What did you fly today?

[xviper]

Nice vid as always hugh... viper its been 30 c here u talkin farenheight.. ? Still too cold ... we get zero in winter ,,, colder than that i would die..

We do Celcius here and when I looked at your weather yesterday, it was 18C at 3am. We were -18C here a few days ago at 3am. A couple weeks ago, we were -32C, while you are currently having +30C. That's why I said you and I are having the same numerical temperatures, except that we've got a minus (-) in front of ours. We are absolutely balmy hovering around 0C but some snow is coming in about an hr. Nevertheless, going flying tomorrow morning.

[f4u ausie]

Nice vid as always hugh... viper its been 30 c here u talkin farenheight.. ? Still too cold ... we get zero in winter ,,, colder than that i would die..

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally Got the Beast video done. This is just an awesome flying aircraft. Haven't flown it in a long time, but gotta get it out more. Been spending a lot of time with the EDF's, but an occasional Beast sighting is well worth it!

[xviper]

Read hughs first post first ,,, then saw banana logo ... thanxviper... hope ya havin fun with the private jet

Thanks. "Fun" for now, is just sorting out all the pieces sitting on the table. We've had temps with the same numbers as you lately, but we're in the negative.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Read hughs first post first ,,, then saw banana logo ... thanxviper... hope ya havin fun with the private jet

I'm so far out of who's who these days, never even heard of bitgo, all I can say is that's the aircraft Banana Hobby is selling. Try to stay out of RC politics, just plug a battery it and go flying. More concerned with getting back on the ground in one piece.

[f4u ausie]

Read hughs first post first ,,, then saw banana logo ... thanxviper... hope ya havin fun with the private jet

[xviper]

Hugh is that the x fly gulfstream?. And i think bh is bitgo

The logo on the video is Banana. Marvin is the Banana rep. Bitgo has had no representation on the X-Fly Bizjet so far on the usual forums.

[Hugh Wiedman]

A few Photos of the "Magnificent Beastie" I got Marvin to take when we weren't flying the Gulfstream. I'll get the video done maybe tomorrow. Would love to get equipment like Marvin has but blew my photography budget years ago on 8 different Nikon/Nikonos underwater cameras, 20 different lens's, housings, 8 UW strobes and print enlarging equipment, all unfortunately for FILM and never went to digital. Almost impossible to even get film these days. Had some of my stuff published in Skin Diver and even have about 60 wildlife photos somewhere in the Library of Congress. But that's another life. And Alpha keeps coming up with aircraft I have to get and would much rather "fly than fotograph".

[f4u ausie]

Hugh is that the x fly gulfstream?. And i think bh is bitgo

[Hugh Wiedman]

This Missing Gulfstream Landing Video: Full video not yet on YouTube or the BH Website, but's it's nice.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got invited out to the field today to help my good friend Marvin Alvarez who was tasked with doing a flight video and photographs for BH's website on her new version of the Gulfstream, soon to be available. Marvin is a rep for BH, BVM Jets and others and is primarily a builder and scheme refinisher for customers all over the US of large Turbine Jets. He's the best pilot I 've seen and a hell of a photographer, and while large turbines are his specialty, he's equally astute with electric foamies. A couple years ago he took a FW AL37 to Top Gun and won 1st place with it in the electric division.

He flew the Gulfstream while I did the videos and photography using his outstanding equipment (sure beats the hell out of my phone photos and videos). I didn't expect to fly much so took my 60" Hangar 9 Beast Bi-Plane, one of my favorites (and the 3rd electric I ever got) but don't get to fly it much as it takes up all the space in my truck (never take the wings off-it's too much trouble). Lately been concentration on warbird props and EDF's. I liked the Beast so much that I also bought the last one available when it was discontinued just for spare parts. Still have that one NIB, as this is one of the few I've never had a single mishap with. Even put the RC sound system in, strange for a balsa/monokote aircraft, but it still adds a little flavor.

