2015 Flight-Log!

[rcnut]

Ok heli pilots…let's start this log again! For my personal goal, I am planning to reach the 500 flight mark this new year…while instructing Mark and working some long hour days and weekends.

Our club is having a New Years day flight with some hot chili to keep us warm. I'll let you know how that goes!

[rbort]

I broke in the new year with a Furion 450 flight between 12:05am and 12:12am. That was my first.

Here are my current flight count numbers:

1005 Xcell Autorotation Queen, Hanson 300 3D Max, 3774 flights
Spectra-g, Hanson 270 3D Max, 2730 flights
Whiplash-g 88.9mph Speed Cup Record, Hanson 300 3D Max, 857 flights

I may come in here to post stuff of interest, but I'm not going to religiously do a whole blog daily, been 2 years of hard work, 1205 one year and 1014 the next. I think the 1205 record is here to stand as a guiness record most likely, that one is all gassers all flights over 15 minutes some closer to 25 and auto practice ones about 35 minutes when the whole flight is autos only.

-=>Raja.

[jharkin]

I dont know how you blogged 2000+ flights. Im tired blogging 150!

I'll check in occasionally, but I dont know if ill do every day.

We did have a good time today out at the club frozen finger fly. Some new faces today including Ed from the NEHC.

I got 5 flights in, 2 on the Whip, 3 more on the Helix. Clutch seems fixed and even flying realllllly rich it only used 2/3 tank on a 19 minute flight.

Some photos and videos for your enjoyment.



2015 totals:
Whiplash-g: 2
Helix G700: 3
Total: 5

[edin508]

Nice! Hope to see you there again soon.

[rbort]

Especially the engine talk at the end!!!

So the music man debacle today, he put his plane in a tree. Drove home, came back with an AXE. I mean, who cuts trees with an AXE these days, what is he THINKING, he's no young lumberjack...!

He quickly "realized his limitations" according to him and John Macinac went home to get his chain saw. They came back and the videos below just say it all...

IMG 13831 (0 min 34 sec)

So they are cutting and cutting and I ran out of space on the phone. Good thing I did, they were cutting for quite some time.

Then, I caught the last few seconds when I thought they "had it". Not quite! Here we go...oh oh....what the hell?

IMG 13841 (0 min 14 sec)

Cut the whole thing clean but it doesn't fall, hung up on the next tree! So they had to cut some smaller tree to use its trunk as a wedge to twist the cut tree off the other. It took a good 1/2 hour I was done watching a while back and back to flying when it finally fell. The plane, of course, is destroyed.

-=>Raja.

[jharkin]

Problem is... If they cut down a tree every crash... In a year there will be no trees left

[edin508]

Ugggg!

[rcnut]

I went to our New Year fly at the club field. Super windy and cold (20+ mph winds at 25 degrees). The club house was abuzz with members eating chili. I pulled in and pulled my Goblin gasser for the first (actually second) flight of the year. I was really cold! The winds were out of the west southwest which helped tremendously! My hands were a lot warmer with the wind to my back, but my Gobby was shivering! LoL!

I members were having a hard time trying to figure out what I was flying as the motor didn't sound like a nitro. Then they realized it was me and my heli. By the time I finished my first flight, a couple of the members came out to say hi. As we were talking, the chili was being packed up! Oops! I missed out on the dear chili! Oh well.

So after a brief chat, I fueled up and put another flight. This time the sun peaked out, but the wind got even colder and stronger. It was cutting right through me. That was enough.

Goblin gasser = 2

Total = 2

It's ok if you guys don't want to post daily. I wanted to keep this going for those that are trying to reach a goal for the year. So let's see what your average truly is Raja!

[rcnut]

Today was a completely different day, versus yesterday. 25 degrees toping to 34 degrees with winds South at 0-4 mph! A 10/10 day on the Raja scale!

I wanted to log some serious hours on my Rave, but it had different ideas! Two minutes left of the first flight of the day, and the tail started twitching? It wasn't giving me any fits…until I brought in from an auto! Once on the ground, I moved the tail stick and saw no movement on the heli, oh wait, there it goes! Now it's working. Hmm…I throttle up into a hover and bounce the tail left and then right…it's working. So I fly it closer to me (I auto'd 30 feet away from me) and land. I let the head speed bleed off and then tried to move the tail left and right, but this time it's not working.

