Nitroplanes Pitts Model 12 20cc Build

Surfing Facebook the other day, I ran across an offer I could not refuse, and picked up a 15cc sized Nitroplanes Pitts Model 12, in the color scheme option I preferred (don't like that blue one). I decided to binge a bit, and have made a few parts purchases, making me pace myself as they come in. What I love about this plane is that its a bit bigger at 15cc sized aerobat, its a bipe, it has an ultimate wing, and a round cowl. Love this look! This model came with no manual, which from what I found online is fine as the manual was ripe with mistakes and misguidance. Its kinda fun doing this build using just my own experience and knowledge, dare I say, skills.

One version of the real plane.

This is the model's Python scheme. I am not planning on ordering the Python graphics since I don't really care if its scale, I just want to fly it. I will personalize it though! I am hoping Joe Nelson sends me some RSCF-USA Skull Logo stickers.

I started by fuel-proofing the anterior fuse. I did most of the interior, all sides, not just for the fuel proofing, but also to add some tensile strength. I use 15 min epoxy diluted out with alcohol and brush it on thinly.

After several careful dry fits and increasing the gap of the hinge slots, I epoxied in nylon Du-Bro hinges. I prefer the strength on gassers, although the provided CA hinges would work. I have never had a nylon hinge loosen, but several CA hinges, so I tend to avoid them.

Since the horizontal stabilizer could be installed either side up, I opted with the star side up. Not sure what the real Python has displayed. Here the horizontal stab and rudder are installed, all with the nylon Du-Bro hinges. I used the larger ones on the rudder since it also takes some of the forces from the tail wheel.

Installed the tail wheel. It is the standard design with the gear "tiller" end attached into a hole I drilled into the rudder providing yaw force to the tail wheel, and added epoxy support along the attachment to the rudder. There is CA in that hole securing the "tiller", and epoxy around the exposed part contacting the front of the rudder. I open the cote under that metal support, CA, then double screw: screw in the retaining screw, unscrew it and apply CA then re-insert it. That thing is secure.

Here are some of the coming parts.

ZYHobby 500ml gas tank.

Master Airscrew 15x7x3 prop. I happen to have one on hand. Painting the tips yellow with a black middle stripe. Love these props. Durable with great performance. I have a 14x7 Master Airscrew Scimitar coming that I will use to break in the engine. I also have a 2.75in aluminum 3 blade spinner coming from ZYHobby on eBay coming.

RCGF-USA 20cc RE engine.  I am a total RCGF-USA Fanboy. This plane is described as "70 class", inferring a 0.7 cu in or roughly between 10 and 15cc sized plane (0.6 cu in is 10cc). I like a little power, and another builder put a 20cc engine in the plane with excellent results. I am trying to get away from engines less than 15cc since their carbs are a pain to manage, so, bought a new engine from Joe Nelson at RCGF-USA. Always the best personal support on the best and most affordable engines that run reliably and awesomely. Really excited about this engine!

I have on hand:

Tech Aero Designs UBEC.  (Manual here). This takes power through the receiver and acts as a remote ignition cut-out switch. It also protects the receiver from any hardwire ignition noise. I don't use a mechanical ignition switch (see below).

Step down voltage regulator.  I will be using the 2S (7.4V) 5300 mA battery from the Ultra Stick in this plane. The servos are not high voltage, so it will need a step down to 6.6V. 

DS3218 Digital RC Servo Motor 20KG High Torque Full Metal Gear. This plane has 4 aileron surfaces, each driven by its own servo, which is a bit overkill, but good for a high powered aerobat. Using a 20kg high torque servo just adds more power to these surfaces. Each side will require a Y-harness to the receiver. This was a 4 pack, convenient. I have had very good results with generic servos.

Since I had to order 2 more servos (I have a throttle servo), I bought this 2 pack of high torque servos, one for the rudder (a pull-pull setup), and one for the elevator.

Spektrum AR637T Receiver.  I had bought this with other plans for it, and have had it on hand for over a year, NIB. I decided its a good fit for this plane. I will be programming the AS3X, but won't be using SAFE. The ailerons will be Y-harnessed to AIL and AUX1, each of the other servos will of course have their own channel. GEAR will be used for the Tech Aero Ignition UBEC/Cut out.

