Fly With Catawba Valley RC

CVRC 21 Sat. Jan26, 2019

Roster:

Dick Blackburn, Jim Bates, Billy West, Steve Tisi, Alan Roberts, Johnny Walker, (Lindsey-golden retriever), and me.

Cold day, (toboggan weather), windy off and on, clear, and yeah, sunny.

By the time I arrive, planes had been in the air. JimB was getting his red Four Star Forty Nitro ready for flight. Being new to this sport, I commented to Jim about this long chrome thing coming out of the transmitter. He just chuckled. Then I noticed that this is like a Corsair, because it had something that looked like a “tail hook”, as in carrier landing stuff. Again, he laughs. Someone will have to enlighten me.

Barely clearing the runway, Four Star had a difficult time getting any altitude, his comments were “I’m giving it all I can Captain, but she has no more”. Elevator was at max, even with bucket loads of trim. To err on the side of caution, Jim, brought it back to earth. Interesting landing, because of minimal elevator, it got about 2’ off the grass and Jim cut the engine. WORKED PERFECTLY. Upon investigation, the elevator linkages were going to need some attention. Back to the hangar.

Steve Tisi had brought this “thing”. It’s called a “grifter” (looks like a first version ultralite). Impressive take off. Steve, with Billy’s help, checks all the controls, perfect. Fires up the motor, perfect. Goes about 10’ feet, takes to the sky, perfect. Then as if on “cue”, it goes straight down onto the runway and bounces back into the air (just like a drop kicked football), and away she goes. It’s a bit of a handful to fly, a couple of laps around the course, and he brings it in.

Once again, perfect landing. Bounces on the grass, flips onto its nose “perfect”.  Steve gets the “piloting skills award” for the day.

On plane the stand, it’s determined the CG was not the culprit, but the motor thrust angle needed some “tweaking” (technical term). Back to the hangar.

In the meantime, Dick has taken off with his, Navion Microlite. Transparent blue wings, and yellow body. Looks like an early “ultra lite, but with a body” plane with Mickey Mouse as pilot (not referring to Dick). It’s an electric pusher plane that according to Dick, he just “dusted off” to bring for our enjoyment. It worked. Dick, once again, slowly, calmly, expertly, sailed it off the runway, did some slow fly-bys, and some very impressive aerobatics. You’d never expect a plane like that could do them. Then some text book landings.

Next up was BillyW and JohnnyW and their 3D planes. It’s amazing to see what these planes do. Way too advanced for my skills (for now). Just to add excitement to the mix, I yelled over to the boys that I was taking a plane to the runway. In unison, they both groaned and convincingly yelled out ok. Not really, but they were trying to be polite.

My “weapon of choice” is my original starter plane. It’s a Gamma 370 Pro V2. Big name for a simple little plane. Basic high wing trainer. This plane, with my tender care, has hit the ground multiple times, a tree a couple of times, a power pole a couple of times, (see a pattern here). and then the finale, at a different field, I flew it into the sun, so I couldn’t see it, by the time I got my eyesight back. GONE, DISAPPEARED, Twilight Zone stuff. We searched everywhere. There is a bush directly behind us, so, we assumed it was in the bush somewhere. Next day, Sunday, my wife Darlene and I spend 2 hours searching. GONE. Found a young guy with a drone to so a surveillance of the area. GONE.

One week later, one of the club members, was flying a real plane over the field. He sent me a pic of this white thing in a sea of tall green wheat. FOUND. It had been 180 degrees from our vision in tall green wheat. Now this thing had endured major rains, following very sunny days in a field all by its lonesome and with its belly towards the sun. Don’t care, it’s home.

From that point on it flew like a big piece of excrement. Put on the shelf, other fish to fry. This past week, I got a wild notion to give it one more try. Well, today, 3 times into the air. Took off great, a little shaky in the air, trimming involved, and then flew like a dream. Guess all it needed was a good rest. Even the 3D boys were impressed. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I took it back to the carport for the next flight (battery change). I then hear some yelling. 

By the time I get to where I could see. SteveT, BillyW, and JimB, were looking straight out in the distance. There was this Lime green Sukoi hanging about 100’ up in the big ole tree about 400’ away. The one that’s straight away from the runway. The boys wandered over to see how to retrieve it. I was assuming they would try to power it out of the tree. When they came back, Steve said it might have worked except for one thing. He had the motor in his hand. So now, it’s up to the flying Gods to release it. Sorry Steve.

