All us newbie pilots, lets share..

[farmflyer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

That just plain sucks!!
Wind came up here in Cody as well, I'm hoping it'll let up by evening.
Just when I think its looking good, it gusts up again.

OH, WELL!!
It's usually good in the early morning so....

You learn to live with it. According to the National Weather Service the Texas Panhandle is the windiest place in the U.S. during the months of March April and May with an average wind of 20 mph. We have lots of days 20 to 30 with gusts to 40. Occasionally we get calm days 0 to 10 mostly just at sunset so you may get a flight or two.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Yeah, and Cody always seems to have the Cody breeze (15-15 mph) when the wind comes up, you can barely walk through it.  The joke in town is when someone new moves here and complains about the wind, we answer, "What wind?  You mean the breeze, wait 'til the wind shows up!"
Had a great day flying yesterday, tried the 11x9 prop on the Pandora, but it really didn't seem to make any difference, so switched her back to the stock prop. Had some fun in the breeze, had her sitting in the air and actually moving sideways. Got the Waco into the air twice, and did a little fine tuning on her, flies great now. The only thing is that I have to remind myself that this is NOT a Pandora that I'm trying to get airborne. Had a hairy takeoff because I applied too much power too quickly and got tangled up in the prop torque. No problem, chopped throttle and brought her back to the start point and did it properly, up she went in a surprisingly short take off roll. Nice bird to fly now that I've got her pretty well dialed in.

It decided to drop some corn snow last night, now the sun is out and its still dropping the odd snow flake, all melting pretty quickly so I'll give it another hour and then I'm off!!




Grossman56

[Hippie 64]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Hey all ! Finally had a good day Sat. maiden the Dynam FW-190 . Little touchy at first but did get it dialed in . Forgot to trim the gear skirts so I had a tip issue a few times . 
Also took the F9F back up . My oldest grandson was with me this weekend so made it all even better !!! He tried to clock the speeds but he never was able to get anything . 
I'll post a couple of videos on The Hanger tab later today .

Hope all had a great flying weekend ! 

Bryan 

[farmflyer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Hey all ! Finally had a good day Sat. maiden the Dynam FW-190 . Little touchy at first but did get it dialed in . Forgot to trim the gear skirts so I had a tip issue a few times . 
Also took the F9F back up . My oldest grandson was with me this weekend so made it all even better !!! He tried to clock the speeds but he never was able to get anything . 
I'll post a couple of videos on The Hanger tab later today .

Hope all had a great flying weekend ! 

Bryan 

How about that 190 I have the 109 and love it. I cut the rates down to 60% and upped the expo to 40 on the full length ailerons settled Her down nicely.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Been out twice and had to shut down because of winds.  Poor ol' P-1 had a hard time.  The wind suddenly shifted 90 degrees and came up strong, the school flags were straight out.  Fortunately the wind was coming from the west, which is the easiest direction to land from.  She literally did a vertical landing. she was hovering and I just kept the wings level  and eased her down on to the ground.  I had the foresight to leave the Waco in the truck, otherwise she'd have been off on her own.  I had to very carefully load the Pandora into the truck as the wind wanted to snap her away, anyway, all worked out fine, no damage although there were a couple of pucker factor moments.
DANG WIND!!

Grossman56

[retiredflyer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

  Well, I finally got a chance to go flying today, first time this spring.  It was a disastrous day! First of all I decided to maiden my new, front end upgraded, CTLS.  I fly off a tarred road but it is not the best of tar, fairly rough in places with gouges and dents. It goes to gravel in places but the tarred areas are fairly long. I got her off, HOORAY, minor trimming, and I flew her around the circuit for about 5 minutes.  Came in for my first landing, no flaps, gather hot as I didn't know what her stall speed is yet and touched her down WAY too far down the road.  She rolled nicely but came to the end of the tar part and hit the gravel.  Flipped her right over on her back!  I was expecting a broken prop and tail, no, everything was fine.  There are a few dings in the upper wing, nothing that my new friend Foam Finish can't handle. I have come to the conclusion that even this tar road is too rough for the CTLS.  I have a school yard parking lot that I will try next.
  Now for the 2nd bizarre thing.  I have an EPP Hacker Katana that I love and decided to take that up for a bit.  I have flown this plane for a few years.  I had a brown out last summer at 200 feet up and she plummeted nose first to the ground.  Smashed the fuse in 3 pieces, but I was able to totally fix her and get her flying again. Well, today I have her out for about 3 minutes and decided to do a few loops.  No problem with the first one, then as I throttle up going vertical for the 2nd loop I hear a BANG and see pieces of cowl flying off into the air.  WTF?????
  I just stood there dumbfounded and realized that the entire motor and prop have left the plane essentially leaving me with a glider. Miraculously all the flight surfaces, and even the gyro were still working, I just didn't have a motor anymore.  I was about 100 feet up and started to glide her back down close to the road.  I weaved her back and forth and then down to gain lift, and then actually brought it in for safe landing!  WHEW.  Completely unscathed.......except for the previously mentioned lack of a front end! Scared the crap out of me.
  The motor mount had completely ripped apart where the motor attaches. I have never seen that happen!  I'm wondering if last year after the nose dive it actually cracked the motor mount and I didn't see it. At the time it looked fine.  I had since flown this plane a dozen times. I doubt if I can get this fixed as Hacker planes don't have parts available, you have to buy a new plane.  Crap. Maybe I could manufacture an new motor mount. That would be tough. 
  It was NOT a good day flying!!!!!!

