Second Wind

 Well it took a year but I am getting back into flying.

Last week I took my venerated Eflite Alpha Sport 450, discontinued years ago, and flew it right into a line of trees I thought were much further downfield than they were. I was stunned. I have never crashed it. She was my woobie. I flew here for the first flight each season, and at new fields. I knew her instinctively. And now she is badly damaged. While it may not look like it, her wing is destroyed internally on the left, hanging by a bit of cote. The right wing is crushed i. But likely repairable.  Minor damage to the engine mount. I need a new wing but since she was discontinued over a decade ago, no parts are available, let alone new kits. Devastating.  I don't have the skills to make the pieces required to reframe the wing.

I need a new real field. I and many others have been fieldless since the town of Hudson reclaimed our field for a solar farm. Many members apparently have transferred to Londonderry NH and the New Hampshire Flying Tigers.  I took a road trip (40 min) out there today and met Paul the prez and two other very friendly fliers. I tend to solo flying as a master level introvert, but these guys were pretty awesome. I think the only thing the field lacks is a charging station (I wonder if the solar one from SNHRCC is available?). Nice field. Geotex runway, lots of linear space. Some power lines on one edge of the field opposite the flightline (low voltage), reasonable overflight restrictions. I will be joining them as my new fields, and I think I will like it! Renewed my still valid AMA, checked to see that my FAA license is still good. I am all set,

To get my head and thumbs back into the game I upgraded my Realflight Sim to the last version before it became orphaned, RF Evolution. And since it doesn't do helps great I bought AccuRC 2.0, nicer for helis,  but also orphaned (I have seen mentionn of v3, but its not on Steam). While good, still a bit unrealistic especially for planks. But extremely useful for training. I have been using my Spektrum WS2000 I bought years ago and for simming, it totally socks as no matter what they say you can't use your own programmed radio settings. I ran across RX2Sim, a USB device that actually allows you to connect a reciever or sat antenna, which ostensibly gives full programming control to the radio. We'll see, it arrives tomorrow.  All if this costing me borrowed joney.... expensive.  More o. The sim sitch later.

Today I started sorting thru the parts I recovered from my last (3rd) Hangar 8 Ultra Stick 10cc. The wing is pretty much undamaged so I will be using it for the NIB kit I have also had for years.  The old Evo 10cc gas engine should be fine, and I think the AR7010 Spektrum reciever is still good, and I have another satellite for it too. All the servos, etc. In a week starting thei Friday I begin a 10d staycation and plan to build version 4.

So thats whats is up today, The hiatus is over and I will be destroying aircraft in no time.