I killed the motor and brought my heli back to my truck. Power is still on ,the tail doesn't respond to any commands I give it. I move the tail servo horn and it acts as if its dead. A second later it is humming, but won't move to any stick commands. Great, there goes another servo. On the flip side, I didn't loose tail control while performing any spinning maneuver, or crash my heli trying to bring it in with a dead tail servo. So I cleaned it up and put it away.

Out comes the Goblin gasser, good ole faithful. This heli has been flying great, but I did notice an exhaust leak at the header. Oil has sprayed the side of the canopy, motor, and frame. I'm using the Hong Kong RJX muffler on the TRM275 special (the red edition). I wound up making some gaskets for it as the muffler started leaking early on. So after 50 some flights, looks like I need to replace the gasket. Maybe I'll use some gasket sealer this time.

I put up two flights with the spark plug temp steady at 200 degrees. A bit cooler than where it normally runs. So being the only one at the school (Mark had to work today ), I worked on some of my weaker orientation skills. There were some areas in the sky I had slight problems seeing, as the day turned overcast. Due to that big storm front coming in. So I kept my Goblin close and everything was good once again.

Rave = 1
Goblin = 2

Total = 5

Tomorrow is forecasted for freezing rain/ice/ice pellets mixed with snow all day and into Sunday afternoon.

[rbort]

I mowed the lawn today, cleaning up all the leaves in the yard. Also loaded up my truck with 15 big pieces of firewood and drove it down to Jeremy's where I split it in 4 pieces each as he had borrowed a splitter from his neighbor.

I did detour back to the field on the way home and managed 2 flights with the 1005. It was yesterday's weather for you Ray, windy and in the 30's but alot better at the end of the day than what had been earlier on when I was working in the yard.

I managed 4 piro 1/2 flips while doing an auto today. I can do it I just need the courage. At the end of the day I chickened out as it was getting dark.

Now I'm sitting by the fireplace with a cozy fire

-=>Raja.

[rcnut]

Mark and I spent the afternoon flying in the church gym yesterday. As normal, we had the whole gym to ourselves! Mark brought his two Blade 130's, and I brought my Blade mCPx, 130, & 180. The 180 has some serious flight issues I need to look into. The 130 is unbelievable…takes a beating and keeps on flying! The mCPx…well its down, in need of repair. I managed to flip this little bugger inverted and held it there for several minutes.

The mCPx is capable of aerobatics, but has an over control issue, not sure why. I've tried increasing the expo to decreasing the end points, but it just goes wild trying to flip or roll this little thing. I was able to get to perform a half loop to inverted. However, the second time I did it, I lost orientation and smacked it into the wall. Now I need to buy another pack of blade links and a canopy! LoL!

The Blade 130 is an awesome little machine! I like this thing more than the 180. It takes a hit way better and keeps on flying! I finally stripped the tail crown gear, but was able to temporarily fix it by running the motor for a few seconds, working the bent tooth in. However, the next crash fixed the crown gear even better! But I will replace it.

Mark was learning nose-in, with my help, and learned without knowing it…funnels! He was having a blast with his 130. I let him fly my little mCPx to get started on his nose-in training, now he wants one! So now I guess I need to keep a separate log for these little demons! LoL!

Blade mCPx = 6
Blade 130 = 4
Blade 180 = 2

Total = 12

[jharkin]

My weatherbug app just showed a new icon for the forecast Ive never seen before - an igloo.

Today - high 19F, wind 5
Tomorrow - high 20F, wind 15
Tomorrow night -5F, winds 10-20, gusting 40; windchills approaching -30F
Thur - high 15F, winds 10 gusting 25

Makes me not feel so bad I'm working all week, thought its going to be painful driving in at 6am Thu!!!

[edin508]

It's wicked cold!
And I am in Boston working by 6 am. Up at 4:30 and out the door by 5am

But I did get to shoot at and hit a flying plane this past weekend with a potato cannon.

[sargentfly]

Yep flying the micros inside the gym at a controlled 70 degree climate sure beats the sim any day. Also somewhat satisfies the need to fly a real collective rc heli. These little helis are a blast if only we could figure out how to convert a micro over to gas. Maybe fit a cox .049 in there somehow....LOL!

