What did you fly today?

[Hardway]

Oxotnik Dang!! So sorry bro!!! That sucks! But life goes on Indy!!! Build her again!!!

[mshagg]

Oof. That sucked to watch. Hope you're not feeling too down about it.

[Oxotnik]

Oof. That sucked to watch. Hope you're not feeling too down about it.

A little bummed, but not much. It’s a hobby. Hobbies are fun. If you’re in a high kinetic energy hobby, you have to be willing to accept losses, and to laugh about them. No one was hurt, no property damage, just a little damage to my fragile male ego (LOL), no big deal. I’ll get another one and fix the few things that I’d wished done differently in this first build. All is good. Now, if I can just get the special-order TruTurn Spinner (pusher) delivered, I can get my Blackhorse Do-335 in the air!!!

[OV10]

A little bummed, but not much. It’s a hobby. Hobbies are fun. If you’re in a high kinetic energy hobby, you have to be willing to accept losses, and to laugh about them. No one was hurt, no property damage, just a little damage to my fragile male ego (LOL), no big deal. I’ll get another one and fix the few things that I’d wished done differently in this first build. All is good. Now, if I can just get the special-order TruTurn Spinner (pusher) delivered, I can get my Blackhorse Do-335 in the air!!!

The exasperation in your voice as you walked to the carnage said it all But you are spot on Chuck about the absolute need to be able to accept losses.
Here's the way I comparatively look at it, I'm money ahead because I'm not at the casino where other seniors pass the time.

[Oxotnik]

Thanks, Charlie. Some of you may have heard me tell this story. One of my other hobbies is high-power model rocketry. Before I got into model aviation, I was launching one or two K-motor rockets during my rocket club's monthly launches. K-motor reloads are ~$150 each. So, $300/month, just in expendable propellant. When I got back into RC in 2015, I'd call my foamy warbirds One or Two K-motor planes. A $150 BNF costs the same as a k motor reload. So, if I destroyed a $150 model airplane during the maiden, I was no worse off, financially, than if I'd launched and recovered a fully successful k-motor rocket. My RC club still laughs at that and call me the K-motor guy. LOL So, I had over a dozen flights on the $400 A-26 ARF. Twice that in electronics, of course. But, the electronics are still fine (to the best of my knowledge). So, $400 is three K motors. I'm at least 9 flights past that. So, I'm money ahead. Perspective. It's all about perspective. LOL No one got hurt. No property damage. My wounded male ego will heal. I think that I'll be able to get a replacement ARF. All is good.

[Wild Man]

I have been out flying my E-Flite Air Tractor off the snow we got Wednesday. I just can't wait for all the ice to melt off the lakes this plane flies so much better with floats then it does with the soft bouncy light aluminum main gear it comes with

[Skyboom]

Freewing F22 flew a little sluggish today. Made a cheater hole in top.It kind of flys better now.

[DCORSAIR]

TC was out flying this today, well not really, no flights but I was able to get its first test hover, had some issues, so back to the shop for an inspection......

[Hoomi]

What I did NOT fly today. Most of our club members are in the "High Risk" age group, and since my job is classed as "essential," therefore keeping me from staying home and minimizing my exposure level as much as possible, I'm staying away from the flying field until things settle down. That, however, does not preclude me from setting up a "group photo" in the driveway of all the currently assembled planes in my collection.

If I ever want to try and fly all of them on the same day, I'm going to need more transport space, and more batteries.

[Skyboom]

What I did NOT fly today. Most of our club members are in the "High Risk" age group, and since my job is classed as "essential," therefore keeping me from staying home and minimizing my exposure level as much as possible, I'm staying away from the flying field until things settle down. That, however, does not preclude me from setting up a "group photo" in the driveway of all the currently assembled planes in my collection.

If I ever want to try and fly all of them on the same day, I'm going to need more transport space, and more batteries.

Where's the other plane you use to have?

[Aros]

My turn to have a bad ending. I don't know what my deal is lately but I have been out of sorts...Suddenly I am struggling landing my FW 90mm F-16...This one was worst than the last bad landing the other day which just broke off some missiles. This time, the gear is broke. Not looking forward to that repair. Ugh. One of those landings I thought was fine until it PLOPPED onto the ground like a ton of bricks. Man. These are the times I question my skill lol....

[Hugh Wiedman]

My turn to have a bad ending. I don't know what my deal is lately but I have been out of sorts...Suddenly I am struggling landing my FW 90mm F-16...This one was worst than the last bad landing the other day which just broke off some missiles. This time, the gear is broke. Not looking forward to that repair. Ugh. One of those landings I thought was fine until it PLOPPED onto the ground like a ton of bricks. Man. These are the times I question my skill lol....

