Been Flying

Standard Bank Hol weather here!

Waited until the rain squall had finished before loading up the moble hangar - with not much hope of doing any flying. The wind was HOWLING last night
I was surprised to find all my fence panels and radio aerials where they were supposed to be.
Anyway, got to the field for 10 - not a soul there, of course!
Another short but heavy rain-squall at about 11.
At about 12, ex-student John arrived, hoping to get a flight in. Not a chance, the windsock pole was bending, the upwind window shutters kept slamming open and shut, (so I locked them shut) - and the porta-loo plastic sidewalls were fluttering!
At about 1, Mike C joined us, followed by John R, as the other John was leaving.
3.30 they both gave up.
t 3.45 I locked up, and came home on nearly empty roads.
So much for the Easter flying session! Tomorrow is spoken for.

And of course it is sunny, with a light breeze!

Sunny all day but the breeze was no so light this afternoon with quite substantial gusts as I found out when I flew the Depron Seagull.
 
Still quite a westerly component to the wind rather than the southerly forecast such that I very nearly lost the Seagull down wind as it just could not make headway at any altitude. To make matters worse it was very turbulent low down. After good few minutes keeping it heading directly into the wind and flying it as fast as it would go I got it back to where I was standing. No messing about just a direct approach and landing but at least no damage.
It could be a bit calmer tomorrow but I will nevertheless fly something else. 
    

That looks amazing Quorneng.

It flies very realistically and very slowly but its stability and control is rather limited so it is an absolutely calm weather only flier.
Tried to fly it today but it was rather to windy so got into difficulty and damaged it a bit. Doh!  
I hope to get a video some time on one of the few days that weather permits!  

Truly fantastic weather today. Blue sky,no wind and hot!
Didn't what to risk any hand launched EDF so flew specifically slow speeders
First (at 8.30am!) the Big Dragon 3.
 
In the air for 41 minutes and that included a ground slide take off. About 60:40 power and gliding. Still showing 4V/cell at the end.
Next later in the morning the flapped Albatross.
 
Despite a minor problem with the flaps being slightly asymmetrical when deployed but they were not required for the 35 minute flight that also had the benefit of a couple of weak blue thermals. In both cases the altitude reached was limited by the Albatross getting just too small!
In the afternoon I took both the Endurance and the Albatross again.
 
The Endurance is now getting quite old for a foamy (2015) but still an easy 43 minutes making a bit of use of power assisted thermals with a glide to power ratio of almost 1:1. Stopped simply because I got tired of staring into the blue sky!
Finally took up the flapped Albatross again having adjusted the flap mechanism to ensure they operated in true unison, which they did.
After about 20 minutes rather than just cruise about I started to do some aerobatics which included a roll. A manoeuvre that the Albatross with its limited roll authority is agonisingly slow. About the only way to avoid a severe loss of height was to use significant "down" elevator during when it was inverted. When trying to achieve a decent "inline" roll I applied too much down too quickly which resulted in significant negative g such that the canopy broke free and the battery falling out. With only a tiny jst connector to restrain it the battery followed the canopy! 
With no control and a very rearward CG the result was inevitable.
 
Looks worse than it is so it will mend. As the whole field had been cut yesterday I easily found both the canopy and battery not too far away.
Still mustn't grumble. Over 2 hours in the air which is more flying in one day than for the last 6 months but my neck is a bit stiff!           
   

 

Strange how the radio stops working when the battery falls out!  

Flying for me, we went out early to try and miss the thermal turbulence. First up was the Wots Wot, lots of airobatics but she's really too fast for me. By landing time the wind was already all over the compass, I over flaired and cartwheeled in, no damage, 10 minutes, Next up was the Funfly, lots of aerobatics but I realised that with the turbulence any kind of decent landing was going to be impossible. 10 minutes and took the U/C off on landing, too much flair again. Then Mary broke the tail again picking her up!

Normal summery day here, moderate wind, and steady drizzle!

It was still pretty calm early today so I flew the Depron Seagull to check the minor repairs had no ill effects. 12 minutes no problem although the gentle breeze was getting noticeably stronger.
The drizzle had indeed started by the time I got home. Not an easy journey as both the electric & council have closed a number of roads. Even our cul de sac has cones across the entrance with a "road closed" sign. They will let you in & out but you have to wait for the equipment to be moved!   

Something about that tail...  any way to strengthen the beastie?

I'm going to beef up the fin supports. The other problem is the way that Mary insists on carrying a plane, fuselage against her hip, aileron against her tummy, with an aircraft so short coupled the empenage is always in the small of her back!

Try getting Mary to carry it the other way around - tail-first  - or alternatively  - wheels towards her!

Against my better judgment I went flying this afternoon (Friday). At the house the wind seemed quite modest and it was sunny.
Of course by the time I got to the field the gust were significant particularly as the field is surrounded by tall trees any way I flew the basic FX707 Albatross.
 
To say it was scary would be an understatement the turbulence from the upwind trees was spectacular requiring a very firm pull out after in ended up at speed but pointing vertically down at about 30 feet. Boy! did those foam wings bend.
Managed about 5 minutes by flying as far as possible down wind from the trees. just manged to get it back to be reasonably close to where I was standing so packed it in. Overall things were not improved by the fact that to fly level required full down elevator trim! The battery will have to go forward a bit before the next flight.
I doubt there will be much flying this week end as strong winds and showers are forecast.
By the way the other crashed FX707.
 
is now fully glued back together and just waiting for a paint touch up.