The temp is dropping and the wind is picking up. Dick and Jim disappear into the sunset for their weekly lunch. Alan Roberts makes his departure. Johnny Walker gets a phone call, and it’s homeward bound for him with Lindsey (golden retriever).  That leaves Billy, Steve, and me. I’ve packed up my “stuff”, cause I’m feeling the cold, but hang around long enough to see Billy try out his latest, 6 rotor drone. He takes a couple of close up shots of Steve’s Sukoi that’s now a tree ornament. May try rescue mission with a drone and fishing hook???????

Once again, good day, good friends. YA’LL NEED TO COME OUT.

Now to some a relief to other’s not. The newsletter is going to stop for a while. I have to go to the hangar and get my landing gear repaired. Hip replacement. Golden years are turning out to be “aluminum” years. All things considered and the creek don’t rise, might be back in a month. Wishful thinking. I’m hoping someone else can take up the slack in the meantime.

TTFN

CVRC 20 2019 Fri. Jan 18, 2019

Today’s roster: Dick Blackburn, Bill Holder, me, Jim Bates, Lonnie Hagadorn, Don Jerch in order of appearance.

So here I was in my heated work shop just toiling away. Get a “boop” on my phone around 10:30. Seems Dick, Bill, Don, Jim, and lastly Lonnie were headed to the field.

I was not planning on going because it was cold and cloudy. 

COMMA BUT, the club’s “meteorologist” Lonnie informed us that the weather was going to be in the 50’s with no more than 3mph winds, and he would never steer me wrong.

Hmm, Lonnie is a lot smarter than me, so I took him at his word.

Fresh mug of coffee in hand, “toys” loaded, and I’m off.

At the field, Dick and Bill were already flying. Getting out of my truck, temp was really cool and damp. The “ceiling” (airplane talk for cloud height) was about 150’. Checking out the boys, I helped Dick get his (forgot the name of plane) running. A 300cc nitro engine. Once in the air, it disappeared into the cloud cover. We all knew where it was, sorta kinda, because we could hear it. Dick’s skills made it look effortless while maneuvering back into sight and on the ground. Not stopping the plane, he did a couple of landings and takeoffs.

Correction:

Al seems to be struggling with names and zeros. The plane was a scratch built Super Hots built in about 1985 (33 years old). 300 cc would be a big one but it was only my Super Tigre 3000 (30 cc). Hasn’t run for a few years. Had to keep the glow plug on or it would quit. Wonder if it could have anything to do with the fuel also being a few years old ?? Dick

Once back on the ground, it was Bill’s turn with his E-flite Commander. One purty plane.

By this time Jim and then Lonnie showed up. Jim started helping Dick and Lonnie “assisting” Bill with the Commander’s “autopilot” setup.

Once again, with Jim’s help, Dick’s plane was back in the air doing what Dick does best. Fly expertly. Next victim is Bill’s Commander. First takeoff a little shaky, but no harm no foul.

Second takeoff, smooth as silk. The rest of the air time was excellent. I think Bill has been practicing.

Lonnie, not to be outdone, brought out his EPP foamy. Looked like a keystone cops plane. Once in the air, it like watching a butterfly. Left, right, up, down, here, there, everywhere. This is either Lonnie’s great piloting skills or…………….

With Jim’s help, they trimmed it out. It then was a respectable flyer.

Don showed up and talked and watched a bit. He brought his T-28 to fly.

As for me, I opened the trailer. Talked with the guys, started get cold. By now, the wind had picked up, sock at 90 degrees. Not any warmer, so I called it a day, headed back to my heated Garage.

About 4:30, when I came out of my garage, I was dumbfounded. Felt like 50 degrees, sunny, no  clouds. Well, I guess, Lonnie was right after all, only a few hours late.

Lonnie was wearing his “third” eye. Better known as a Go-Pro. It’s great, all he does is look at someone or something, and it’s recording all the events.

Lonnie should be posting pics later.

CVRC 18 Wed. Jan 14, 2019

Today’s roster, Jim Bates, Billy West, Steve Tisi, Lonnie Hagadorn, and me.

The weather gods favored our club. Jim had brought a PT-17 balsa/monokote plane that has been “hangar bound” for a while. When I arrived, I asked if he had flown yet,

hung his head and said, took up the PT-17, and crashed when a battery decided to quit. Good news, not too hard to repair for Jim’s abilities.

Billy showed up with his latest “fleet”. Again, his “mobile hangar” was full to the brim. Most of his “fly things” (technical term) had wings. COMMA BUT, there was this THING 

Not a helicopter, but had rotors, then a “normalish” body under the rotors. The framework holding the rotor to the body looked like an old timey windmill framework. 

