Last Flight of the Phoenix

There comes a point where you just have to decide enough is enough, and to let a plane go... Cubby #1 was my first plank, and she taught me how to fly, that we can survive crashes, and how to fix foamies from nearly every ill. But, I just couldn't get her to fly right in the end.

Several of my past posts have been about her deteriorating stability, and that she was becoming progressively underpowered as her weight increased from the repairs. My flying skills are still novice, but I can fly her. I've flown her over a dozen times just fine. She looked marvelous after this last repair... she had beautiful lines, a perfect CG, and more power than ever. But something was wrong, she wasn't the same. I don't think it was the gusts, because even in the calm she wouldn't settle down. She gyrated like a bucking bronco, high rates, low rates, full throttle, idle... it didn't matter. Sometimes she just didn't respond well to inputs, mostly continuing to glide downwards despite full up elevator and full power, sometimes over-reacting, sometimes delaying her reaction. She was unhappy, and so was I. And so, we crashed... A steady dive, not a stalling collapse. Hard into the ground. I had a feeling this would be the last flight of the Phoenix, so I tried my keychain hatcam again. But, as with all things Cubby, it just wasn't quite right, and Cubby was out of frame for almost the entire video.

Bad hatcam video, but the timeline is interesting to watch unfold. 

Her last flight, couldn't just toss out the video...

Brand New Exceed 4ch J3 Cub 1080mm from Nitroplanes

Build completed February 5, 2011

Rest in peace, Phoenixcubby...

May 21, 2011

Needless to say, I LOVE Cubbies, ground handling issues aside. I have Cubby #2, and someday I am sure there will be another. I have a fondness for these 1080mm foamie Cubs. It was hard not piecing Phoenixcubby back together again, so hard. But she just isn't the same. I had to force the canopy in, pushing the nose down, so I know she is deformed so much her true lines are all wacked. So, I am cannibalizing her parts, and her wing is above my bench forever, a reminder of my first plank love...

To round out the day, I took the Alpha Sport 450 up. It was a WILD ride, and after a couple circuits, and her being just carried away by the wind, I landed her in one piece (she harriered almost straight down like a heli... the wind had gotten so brisk). A little too much for my skill level. That was enough for me, so I called it a day. Another pilot lost a plane in a crash, others flying heavier nitro's took advantage of the 8-9 mph winds and 12-15 mph gusts, flying only a few times more themselves. Tough day.

I am looking forward to the arrival of my Nano P-51 Mustang, and hope, oh I so hope, she is stable and fun to fly! Tomorrow, if the winds allow, I plan to fly the Cornell and the MX2. Big day planned. And, I may even have the ERazor ready!

Here we go again...

Phoenixcubby, again. This time with a 225W Exceed Alpha 370 motor from Hobbypartz. This baby has some scary power... I bench ran the motor and the tail came off the bench she wanted to fly like a rocket on thrust alone! Way more power that the stock motor! She is spot on for CG. The wing has a good shape, but I think you can tell the end that broke just by the way it turns up a tad more. Was going to head out to BMF today to fly her, but I had a bad night last night at work and just didn't have the heart for it... I think tomorrow I will be up for it!

Nice new canopy!

Yellow stripe of Econocote to give some strength to the broken wing since I could not spar it.

Straight wing, elevator and fuse.

Sitting pretty.

Still sorta lists to port...

Waiting for the new 225W motor to arrive for Cubby 2, and she too will be ready for flight. Love my Cubbies!

MCRCC Spring Fly-In June 18th!

Please, somebody stop me...

I am obssessed with Phoenixcubby... so, yes, I am rebuilding her... Fixed the wing, but it did not break apart completely, so no spars. She is a little weak there as a result I think, a bit too much flex. The wing has its droopy negative dihedral again. I debrided the fuse, and glued the forward part back together. I also glued the empennage back on, as it broke cleanly. Yeah, she's a little heavy feeling, and I think her nose turns up a bit too much, so the motor thrust vector is off a tad. Once again I had to fabricate the posterior canopy attachment from styrofoam. It was damaged, but held together pretty well. I had to remove it entirerly and rebuild that part using styrofoam.  I think the cowl has had it, so I don't know if I will put it back on. It secures the canopy to the fuse, and the wing is attached to the canopy, but I have an idea that saves some weight and doesn't use the cowl. I will cote the fuse again, this time in red just because. I plan to balance the wing, to see if that will help her stability issues. I want to have her ready by Wednesday. Here goes nothin'...

I also have all the Erazor parts in, so I plan to finish her repairs too!

BlitzRCWorks Nano P-51 Mustang

With the death of Phoenixcubby I needed a new small inexpensive parkflyer. I will eventualy be getting a larger foamie Mustang (I am eyeing this one), I have another 1 meter foamie Cub, so I have been thnking about this sweet BlitzRCWorks Nano P-51 Mustang from Banana Hobby. This plane is tiny! I suspect, being so small she is going to be challenging for me to fly as a newbie, but I think her smallness will make her more crash resistant.