The remaining decision it the receiver power switch. I have had mechanical switches fail, never in flight, just not working one day, on a couple of occasions. I don't feel the need for redundant systems, though I appreciate their application in larger planes. What I wanted was a simple flag-and-pin style fail-on switch. I found one that was $60 (see below, from Australia), that was a simple stand alone switch, not one like DUALSKY or Smart-Fly redundancy bus systems. Why no one else makes a simple affordable switch capable of handling the battery pack voltage and amps is beyond me, I think there is a good market for one.  

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My idea had been to take one of these (Left is DUALSKY, right is Smart-Fly) as an inline on-off switch, placing it on the negative side of the battery lead. They are not designed for that, instead are designed for microamp signals to a power control system. A couple of experienced folks (Thanks Cody Wojcik and Jerry Leach) felt they probably would NOT handle the amps. The gauge of the wire isn't the issue, its the internals of the switch itself that are of concern. Bummer. Someone needs to make one that is just simple but can carry the volts and amps of the battery pack. 

This one from Australia (the ONLY place I can find one) is expensive, and shipping almost doubles the cost. Its pretty much exactly what I need, though a simple switch and LED without the expensive switch plate is more my desire. I would build one myself, but I can't find the damn switch. I want one that I remove the pin, not place one, to power the circuit. I could easily make one that plugged in to power on, I want one to power on when I remove the pin. I welcome ideas!

The wing servos are arriving today from Amazon, so I will start on the wings. The top wing is one piece, 54" in wingspan. This creates a transport problem as it isn't going to fit in my car nor my wife's SUV attached to the fuse. The bottom wing is two piece joined in the middle. I will need to remove the wings to transport it. Since the top wing is one piece, and the bottom wings two parts are joined in the middle, I plan to permanently join the two bottom halves, epoxying the wing spar in place, and putting a thin fiberglass layer on the top and bottom of the wing at the wing joint. Since I have to use a large wing bag for the top wing, I might as well make the bottom wing one piece as well. Adds strength, and makes transport a tad easier. What this leaves is a LOT of tiny screw and nylock nuts that need to be put on and taken off with every transport. I will need to carry a bag of replacements, as those damn things will disappear like chocolates at a sorority house.

I haven't heard from Horizon Hobby about my iX12 transmitter, which is there for service.  Its there, and hopefully I will hear something this week. They have such great service and turn around is really quick.

More to follow!

UPDATE: I did find this flag-and-pin switch from RadicalRC for $11 plus reasonable shipping:

I don't understand RadicalRC "generally not recommending its use in high vibration environments" since its a "single contact" switch due to lack of redundancy. All switches are single contact. These ARE used with powersafe systems as the sole switch in high vibration aircraft (ie gassers), so I don't understand why they wouldn't. I'm going to give it a shot.

Jerry Gollot, old friend, fly buddy...I miss you.

I learned today on visiting my old club's website, MCRCC in Gulfport, MS, that one of my friends has died. Jerry died on March 24, 2016. Jerry was a true southern gentleman. I loved him, and he was one of my first fly buddies. He taught me how to be an aviator, how to teach, how to be a club member, how to be a good man despite the few assholes at the club, and though I won't admit it publicly, he taught me to like some conservatives... My thoughts are with Sandra, his lovely and loving wife, and his family.

Jerry taught me how to fly. (Ron Johnson taught me how not to fly... just kidding!). He took me up with my Alpha Sport 450 on a buddy box on my very first day at the field, stuck with me every time I showed up, and had me solo with confidence shortly thereafter. He was my first "pusher' in this lovely addiction we call RC flight. He was one of the original Flying Monkeys. He taught me not to be afraid of nitro planes. He was always present, and he always helped. Always. 

LINKS TO MY BLOG POSTS WITH JERRY.

I miss you, Jerry. I really do.

(Dammit Kenny... you should have called me).

Tomorrow

As I wrote previously I haven't been able to get the DLE 30cc to start after it sat for almost a year. I got some carb cleaner and soaked it for hours, picking it up and shaking it and using some spray carb cleaner to blow the ports. I had removed all of the needle valves, and cleaned their ports. I completely rebuilt the carb, and then the engine, and reinstalled it with a new Hall sensor.

Tomorrow, we try again.

I also applied the lettering and some labels. I think I did a pretty decent job laying out the BREITLING logo! The kit came with the letters but I had to apply them one at a time on both sides.

 

Tomorrow we find out if I am buying a cheap Turnigy gas engine to replace the DLE...