It’s a Gyrocopter. I’ve only seen them in Youtube videos. No matter what you think, they look weird when flying.

Billy’s first words when bringing out the Gyrocopter was this is a crash waiting to happen. He lied, all of his flights were great. Still looked odd, but so be it.

Steve Tisi showed up with his Cub again. Last time and first time he brought it, Jim, Dick, and Steve were trying to setup the gyro and AS3X setup to no avail.

Today, Steve got it up in the air. No fuss, no muss, no bother. I yelled over to Steve, I see you got all the auto pilot stuff working. NOPE, disabled it, I’m flying

naked. Control wise, not literally (perverts).

In boring column, Lonnie and I brought up the rear. Lonnie with his mid-size Apprentice.

My weapon of choice was the FunCub, nuff said about that. Which in code means, I didn’t crash it once.

Another car pulled in and we were graced with the presence of CVRC royalty. 

Wayne Windsor and his wife had come out to see what all was going on after reading the “newsletters” and seeing the videos. I gave him his obligatory name tag. 

Told him if he gets lost, jump into a mailbox, and he’ll get mailed home. I picked at him for not bringing a plane. He said he wanted to check out if people were flying before he brought something. So, he’s going to “dust off” one of his planes and fly. Gotta see it to believe it.For the rest of the time he was there, Jim and Wayne were talking trash. 

Now, what I have left out, is that I had shown up with 2 “new to me” planes which likely haven’t seen sunshine or been in the air for 10 years. First thing out of Billy’s mouth when he saw them, wanna sell? Nope. 

Now for Billy to say that, they must be different. You can be the judge of that. One was a 

Lazy Bee, and the other a Baby Bee. Billy was drooling.  Because of my flying skills, I asked Billy to re-maiden them for me. He couldn’t get the transmitter

fast enough.

One reason I didn’t want to fly them, yet, is that they both are 3 channel, which for me would be a challenge. For all you “seasoned” pilots, you’re probably laughing. 

First up to bat was the BabyBee. And true to form, it flew like it should have. Cute as a button. A few clicks of trim here and there and it was flying with no hands on the controls. Fast slow looked fantastic. Big grins on everyone’s faces.

Next up to bat was he LazyBee. And as before, same thing. A few clicks of trim and it was hands free. Next time it’s going to be buddy-box for Billy and me. 

I’d rather be safe than sorry. They’re too pretty to wreck.

By now, Steve had adios-ed. Wayne was off to pick up grand kids. Jim was headed to the home hangar.

Lonnie, Billy and I did some bench flying when Billy brought out a small quadcopter. Amazing little flying boxes. Lonnie was headed for home. Billy and I called it a day.

Good time had by all. 

YA’LL SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE

CVRC 18 Sat. Jan 12, 2019

Fliers: Billy West, Lonnie Hagadorn, Jim Bates, Johnny Walker, Dick Blackburn.

Much as I hate to do this, I have to copy Lonnie Hagadorn and Billy West’s dialogue for today’s flying.

I’m a woose. Dick and I had been there on Monday do some “field work”, and I for one got frozed.

So, I opted to stay in my my HEATED hangar to work on my “wrecked” fleet. Don’t ask.

BILLY:

Had a great day at the field today! It was a bit chilly, the wing all but disappeared around 10:30. It made for great flying. Sure missed seeing AL at the field. Since he was not there I went ahead and stalled my Cessna at the end of the runway and it did half of a cartwheel, I believe we got that on video! After that we all felt like AL.

NOW BILLY, I DON’T KNOW WHETHER THAT WAS A COMPLIMENT OR SLAM, LUV YA, MEAN IT.

I just reviewed the video footage from today and I can confirm that I have proof that Billy West has officially displaced Al as the CVRC crash-master. Billy also attempted to drill into Jim Bates while taking off with his Cessna, but given Jim’s lightning quick reflexes, he spoiled the attack. Yep, got that on film too!

This time, we were graced with the presence of Billy West, Jim Bates, Johnny Walker, Dick Blackburn and yours-truly. As usual, Billy brought some very interesting aircraft. I think I got the biggest kick out of his Mig 29 foamie pusher-prop “jet”. In trying to increase speed and power, he had installed a crudely cut-down prop and brought along both a 3S and 4S battery. On 3S, it was pretty sedate, but when the 4S was installed, it really came to life! Billy also had what must be the worlds smallest flying model C-17 (?) Globemaster. This thing has two tiny pusher-prop motors and is steered by using differential thrust. No ail, elv or rudder controls! Johnny had his ParkMaster  back in action, and it was fun watching him dueling with Jim and his 3D foamie.