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

WOW!
I gather you found the motor, but you're right, it might be a tough one.  But look at it as a challenge of your foam creating skills.
Should be able to get a motor mount I would think, lets see if the other guys can come up with something.

We had about 6 inches of snow in the last day and a half, but its 50 degrees today and its all melted away.  Sun is out and the wind is dead calm, now if they would just get out of the school parking lot and let a guy play.............
Hey, if you want to see what I was doing in P-1, just check out Captain Mike flying the Spacewalker in the wind!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG-4JOd8O28
Grossman56

[Loneflier]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I know exactly what you mean G56! I usually fly from a soccer field, and every so often there are a bunch of kids out there playing soccer!! Don't they know they are interfering in my flying time??? :cool:  Go figure...

Hey Retiredflyer,

Sorry to hear about your mishap, but at least you were able to fly the plane back to the ground with no damage, and find the motor. Looking at the way the firewall/motor mount is done, it looks like you should be able to fabricate a new mount fairly easily. I had one similar to that in a Flyzone Millenium Master, and was able to rebuild it, mostly with a bunch of epoxy stirring sticks, e.g., popsicle sticks! Just take your time, and use some good strong epoxy or gorilla glue, and you'll have that plane flying again in no time.

[STOOPIDMONKEY]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

  Well, I finally got a chance to go flying today, first time this spring.  It was a disastrous day! First of all I decided to maiden my new, front end upgraded, CTLS.  I fly off a tarred road but it is not the best of tar, fairly rough in places with gouges and dents. It goes to gravel in places but the tarred areas are fairly long. I got her off, HOORAY, minor trimming, and I flew her around the circuit for about 5 minutes.  Came in for my first landing, no flaps, gather hot as I didn't know what her stall speed is yet and touched her down WAY too far down the road.  She rolled nicely but came to the end of the tar part and hit the gravel.  Flipped her right over on her back!  I was expecting a broken prop and tail, no, everything was fine.  There are a few dings in the upper wing, nothing that my new friend Foam Finish can't handle. I have come to the conclusion that even this tar road is too rough for the CTLS.  I have a school yard parking lot that I will try next.
  Now for the 2nd bizarre thing.  I have an EPP Hacker Katana that I love and decided to take that up for a bit.  I have flown this plane for a few years.  I had a brown out last summer at 200 feet up and she plummeted nose first to the ground.  Smashed the fuse in 3 pieces, but I was able to totally fix her and get her flying again. Well, today I have her out for about 3 minutes and decided to do a few loops.  No problem with the first one, then as I throttle up going vertical for the 2nd loop I hear a BANG and see pieces of cowl flying off into the air.  WTF?????
  I just stood there dumbfounded and realized that the entire motor and prop have left the plane essentially leaving me with a glider. Miraculously all the flight surfaces, and even the gyro were still working, I just didn't have a motor anymore.  I was about 100 feet up and started to glide her back down close to the road.  I weaved her back and forth and then down to gain lift, and then actually brought it in for safe landing!  WHEW.  Completely unscathed.......except for the previously mentioned lack of a front end! Scared the crap out of me.
  The motor mount had completely ripped apart where the motor attaches. I have never seen that happen!  I'm wondering if last year after the nose dive it actually cracked the motor mount and I didn't see it. At the time it looked fine.  I had since flown this plane a dozen times. I doubt if I can get this fixed as Hacker planes don't have parts available, you have to buy a new plane.  Crap. Maybe I could manufacture an new motor mount. That would be tough. 
  It was NOT a good day flying!!!!!!

You could pick up some 3/16 birch at your LHS or hardware store cut out 4 triangles (gussets), as large as you can get them without interfering with your motor or other essential stuff on your motor mount. epoxy your motor board or plate back into place then epoxy your new gussets on the top and bottom corners of your motor board or plate to your motor mount. If possible paint a light coat of epoxy over the your repairs especially on the edges continuing on to your existing, or new wood. If you would like I can Illustrate what I am talking about. With this repair I doubt it will break again in the same spot.