Flew this morning. The Cosmic Wind hates the tall grass on landing, even without the wheel pants. She is one faaaast flier. I flew the second Alpha Sport 450 before selling it to Jerry, to make sure she flew well, and she of course flew marvelously! The Pulse XT went up and as always flew smartly.

Now, tomorrow.

 

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"Here, hold my beer..."

Got out this morning, after a late night working on the MXS-R, and the fields were empty of lacrosse players, the sky clear, the wind calm. Perfect!

Took the Pulse XT, the 1000mm Sbach and the F-86 Saber jet out. Flew the Pulse, always a great flyer, and as I was flying Jerry came out and introduced himself. He's an RC pilot, new to the hobby, so I took him up on a buddy box with the Pulse. He did an amazing job, and is completely hooked if he wasn't already. I suggested the Alpha Sport 450 as a great first plane (he tried starting with the Pulse, but being an engineer, he over engineered it :-), and I realized I have the extra new one and offered to sell it to him. It will be great to have another pilot out at Joppa Hill.

I took the Jet up. Or tried to. She has to be hand launched, always a moment of truth, and she went to ground. The wind was behind us, what there was, so she ended up in the dirt, where she FOD'd herself.

 

See that? No blades. They went shooting out the back...

I took the Sbach up, and she was twitchy, hated the grass, but she was settling in and becoming fun to fly. She needs a lot of power to keep flying. I brought her down and started to toss her around. I decided to do a low loop. You know that thought, where you say to yourself, "I really don't think she can do this, but WTF, let's see what happens?" The "Here, hold my beer..." moment. And then without thinking about it much you start the manuever and it ends a badly as you expected? Yeah, all too well. In talking to Jerry, I realized this, and that I really wasn't upset at all. TLDR: I tried a low level loop, she couldn't pull out, she dieded.

 

Oh well, parts for a new project!

It was nice to meet Jerry, and I look forward to flying with him again soon!

Oh, BTW, in our last of three buddy box flights my Master box started doing that disconnect-reconnect thing again. Recall I had sent the DX8 to Specktrum to see if it was my box, and it wasn't I changed the cable and the problem resolved. It's back...

 

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Weather Break!

Finally got a break in the weather, albeit with brisk winds. The winds were kind enough to be directly down the runway from the south. I took advantage of the winds to practice my landings, and am improving. I did manage to crack the new gear again with my last landing (a nice snap was heard). The gear are good, just fractured the CF on the outside. I put some JB Weld on it, and have ordered a replacement, but right now it looks good.

I also flew the Trex 600 and again grounded the tail blades on my last flight, stripping the forward umbrella and this time the autrotation gear (I was auto-rotating to landing when I touched). I read about putting a Trex 700 tail fin on it to raise the tail and will put a servo wheel on the end to add more protection if needed. I realized today that the fin I have is very thin and vibrates, so it needs replacing anyway.

I got a lot of flights in today, and enjoyed every minute!

Hot, sunny, protecting the canopy. Forgot a towel, used the wing bag.

Robby and Jerry flying Robby's glow Escapade.

Kenny's sweet 60cc twin cylinder Carden Edge 540.

Very nicely tuned!

I am probably going to go again tomorrow, weather permitting. Get Aidan out on the Alpha and give him some time on the MX2, which I didn't take today. Enjoyed a great flying day, good conversation and improving my skills!

A Very Excellent Day!

Aidan and I headed out this morning for a date on the MCRCC flightline, looking to maiden his Alpha Sport 450 and my PulseXT 25e after a breakfast of southerner at Das House of Waffles. It was a spectacular day!

 

The Alpha flew tail heavy, which surprised me for two reasons. Firstly, despite telling Aidan we needed to check CG I completely forgot to do it, and secondly, this is not a tail heavy plane. I ended up putting an ounce in the nose. So the first flight was brief and I had to land cross field because I didn't feel like dealing with the cross wind, and at the last minute her upwindish wing tossed up a bit. Rough landing, no damage.

In setting up the weight we pulled a loose solder out from the EC3-EC5 adapter I had made out of an old EC3 battery lead. The solder was about 4 years old... I hadn't brought my soldering torch, and at first thought all was lost, but McGyver Me used the clubhouse electric stove to heat the remaining solder in the bad EC3 pin, and voila, fixed it after a couple of tries. I noticed the motor clicking, but couldn't figure out what was up, it otherwise ran fine. We got the plane up and Aidan got to make a few runs on it before we brought her back in. I still heard the clicking and inspected the motor, pulling on the prop. It was then I noticed the brand new Eflite 450 motor's rotor (the can) was pulling off the stator by a good quarter inch. I didn't have a hex driver small enough to fit it, nor did anyone else on the field, so that ended the flight day for the 450. In the meantime we put the bigger tires on her since the stock ones were tripping her up in the grass.

