Phoenix Flight Sim 5.5

I've got my Phoeix Sim running, and with Aidan's help I can capture video! I captured this video of me flying the Hirobo Sukhoi, I think 100-150cc size, using my DX7. DR set at 100% with 40% Expo.  I can't seem to get it to accept my DX7 settings for DR/Expo, and have to try to set it up model by model in the sim.  USing FRAPS to capture then video, this couple of minutes is 5GB!!!

I would never have the balls to fly like this with my gassers, but I flew the Ultimate like this all the time.

Knitting... I think I'll take up knitting.

As I noted in my last post, I was unusually anxious about flying for the first time at CAGS today. I had no reason to be, other than existentially. After today I realize my issue is I've lost my mojo. I have been anxious flying because I am in my own head looking for my mojo. Bad landing gear on the Sukhoi, yes, but mojo lost is not good for flying. Maybe something like knitting or cross-stitch is more my speed?

The first sign of bad mojo was the Twinstar. I put it in the car, one of the last planes I loaded. In the back of the car piled on the other planes, it slid forward and being that the nose cone for this plane is a little piece of crap, it cracked in half. Dammit. So I pulled it out of the car, and as I walked into the house I dropped it.   I. Friggin. Dropped. It. I carried it in the rest of the way and took these pics.

The wings cracked in half and what was left of the nose cone completely snapped off. That's just great. So I left her behind, and instead took the Stearman. I can't remember what she has for a center wing spar, but it looks to have given way and I will need to address that. Why do I even like this plane? I mean, besides she looks cool and flies well...

I drove up to CAGS in about 40 minutes, and made it through the gate with the help of Joel, who was in one heckuva hurry and took off after letting me in. I missed the turn the first time, figured it out and arrived to find Gary Hoffman, Joel and John already flying. Matt stopped by with his little guy, for a brief visit. The winds weren't bad, a bit gusty at times, but nothing I haven't flown in before. I knew pretty quickly that I wasn't going to maiden the Spitfire, and wasn't going to fly the Stearman as it and I haven't come to an agreement just yet about who is flying her. I took the Alpha 450 up a couple of times. And that's bad mojo sign number two. I thought I would cheat the cabbage flying just above the weeds at the end of the runway for giggles, and she immediately grabbed a handful by her nose gear and flipped over. 

Despite all the previous times I have tried, I finally managed to rip off the nose gear.

Okay.... So that's how its going to be. Lets start Amateur Hour then, you know, the show where I pretend I've never done this before. I fuel up and fire up the 30 CC MXS-R. After listening to the sweet sounds of the Twin DA 100 and 120's with canisters (see the vid below), my single DLE 30cc sounds like a toy, popping and snapping, loud and obnoxious. The Loud American in an Italian museum. Add to that she needs to warm up a bit to like her Idle. (Gary shared with me an interesting technique, putting in a Idle Up switch where in one mode the idle is lower by 5% for landing, the true idle, tand in the other its higher for maneuvers. I am thinking of trying that). It had been so sweet listening to those twins I wasn't sure my engine was even running right. But she was. I took her up and nervously put her through her paces, simple and easy, and I landed her. She did fine despite me. She did tend to come down a bit briskly, but I worked the wind and she would land okay, but it was clear I am not landing well. For my amateur trick, she was on the ground taxiing and her idle was high, I went to kill the ignition and let her roll in, but I hit the electric kill on the right, before I realized I had hit the wrong one she rolled by me, and headed towards the fence. I killed the ignition using the gas kill switch (which, to add to confusion, on the Spitfire is on the Aux 2 switch, something I can't seem to change). The engine stopped just before she hit the fence.  Embarrassing.

My landing technique is really sucking lately. Something is in my head and my mojo is missing... I just can't seem to get it right. A couple of times I put her down hard (those gear took it fine), she'd bounce, a little power and she'd settle down sweet.  That's how many of the landings went, none of them graceful. On the third flight on my second landing of that flight, she bounced, and for some reason I just stood there and watched as she stalled a foot off the ground and dropped her nose hard, twisting sideways and coming down on the side of her left landing gear, she came to an abrupt stop on her chin, then flipped over. Yeah, there's a first time for everything and this was her first true crash, and I bent that left one, broke her prop, and chipped her cowl. Bad mojo. She has never suffered any damage before, other than a prop. Fortunately at first glance its not bad. I have been working on this on the sim, which of course is way too easy...

I hung out with the boys for a while, enjoyed watching Joel, John and Gary, whose experience and skill were a pleasure to watch. Joel has some mad skills, and flew his Trex 700 with incredible talent and focus.

The flight line. 

Loved these "Cholo" Wheels on Joel's Composite ARF (CARF) Yak. This is a beautiful plane, and these quirky gear and wheels were pretty cool.

Joel with his Twin DA100 equipped Yak. A professional pilot of real aircraft, and at one time a sponsored RC pilot (heli's I think), he is one of those people who just has the touch. He just knows how to make an aircraft do what he wants it to. Amazing technique, and fun to watch, fixed wing and heli.

Listen to that sweet DA 120 twin with canisters. It so smooth... Joel's Yak had a DA 100 on it, and that too was silky smooth. Made me feel barbaric with my noisy DLE 30!

