Now I'm starting to worry...

Flew for over an hour today. And ran into what is becoming a recurrent problem that is making me nervous. I was flying the Alpha Sport and she suddenly would not turn left and she required hard left aileron and rudder to keep wings level. I did the UPS Delivery "Right Turns Only" thing by easing off aileron to let her fall right. It took some major skills but I landed her.

Here's the scary thing... The right aileron thought its center was full up. It barely moved down. Sound familiar? This happened with the MX-Bach, and the Alpha's rudder, now it was happening to the Alpha's aileron. This time though the small plastic control horn was stripped. I had to replace the entire servo, which failed, and the horn.

This is really weird. Did this kill the Sbach and the Sopwith? I haven't done the post crash yet. I need to get on the website and see if anyone has seen this before. The only common is my Spektrum DX8.

I met a neighbor who stopped by, Brock. Took him up in the Alpha (of course, its always something, so that's when the Alpha went wacky). I took him up on a buddy box with the Pulse, and he noted being a pilot of full scale, this was really weird for him. I have heard that from a couple of pilots of full scale: orientation is harder to sort out.

Took the MX-B up, and the tall grass (it has been way too long for too long) grabbed the main gear and they cracked.

It's always something.

Range Failure? Voo-Doo Stink?

Took the MX2 out today after her rebuild. She took off nicely, was a lot nose heavy but manageable, but once again, got a little off in the distance and suddenly I wasn't controlling her and flew her self into the ground, just like before. It fell down and went boom. This is a persistent habit it has developed. I am thinking its a bad receiver that is short ranged. I am going to take the Hobby King Orange reciever out and use the Spektrum AR6100 from the CopterX250. The control surfaces moved fine and the motor worked great. I didn't take a picture of the crash... The butcher's bill is: broken prop, broken spinner base, loose firewall, right wing broken clean off at the wing root, broken left aileron, unhinged rudder, crunched cowl crappy cheap milk bottle plastic), a spring is missing on the tail wheel, and it wouldn't be the MX2 if the landing gear didn't bend all up. Honestly, I am done with foamies.

So this afternoon I epoxied the wing back with spars, epoxied the broken aileron, ironed out the wrinkled cowl, unbent the gear. Letting everything congeal (sitting on the epoxied wing in the pic). Tomorrow I'll rehinge the aileron and the rudder, snug up the firewall, reattach the landing gear, install a two blade prop and spinner (changing to an 11x6 from whatever the 3 blade was; I'm gestimating 10x6x3), install and bind the AR6100 reciever. Friday, I'll take her foamie carcass up, crash her, and start all over again.( Geez, she's the new Cubby...). If I swapped her for Steve's I wonder if he'd notice?

Speaking of foamie carcasses, the Suicidal Cubby took to the air, briefly. She took off sweet, but was sluggish. it reminded me of the case with the Alpha Sport's stock slow flyer prop that got too soft in the Mississippi heat. The Cubby's 8x6 prop was soft from the heat and from being bent in prop strikes, so I tried an APC 9x8 (purchased in error when my son misread 8x6 as 9x8...). She flew great, for about 3 minutes, when the motor locked up. Was it the motor wires shorting again? Did the ESC fry swinging the bigger prop? Turned out the motor fried. Dead-stick landed with no damage, but the motor was toast. Change it out to the one that was on the Phoenixcubby and it works find again. Put a new APC 8x6 on it, and am looking forward to flying her again tomorrow!

Spent the first flights with the Alpha flying video recon over the land of the Northern Ents where Vinsen lost his Hobbico Next star, and Ron his profile Edge. Didn't see anything... Flew her in a variety of shifting winds all day, getting a lot of practice, and flew her inverted (5 mistakes high...) for the first time successfully.

Alternated flying the Alpha with the Stearman, flying 6 good packs. I am really getting comfortable flying her, almost as much as I flying the Alpha. This is what I wanted, to get comfortable flying her, not being so afraid of hurting or losing her, I'm flying her very well, learning how to bring her down and land her without going head over heels as often. She does tend to need a little speed on landing or be wheels on the ground as the speed bleeds off as she will abruptly stop flying and drop. I really enjoy flying her!

In between I spun the Erazor 450 pro up. The other day I tried to spin her up and a solder had come undone. I had fixed that and took her out today. She spun nicely, and lifted off. She drifted quickly off to the left and I set her down. Apparently a bit hard. The tail fin and a tail rotor blade broke. Fixed those at home today, and will take her back out tomorrow. I still suck at flying helis.

At BMF we had a small Wednesday crowd, but it was a beautiful day for flying until a thunderstorm finally moved in. We called it a day, but will be back out tomorrow!

