MCRCC Fly-In is Next Saturday!

Visitors are free, so bring the kids!

MX2 taking flying lessons from the Cubby?

I had spent some time strengthening the attachment points on the elevator and ailerons, and putting CA hinges on the MX2 and was pretty excited to fy her today. Checked CG, everything looked great. Took her up the first time and the engine quit on climbout. One of the motor wires came loose. Managed to almost get her back but she landed clean in the blackberry field. Trouble shot, fixed, took a moment to change the landing gear position. Took her back out. She flew like a pig, barely climbing out with a lot of oscillation, powered her to altitude but she wasn't controllable. Barely got her up, had trouble turning her around, and as she was coming back she rolled uncontrolled and dived into the ground, ala Cubby. So I spent a couple hours flying pack after pack on the Alpha practicing cross wind landings.

Yup, MX2 has been taking flying lessons from the Cubby.... Need a prop shaft, other than that I should have her up in a day or two!

MCRCC Article in AFRH Communicator

About 20 onlookers watched as Ken Schroeter flew 2 different tiny remote control helicopters inside the Community Center at AFRH-G

Mississippi Coast Radio Control Club (MCRCC) Visits AFRH-G
By Debbie Pearson, Art Specialist

Even though the weather outside was too windy for our new friends from the MCRCC to give us a demonstration flying the kits and made-from-scratch models they brought with them, we were able to have a wonderful static display for our residents to see. Several members of the MCRCC, many who are veterans themselves, brought in models that our residents would recognize from prior military days. Eyes sparkled and new friendships were formed as the memories and stories of days gone by were shared. How incredibly blessed we are to have such wonderful people from our community come to our Home and share their lives with us. MCRCC, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts to the top of the clouds! You guys made a bigger impact then you will ever know. We can’t wait to see you guys again!

New cam and light mount for Alpha

I like the idea of a more permanent cam mount on the Alpha Sport 450. I wanted something out of the airstream and thought about the large opening behind the landing gear. I took some wood from Greg's plane and using CA and built a beam across and buttressed it in so that the pressure of instaling and removing the keychain cam wouldn't budge the beam.

I also like the idea of a light to help with orientation on video flights, or just in general because I can!

I took a Mini Maglite and used the hairy side of a Velcro to pad it, and two prop saver o-rings to secure it. Worked quite well. The light is bright and can be widened in beam so it can be seen well. We'll have to see how it looks in flight!

Armed Forces Retirement Home

The Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Mississippi, invited members of MCRCC to visit and share our aircraft with the residents of the newly opened home. One of two AFRH (the other is in Washington, DC), ours was completely destroyed by Katrina. This recently completed facility is a beautiful building on an beautiful campus right on the Gulfcoast. We were excited to share with our vets and their dependents our wonderful hobby!

We were set up on the 1st floor (above the ground floor...) in a large room where residents could come by and visit with us to discuss our planes, marvel at the new technologies, and reminisce of their own flight adventures. From MCRCC we had Al Warburton, Jim Farned, Harold Morris, Richard Schwiger, and myself and from KAMS, Lee Carroll. Here are a few pics of our visit. I thought I had more of us in the pics!

Residents loved my HDX 500, my Walkera CB100, but most of all the tiny 3 channel coaxial heli's I brought. I flew the coaxials and some of the residents took a chance at the controls! Also in this pic are my mentally ill Cubby, my sacred lucky PT-17 Stearman. 

My MX2, and Al's Spacewalker and his new Yak.

The "Fern Gully Fairy" Heli, as one of the staff dubbed her with her blinking lights and twittery flight.

Lee Carrol's Fokker, Taylorcraft and Corsair.

Harold Morris's Randolph Scout.

Surely the showpiece, Jim Farned's "DJ Special". Wow...

Here's a piece of artistry as clever as it is beautiful. One of these cylinders is real, the others Jim fabricated. Can you tell which is the real one? 

Richard's beloved Parkzone Cubby!

Jim's Avenger and Corsair

Lee Carroll's Eflite Taylorcraft.