When I got home I removed the motor (none of it was locktited), reset the back "rotor holder thingy", a wheel lock actually and tightened it with some locktite. I reset the stator and replaced the SAE lock nut with a metric as it was stipped in the frickin' lock hole, which is why it slipped, and snugged it all in with locktite. Put it all back together with locktite and gave her a spin up. Ran great, click was gone, rotor stayed put on the stator. I'm going back out tomorrow wx permitting and will fly her through a proper maiden workout; we'll see if I have prevailed over the wayward stator.

 

 

I maidened PulseXT 25e #4 today! She flew perfectely as designed. I wasn't feeling lucky, so I put her away after that first flight, but will fly the snot out of her tomorrow!

Ended the day with a nice flight of the Sbach 70, took her through the first aerobatics I have flown for some time, and she did marvelously. it is a distinct pleasure watching her unlimited vertical at high speed. I landed her after 4 minutes, having flown her on a 6S 3300, and the battery was down to 3.7 per cell... This is disappointing as I was getting 6 minutes to that level on 2 x 3S 2560 in series... Tomorrow I will put a 4000 in her and see what time I get. I think putting her on the ground after 4 minutes will be safe until I get a better feel for the run time. 4 minutes sucks... And I flew most of that at half throttle (at which she still hauls ass). After one flight I was done... Spent too much time farting around with fixing the 450.

Good Guy Jerry Gollot, who taught me how to fly, took Aidan up on his 40 sized nitro trainer. Aidan made several turns, getting a feel for how an airplane flies and turns, learning the nuance of a little elevator in a turn, and a light finger on the sticks. He did pretty darn well and of course I failed to take a pic...

All in all, a very successful day! Looking forward to getting out there very early tomorrow and flying before the winds pick up!

 

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Old Friends at MCRCC Fall Fly-In

I was fortunate to be home this weekend when MCRCC held its Fall Fly-In at Bob Miller Field in Gulfport, Mississippi. Kenny Chandler and the MCRCC boys put together a nice show. The field was gorgeous, the planes beautiful, and the weather could not have been more perfect! Luke, Aidan and I went by and I ran into a lot of my old friends. Kenny Chandler, Ron Johnson, Bill Page, Greg Reed, and Dickie Ober. I saw Jerry Gollott, Paul Verger, Al Warburton making rounds. It was good to see these guys.
 
Kenny, you did awesome! Bravo Zulu!

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Flight Mode and Hold are not compatible

Whodda thunk? My beloved HK 500 died a miserable pilot induced death today. My favorite helicopter ever... I betrayed her today. So this is how it went down.
 

Lift off, hover, looks good, hit flight mode a couple of feet AGL. Wha'? POWER LOSS, tail drops, I compensate but over do it trying to auto and a blade strikes. It was over in seconds. 6S is a whole lot of power and she pretzeled something fierce. I was in shock. It was clear she went into hold becasue that's what happens when you hit the hold switch. As I thought about it I realized I had hit Hold and Flight Mode (opposite sides, same switch position index finger tip) and when she didn't spin up but instead spun down, my inexperience and lack of focus failed me and I flew her into the ground. Right now it looks like blades, tail boom, canopy paint cracked and chipped, missing tail boom support rod, split the landing gear (tube is fine), snapped a servo arm, but the servos seem fine. I will be surprised if there isn't something else broken... like my heart. Well, tomorrow morning I will start on her rebuild.
 
I have everything I need to rebuild the HDX 500, but am not looking forward to the labor of taking it completely apart to replace the frames. I love that old heli, so I am sure it will be next on my list.
 
I took the EXI 450 Sport out, and for some frickin' reason her tail belt is binding. Plan to take the tail apart and figure that out tonight, if I can find the energy.
 
