Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Flying short

A break in the weather. I headed out for BMF, and found myself alone. I took Cubby up in a brisk breeze with south to east gusts on a beautiful morning. 3 takeoffs, no landings... First flight was nice and long, but the battery came up short and I had to glide to a crash landing. Harbinger of things to come. Snapped the motor cleanly out of its epoxied mount. Some fresh epoxy and takeoff number two. But she spun on takeoff and flipped onto her back snagged by tail gust. Takeoff number 3 and she flew wonderfully. After a while I tried to take her inverted a little too low, and she couldn't come back up, tried to roll her but she settled softly wheels down onto the blackberry patch. No damage, but in bending the landing gear back into place it finally snapped off. So, no more flights today for Cubby, but she flew sweet!



So I took the Alpha up with the key chain cam. Kinda nice I managed to fly her fairly smoothly despite crunchy winds with nice balanced turns until the battery flamed out 4-5 minutes into the flight. I was turning her into the wind when she sort of hesitated and seemed to hover. I realized the wind was not that strong, I must be in a low power state and worked her back to a landing across the runway heading nearly directly into the wind. Nice recovery, if I do say so myself. I am quite pleased with myself, actually!  I called it a day though. Two short batteries suggests I shouldn't be flying, and honestly, it isn't as much fun by myself. The weather was worsening, but after I left it seemed to actually improve... figures. Maybe I can fly again tomorrow, but the weather is supposed to progressively worsen, and I suspect I won't be able to fly again until I get back from Boston.

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