Eflite Alpha Sport 450 High Wing Trainer

I did some research looking for a good high wing trainer, since the Cubby really isn't a trainer. I decided on the beautiful and well respected E-flite Alpha Sport 450, here seen after completing the build It wouldn't fit over the shelf!  I purchased it from Horizon Hobby.  I love this plane and can't wait to fly it. Its a balsa/ply Ultracote aircraft, not a foamie, so I am a little nervous about the prospect of crashing it...

I was surprised at what I suspect is a less than optimal quality of the application of the Ultracote. In comparison with the E-flite PT17 Stearman kit (also from Horizon) I am about to embark on, this was very wrinkled. The Stearman is flawless. I am going to have to learn how to smooth it out...

I put the Alpha together in one evening. A very easy build being a plug-n-play (PNP). I added a Spektrum AR 6100e receiver, but everything else was stock. The E-flite servos were all centered, and I only had to adjust the linkages at the servo arms. Programmed easily into the Dx6i, even set up dual rates. Expo at 30%. I noted that the servos give a good and complete range of motion, except the rudder. The servo is centered, and moves through its full range, but it moves the rudder fully right, only partially left... Its not binding. I don't know if that's the way its supposed to be. As I said, the servo and linkages are moving fine... Not sure what's up with that.

So, here are the pics of the wrinkles, and the fully assembled, still beautiful aircraft!

Under the landing gear on the fuse

Underside of the elevator

Starboard side

Inboard right wing

Outboard right wing

Inboard left wing

Mid left wing

Outboard left wing

Underside right aileron. Similar wrinkles on the topside of both ailerons (no pics).

Underside mid right aileron

Inboard underside left aileron

Underside outboard left aileron

Continues all the way outboard left aileron

Left wing fillet. The right is fine.

Sweet! E-flite Alpha Sport 450!

Well, that was a little adventure...

I've spent so much time this past week on the Alpha Sport 450 since I got the wing back from John, that I have lost track of where and why I started on this last little adventure, but I ended up where I should have started... 

I share these misadventures because I want you to know we all have them in this hobby. For me, most are self induced thru laziness, lack of skill, or carelessness, often a combo of all three. "There is always something",  (I think the difference between nitro/gassers, heli pilots and electric pilots is how much "something" we are willing to deal with. I am at that level after a week of shenanigans where I am not going flying today because I am totally a shit magnet right now and I don't think I could emotionally handle a crash. I am totally up against my something limit).

The jist is that the original ESC, a 40A Hobbywing more than a decade old, just quit working the other day. One moment fine, the next a paperweight. Since I like to use what I have on hand (I am cheap), I used the closest thing I had, a 60A ESC. This works fine with the 450 sized motors, just a lot of reserve for a sport flyer, and not much weight difference. Tested the setup with all the electronics on rhe Alpha, awesome all worked fine the first time. Took a half an hour to tuck it all in and make it all pretty, went to fire it up, dead as a doormat. Nada. Checked everything, nothing wrong. Pulled it out, tested it again still nada. Fine, I have another one, also 60A but a smaller profile. Tested, works fine. Installed. Still works fine. 

But I felt a vibration and noticed that there was a wobble in the prop. Inspection revealed that the motor shaft at the prop end had bent in that crash, actually in the fall from the Ent from which it had impaled itself upon. Inspected the motor and there was an almost undetectable shaft bend, that magnified when the prop shift was in place. Easy peasy, I have changed out motor shafts, and I happen to have a baggy full of them. 

Its easy. Pull the mount X-plate off the back. On the back end of the motor, the shaft is secured with a c-clip. Slip that off, careful not to shoot it across the room. You can now pull the outrunner shell off the back. You are now holding the inner workings in one hand, and the outrunner shell with the connected shaft in the other. On the side of the top of the outrunner there are usually 1-2 lock screws. Remove them. You can now tap the shaft out. Simply reverse the process with your new shaft. Which I don't have... the ones in the baggy are a mm too small. WTF, I have never had a motor smaller than a 450 sized. So I just put it all back together.

Still trying to be cheap (there's my problem right there....), I have another motor, unlabeled, but looks a bit squatter and a bit wider than the 450 outrunner. Looks like maybe a little more powerful. Let's try that! 