Oh , sorry to see that. We're all like streak home run hitters, you're just a bit off for a moment, but you'll get it back. We all go through it, usually after we've flown the plane many times and just get a little too cocky and lose the intense focus that we've got early on with the plane.

[mr.frankenjet]

My turn to have a bad ending. I don't know what my deal is lately but I have been out of sorts...Suddenly I am struggling landing my FW 90mm F-16...This one was worst than the last bad landing the other day which just broke off some missiles. This time, the gear is broke. Not looking forward to that repair. Ugh. One of those landings I thought was fine until it PLOPPED onto the ground like a ton of bricks. Man. These are the times I question my skill lol....

happens, don't worry, if it was all to ez or routine you would get bored with it all. It's the challenge and those sweet ones that keep us all coming back.

[Oxotnik]

Aros, sorry about the landing. Yesterday, I broke the nose gearbox on my T-33. I bounced the landing and it came down hard on the nose wheel. Cracked the gearbox housing.

We've had fantastic weather this weekend. Warm days, sunshine, winds around 5mph (often less). Yet, my landings have been off all weekend. I've been nailing landings in 10 -15 kt winds, but I get a calm day, and I'm all over the friggin sky when on final approach, and then I come in too fast. I guess subconsciously I'm worried that without the head wind, I'm going to stall if I slow down to a proper landing speed, or I make myself slow down and I get into a prestall condition, where the plane starts wondering all over the sky. We've had three awesome days for flying and I've thoroughly enjoyed being at the field and flying (even considering the A-26 that I crashed yesterday... which also had a really crappy landing approach), but I've had to work for every landing. It feels like I'm a newbie RC pilot sometimes. Yesterday and today, I made myself fly my 1.5m Electrostik and just shoot touch-n-goes for the entire battery. Remedial landing practice. LOL

[F106DeltaDart]

Sorry to hear about the landing Aros!

Got in 3 flights on the 600 UH-1N and the maiden +1 on my Eflite Hurricane. The Hurricane was revised to modern standards with full Freewing lighting and suspension struts, as well as a 4S power plant. A real sweetheart in the air, and looking forward to many more flights!

[Oxotnik]

Sorry to hear about the landing Aros!

Got in 3 flights on the 600 UH-1N and the maiden +1 on my Eflite Hurricane. The Hurricane was revised to modern standards with full Freewing lighting and suspension struts, as well as a 4S power plant. A real sweetheart in the air, and looking forward to many more flights!

Hey, I pulled my Hurricane 15e off the wall and have been flying it this weekend, too. I inadvertently put a 4S battery in her, for the first flight yesterday. I kept thinking, "I don't remember her being THAT fast." Then, I pulled the battery out and realized what I'd done. I meant to put her on a wattmeter today with a 4S battery, to see how many amps she was pulling. She seemed to be okay in the air with the 4S battery though (stock ESC).

Which suspension struts did you use for your Hurricane? I'd love to have better landing gear on my Hurricane.

[F106DeltaDart]

Hey, I pulled my Hurricane 15e off the wall and have been flying it this weekend, too. I inadvertently put a 4S battery in her, for the first flight yesterday. I kept thinking, "I don't remember her being THAT fast." Then, I pulled the battery out and realized what I'd done. I meant to put her on a wattmeter today with a 4S battery, to see how many amps she was pulling. She seemed to be okay in the air with the 4S battery though (stock ESC).

Which suspension struts did you use for your Hurricane? I'd love to have better landing gear on my Hurricane.

I used the main upgrade struts from the Flightline P-38, as well as the retracts. They required a few washers between the strut and retract to get the correct spacing, but they've worked well so far. I'd imagine it would be pretty fast on the stock setup on 4S! Even the lower KV motor with a larger 3 blade gets it moving pretty quick.

[Hoomi]

Where's the other plane you use to have?

The Cherokee is still in pieces. I'm not sure the damage is going to be repairable, and at $75 for a replacement fuselage, and another $75 for replacement wings if I can't manage to salvage those, and a replacement motor will be essential, since the shaft broke completely off the original.

At this point, I'm still debating whether it would be better to just scrap the plane, and buying a replacement. I'm looking at close to $200 for fuselage, wings, and motor, and a PNP plane, new in box, is only $199.

[Skyboom]

I closed a Buffalo Brewster for parts on other planes. The Cherokee had tinsel on it for Christmas time.

[JamesonC]

Had a great day of flying Saturday! Got a bunch of flights on two Freewing greats!!