The photos and video I took should be up on the BH website shortly, but in the meantime I'm including a few here. I'm not going to give an in-depth review (I'll leave that to the experts), but I will say this is one outstanding aircraft (and that surprised the hell out of me). I'm sure FW's will be equally great. It's perfectly powered, has outstanding flight characteristics and lands incredibly slowly, unlike the AL37. It's perfectly comfortable cruising around at below 40% throttle but will bolt away when going to the fire wall and gets off grass in less than 50 feet. 7 minutes on a SMC 5300 and over 10 on a SMC 6200 flying scale like with several high speed passes (unless you go full bore all the time). The finish and quality of the foam is excellent (but can't wait to see some exciting re-paints we all know are coming) and this version has some neat features like coming with a gyro, recessed passenger windows, chrome with rivets on the cockpit window frame and those little white swirly things on the fan hubs (whatever they're called). The absolute only negative I have is that it comes with XT90 battery connectors off the ESC and all my batteries are EC5 (wow, what a huge negative!). Anyway, here's some photos to "wet your appetite" followed by a very short video Marvin posted on You Tube of one of his landings (when you see it, you won't believe how slow it's moving, and no, the video is at normal speed and winds were calm so it wasn't flying into a 30 mph headwind!

Hate to say it, but I may end up getting one of these. Feel like a former Hell's Angel ditching his Harley and buying a MiniVan!


Forgot the Video, See Next Post:

[Elbee]

Now that's really 'keeping your head on a swivel'. You are getting fighter pilot neck sitting in a lawn chair. How do you explain that to the flight surgeon? Love what ya'll are doing. Best, LB

[Turbinefancy]

TF, That is just amazing. I suppose it's as good as you're going to get without shrinking yourself and adding stick & rudder. Outstanding. Best, LB

Thanks Elbee! It may seem that way, but this FPV setup is an older one that has laggy head-tracker and has drift issues. Also the servos in the gimbal aren’t very smooth. We have been spoiled flying in better setups in Jets. So when I went back to flying the Spitfire, it feels like quite a challenge. For example, my head position to keep camera centered at end of the flight was nearly 60° off to the left of head position when I started the flight. Since there is no quick re-center button in flight, I can only rotate my seat to compensate. Not easy in the middle of aerobatics or when focusing on staying in formation😅

[Oxotnik]

I did toy rockets today, but managed to take advantage of the wide open rocket range to sneak in a few flights of my FlightLIne FW-190 Dora

[Elbee]

Immersive head-tracking FPV flying in a Spitfire cockpit; some aerobatics and mock fighting

TF, That is just amazing. I suppose it's as good as you're going to get without shrinking yourself and adding stick & rudder. Outstanding. Best, LB

[BluesDragon]

Had a visitor join me for a couple sunrise flights this morning. My phone pic skills suck, but he/she looked quite content.

[Turbinefancy]

Immersive head-tracking FPV flying in a Spitfire cockpit; some aerobatics and mock fighting

[f4u ausie]

Something very different for me as an EDF guy, today was the maiden of the phoenix model 94" stuka. Electric set up with 160kv on 12S swinging a 23x10.

Models of this weight in Australia require inspection and certification by a heavy model inspector. 12.5kg ready to fly.

Passed inspection with flying colours and the maiden went off without a hitch. What a buzz.

The brothers over the pond did vid,, on a stuka.. what a cool plane with its fixed gear.. well done shaggers.. awsome aicraft

[Oxotnik]

mshagg, being the Luftwaffe warbird fan that I am, I have looked at that Phoenix Power-160 Stuka many times. I've been hesitant to pop on it though, for a few reasons. After you get a few more flights on it, and the newness has worn off, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it, and if you're happy with it (for whatever reasons have meaning to you). I think that my next large-scale warbird will be the Phoenix 30-cc P-47, whenever it comes back in stock.

[Elbee]

mshagg , Acknowledged and agreed with xviper and Hugh Wiedman, Outstanding and an Axis airframe I would own. Best, Steve