My bad mojo aside, I enjoyed their company, and they were so welcoming. I enjoyed chatting at length with John whose long history in the sport is sure to rub off on me, if I get the chance to fly wth him again. He made me feel calm, and that was nice. If I can figure out how to get my application in, I am joining CAGS. I think it worth the drive every so often. Maybe more often. I have a lot to learn.

Thanks, Gary, for inviting me, and Joel and John for being so warm and welcoming! I count this as a good day.

CAGS Anxious

I'm heading up to CAGS in Hopkinton, NH, just outside Concord, to try out what looks to be one 9f the best fields in the area. 

I am taking the 30 cc MXS-R, which I am still getting comfortable with her, and the Twinstar, as it's nice to have one plane I am comfortable with. I am also planning to take the 10 cc Spitfire with the intent to maiden her. 

I decided not to take the 10 cc Sukhoi since it's running oddly. She has decided to lag on power calls from less than half throttle. It's that single needle throttle that RCGF has abandoned, as I understand it. I have a Walboro style carb coming from RCGF-USA, an upgrade kit, and have decided not to fly her until I have that carb installed and tuned.

It's sunny now, and calm, but this afternoon will be cloudy and a bit more breezy.

I'm a bit nervous. Flying at a new field is always a bit anxiety inducing. Getting to know a field and it's members is a process. I have a feeling the pilots at CAGS are a bit more advanced, so I have a little performance anxiety too. And maidening a plane is the most nerve wracking procedure we do, as it is very unpredictable. Intellecutally I could not care less what others think, but I also don't want to be a boob...

I share this because one of the reasons I do this blog is to represent us mere mortals, the ones whose hands shake, who lose planes or damage them with some regularity, and whose skills are not professional level. I think I represent normal.

Meh...

It was beautiful today out on top of the landfill today in Hudson, at SNHRCC. Clear skies, calm winds with variable gusts up to 7-10 mph.

I was all alone.

Which was good... no one to watch me screw up.  The gear came off  the 10cc Sukhoi, again. The MX-Bach tipped over on landing and broke the rudder hinges, the prop, the cowl and the front of the fuse where it joins the cowl. But hey, the VG's took the tip stall out! Now she just stops flying, wings level!

Before...

But it was fun, and that's all that matters. Already have the gear fixed, and re-inforced. I never really liked the MX-Bach, so I've just set it aside until I get around to being motivated to fix her. Which I will. Always do.

Yeah... it's what I do.

Vortex Generators

The wings on the MX-Bach are Sbach 342 wings. The inside wing tends to tip stall on approaches if one is at all slow coming in and turns sharp to final; straight in not so much a problem. A couple of runways I land on require a tight turn to final, so this happens a lot with this plane.

I was aware of vortex generators and how they curiously maintain laminar flow below stall, and I know that some RC aircraft have them, but I didn't know if they actually worked. A while back someone on the Southern NH Flying Eagles FB page posted a video on full scale use of VGs and a post on how someone had done them on larger scale RC aircraft using styrene L angles. There is a nice run of posts on RC Forums, including this one. Then I found this and I figured, why not see what happens!

L Angle Styrene, forget where I got it, not one of my usual RC sources.

Placed them along the 1st third of the curved chord, and decided 1.5 inch from the outer edge. I placed each pair 3/4 of an inch from one another, and 1 inch between pairs. Entirely arbitrarily placed, other than the 1/3 of the curved chord, which was the recommendation in the posts.

Each one of these is a VG, I just liked the way they look in pairs, and wanted to concentrate on the tips. I used Beacon 3-in-1 craft glue for the adhesive. Simple, strong, easy to place.

Someday soon I will see what happens with them in place!

Great flying and amazing luck...

I got out to Warner Field in Hudson this afternoon. Calm winds with some pretty aggressive sustained gusts that mostly came out of the west. Made for some intense crosswind crabs. The skies were beautiful, the field freshly cut!

I met John flying electric, nice guy, welcoming, and a pretty good pilot. Fun to watch him goof off.

The 30cc flew wonderfully!

During a highly crabbed crosswind I learned where the east edge of the east side runway is... I started to set her down knowing I was off center but would be over the runway soon, and to my surprise she started to disappear! I realized she was UNDER the runway! The whole field is on the curved top of an old landfill. The east side runway has the road that leads up to the field on its east edge, and its about 6-8 feet below the runway. From where I was standing I can't see the road, just the edge of the runway. Nosed up, landed fine up the side of the steep hill, but grounded the prop. No other damage. Changed it out when I got home.

The RCGF 10cc ran well! No issues.Had a lot of fun!

On the thrid flight, another crabbed landing. Didn't get the tail around fast enough at the touchdown and the torqued the gear off. It wasn't super secured on the front edge... Beginning to think that its my thing.  Fixed it easily at home, No other damage. I did secure the front edge with a single small servo RTL Fasteners servo screw. It will hold nicely, but give under a good force keeping it from ripping off the bottom of the aircraft but giving me some resistance on tough landings.

This interesting thing happened. Twice at the field, so I grounded her and didn't maiden. When I got home I trouble shot it and realized it was acting like a power loss to the receiver. I was suspicious of the Receiver pack... I think charging my NiMH at 1C has caught up with me. I used another old pack and it worked just fine. Ordered a new pack. I have to admit I wasn't eager to maiden her in the crosswinds. If this had happened in the air it would have been disastrous. Damn lucky!

Can't wait to fly again soon!