Just sketch of what I was talking about.

[retiredflyer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Hey Retired, before you think of the Freewing B17, let yourself drool over this one.
Shades of 12 o'clock High.
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__17203__B_17_Memphis_Belle_EPO_1875mm_PNF_.html
Enough to make Robert Lansing drool!!

Grossman56

  Well, I finally got a chance to go flying today, first time this spring.  It was a disastrous day! First of all I decided to maiden my new, front end upgraded, CTLS.  I fly off a tarred road but it is not the best of tar, fairly rough in places with gouges and dents. It goes to gravel in places but the tarred areas are fairly long. I got her off, HOORAY, minor trimming, and I flew her around the circuit for about 5 minutes.  Came in for my first landing, no flaps, gather hot as I didn't know what her stall speed is yet and touched her down WAY too far down the road.  She rolled nicely but came to the end of the tar part and hit the gravel.  Flipped her right over on her back!  I was expecting a broken prop and tail, no, everything was fine.  There are a few dings in the upper wing, nothing that my new friend Foam Finish can't handle. I have come to the conclusion that even this tar road is too rough for the CTLS.  I have a school yard parking lot that I will try next.
  Now for the 2nd bizarre thing.  I have an EPP Hacker Katana that I love and decided to take that up for a bit.  I have flown this plane for a few years.  I had a brown out last summer at 200 feet up and she plummeted nose first to the ground.  Smashed the fuse in 3 pieces, but I was able to totally fix her and get her flying again. Well, today I have her out for about 3 minutes and decided to do a few loops.  No problem with the first one, then as I throttle up going vertical for the 2nd loop I hear a BANG and see pieces of cowl flying off into the air.  WTF?????
  I just stood there dumbfounded and realized that the entire motor and prop have left the plane essentially leaving me with a glider. Miraculously all the flight surfaces, and even the gyro were still working, I just didn't have a motor anymore.  I was about 100 feet up and started to glide her back down close to the road.  I weaved her back and forth and then down to gain lift, and then actually brought it in for safe landing!  WHEW.  Completely unscathed.......except for the previously mentioned lack of a front end! Scared the crap out of me.
  The motor mount had completely ripped apart where the motor attaches. I have never seen that happen!  I'm wondering if last year after the nose dive it actually cracked the motor mount and I didn't see it. At the time it looked fine.  I had since flown this plane a dozen times. I doubt if I can get this fixed as Hacker planes don't have parts available, you have to buy a new plane.  Crap. Maybe I could manufacture an new motor mount. That would be tough. 
  It was NOT a good day flying!!!!!!

You could pick up some 3/16 birch at your LHS or hardware store cut out 4 triangles (gussets), as large as you can get them without interfering with your motor or other essential stuff on your motor mount. epoxy your motor board or plate back into place then epoxy your new gussets on the top and bottom corners of your motor board or plate to your motor mount. If possible paint a light coat of epoxy over the your repairs especially on the edges continuing on to your existing, or new wood. If you would like I can Illustrate what I am talking about. With this repair I doubt it will break again in the same spot.


Just  sketch of what I was talking about.

Thanks, that is a super idea, however, there is absolutely no clearance between the motor housing and the side mounting boards. Probably just a few millimetres at best. The triangle gussets would not fit anywhere. Your sketch was great so I could see what you were talking about. I will have to ponder this for a bit. 

[STOOPIDMONKEY]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Is there room to place them on the top and bottom, instead of putting them in the corners?

[retiredflyer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I think, after looking at the repair job necessary for the Katana, including buying a new cowl, I am going to put her in the hanger and gut the electronics.  I can use the Spektrum 6 channel receiver for my new Tiger Moth so that will save me there. I can also use the 40A Turnigy ESC too.  Things will not go to waste.  I could use the 4 servo's but they are glued in rather well and they were not that expensive anyway. If I can extract them I will use them in my new E-Flite Cub that I haven't started to assemble.
  It will give up it's life for another cause!!!!  :angel:

[doctormike]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

In some cases I have used plaster reinforcing cloth from Lowes. It comes in rolls. It's very similar to fiber glass cloth. I, first epoxy the parts together, just to position them correctly. Then, in one step, I use 30 min. epoxy over that, then, soak a piece of the cloth in epoxy and put it in place. Be sure to sqeeze air bubbles out with a popsycle stick, or somthing similar. I have had to shorten motor mounts and this has worked great. It also is a great option, in some cases, instead of soldering. Good luck! Doc

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Yay!! the snow is gone and the temp is up, and the wind is down!  It doesn't get better than that for an R/C flyer, right guys! :D
Burned through my 8 batteries with the Pandora and the Waco and not, I'm recharging for tomorrow or later this evening.  Love the longer days!

