Flying Good Friday?

[Michael]

An amazing day! Good weather, and lots of flyers and visitors.

There were probably about 10 maidens of new planes, mostly successful.

Rob D flew his new biplane. It is gorgeous! A wheel came loose on takeoff, but it landed gently with only light repairs needed. It flew fantastic!

I maidened my new Red P51B Mustang (it flew great, but needs a better and more powerful motor system), and I maidened my Phantom, which flew great, but damaged the front landing gear after it stalled from 2 feet before landing, because the battery quit. Another easy fix.

[piker]

Nice!  Congratulations on all the successful test flights.

Rob, the Bipe looks fantastic, but that's not what you want to happen on a first take-off.  We should have warned you that losing a wheel seems to be a trend with the 1/4 bipes!   

[Frank v B]

Great that Rob's Nieuport flew fine.  You are in good company when you lost the wheel.  Glenn mastered that trick when he maidened the Sopwith Pup.
The last photo is amazing when the wheel is still upright and merrily bouncing along when the plane is 4' in the air.

Great to fly my Skywriter again.  It flew better than I had hoped.  Just a little less elevator throw (reduced by 20%) and it should fly great.  Michael brought out his Skywriter and Bruce maidened his electrifried* Smith Mini-plane from the Cadez hanger.  It flew great once the trims settled down.

Thanks to Graham for conducting ground school when Ethan and his family arrived.  Ethan was doing fine when the radio cut out at about 30' altitude and heading towards the road.  No response at all on any of the sticks.  I gave it full "down" elevator and waited for it to re-set.  It did so about 75 feet from the road and promptly did the swan dive into the mud.  It will now be a subject at this coming Wednesday's build class.

Adam Maas got stick time on his Jr Falcon EP and promptly joined the club.  Andy, shake Greg H. upside down and confiscate the membership money.

Vadim flew his Cub under Bruce Weaver's tutelage.

Zach from Ryerson did an amazing job photo mapping the entire field to test the camera system.  The flight was completely autonomous (incl take-off and landing) and the shutter trip points were pre-programmed as well as the altitude.  By tomorrow we will find out if he removed the lens cap before the flight. 

The great weather was courtesy of Dr. John.  He brought it with him when he returned from Florida.... at least that's what he claimed.

Frank

* yep.... fried!

[VadimKirillov]

That was a great day. Thanks to Bruce and Michael for tutoring me. Lots of valuable advices and tips.  I still have a lot to learn and I will reserve all Wednesdays for flight school when it starts.

[mawz]

I certainly had fun today, and I've sent in my application form (to [email protected])

Noticed the form on the website needed printing to fill out, so I converted it to a PDF form that can be filled out on the computer and sent along a copy.

Looking forward to flying some more with you guys.

[Oscar]

What a wonderful day yesterday! Despite the cross wind (East), it's still wonderful!

Eric/Stephan - Thanks again to bring me back the SeaDuck kit from FliteFeast.  Although the kit is above my average to build and took me the whole winter to complete,  I maiden it!!  And it flew great (a relief).  Thank you Greg for helping me on my maiden flight! 

Michael - The UMX A-10 looks great (Was it your maiden flight yesterday?).  I maiden mine this morning before the rain.  For anyone who interested, it's perfect for anyone getting into ducted fans.  (6 1/2 mins on 2S 800mah; 8 mins on 2S 950mah, in fact flies more like a prop plane).  BTW, HH announced that the landing gear didn't turn out the way they expected so they now have a new set made with black wire rather than the coated/silver brass wire of the originals. If yours is the first batch of release, you can call product support and get a new set sent from them.   I called this morning and they are sending me the new black wire set free. (1-888-959-2305)    For your reference, here is the video.  Landing gear part starts at 8 minutes 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZmr0borQbE

[octagon]

An amazing day! Good weather, and lots of flyers and visitors.

There were probably about 10 maidens of new planes, mostly successful.

Rob D flew his new biplane. It is gorgeous! A wheel came loose on takeoff, but it landed gently with only light repairs needed. It flew fantastic!

I maidened my new Red P51B Mustang (it flew great, but needs a better and more powerful motor system), and I maidened my Phantom, which flew great, but damaged the front landing gear after it stalled from 2 feet before landing, because the battery quit. Another easy fix.

I was very happy about the way the Neuport flew. I started building it about a year ago and would have had it finished last year but for the fire we had in the house last summer. (the insurance company considered it unsalvageable and beneath the covering there is a lot of soot) I wanted to say thanks to everyone for their nice comments on the plane, and a special thanks to Greg C. for his preflight inspection, tightening and adjusting everything, to Glenn for taking it off and trimming it, and to Michael for doing a remarkable job of landing with only one wheel and to Frank for bringing electric drill everywhere he goes. The plane sustained only superficial damage and should be ready to fly tomorrow if weather permits.

[bweaver]

Re: I was very happy about the way the Neuport flew.

Rob you have every right to be happy about the flight of the Neuport.  It is a beautiful plane to behold.  The larger planes look so majestic when they are flying, even if they are missing a wheel.   You have to be proud of your builds.  Every new aircraft has some tweaks to be made.  For the size of this project, these are minor. 

Keep on trucking building, repairing and flying, like the rest of us, or should I say like most of us.

[Crazyflyer]

Rob, sad to say that you are definitely a contender for this year's crash of the year.
With an epic 4" deep crater in the middle of the runway!
Hope to see your Newport back in the air next week.

[Michael]

Some more photos ... (from Greg H)

Bruce helping Vadim.

Oscar and Frank inspect a plane with a visitor

Glenn and Michael prepare for Warwing combat

Biplanes and their pilots

Oscar with his new twin, and then in flight

Michael's Convergence in a vertical takeoff

Michael's red Mustang

Michael's Phantom jet

[Michael]

More photos from Greg.

[octagon]

Rob, sad to say that you are definitely a contender for this year's crash of the year.
With an epic 4" deep crater in the middle of the runway!
Hope to see your Newport back in the air next week.

Although I hate the fact i destroyed that glider, your post makes me laugh. I keep asking myself why I didn't just kill the throttle. I haven't decided if I will fix it yet, might be a project for next winter. The Neuport is completely fixed and ready to go. Greg Cadez suggested a different, more secure way to attach the cowl and yet still have it removable, and I spent a couple of hours yesterday fabricating that. It is simple but very secure. BTW Stephan, I don't think I thanked you for retrieving the cowl out in the field, so, thanks.

[Crazyflyer]

For me a bit of humor helps with forgetting the dozens if not hundreds of hours of hard work that get destroyed in 15 seconds of flight. That is my way of coping 
At least the Neuport flew beautifully!

Rob, sad to say that you are definitely a contender for this year's crash of the year.
With an epic 4" deep crater in the middle of the runway!
Hope to see your Newport back in the air next week.

Although I hate the fact i destroyed that glider, your post makes me laugh. I keep asking myself why I didn't just kill the throttle. I haven't decided if I will fix it yet, might be a project for next winter. The Neuport is completely fixed and ready to go. Greg Cadez suggested a different, more secure way to attach the cowl and yet still have it removable, and I spent a couple of hours yesterday fabricating that. It is simple but very secure. BTW Stephan, I don't think I thanked you for retrieving the cowl out in the field, so, thanks.