Al Warburton's Yak. Still shiny!

This sweet plane is Al's Spacewalker.

Richard Schweiger getting ready to put his Ultra Stick away.

We had a great time at AFRH. The staff and residents seemed to really enjoy it, and are planning a visit to our June 18th Fly-In! I am sure they will invite us back!

Stearman Found!

Yesterday I told of the loss of my Stearman... The video tells the rest of the story! I flew over an hour of video recon over our southern woods over several 12 minute flights. A few minutes of twisty ride over the woods and stuff in this vid to share with you how dense the woods are, though they are not that wide! I really enjoyed flying the Alpha on a "mission", a flight with purpose, and it improved my flying confidence remarkably. Stick with it to the end, the flight part is not too long. Do notice the sweet, sweet landing (can you tell when the wheels start to spin; that's when it lands of course)? Here are a few stills:

Professional corporate jet pilot, hang gliding, outdoors crazy man George Vilchez made it a quest to find my Stearman. He told his son he wasn't coming out without it! He put on his jeans and long sleeved shirt, strapped on his machete and bushwacked his way through the woods. He emerged an hour later with my Stearman in his hands! He found it deep in the forest, just above the ground, well hidden by the tree canopy, about 30 yards north of the southern edge of the woods, nearly dead in the center. I ran over and hugged him as he came out, I was so giddy with joy and appreciation!

No major damage, no breaks in her cote! Can you believe that?

Some of the delicate parts of the engine cowl are broken off. Doesn't look like it matters much!

This strut is cracked (thought they were aluminum, not balsa), and there is a cracked rib on the fuse just behind the pilot. No other damage!

I cannot express my appreciation more grandly to Bill for helping me walk the edge of the woods yesterday, and to George, for making my Stearman's return his personal quest. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now, I will fly her with the reverence a miracle plane deserves!

Sunday Shenanigans

A busy, Sunday, and like many these past weeks, today was a wild and crazy ride at BMF. I started my day flying video recon looking for my lost Eflite Stearman (more on that in my next post dedicated to the topic), flying  all over the south woods. Gave me a good reason to fly pack after pack with a keychain video cam on my Alpha Sport 450, which felt kinda neat, and it was some of the best flying I have done! I love that Alpha, I couldn't have flown this mission without her.

The day did not go so well for Ron... His freshly repaired Harrier 3D took off, and immediately it was clear something was wrong. It wallowed, seemed under powered. It stalled, and fell 15 feet to its death...

The crash site is at the northern end of our runway.

Ron checking out the bits and pieces. Like all experienced pilots, he acted like it was just one of those things. Inside he wanted to scream, I am sure. This plane has been jinxed, and it is one of his true loves... Hard place to be.

I flew my MX2 briefly before having to bring her in for an emergency landing when one of her worthless elevator hinges snapped and the elevator began to flutter madly. The hinges are these little tiny plastic things that have no business on an aerobatic plane, now that I look at them. Last night I replaced the one I bumped on the aileron, now I will replace them all using the CA hinge fabric that Ron gave me. Jim also recommended that I strengthen the interface between the foam surfaces and the control horns, and run a CF rod across the elevators under the rudder. I grounded her until I get these things done. Oh, I should mention that its kept its perfect record of bending the gear on EVERY FRICKIN' LANDING!

Steve and his grandson JJ with their planes!

 One of the most fun of which dived when its elevator malfunctioned and slammed hard into the ground. The fuse is amazingly resilient! The wing separated, but the rest of the foam looks pretty good. The motors are toast with broken shafts, but the props survived unscathed, if you can believe that. The battery is puffy, but not taco'd and may fly another day. JJ flew their ultra micro Champ so well we all enjoyed it and sorta wanted to go get one for ourselves! The weather moved in before they could fly the Extra. Maybe next time, JJ!

Jerry and Sandy dropped by! It was great to meet her. She's further proof that we men all marry up! 

I left early having used up all my good luck (see my next post!) and because we were getting sandwiched between two thunderstorms. More flying this week if I can, as I return to work for a 2 week stint!