manageable challenge to handle in the wind. There something awesome about watching a Cubby go by just above eye level. I enjoyed flying her for several packs though it was a lot of work. It was going so well that she committed suicide. Coming out of a shallow dive her nose did not come up and she slammed into the ground, even though she had more than enough room to come out. I thought it was the elevator issue again... but the battery was no where to be found at the crash site. She had thrown her battery coming out of that dive! So, she cracked her wing, broke her fuse in the usual two places (fore and aft of the cockpit), cracked the canopy wide open, and I am down a battery I could not find. I already have the repairs underway, but I am beginning to think I don't want to buy anymore parts... I need a Cubby, always will have one, but maybe the time has come to upgrade to a ply/balsa cote one?
Frankenheli had issues... Never came out of spin up. She wanted to rotate hard right. I noticed later the tail rotor shaft is bent, but I don't think that was the issue. Is it the mini-MEMS gyro? I don't think so. She just didn't seem right and is grounded until I fix that tail rotor shaft and can sort it out. So, no flyable heli's. I am thinking of putting the new spare 450 pro head I bought on the EXI and returning her to flight status as a 2 blade fly barred heli. I haven't started the repairs on the ERazor either. I decided I am not going to let my helis become a time sink... I watch my fellow HeliFreaks spend so much time working out the kinks and not flying (though Cool Hand CJ seems to never have to repair anything and flies his 450 all the time), and as I blogged yesterday, I lost a whole day of flying because of that time pit. I will fly, fix easy things, and if I can't fly a heli due to major work, I will gladly put her back in the car and enjoy my planks!
Here are some pics from today at BMF!
Jim and his Trex 450. Can you see the heli right in front of him?
The front of Jim, smiling like a kid!
The boys in the pit. Look at that flag go!
Dick playing with a 450.
Arnie flying his rather agile "Cow". Our clubhouse in the background.
I'm taking a day off from flying tomorrow. Winds are supposed to remain brisk and blustery. Wed and later in the week things are supposed to become summery: Africa hot, dry and breezeless...
Now I need to fly the Stearman! I also want to fly the MX2 myself once Jerry thinks I am ready. Great flying day! Missed seeing the guys who weren't there today... hopefully later this week.
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