Today’s weather: actually nice for a change. A little coolish, but comfy, minimal wind
Pilots: Al Bleyenberg, Dick Blackburn, Jim Bates, and oh yeah, Randall Hendrix, the
“usual gang of …..” were not coming. other commitments.
Had to break down and do the first cut of the grass for the year. WHOOPEE
Dick arrives. He starts out with a 1970ish Free Flite glider that he
converted to electric RC. I kept looking at it and was impressed with the styling.
But it wasn’t till after 15 minutes of searching the ole memory banks and realized
what it reminded me of. And that was the Star Trek Enterprise. From the side, the
front portion of the fuselage was connected just below the wing by about a 4” drop
that is slanted and then connected to the rear portion of the fuselage. That’s what
gave the Enterprise look.
The fuselage was a 2”x2” square that originally was about 8” from the front edge of the
wing to the motor mount. From the back of the wing edge, the square went to the
tail assembly. the wings are transparent RED, with transparent YELLOW wing tips.
Elevator was the same RED, and rudder was 50/50 of RED and YELLOW.
The original 8” nose has been added to by about 8” twice. To add to the color
scheme, the fuselage is mahogany colored stain. Sounds weird, but Dick pulled
it off.
By now, Jim Bates has arrived and so has Randall Hendrix.
Dick takes the glider to the runway, gives it a toss into the wind. Plane goes
about 20’ and nose dives to the ground. SILENCE.
We all pick up the pieces, 2, wing and fuselage. Jim asked if Dick had made sure
that the elevator was up/down on the stick. Dick said that he had checked it at home
the day before.
Once the post mortem was performed, turns out Jim was right. Up was down and down
was up. Dick checked the transmitter. The Futaba was set on the wrong plane. For some
reason, a Futaba will still operate the motor, even if on the wrong plane.
Learnt something today.
Jim takes out his 3D Wargo, and as usual puts it thru its paces. Beauty in motion when in
the hands of someone who knows how to fly.
I finally bring out my Flitetest Cruiser for a re-re-re-maiden. Once in the air, it’s a
bucking bronco. Sounds familiar. I ask Jim to take over and he “wrestles” it to the ground.
All in once piece, yeah.
Back to the drawing board.
By now the winds were picking up. The boys were discussing “world events”. I had enough
“phun” for the day.
Head to the house, leaving the boys to solve the worlds problems.
TTFN