Totally Awesome Very Cool BMF Day!

What a great day of flying! Got off to an early start and enjoyed the best flying weather this spring. The crosswind breeze picked up in the late afternoon, but they really were light gusts. And very importantly, we took the shiny off the MX2 and the Cornell! I also got to have second lunches taking down a very tasty red meat sauce spaghetti ala Ron Johnson after my Subway Italian a few hours earlier.  Having some issues with my Spektrum Dx6i right gimbal being sticky and not coming back to center detente and doesn't move cleanly (sticky like). Took it apart, oiled the "bearings", improved but still bugs me now that Jerry Gollot brought it to my attention. I may need to get it serviced.

I LOVE my Dynam ERazor! She flew wonderfully in hover, sweetly and tightly tracking, handling awesomely with full rates and low expo. I was very excited and proud as I had her totally in control. After 5 minutes in the first flight I had to land to take a breath and get a grip I was so waiting for something bad to happen. The second pack also went great! Then I broke the deal with myself... I was going to stick to tail in hover. I fly the sim in all angles well, but I am very anxious about doing it for real. So as I turned the heli nose in, then tried to bring it from my left to right, it came forward a bit. I panicked, even though it was quite a bit aways, and instead of recovering a self fulfilling prophecy was fulfilled and as she dropped towards me I hit throttle hold and cognitively stopped flying, so she  drilled. But only a bent feathering shaft, main shaft, snapped off the tail fin and stripped pitch servo. Blades were fine!  I have already field repaired everything except the feathering shaft. I do hate trying to get the middle Jesus bolt aligned on the ERazor... it has one just above the tail power takeoff gear and one below the main gear. The middle one has to align the gear, and painfully, the one way bearing shaft, and the main shaft. Hard to get them all aligned just right.

My bench at BMF!

Flags up for Memorial Day Weekend. Busy flightline today!  Had about 15 pilots and a couple of drive up visitors. The visitor was talked into flying on a Buddy Box with Ron, and had about 3 flights! I am sure he's on the hook now!

Jim Williams and Jerry Gollot preparing a club trainer for flight.

Devon flying his brand spanking new Seagull Extra 540. He won't admit it, but he's a great kid and a very good pilot! I had the pleasure of meeting his grandfather, Jim.

We maidened my Eflite PT-19 Cornell today! Jerry took her up and trimmed her out, flew her for a bit and brought her in for a landing. On the second flight I took the controls. She is as stable, if not more so, than my Alpha. She does need a late clean flare on landing. Tomorrow I plan to solo her!

We also maidened the BlitzRXWorks MX2. Jerry and Arnie flew her for me (I prefer to have skilled pilots maiden my planes. I want to know that if something is wrong with the plane, a skilled pilot has a better chance of bringing her home. Good thing too... She had some serious issues right after takeoff). On takeoff all hell broke loose as soon as her wheels left the ground. She acted tail heavy, and nearly flipped on her back as she waffled wildly even though her CG was spot on, but Jerry, who was flying her, managed to land her right side up before the end of the runway. If I had been flying her she would be in with the Ents who live down there or coming home in a trash bag... The landing gear are way too soft, and bent back very easily (both in the crash and the repair). The wheel pants I pulled off after the first flight; they were rubbing the wheels as you may recall from the MX2 build, but they cracked off on the first flight/crash landing. I didn't like them anyway. Once we solved the balance/trim problems, she was easier to takeoff, but she is a squirrelly plane near the ground and with low power or high power, even in Arnie's very skilled hands. Once we got her up and trimmed she flew wonderfully with attention to power. Large control surfaces make for sharp and intense control. Arnie popped some moves and she controlled cleanly and sharply. She has great power, and she is way fast. On landing, time and again she would touch down and immediately fold over her landing gear. We got very good at removing them and re-bending them back into position. Her  nose likes to drop when the power comes off, and the three blade 12x9 prop has some serious breaking power, so coming in with power and flying her all the way to the ground (she wants to fly forever), with a very careful and late flare is the ticket. I think it will be a while until I fly her solo... I don't quite have the skills. She is NOT a beginner's plane, but when I do get schooled, she will be an amazing plane to fly! That being said, I would rather have gone with a ply/balsa and cote plane instead of the MX2. Can't recommend this one, but maybe time will improve my opinion.

This is going to be a busy flying weekend! I will be flying the Cornell, and the Alpha 450, which I also flew the cote off today. It looks like my 51mm feathering shafts are here, so I will also be maidening Franky! Oh, almost forgot, its so commonplace... Cubby flew fine, until she took a sudden rolling dive when her rudder fell off... oops.  Broke in the usual places. My wife (and my flying buddies) ask why bother, but its now a game and a challenge. I promise to fly her, and not bring her home in one piece, and she promises to break cleanly in the usual places. Works for us...  I have a feeling it will not be long before her wing is hanging near Phoenixcubby's on my wall.

Thanks for another great flying day, MCRCC Guys!

Happy flying, keep the lifties under the wings!