She haasn't been  released yet, but is expected to ship late May! Fun!

The dog crap was my first sign...

Clearly there comes a point where you just can't fix a plane anymore. Phoenixcubby is there... As I mentioned, she was flying sluggish, like she was under powered, and she went unstable with the slightest change. Yes my skills are still sloppy and developing, but I can usually fly the cubby for several laps before I do something stupid. Since the last major rebuild she just hasn't been the same. Yesterday in Meridian, MS, I took her out to the Northeast Recreation Fields and tried flying her again.

The soccer field there was covered with big dog poop... this was my first sign that things were going to go down the crapper. The second sign was she was requiring looonnng run outs for takeoff, and would tip forward breaking props even though I had full up elevator on high rates. The third sign was that when I got her up there, she waddled unless she was in level flight at full throttle. It was all I could to land her. I changed positions on the field to get the sun out of my eyes, still having flown her for only a minute or so. I again found it difficult to get her to take off, and then finally she did. She seemed okay, full throttle, climbing turn to the right nicely, was heading back. I dumb thumbed her into a right roll when I wanted left, and she was unforgiving. Once she started that right roll, full aileron did not bring her upright, full back stick did not bring up the nose, and she drilled into the ground...

I thnk she was just too heavy for the motor and the wing... Too much glue, too many spars, too much tape, just too heavy, under powered, and too much wing loading. Her fuse is broken in several places, the canopy is broken again, her wing is broken the forward part of the fuse is mushy... I could put her back together again, but not improve her weight characteristics. I think its time to move on, salvage the parts I can, focus on Cubby 2, and my new micro plane!

Good-bye, Phoenixcubby!

Can't catch a break...

Up in Meridian, Mississippi, absolutely gorgeous day. Had to fly, thought about it all night and all morning. First chance I got, I took off for a set of soccer fields I found nearby. Turned out to be a pretty decent size set of fields just north of North Hills on Hiway 39. Took Cubby! But Cubby's receiver wouldn't light up, and I was getting the slow beeps of death. I tried rebinding, no joy. This was the HK Orange receiver from the last big crash, but I had no reason to suspect it. I packed up and headed back to the apartment. I tried the receiver attached to my Sim Stick, and I thought it gave me the same sounds, and wouldn't bind. I suspected the ESC, but that didn't make any sense either. So I took the ESC to the local hobby shop (it moved from the address I found on the internet, so I called and Donald gave me directions. which, being a man, I failed to follow correctly and drove several miles past the left I was supposed to take. Once I figured that out, I found North Hills Hobbies nowhere near North Hills...because it moved...). Donald help me prove the ESC was actually fine, which made me happy because I like this Hobby Wing ESC. So I took it back to the apartment and tried the Sim Stick's Specktrum again (it's the counterfeit one I didn't know I bought counterfeit). This time I let it take a little longer to bind and it did just fine. But this time it did the normal tones, and gave me the slow beeps of death again, even though the receiver was bound. So I Googled it and I saw something I remember seeing before so I tried it. I turned on the transmitter with the throttle full up. I then powered the receiver, and after the 2 beeps dropped the throttle to off. I then turned everything off and powered it up again. Beeps gone, fully bound, ready to fly!

I went back to the field, still gorgeous outside! Checked CG, checked control surfaces. I did a few ground loops, broke a prop, kept adjusting the landing gear to get prop clearance, and finally got her flying. But she was wishy-washy, sluggish... Ran into a ginormous lighting pole, crashed to the ground, just broke a prop and the canopy (damn canopies...). Changed the prop, taped things up, realized the upper motor mount screws were pulled... maybe that's why she flew funny. These were the screws I thought were secured even though they had no nuts.  Wrong...  I used wire ties to secure them, and checked her out, took her up again. This time, she seemed much more responsive, took her down field nice and slow, turned and brought her back. She seemed her self again! I turned, and she started her roll, but began to nose down. Pulled back on the stick, but JUST LIKE THE LAST MAJOR CRASH SHE NOSE DIVED FULL SPEED INTO THE GROUND! I just can't catch a break with her. So I threw her in the car, and went off to Las Fuentes for a chimichanga and a lot of sweet tea. Once I got back home I spent a couple hours putting her back together again. She had once again stove in her nose, this time breaking the motor mount off the fuse, cracking then fuse under the cote. I glued her back together, added packing tape to stabilize her, and she is as good as before. I epoxied the motor mount back in place and its secure. I glued the canopy together, repaired the fuse as well as I could. Once I had everything back together, I threw in a battery, and ran the motor. Now this motor rocks! The prop and motor took a direct hit, but the large shaft could not be bent! Ran true, ESC and motor stayed warm, not hot, and the battery ran her for about 10 minutes at 3/4 throttle. Very nice! I am letting the glue set in overnight. I think the weather is supposed to get squirrelly so I don't know that I will get another chance to fly her. Which is maybe a good thing... since that's not going so well for me.

Looking good! I suppose she is getting a bit heavy with all the repairs... I still love her!