[rcnut]

Maybe fit a cox .049 in there somehow....LOL!

You mean a .010 nitro motor. It has a throttle controlled carb! ...and muffler..

Cool idea! Hmmmmmm?????!!!!!!! I wonder if.............I'm thinking..............

[DONVS]

Sounds like a job for Joey. No wait he is already too busy.

[jharkin]

Didn't there used to be 1/2A micro helis before the electric age?? Something called a honeybee?


If you do it skip Cox altogether. Get a Russian Norvel if you can find one, they made .049,.061, and .074 and they all had real throttled carbs.

[rbort]

So the heck with cabin fever, I don't feel like being stuck in the house with the cold weather, sick of being on the PC. I suited up and decided to go out, see if I can break my low temp flying record. Didn't manage to break it, I tied it instead.

I suited up with long underwear, sweatpants and jeans on the lower section, and long underwear, a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and a jacket on the upper section. To finish it off I had a scarf, ear muffs and a knit hat on top of everything. Of course waterproof boots (read don't breathe) and the sunglasses. I'd say today I was one layer short of necessary, while OK I felt a little chill that was very manageable but next time I'll throw in the pijama pants and a long sleeve t-shirt to the outfit.

Being out there was GREAT, I felt alive and enjoyed the flying to the max, call it extreme weather flying. I logged 3 flights on the 1005 and 2 on the Spectra, until dark pretty much. The blades were barking like crazy due to the heavy bite into the thick air. Before leaving the house I fueled up both helis, put my TX in the radio glove and preheated it on the way to the field. At the field I never turned off the heater in the glove, and my hands were VERY comfortable in there. The skies were clear, with a slight momentary breeze here and there and then calm otherwise. Earlier in the day the winds gusted to 19mph, hence I spent a couple of hours talking with Adam on skype before going out towards the end of the day when the winds are at their lightest. Experience shows less wind and colder temps are better than more and warmer temps. The wind just has a nasty habit of cutting through layers and leaking into the radio glove.

Ben stopped by with his friend, the 15 year old used to be kid that flew airplanes with FPV with me, you might remember me mentioning him in the flight logs the last couple of years. He looks like he's grown another 6 inches and has been flying full scale now, and is training on SR20 Cirrus airplane. Wow, awesome, I said I've never flown in that one, and he said he wants to take me up. Got my phone number, will call me after he gets back from school in March he said. OK, maybe we're going flying then

I took pictures for you guys to see, all shown below as follows:

1403 through 1405 The scene at the field when I arrived, sun low in the sky.
1406 through 1408 After the end of the 2nd flight with the 1005, water is starting to freeze.
1409 At 4pm the temperature had dropped to around 14F
1410 At 4:40pm before the last takeoff of the 2nd flight of the Spectra, temp around 12F.
1411 and 1412 scene at the field to show the lighting at 4:40, the days ARE getting longer!!
1413 The water is having a hard time staying liquid for sure
1414 The temp down to 10F at 5pm when I landed. Had to use flash it was too dark for the camera to see.

Disclaimer, the reports won't be every time, more like when there is something interesting to write about.
Not blogging EVERY flight...!

-=>Raja.

[jharkin]

That is hard core... although there is a part of me that wishes I could get out. Last couple days Ive spent indoors however sitting by the woodstove and working on airplanes in the shop.

Heck even my office was cold today. cheapskates wont turn up the heat!

[rcnut]

I went to the club field today. Temps toped at 30 degrees with 0-6 mph winds out of the SW. Mark was doing the family thing today. I was the only one and the first one to drive in the snow. Almost none of the plankers venture outside, they do the indoor fun fly twice a month…so the field is all mine!

The last time I was out, the tail servo went out ant the end of the first flight on my Rave. So I replaced it with a MKS Brushless servo. Now it flys the way it used to! Solid! The motor was running great and in this colder weather, my flight time extended to 13-1/2 minutes. I almost made 14 minutes on the 2nd flight! However, I think there's a teeny crack between the header and muffler. I saw grayish/black oil on the side of the canopy in front of the header. So I'll need to look into that!

I replaced the gasket on Gobby 1 that was leaking and reset the Spartan Vortex on Gobby 2, it was doing some weird things! I'll have to keep an eye on that one!

Rave = 3

Total = 8 (no too shabby for January in Illinois!)