They were dropping like flies...

Beautiful weather today out at BMF, but a tough one on our spirits. We had an incredible day, though there be piratey gusts coming from the NE today. Our winds usually come out of the south, but today we had shifting variable winds out of the NE and east causing us to use a right hand pattern and a lot of cross wind landings. Which explains in part why airplanes were dropping like flies...

Today's flight program!

I flew the Alpha first today, not wanting to fuss with the Cubby to start my day. It was so much fun! I love flying the Alpha and will always bring her to the field, I think. Perfect trainer! I flew her for several packs, recharged them and flew for several more. The winds were picking up as the afternoon progressed, and I was practicing crosswind landings. I was trying to bring my approach angle down, as I tend to start high above the forest at the south end because the trees scare me to death. Today's northerly winds required a runway 36 approach right over those damn trees. I had worked my way down, nearly hovering about 4 feet above the ground after aborting two landings, and the wind shifted. I should have applied power, but I thought I could set her down. Her nose dived and she landed right on it punching the motor through the firewall. No other damage! Using wood donated by Greg's dead plane (more on that below) I epoxied the firewall back in place and shored up the supports. A little red Ultracote and she'll be as good as new!

Cracked the side wall, stove in the firewall, no other damage.

My Cubby flew oddly, as is her habit, wanting to dive with the slightest provocation, and it took a lot of up elevator to get her to takeoff or to rise. I managed to bring her back both first flights, but it was a lot of work. This non-deadly experience finally illuminated what the problem has been, and I wonder if it is what was wrong with Phoenixcubby.

The angle of incidence along the main wing chord (blue line) should parallel that of the elevator assembly (the red line). You can see here that the current angles will cause the plane to want to dive and will require, yup, lots of up elevator to fly trimmed. To address this I worked the canopy and the tail to adjust these angles. Which worked fantastically! But on coming in for landing (there's always a "but" with Cubby) I flared and the entire empennage (the tail feathers, elevator and rudder) came right off the airplane! I guess I weakened them working the angles. No other damage and the tail was intact, just no longer attached. I gathered the parts, glued her together with a couple more toothpick spars in a couple of minutes, and put her in the trunk to dry. Just checked her out at home, added a screw to the elevator control horn, taped the tail a bit, and she's flight ready!

The Cornell flew wonderfully this morning! I completely figured out how to land her and did cycles over and over again! Flew several packs and enjoyed every minute of it. Then coming out of a loop a little too close to the ground to start with, I decided to open the loop up and before I realized my mistake she was heading into the ground with a slight roll. I lost orientation as I realized what was happening and she smacked the ground nose first. She is badly damaged...

The right wing is broken clean in half, held together by the cote, the firewall and engine mount is completely shattered, and there is a stress fracture of several ribs of the fuselage under the body just behind the wing on the right. I am so bummed, but Greg, our Master Builder, is confident he can have her flight ready in a few weeks! I hope so, I miss her already. Silly novice mistake... I had no business doing acrobatics that close to the ground. All the more reason to bring the Stearman out on Friday!

The Cornell crash also taco'd a 3S 3000 mAh Blue Lipo... 

I accidentally left it on the fence, boys. I'll get it Friday!

As part of our airplane death cycle, Greg's Edge 540 lost an aileron linkage. It was painful to watch. The plane suddenly fluttered like crazy, then stabilized. He knew it needed to land not knowing what was wrong at first, and turned to bring her in when all hell broke loose and she rolled continuously into the ground.

She is a total loss. The forward fuse was completely destroyed, his motor shaft is bent tanking the motor, and the fuse was fractured and crushed aft of the cockpit. The more he looked at it the more broken parts he found. He donated wood to repair my Alpha Sport, so a part of her will always be around, but it was heartbreaking for all of us. Greg took it well, but it really upset him. Its bad enough when we lose a plane, but an equipment failure as a cause is just horrible.

The misery ended with our good friend Ron's misfortune. On the maiden flight of his brand new, coveted Seagull Aircraft Harrier 3D the motor quit just after climbing out, forcing a quick, tail wind landing. The plane would not bleed off speed, and ended up without enough runway, nesting with the Ents at the south end. We all just stood there in silence as the whole episode unfolded. Excellent pilotage to recover and bring her in, but physics is God, and in the end won out, much to our, and Ron's, chagrin. Ron was so upset, and as I fished it out of the woods, he lamented it was destroyed. But really, the leading edge of the wings was all that was damaged from tree strikes. But as you can see in this stock photo, the leading edge of this plane is a deliicate lattice work. I didn't get a pic of his plane, I was just too upset to remember, but you can see from this stock photo that the leading edge is a thing of beauty. Ron swore he was done with Nitro after this, but 30% flows in his veins...

Others had a fabulous day! For instance, here's something you won't see very often. Paul with an electric foamie, a P-47 Thunderbolt he won at an Irvington Fly-in! Its a beautiful plane. He flies it with the grace and precision of his competition pattern heritage. We all just stand there and shake our heads as he executes a perfect 4-point roll time and again. He flew it the way a warbird deserves to be flown! He also took up one of his Extras, and made us again shake our heads in unworthiness.  He is our God.

Paul and Arnie tuned up the flight controls on one of Arnies new Yaks. One of the privileges of being in a club like ours is having people like Arnie and Paul work out the kinks on a new plane, giving the pilot a whole new flight experience!

Paul and Arnie

Jerry and Joe buddied a good series of flights. Joe did a great job managing the odd winds and the trainer landed gear side down every time. All in all, despite our losses, it was a really wonderful day at the field, and I can't wait for Friday, and if Ron's heartbreak heals, baked chicken for lunch! I have the Cubby and Alpha back in flight status, and I hope to have Jerry maiden my PT-17 Stearman, then take her up  myself, especially now that I killed the Cornell. Though, if I crash the Stearman, I will breakdown and cry like a 9 yo little girl...

By the way, resist the urge to run across the runway without your shoes on, or your wife will spend an hour digging the hundred little thorns out of you very sore feet... I'm just saying...