Been Flying

Some of you may remember my e-trainer model that started off called Margarita, then after a big rebuild following a sudden 'arrival' - I re-named it as Phoenix, and the model did sterling service as a trainer model, starting off - I think four, or maybe five - new flyers.
The last one was given his 'wings' in January of this year.
Since then, the model has languished in a corner, as there were no new 'victims', until last weekend, when the club had an open day/barbie, and I brought Phoenix out, dusted it off, checked it over, etc etc.and took it to the field, with my usual assortment of flying models - did a quick range check and controls went the right way, etc.
But some little voice kept telling me not to fly her until everyone had gone - so I didn't.
When there was just me left, I put a battery in rechecked everything, and went for a take-off.
She trundled around quite nicely in a gentle circuit or two, with nothing untoward happening, so I tried a loop, which has been done many times before, sometimes deliberately, sometimes not, with a trainee on the buddy-box sticks.
This time, though, as she went over the top, there was a crunch like someone stepping on a box of cornflakes, and one wingtip caressed the other as it passed.
The model came down like a lawn-dart, and as the ground was rather hard after the absence of rain for about two months, the impact was significant!
The bits were in a nice neat pile, apart from the two wing parts, which had sycamored down.

Back at home, I examined the debris, and could see that the wing spar had failed an inch or so OUTSIDE the fuz side, where there isn't much structural stress, not like in the centre.
So, baffled, I propped the bigger bit on one tip, and applied a bit of pressure on the middle, and the wing folded up like a squashed crisp.
I can only assume that the heat of the last month or two had dried the wood (Chinese balsa?) out to the point where it had no structural strength left.
The motor, speed controller, and receiver are scrap. I managed to salvage the wheels!
The 3S5000 battery is unmarked, as the structure of the fuselage protected it. (the crumple-zone worked!)
The photo is of the X shaped motor mount - or what is left of it!
 

Sunday - flying for me - - well, sort of!
Got to the field for 0915, in fine falling horizontally drizzly mist.
Opened the cabin up, put the kettle on, and the windsock up - then had the field to myself until about 1200, when Stew arrived.
Still drizzling horizontally.
Ed, JR, and Chris arrived, followed by one of the new guys who's name I have already forgotten.
At about 13, the drizzle stopped blowing past the door, so Stew got his long-suffering Acro Wot out, and new guy got one of his wing-kites out, and began to set it up.
Nearly an hour later, with Stew trying to assist, he gave up trying to untangle the lines, and put the kite away again, muttering something about having loaned it to a pal of his, who said it was "a bit tangled". He's going to have to take every line off, unravel the knot, check the correct lines are on the correct eyelets, etc, and start again, but not today, he wants a flat calm!
Stew flew his Acro - but not for long! After a zero ground-roll take-off, it went vertical with the fuselage horizontal, and began bouncing around in wicked turbulence. After a couple of very odd-shaped loops and a wobbly roll, he brought it in for a landing, and nearly landed knife-edge style! Full everything scraped it back into the air, and he tried again, this time managing to keep the wheels underneath!
Once was enough.
Nobody else attempted anything.
Most had given up and gone by 3.
Stew stuck it out until about 4, but there was no let-up of the wind, so he gave up as well.
I locked up at 1715. (or five fifteen, if you prefer).
So  the only thing I flew was the wind-sock!

 

Flying today for me.
I got to the field for 0915, and as usual was first there.
So, cabin open, windsock up, and I was in the process of claiming 'my' table, by adding radios, batteries, and bits of disassembed models When the first of many arrived.

Eventually there were about 25 flyers there, and half a dozen assorted Mums, Wives and offspring. Between them (and me) we had a wide variety of models, ranging from blow-torches, hair-dryers, strimmers, and even a few aeroplanes - with long wings and short.
The wind was vague, and couldn't decide which way to blow, so the wind-sock was getting itself dizzy by pointing in every direction except straight up. The sky started off pretty clear, but gradually the overcast solidified, so the thermals stopped popping off by about 1pm.
I'd taken the usual, Decathlon, Kobus, mini heli and a new model - to be my electric club trainer, a model called a Bigfoot. It's the old favourite Tundra, but without the price tag! Light, slow, plenty of wing, and big fat tyres. The original wheels were very hard plastic, so I swapped them for a pair of genuine Tundra squishy rubber ones out of my spares box.
When the first rush of flyers had died down, I began with my Decathlon, then a bit later the Bigfoot. After a few tweaks on the trims, it was flying just like a trainer, trundling around steadily and placidly. So I tried a few loops and rolls, which it did, but it won't stall-turn, it gets halfway, then just falls sideways! That doesn't matter, though, it is not likely that a trainee (not that we have any) would be flying deliberate aerobatics! Later, I flew the heli, and later still the Kobuz, which rather peeved Pete because from launch to about 450 feet took five seconds! (makes a joke of our 'ceiling' of 400 feet!). Through the day, the Decathlon got four flights, the Bigfoot and mini-heli two each, and the Kobuz just one.

Poor Jeff W had brought his Tundra and his Mustang, after the Tundra, he made numerous attempts to get the Stang to leave the ground, but it kept tripping over. So following someone's advice, he held in some more up ele, and gave it full chat - - - it tripped over and broke the prop!

By 16, most had gone, just us die-hards that keep on going until the last gasp.
Pete, Chris and I were last away, lockng the gates at about 1830 or so.
 

