CVRC 17 Sat. Jan 5, 2019
TODAY’S ROSTER: Dick Blackburn, Jim Bates, Billy West, Steve Tisi, And me.
Well, the fearless flyers took to the field again to do battle with Mother Nature.
She won. Actually, it’s not a real battle, just a challenge. Relatively windy, a little cool, this is at 11am.
Dick started the show with his Cessna 172 (hope that’s right). Powered by a four stroke engine, my favorite sounding motor (for r/c that is). Had a bit of a challenge getting it cranked until he turned the plane upside down, bingo.
Even with the gusty wind, Dick was doing a great job. Plane looks super in flight. A couple of flights around the field and last touchdown proved a little too much the prop. 3 blade is now a 2 blade, might take some creative balancing. Because he didn’t have a spare, it was back to the portable hangar for it.
In the meantime, Jim had brought out his Parkzone T-28 foamie. Jim’s skills let this mid-size bird fly pretty well in the gusty wind. A couple of extraordinary moves later, I thought were Jim’s piloting skills, but turned out it was the windy. All in all, a great showing.
Next up to bat is Billy. I HAVE TO GET AN SUV. Why, because Billy seems to be able to pack a fleet of planes in his SUV. Just like the energizer bunny, they just keep on coming, and coming, and coming.
I swear that they mate in the back. Proof, is a little grey, four engine, no aileron, no rudder, no elevator, 2 blade pusher prop, 10” wingspan C-17. He slapped on the butt, and it started to fly.
In reality, the 10” plane gets in the air, flies remarkable well, for what it is. Then by magic as it gets 15’ away, you can’t judge how big or small it really is. It’s like it grows as it flies. MAJOR OPTICAL ILLUSION. It even lands nice.
Steve finally showed up this time with a plane of his own. He broke down and bought a Horizon Hobby Carbon S+ with SAFE® Plus GPS-enabled drone technology, this scale reproduction makes it easier to learn to fly in less time than ever before. Now that’s a mouthful. That’s the good news, bad news, he spends the next 45 minutes trying to get all the “new fangled electronics” to work.
In an attempt to help, Jim starts going thru the manual. After 10 minutes, Jim quietly puts the manual down and Dick and him head off for lunch. Steve did get it in the air, but wasn’t happy with how it was flying. So, back to the hangar for some “fine tuning”.
And lastly, ME. Once again, the cantankerous Corsair is ready. As a precaution, I ask Billy to do the latest “maiden” flight. I’ve explained the history so that’s he’s up to speed and what to be aware of.
He agreed that is was a handful. 1500 clicks later of trim, and it’s flying hands free. YEE HAW.
SO, now it’s my turn at bat with it. True to form makes a hard left and cartwheels. No news to you have been reading of past “endeavors”, pilot error.
By this time, I call “uncle”, pull out the Fun cub and fly.
Steve calls it a day. Billy and I fly “together” follow the leader. I’m leading and he’s following with his new today Cessna 182. Billy is smitten with this plane. He’s been wanting this type of plane for a long time, and finally found one at reasonable price, and it flew very nice and stable. Again, Cheshire cat grin, for this plane from Billy.
NOW, Billy asks if he can fly with me in the air, sure, take you plane’s life in your hands. Threat was short lived, on the second go around, battery goes dead, it’s glider time for the Cessna.
One more pass around, and my FunCub is down, safely, for the day. We both agree to call it a day.
Lots of sh—ts and giggle, more b.s., and a generally all around good day.
