But I still have my record for whoomping every heli I fly at BMF (Bob Miller Field). I spent about 5 hours flying today, and it was worth every second! But let's start with my taking the shiny off the new Cubby, which I maidened today.
Today is a beautiful day. The winds were very calm with occasional gusts, nothing much. I found myself all alone at BMF, that is until Greg came to cut the grass. I flew the Cubby, and on the first landing bumped her a bit hard. I find I fly better when my hands are shaking, but it makes it tough to land. Not so badly hurt though...
First landing, bent the landing gear and broke the flangey thingy on the starboard strut. They always break. And the little plastic and spring X-shaped shock absorber wanna-be they put between the wheels. Yeah, that broke off too. Those never stay on either. Knocked off the faux cylinder head on the port side, and broke the prop. That was it. Had her up and flying in a few seconds. Flew her, and flew her, and flew her! It was awesome! Great landings, some minor aerobatics, all a good time! Then I took off on another flight, and she wanted to stay downwind at the south end of the field. It was hard bringing her back upwind, though there wasn't much wind. I just could not get a grip, and so I ended up barrel rolling her firmly into the edge south woods...
Broke her wing clean in half, just like my first Cubby and her bout with the Ents. No other damage though!
McGyver'd her back together, 'cause daddy is out here to fly, dammit. Used a tongue depressor as a spar; it was all I had. Worked pretty good!
Joined the halves together wonderfully with some 3-in-1 glue and some package tape. One of the aileron servo wires had come off the plug, so I had to cut it off and solder a new one together...
Top shows more of the damage...
And here she is, risen, ready to go again!
So, I took her up and flew her fine for about 3 more packs. On that 3rd flight I heard something funny from the engine, like it was cutting out. But it's electric, that can't be good. Brought her in with a very nice landing. Turns out the pinion screws that hold the motor to the mount had vibrated out... Pretty sure I Locktited them during the build, but there they weren't. Motor drilled a bigger hole in the cowl, but other than that no damage done. Fixed in a jiffy. Then my wife calls me and asks me if I am coming home soon for kid patrol. I tell her, "Not unless I crash my Cubby again..." Wife sends out bad karma... I take off, and something ain't right... Wobbly, not feeling in control. Turn her back to bring her onto final, and suddenly she dives, I pull her up, apply power, she tears upward, I back off power, she stalls, I drop the nose and apply power and before I can finish the F word, she slams full speed into the ground...
At this angle it doesn't look so bad... but... The wing has sheared off the fuse, and the plastic canopy to which it's bolted is fractured in half, and most of her parts came home in a bag...
This is what she looks like on the bench. Wing's broken, all the plastic parts are toast...
Fuse is cracked in the usual place, and the motor is smushed with the prop rotor sheared off.
$25 and a long wait for Hobbypartz to get around to shipping a new motor and the plastic canopy and bits (or Nitroplanes, depending on which is out of stock and which isn't... HP has no shipping charge so sometimes they are out of parts when NP isn't... and they are the same company). I won't see Phoenixcubby's parts until Monday, if I am lucky, and these parts won't be here for another week. I'll be starting on her repairs tonight.
Oh, and about my EXI 450. It actually was kinda fun until it wasn't. I hovered her up high, about 30 feet, and was doing a pretty good job! For some reason, as I decided to bring her back to the center (she had drifted left) I thought I lost orientation for a moment as she pitched up, then tailed towards the ground. I managed to yaw her around so she hit sideways, avoiding a tail plant, but WHUMP!, she slammed into the ground... Broke the blades, bent the usual main and feathering shafts, and the tail boom has a small S in it if you stare at it. I see that the elevator ball joint came off the servo arm... I had just replaced this ball and added a little CA, but apparently it wasn't enough. I don't think I can blame it on the ball coming off, but I'll tell you, I was doing a really good job hovering for the 3 minutes of flight. I have the parts, but i am waiting on a bunch of 325mm blades to arrive any day now.
I had taken the Alpha out of the car earlier, but Ron had suggested I not solo her yet, and when I planted the Cubby, I put the Alpha back in the car. I had also brought the MX2 in case an instructor came by and could box me on it, but I WAS FLYING ALL DAY ALL BY MYSELF!* That's okay... there's always tomorrow, if my wife will let me borrow her car again (the MX2 won't fit in the Lexus IS 350, go figure...).
Meanwhile, Greg was still cutting the grass when I left.
* Ron and Craig had been at the field very wicked early and were leaving as I got there...
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