Lastly, I flew the ill fated Sbach. I flew her with a 3S and she seemed anemic... she was twitchy on 20% rates, but once I got her trimmed she flew pretty well. She had a strong tendency to dive despite her CG being centered. Adapted. Powered off, she glided fair. I did a touch and go, seemed fine. I flew around a bit more and when I came back around on final I stalled her in a turn (she got rocky in the turn) and she landed belly down, stripping her gear, poked a whole in the wing, and that was it. Her gear are not well secured after multiple pairs, but still, it was a pretty abrupt landing. I fixed that this evening. They are held in with epoxy, no real wood to wood contact. This thing is almost ridiculous... Tomorrow I will fly her with a 4S, and try to remember to land her hot. More so because she will be heavier with the bigger battery. I honestly don't expect it to come out well.
 
At least I met some great guys today! Frank, Don and Jerry were there and made me feel welcomed. I need to work on learning how to line up with the paved runway, and to come down lightly as the runway is not as forgiving as grass. But then, it is sweet landing smooth instead of watching the grass try to pull the gear off. Add to this that I am not flying as much as I was, and my skills are way behind the plane. Practice...
 
It was not my best day of flying. I am having trouble adapting to my new field, all psychological. Working on it.
 
ADDENDUM (9/30/12): Oh, almost forgot. I also flew the PulseXT 25e. I had a problem keeping her steady on final, I think coming in too slow, and she would drop her nose and prop strike the ground. Went through a couple of props (12x8e), in fact the last couple I had. I also skinned the wing tip. So proud of myself.
 

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Another Heli of a Day!

Took to BMF today with my eFlite Ultimate, and my darlings, the EXI siblings, as well as my new HK500cmt. It was one heli of a day! Kenny Chandler, Jerry Gollott, Ron Johnson, and I flew, Greg Reed showed up and visited with us. It was oppressively hot and humid...
 

 

 

Jerry Gollot, and Ron Johnson

 

 

Looking over my bench at lunchtime.

 

 

Kenny out behind his truck brokering a deal for a new motor for his Edge from a guy on the West Coast.

 
I took the EXI 450 Sport out to play. Set her on my heli pad, spun her up, and she threw a tail blade within seconds. Darn... I need to start bringing things like that... Changed out to the EXI 450 FBL with the Tarot ZYX on it, and flew her like crazy. On the third pack I brought her in nose first, hovered her, she got a little close (the wind was blowing down on me), so I flew her back away, and gained some altitude. But when I came in again she got too close, I gave her full up pitch, she cleared well, but got over my head off to my right, and I had no idea what she was doing so close above me, so I dumped her and hit throttle hold. Bent the main and feathering shaft, no other damage. I decided to take her tail blades and put them on the EXI Sport, and took her up. On her second pack she threw her gyro! Total loss of tail control, brought her down to ten feet spinning like a crazy top, and finally just had to hit throttle hold and try to set her down in autorotation. She landed gear down, a bit hard with a lot of yaw rate. Broke the gear, bent the main shaft, and likely the feathering shaft. Everything else looks good! Orientation mishap with the FBL aside, I had such a blast mastering the helis. I am truly getting comfortable with them!
 

 

The bad girls in time out... after their crashes.

 

 
The HK500cmt with the BeastX FBL system flew just sweet! I had only hovered her briefly over a week ago, and she did great. Flying 6S (two 3S 2650mAh packs in series) with a lot of power, getting about 6 minutes of circuits, figure eights. etc. A couple of little tweaks on gyro gain, and I flew her for three packs. So much easier to control her than the 450s, so much more stable and less twitchy. A real joy to fly!
 
It is so exciting having finally moved to fast forward flight with the helis! I ordered some parts (all out of landing gear, skid tubes for the 450s). The Jesus bolt on the Sport stripped its hex head... so I had to cut the bold out damaging the autorotation one-way gear. I had one to replace it, but when I installed it I held it in a pair of pliers to rotate it and I crushed it! I did not realize it was so soft! So I had to order replacements. Put in orders for one set of landing gear, and the one-way gear from AMainHobbies.com, which should arrive before the end of the week. The movers come on Sunday, so I want to have everything repaired before then!
 
Planning on trying to get some more time in tomorrow at BMF with both 500s and the Frankenheli 450 FBL, but have some work stuff to get done first. Oh, I found that the holes I placed for the canopy grommets on the HK500cmt were a bit close with the larger 2650mAh packs, so I had to really pull to get the canopy latched on. I decided to do two things. I ordered a wicked cool Align canopy for $25 on eBay, and I Bondo'ed the holes to redrill tomorrow. I will sand it, and repaint it, then redrill. Come to think of it, the canopy will not be ready to fly tomorrow, so I may only take the HDX500...
 