Took Old Crow out in the sunshine today to see if a bunch of taxiing would help loosen up the landing gear struts (and of course to have some fun with her)
Guys, if there is a prettier plane out there.....I'm sure all the fellas that bought the Old Crow version of her would agree!  Anyway, played around with the rudder settings and got her taxiing really well, got the tail up, but I'm not quite willing to break ground with her just yet.  It was a lot of fun though and is helping me get over the apprehension of flying her for the first time.  Baby steps.
I have to admit, I'm probably making mountains out of mole hills, but better than making airplanes into mole hills.  Anyway, I have A3L's coming for all my Mustangs, more because of the winds.  I flew the Pandora without her gyro on today and it doesn't make a huge difference until the wind gusts!
One other thing to pass on, the school that I fly at has a sloped tin roof, this makes for a great wind slide, basically a great big elevator as well as some heat thermals I got too close to it and had a couple of pucker factor moments. :s   I gave her full throttle and kept the nose up and got the heck out of there.  Once cleared, she was fine.  Life lesson, don't play close to a hot tin roof, it may be more than your cat that gets burned!

Have an awesome weekend with lots of flights my friends!!!! ;)

Grossman56

[Lon]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Yay!! the snow is gone and the temp is up, and the wind is down!  It doesn't get better than that for an R/C flyer, right guys! :D
Burned through my 8 batteries with the Pandora and the Waco and not, I'm recharging for tomorrow or later this evening.  Love the longer days!

Took Old Crow out in the sunshine today to see if a bunch of taxiing would help loosen up the landing gear struts (and of course to have some fun with her)
Guys, if there is a prettier plane out there.....I'm sure all the fellas that bought the Old Crow version of her would agree!  Anyway, played around with the rudder settings and got her taxiing really well, got the tail up, but I'm not quite willing to break ground with her just yet.  It was a lot of fun though and is helping me get over the apprehension of flying her for the first time.  Baby steps.
I have to admit, I'm probably making mountains out of mole hills, but better than making airplanes into mole hills.  Anyway, I have A3L's coming for all my Mustangs, more because of the winds.  I flew the Pandora without her gyro on today and it doesn't make a huge difference until the wind gusts!
One other thing to pass on, the school that I fly at has a sloped tin roof, this makes for a great wind slide, basically a great big elevator as well as some heat thermals I got too close to it and had a couple of pucker factor moments. :s   I gave her full throttle and kept the nose up and got the heck out of there.  Once cleared, she was fine.  Life lesson, don't play close to a hot tin roof, it may be more than your cat that gets burned!

Have an awesome weekend with lots of flights my friends!!!! ;)

Grossman56

Gman,

Glad to see the break in the weather for you!  Weather has been great here too.  Between last night and this morning, went thru 10 batteries in the Iron Ass and 6 with the Old Crow. Tuesday and Thursday after work, got 12 flights with the Iron Ass and 6 with the Passion Wagon.  Wind and rain pushing thru for the next few days, oh well...logged a lot of flights this week.

Lon

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Well, typical Wyoming, something started blowing in, now we're clouded over and the wind is up.
One thing about it though, it could be sunny and windless by the is evening, things change that fast out here.

Anyone heard anything about flying fields in the National Parks, they were mentioning something about it in Model Aviation a while back, just wondering if anyone has done it?

Grossman56

[STOOPIDMONKEY]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Yeah flying unmanned aircraft in national parks has been banned.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Broke my first prop of the season!
It was on the eight flight, last one of the day, last maneuver of the day.  Was coming in high and slow.  Went for a go around and she disagreed.  No big deal, a new prop and some very minor scrapes a little filler and paint and she's good as new.

Really have to find a field though.  This wind shear coming off the building coupled with all the light posts and things makes it a little more complicated than it should have to be.

Grossman56

[SR71CC]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Broke my first prop of the season!
It was on the eight flight, last one of the day, last maneuver of the day.  Was coming in high and slow.  Went for a go around and she disagreed.  No big deal, a new prop and some very minor scrapes a little filler and paint and she's good as new.

Really have to find a field though.  This wind shear coming off the building coupled with all the light posts and things makes it a little more complicated than it should have to be.

Grossman56

No club field where you fly GMan? I have flown in a large parking lot with light posts before and the stress about killed me! Back to the club field from now on. Sorry to hear about your incident. :(

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

There is a field about 20 minutes drive, which is okay, except that when you leave here and all is calm and you get out there and the wind is way up, kinda sucks!
The one just north of town would be great except its sadly neglected, with crack in the runway that I'd call 'landing gear killers'.
That leaves me the third option which is even further away.  I haven't checked that field out yet, got to get directions.  I could go up to Billings, Montana, but that's a three hour drive.
Just waiting to win that lottery and buy five acres, man wouldn't that be something!!!!

Grossman56