This "new" motor has a mounting plate that is about 0.5mm off from the 450. Its really not that much bigger a motor. But this won't fit my firewall, which is that 450 sized. Here's a idea! Lets spend a lot of time and energy, let's build an adapter firewall out of ABS plastic, drill it so that both sets of mounting screws fit: the 450 ones off the firewall secured to the new firewall at the end of the extenders, and attach the new motor to that firewall. Took a while to fabricate: cut the ABS, drill the ABS, install the motor (works fine connected to the electronics in testing), install the firewall, attach the motor. Quick spin, all works! But the prop shaft is one of those that bolts to the outrunner shell, not attached to the motor shaft, and its a touch short. I happen to have a slightly bigger one that fits! Replace the old with the new. Attach the prop. Now I can't use the original aluminum spinner because the new prop shaft is not drilled for the center securing screw, but I have what is probably the original Alpha Sport red spinner NIB. I attach that. But the stock self-tapping screws that secure the cone to the base are crap and one head-strips just trying to screw it in. Spend a lot of time and cursing to remove said stripped screw, and replace with nice 2mm regular hex head. 

Looks great! Let's fire it up! All looks good, advancing throttle, and then the motor screams and slows down, so I shut it down. Try a couple times, same thing, won't reach full throttle without screaming and slowing down, and on the third try shuts itself down. Won't run now at all. No magic smoke, that's good... There was a time when I knew what this was that was happening, but not today*. Crap... did I burn out the ESC???  I removed the entire apparatus, motor, new firewall, extensions, and connected the original motor (fine, just bent shaft). Whew... everything works, ESC is fine. So its the motor. 

* I think it was ESC timing... The new motor has 14 poles so will need high timing setting. Will need to break out the programming card.

And here we are. I am where I should have started but I have been nickle and diming myself to death and was trying to save money and maybe upgrade the motor that didn't need upgrading just replacing. I bought the 880kv version of this little motor that produces about 243 watts (oddly specific) which would be great for this plane. I won't have time until maybe Sat night as I go back to work, but I hope this is the end of my Alpha Sport 450 adventure. 

Cleaning up the Alpha Sport 450

On getting back home with the Alpha Sport 450 wing, I took a good look at my Alpha Sport. Crikey, I have neglected it... Spent some time fixing and cleaning up a few issues.

The motor mount did take a beating. The sides of the compartment are warped out, the motor mount all twisted. I removed the motor and ESC for the first time is some 15 years.

The firewall is a bloody mess. When I say that up until recently it had never been crashed, while true the OEM front gear wasn't sturdy for non-paved style runways and ripped out. I installed a much sturdier one and have had no issues since, but this required building up the firewall. Its a mess and I think the mount blind buts are loose and the wood they are secured to unreliable. The easiest thing to do was to fabricate a new firewall to epoxy over the old one. Curiously this works without interfering with the land gear mount. I installed this and tomorrow will reinstall the motor. I trimmed the mount extenders to accommodate the loss if depth. Changed the prop, pretty sure thismone is at least 10 years old and it looks it. I have a gray APC 10x7 on hand but have a couple black ones coming soon. Tomorrow we'll see what sideways BS will surely challenge me, and get the engine back on. Then cleanup and repair worn cote, reinstall the wing and yes, it may very well be the first plane I fly at Flying Tigers in Derry, NH.

Cosmic Wind Updated and the Ultrastick Wing Repaired

Busy day today. Feeling a bit under the weather, so hung out in the garage workshop. I really hate having to work out there... the dirt floor being the biggest negative. At least I have a space.

I have rarely flown this speedy beast. My reinvigorated interest stems from Flying Tigers field having a geotex runway which is perfect for this plane. This is the Cosmic Wind I built back in 2011. It has been a hangar queen for so long it isn't in the iX12. I updated it today adding a OrangeRx ORX Rx3S gyro stabilization system. I had pulled the original receiver, I think an OrangeRx, and so today put in the old version Spektrum AR6100 from the Alpha Sport. I set up the gyro, but it will take a few flights to tune the sensitivities. I don't know that it needs it, but its nice to have it when I need it i. Such a small plane Everything works fine. It uses one servo for the ailerons. It has a powerful motor and ESC. Screamer, will need to be careful.

I am building the 3rd (is it my 4th?)  Ultrastick 10cc finally. I have built them too heavy, using a large battery, and having to add a lot of weight to get CG when the tail servos are installed in the tail. I will build this one with the servos in the center and a standard smaller battery. In the last crash that weight made it hard for it to come out of a hammerhead. The fuse was totalled, but the wing came thru pretty unscathed, so I am going to reuse it. Same one as in this pic. The other day I fixed a transverse crack in the middle, and today re-coted it. This was a bit of a challenge as my cote skills are rudimentary at best, and the repair required a thin rectangle of balsa that I found hard to smoothly cote around the edges. I managed, not too shabby!