Flying for me, today, at about 9.
There was a very light breeze that couldn't decide if it was from the North or the West - not a spot of rain. The sky was patchy high-level cloud, with a bit of a grey undercast.
I'd taken the Decathlon, the Kobus, the Tango, and the mini-heli. First up was the Decathlon, which got two flights in before anyone else arrived.
At around 10, the big and loud gang arrived, with their big engined aerobats and a turbine model, so I let them get on with it.
Through the morning and early afternoon, the usual gang of regulars arrived, so there were about 20 active members there, and a couple who came to watch.
Stew brought his big Spitfire, and spent ages trying to get the two-pot engine to run on both cylinders, eventually John R fixed it. I'm not sure just what he tweaked, but suddenly the second cylinder joined in. As Stew was guiding the big model to the flight-line, he tripped over something, and caught his transmitter, opening the throttle, so he was lying on the floor, hanging on to the model until he figured out which way was up, and cut the model back to idle. By then, I'd got to him, and was holding the Spit while he sorted himself out, blood trickling down from both knees, where the edge of the flagged walkway had caught him. When he'd finished "ouching" and repaired the damage, he took the Spit down the field, lined up for a take-off, and - the engine cut! With it running again, he took off, in the classic Chinese  (wun wing lo) method, as the crosswind decided to gust, and caught him out. He scraped the model into the air, and had a few moments of wild gyrations until he'd got the trims sorted. Once tamed, it flew around nicely and even landed on it's wheels without tripping over!
One of the less regulars, Dave M, who used to be an aerobatics champion, (some might know who I mean) and his pal had brought almost identical fish-shaped specialist aerobats, with the sub-wing behind the cockpit. When he had landed, and was fiddling around with something, I commented that he wouldn't be winning many competitions with that model. 
"What do you mean?" He asked. So I said "The name! Epilogue always comes last!" - "Oh! Is that what the word means?".
A bit later, John R flew a new Hurricane model - and a bit later, his big Zlin.
As I have a couple of miniature r/c models, ie my old Mosquito, and the more recent Hawk, I was volunteered to test-fly a tiny Spitfire a young lad had brought. It's one of those moulded pressed foam ones, with a wingspan of about 10" with a three-way switched gyro built in.
So, I set it to mid range (some stability) and underhand-tossed it into the air. It's a twitchy little beast, but once trimmed and just under half power, it zips around quite nicely. So he's seen it fly, but there's no way he can learn to fly with it! There's no buddy option anyway.
A bit later, Graham got the foamy club trainer out, and gave him a couple of goes, with the buddy-lead. Of course, the lad was all over the sky, but as he's only 6 or 7 (I didn't ask!) he did OK. He'll be back!
Martyn was flying his powered glider, got totally disoriented, and comprehensively splatted it in the grass about halfway between the pits and the trees.
Chris had brought his FPV model and kit, but his headset goggles decided they didn't want to work, so Chris gave up, he wasn't going to fly a small, fast WHITE model, against that cloudscape, as it would disappear almost instantly.
As usual, by around 4, most of the regulars had gone, leaving myself, Chris, and Martyn, chatting about this, that and t'other.
We finally locked up at about 6.30

 

You posted that twice, Simon! I've removed one.

Flying for me, of course.
Flat calm, high overcast, pleasantly cool. As I was loading up the mobile hangar, there was a micro-spattering of raindrops, not enough to measure in a rainfall beaker thingy.

First at the field, via the dinosaur juice shop, at 0845 or so. Nobody there.
Opened the cabin, windsock up, etc, and set out a couple of models on my preferred table. I'd taken the Kobuz, the Tango, the Decathlon, and the mini-heli. Only the Decathlon and the mini heli got used. I didn't bother with the Tango because the overcast was killing any thermal activity - and the Kobuz  I just couldn't be bothered assembling it = just to scream around the sky for 15 minutes, burning battery power.
Most of the regulars turned up, in dribs and drabs up to about 12,  - but the sun decided to join in at around 13, then there was a lull until about 2, when a few more late arrivals turned up, and jumpers began coming off as the air warmed up.
Almost no new models made an appearance, except for FPV Chris, who had brought a Vampire d/f jet, but was getting terrible vibration at 3/4 power. The general consensus was that the fan was out of balance, or the motor-shaft had a micro-bend in it.
Our newish Polish member had brought a big Ventus power-glider, and was grousing it flew like a sack of spuds. When inspected, the c of g was spot on, the control throws were right, then someone noticed the detachable (for transport) tailplane didn't look right. Much peering and squinting, then we decided that there was way too much incidence on it. So a stack of handy washers went under the front mounting bolt, and another flight was tried. It stormed off like a guided missile until he got it trimmed, then it flew like it was supposed to - BUT  he was struggling to land it! He was making a huge circuit over the next field, and coming over the boundary fence at about ten feet height, but when the plane whistled past it was still ten feet up! Many go-rounds later, he got it right, and JUST stopped it from sliding on the grass before it went into the 'arrester-grass' that guards the wire fence at the far end! It needs a bit of wind to reduce the ground-speed!
No big noisy models today, no gas turbines, and only one aerobatic helicopter.
Nobody crashed. No bits fell off anything. My Decathlon got six flights, and the heli three.
There were about 15 flyers and a couple of spectators, through the day.
I didn't lock up, for a change. I left a couple of late arrivals (about 4.30) to fly to their heart's content, at about 5.45.
 

Hailstones and thunder at about 1615 today!