I am pretty sure that I will be concentrating on my helis from now on: once you go heli, you never go back... not really. Only flew the Ultimate twice. Once to warm up, and later because I felt sorry for her...
 

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No fun at all...

Okay, maybe a little.

I decided to take advantage of this gorgeous day and took some time off fom the job search to fly. It sort of felt like mandatory fun... my heart wasn't in it.

I flew the PulseXT first, and as always, she performed awesomely. I haven't had my hands on the sticks for a while, but she made me feel like I had never left. I only flew her twice today, but both so pleasant.

I then took the ill mannered, ill fated Green RC Super Cub up. It took about 8 tries to get her off the ground, and we only managed when Jerry held her on the ground at full throttle. She waffled up, I got her steady, then pulled back hard to clear the fence. She was wobbly, but I got her trimmed out and started to enjoy flying her in basic maneuvers for several minutes. I had had an 8x8 prop on her, and I think it was too much pitch. I changed to an 8x4 that Ron Johnson gave me, and she finally had good thrust, and that's when she got off the ground. I took her to altitude and throttled back for stall, she settled with a good sink rate but remained stable. At about 30', still in control, I powered up, she rolled hard right and spiraled into the ground. Just like she has done on every single flight. POS. I picked up the pieces, her broken fuse and crushed undercarriage, walked her back to the pits, and did what any good friend would do. I gave her to Ron. The curse is now upon him...

I also brought out the Sbach. Powered her up, she bound, and I started out to the flightline. In the 10 seconds it took me to get there she hard rebound 3 times. She would continue to do it evey few seconds. Crap. Took her back to the pits, tried another battery, checked for loose connections, etc. I think its the BEC on this HobbyWing ESC. Didn't I just have this problem? Wasn't it this ESC, on another plane? I need to look back through my blog. I have a HeadsUpRC 40A ESC that I will replace it with. So, I did't get to fly her, and I hope its not my new AR6000.

 

I did get to fly the EXI 450 BeastX Heli, and she was fun. It has been some time since I flew heli, and my initial flights were very over controlled. Got a couple of flights in, nothing much since I was not in the mood to rebuild a heli. Flew the PulseXT again and called it a day...

If it wasn't for the good company it would have been a bust. I got a hung from Sandra Gollot, spent some time chatting with Harold, Jerry and Steve, and Tony even dropped by.

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe if I can get Kenny to show up...

 

Beautiful Maiden!

Beautiful day to maiden a beautiful aircraft! Its my practice, as it is of many who trained me, to allow someone else to maiden my newly built aircraft when I can, since I am still a bit of a novice pilot. This way if something goes wrong its the wand and not the magician. Today I nervously took the Eflite Pulse XT out to BMF to maiden. I asked Dickie Ober, our club prez, to take her up for me. We checked her out, and then he took her out to the flightline, shortened a bit while the scars of the recent repairs heal. There was no wind, beautiful cloudless sky. He powered her up and with a smidge of back stick she lifted off clean and sweet. She flew so incredibly well it was mind-boggling! This is what you get when you purchase a well made kit by skilled designers, follow their lead and install quality electronics. She was sharp in her maneuvers, speedy, great vertical, and calm on takeoff and landing. He took her through mid and high rates, and we trialed the flaperons. They worked smoothly and had a sound effect, but I think a bit more is in order. I had -25% and -40% dialed in, but reprogrammed it at the end of the day with -40% and -50% which I will try tomorrow. I flew her myself for the remaining 2 flights. I am so excited and pleased with this, my favorite plane!

Oh, and I managed to get my Tail-Hook Ticket punched! There was a yellow ribbon about 6-8 inches off the ground cordoning off the repaired runway which is closed. The approach to the remaining runway to the south requires an approach right over the patch. I brought her in low, thinking I would clear the tape, but at the last minute realized I wouldn't... I could power up and hope to clear it, or land and roll into it. I chose the latter and she touched down, rolled out snagging the 2-wire! Not bad!

It was a lot of fun, the couple hours I was out! I flew the Stearman, amazingly well behaved though she tried to tip stall on landing twice, and the Trojan. All in all a great day!

We hung out in the south pit since the northern end of the runway is still closed. Jerry, Joe, Bobby and Ron in this pic. My Stearman, Pulse and Trojan on my bench with my IS in the background.