Its nice to be getting back into things again. Today I also joined NH Flying Tigers, so I can now officially fly there. I hope to get out there and get used to flying again, which has me a bit nervous since I crashed the Alpha Sport 450, my go to "new experience " (ie, new fields new season) plane. I do have a couple of 450 sized planes I can use instead, so its not all bad. Hope to have the Ulteastick build finished during this staycation so I can maiden it there.

I asked a friend, who builds, if he would be interested in rebuilding the Alpha Sport's wing. I might be able to, but  don't know how I would make the replacement ribs. I took a better pic of the damage so you can see its totalled...

I may have no choice but to take a swing at it.

A busy day. My spirit is willing, but my body is saying I need to take a break.  I am not used to having time off so I feel I need to rush back out, but that's how mistakes get made. I can, however, get some sim time in!

SOLO!

Call me Hans, and give me a beer!

Solo'd my Alpha 450 today with Arnold as my spotter/coach. Flew two separate packs for about 5 mins in moderate winds, with excellent take-offs and landings. It felt great as I needed to cut the training cord or else I would be waiting for IPs to be around to fly! I can't wait to fly the PT's.

Enjoyed watching Jim, Dick and Dickie fly their helis. Jim flew his 450 and Dick's 600, Dickie his 500 and then Dick flew his 600. It is really fun watching Jim fly with such precision!

I brought home all my planes, mostly because I only flew the Alpha and quit while I was ahead. It was wierd not bringing anything home in a bag! (I have always solo'd the Cubbies, and we know how that usually ends. I have been afraid to fly the balsa's because when they crash it is not nearly as easy to fix. So, soloing the Alpha was a big step forward in my therapy)!

Spektrum Alpha 6 Sucks.

This is the Spektrum Alpha 6 Stabilization system, using their AS3X technology, installed in my 26cc Waco. I hate this thing. I hated the first one, that malfunctioned right out of the box. I hated it when it turned out only one guy at Spektrum knows this thing, the manual is useless, and you have to connect it to a computer to set the gains, which requires you buy a separate cable (they gave me one free as we were trying to fix the first bad one). They sent me a free replacement which worked with a bit of tweaking. I hated it when no one could tell me when I would want to fly Rate Mode or Heading Hold Mode (best I could find was that in Rate the response deflection is momentary, in Heading Hold it stays on until ??. I fly my helis in HH, but am not sure how this applies to a stabilization system). Spektrum said I would want to fly in Rate. Or was it HH? I hate this thing.

I hated it today when I turned on the receiver  for the first time since the fall and it all seemed to work just fine, thought he gains seemed kinda massive. Went to dinner, turned it on again and now it won't even turn on (the receiver is on), nor let control commands pass through. I saw a YouTube post from Spektrum about the 1.2 Update, and tried to install it, but it says its not for my device. I hate this thing. I tried just resetting it up without using the computer, and it won't turn on, though I see a momentary flash as I power up. I planned on trying to use the Aux Knob instead of the 3-position Flight Mode Switch, because the Horizon guy suggested that the gains could be set using the knob. He didn't recommend Rate versus HH. I hate this thing.

I hated it when I tried to connect it to the cable and the computer. The Spektrum software would indicate "Cable Connected, No Device", no matter how I turned on what. Then it would, but then it wasn't. 

I hate this thing.  I am going to spend a little time trying to get it to work again, then when it doesn't, I am removing it and throwing it into the woods as far as I can. I am recharging the batteries and will try again later.

I hate this thing. 

I really, really, hate this thing.

UPDATE (5/12/2017):  This morning after charging the batteries, I had the same result. I videoed my attempt to get the Alpha 6 to turn on, and it did once out of all the tries, about half way through the video. I also tried changing the switch to the Knob on my DX8, but when it did turn on, it wouldn't respond to the knob, only the 3 way.I have removed it from my Waco and will send it and the other brick, back to Spektrum to see if they can get it to work. I really think its just bad luck... I hope Horizon will make good on these.

Horizon Hobby replied to my review and shared the difference between Rate and Heading Hold. Rate will make adjustments for turbulence, Heading Hold will hold position. In HH, if I put the plane into a knife edge, the unit will keep it there. For most flying, as I think they told me once before, Rate Mode will be the choice. 

I may try to install it on another plane. If I recall, when I was trouble shooting this last year, changing the model on the DX8 fixed the problem.

ADDENDUM: Put it on the Cornell and it still didn't work...  Put an Orange one in and it works fine.

