Flight report, 11/1/09
Posted on 11/1/2009 9:32:10 PMAuthor: rafeWhoa. Where to start? I don't think I've ever flown as intensely, for so many hours as I did today. And with such fine company... The details get a bit blurry... here's what I remember.
The prior day as you may recall had been very windy and eventually quite wet. A few of us flew, but still had a serious jones for more. I think we were all pumped to get as much airtime as possible on Sunday. The weather mostly cooperated. It was a great day to be outdoors.
I arrived at Mitre around ten or so, and had the place to myself. There was still some wind kicking. Within a minute or two I had whacked one of my
Depron foam planes, but so what, there were plenty more planes in the car. (And I remembered the CA this time...)
Billy arrived not too long afterwards, and tore up the sky with his
3D SuperCub/Apprentice hybrid. I think maybe
Alex was the next to arrive... but hanging back a bit because of the wind.
Chip showed up with
his dad. Dad got flying lessons on the
E-Flite Alpha 450, using a buddy box. I dunno, I always get nervous watching lessons. Billy had to go home to change his underwear.
We took it slow and easy, flew a bit, chatted a bit, waited for next arrivals. Artie next, I think. SA Shaft all fixed up from yesterday's rough landing. Electro Stick at the ready. Eventually
Fettah showed up with Eric -- whom I hadn't met before... and, and then Billy was back. And then the life of the party,
Scott and
Sue and Skylar with their
awesome matching airplane hats. We lined up the whole menagerie of planes and pilots and got some photos in, with Billy snapping pix from the roof of his truck and Fettah capturing it all on video.
Quite amazingly, Chip did
not unveil the latest thing in avionics today, but we should talk about that Nikon camera and zoom lens he was toting.
Sebastian was there, and
Steve Eichel, freshly returned from France, with
his kids and a new Typhoon. (Sorry, I didn't get the kids' names.) Skylar introduced Alex to "Fireballs." Even my lovely wife joined the fun for a little while... on her way to and from the mall. Sebastion flew a T-28, and a heli or two, as I recall, and a
gray EDF F-15 jet.
Fettah and Chip made several attempts to aero-tow Fettah's glider behind Chip's Alpha 450... with moderate success. At least no serious damage. Scott maidened a brand new,
beautiful balsa biplane (Pitts?) in yellow and black. It was a perfect maiden flight... but in typical Scott fashion, he had the thing doing loops within ten seconds of takeoff.
Steve E. had some exciting flying with his new Typhoon. Steve went missing for a bit and returned with a Typhoon retrieved from across the street somewhere... amazingly intact. As I packed up my planes to head home, maybe 3:30 or so, Steve was flying a mellow
Diablo EDF jet.
A whole lot of flying. The
largest assemblage of "Electric Youth" I have witnessed. Very cool thing we've got here, ladies and gents. I had a blast. Thank you all... for a real good time!
Comments
Chip on 11/2/2009 1:49:22 AM wrote:
Today was awesome. A little drama and a whole lot of fun. Nothing like a warm Fall day to bring everyone out.
I'm determined to get Fettah's glider towed behind one of my planes. I think I just need something with more mass that won't get pulled around so much. A few too many really close calls :). Perhaps the Ultra Stick 25e would work better as it is about 5 times heavier than the Alpha 450.
Notable other close calls:
Scott and his awesome bipe losing both a wheel and the cockpit cover - but it survived and landed OK. Easily one of the best flying planes I've had the good fortune of flying. So smooth and good looking.
Steve's Typhoon went on an extended run over the trees, over the gas station, over the stream and onto the ground. Not bad for a an out-of-site flight. Very little damage, just missing landing gear and a chunk taken out of the foam. Easily fixed with something like:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YX9GG
His EDF Jet was a nice slow flyer and I was able to take it for a quick spin. Turns needed to be planned out a little in advance as there was no aileron control, but it flew nice and smooth.
I think those were the only close calls I saw.
After Rafe left, Alex took up his MUS and was flying and landing like a pro. Downwind runs I'd say he was pushing 50mph. He also checked the airbag deployment on his Parksone P51 Mustang. They work, no damage, and pilot survived.
As we were slowly packing up to leave, a young woman, Amanda, showed up and it turns out she flys RC planes and flies at Mitre all the time, but over by the baseball diamond. She had a Typhoon (same plane as Steve's, with as much tape) and did a couple flights, but it was getting dark fast. I believe someone gave her the address for this site, so hopefully we can get her on the email list. As Sue said, "Yes, another female member!". Indeed, Sue, indeed. :)
I'm sure I've only partially filled in any blanks, so for whatever I've missed...FITB.
Chip-