Alpha rises

I described the crash and rebuild of my Eflite Alpha 450 Sport in "Asleep at the switch". Yesterday the PowerUp 450 motor arrived from HeadsUpRC (fast shippers, those HeadsUp guys). I installed it last night, with some minor difficulty getting the standoffs in place and getting a good thrust vector on the motor due to changes in the firewall from the repairs. She fired up sweet! the prop adapter that came with the motor was too small for the APC 10x6 I am flying on her, so I had to drop by my LHS today and pick up an Eflite one. It is a tad short so I can't use the stock white spinner...I'll have to see if I can find a longer 4mm adapter.  It looks a little naked without it.

The nav lights had issues. I plan a short blog entry on those later. A couple of them stopped working and it took some time to trouble shoot that it was the bulbs. I ended up sacrificing the other kit I ordered for a couple of its bulbs, but for now everything looks good. The forward facing white light is quite bright so I may get the scale landing light effect I was going for; the light may not wash out in sunlight. We'll see! So, Alpha is ready, and come Friday when I can get away to the field, weather permitting, Luke and I will return to the sky!

A good day!

Memorial Day.

I took the Alpha Sport 450, the Hacker MX2, and the Pulse XT60 out to my old flying field, Jopa Hill Fields in Bedford, NH. 

The grass is nice but too long, so the Alpha and Hacker has issues. Then a cheesy wiring solution converting the Alpha from EC5 connector to EC3 went wonky, so she didn't even get off the ground. Fixed that when I got back, did it proper.

The Hacker could get off the ground with max elevator and gunning the throttle. Flew wonderfully and I flew 6 batteries, just practicing basic airmanship. Landings were a bust due to the the long grass, she would just tuck in and flip.

After that I felt more or less ready to take the pulse XT60 up. She started right up and ran wonderfully. She still is a bit rich in high, manifesting as a step down when the throttle is quickly brought from full to idle, but it's quick and she reduces well to a good steady and reliable idle. Full open she rocks! As expected, the 15 inch prop doesn't provide enough clearance in grass, so the first landing she prop-stoped herself, and in the second she just broke the prop. I ordered the 14x9x3 I should have done before (am adjustment from 14x7x3). This will give me another half an inch which I hope suffices as I can't go lower on the diameter. I also went up to 9 from 7 on pitch. This should be a nice prop.

I still don't have a formal field with a proper grass or geo-tex runway. Hudson hasn't found a new home, Merrimack is a tight hole in the forest and a bit far off. There's a club in Serry, I think, but they are also in a tight niche with high power lines right there. So I will need to deal with the grass at Jopa. At least it's so much smoother and not as clumpy as several years ago when I last flew here.

Good to be back in the air!

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...

Beautiful day to fly, but there was carnage...

Finished rounds in the NICU this morning, and left work heading directly for MCRCC's Bob Miller Field. Today was a beautiful day with crystal clear sky, with no winds, occasional gusts. I had an insanely great day! Flew the Cubby over 7 flights, and the Alpha about 4 times! Flew some simple aerobatics, had some great scale take-off's and my landings were successful if not pretty, and some of them were perfect. Unfortunately, Cubby on downwind about 15 feet above the ground, I started a left hand turn and lost her when she stalled and fell like a rock... She shattered into three pieces, the canopy cracked completely though and the motor shaft sheared off. Very ugly, but I should have her back flying within a few days!

Two of my favorite people! Jerry on the left, and Ron on the right, test flying a trainer they were flying together to tune it up. Both have taught me as instructor pilots, and Ron buddy boxes with me on my Alpha 450. I truly enjoy these gentleman, two of the nicest guys it has been my pleasure to know. 

Paul Verger, one of our AMA icons, an amazing pilot with competition cred in pattern aerobatics and a leader in the AMA had a very bad day...

This is Paul's gorgeous Extra 300 by Pirate Aircraft at the Pine Grove fly-in a few weeks ago. This kit is no longer manufactured, which makes this a double tragedy...

Paul had put a new faster prop on it and was flying it today in preparation for a scale fly-in at Mobile, Alabama, tomorrow. He had been in the air for quite some time doing some beautiful aerobatics, and was pulling out of a diving turn with high Gs when a wing seperated from the aircraft and it disintegrated in flight... The rear fuse crashed to the ground, but the rest of the plane slowly fluttered down like confetti. It was terrible and everyone just stood there. Paul took it with his usual grace. It pained him, but he said that if you fly you crash. He had this aircraft for 6 years.

Paul (red hat) discussing the Extra 300's motor over the carnage, with Greg. 

The collected wreckage.

Our sympathies with our good friend over the loss of his good friend, his wonderful Pirate Extra 300.

Looks like the winds will return for the next couple of days so not so much flying...