LONNIE:

Although the weather was cold, it wasn’t too awfully bad until the sleet started coming down around noon. It didn’t cut back on the fun, but shortened our time there a bit. I didn’t fly at all today, rather I spent the morning trying out a new GoPro5 “Session” camera, mounted under the bill of a baseball cap. This tiny camera, which I have placed right between my eyes, makes videography dead simple. I’m surprised at how well it worked out.

“New Guy” Al didn’t show, which was both the bad news and the good news of the day. (Bad, because we missed him, but good, because he didn’t wreck any more airplanes!) BITE ME LONNIE

I have a lot of footage to edit, but I’ll get it on line as soon as I can.

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.

CVRC 16 Sat. Jan 1, 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Jan 1

Congrats to the “Lone Ranger”

It was a perfect flying day with NO wind at all. Zero.

I was alone, so all the time I was there was spent flying. I flew both planes that I bought from Dick Blackburn a few weeks back. The A10 EDF flew perfectly, just like he said it would. I got 6 minutes on a 2200 mAh battery. It was powerful, surprisingly easy to control, and was steady even at low speeds.

The little Cox 300 Extra was more difficult given its light weight and big control surfaces, but I got in a lot of stick time without damage by using very low rates. Used up two batteries at 7 minutes each. 

The best investment however, was the time I spent with my little UMX J3 Cub. (It has AS3X, but no SAFE.) I had set up trial mixes on my transmitter with the objective of making flat turns using just the rudder control, by combining opposite ailerons with a little up elevator. (In other words, when you move the rudder right for a right turn, the ailerons move slightly for a left turn and the elevator pitches up slightly to maintain altitude.) It took 3 batteries to get the amount of movement just right, but the calm conditions allowed me to make repetitive small mix changes and actually see what affect they had on flight control. I got it right in the end and it was very satisfying. Also got in dozens of takeoffs and landings with the various planes, which is another thing I needed to practice.

Our (Bill and I) plan to be there tomorrow at around 1:30, weather dependent.

Lonnie

Thanks Lonnie for holding the fort. Some of us were re-couperating. Actually, I had to work on my truck.

TTFN

Al “new guy”

From the Web Master – we all know that everything fly’s great when you are the only one at the field. – Just saying. Happy New Year

CVRC 15 Sat. Dec 29, 2018

Once again, I venture to the field. This time I’m later than usual, get there at noon.

Billy West, Steve Tisi, Jim Bates, Alan Roberts, Dick Blackburn, and I, make up today’s compliment. And, being “fashionably late”, Lonnie Hagadorn “graces” us with his presents. Oh joy.

About an hour later, Blake Hunnicutt, arrives for moral support. I gave him his nametag incase he got lost on the way home. That way he could just jump into a mailbox, and get sent home.

Billy has, once again, brought out some of his fleet. He’s got this cute little Stick, with the maltese cross markings. Now, this gas powered plane, seems awfully quiet once he takes off. Um, turns out it’s an electro stik. Electric powered with a dummy nitro motor. Devious.

His mini stick has already shown its prowess. This thing is fast, and Billy knows how to put it thru its paces. Show off.

Steve takes his turn with both planes with almost as much “show offedness”. Can’t beat Billy on that one. 

Not to take a back seat, Jim pulls out his 3D foam plane, does some amazing flying. I didn’t know planes could do that. 

Dick not to be out shined, sits on his lawn chair, looks to the sky to fly his 12’ sailplane. I’m not a sailplane person, but watching Dick do his thing, makes me go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Billy pulls out, drags out, hauls out this cub. Now, I could ride this thing. I’m over 200lbs, but I swear, it could fly with me on it. As he cranks up the engine, it’s quiet. Except for the prop noise, you don’t know it’s running. It’s electric, go figure. Four-6s super milli amp batteries, drive this plane thru the air. 

Not a warbird, but it looks great in the sky.

My last outing with my Eflite Commander, didn’t prove to be too good. Did a straight up and straight down. Pilot error, so what else is new. Again, did a repair job at home base.

Get it into the air, and it’s relatively good, but I ask Jim to give me some “seasoned” help. Jim takes over the controls it settles down. 

He hands the controls back to me and for whatever reason, plane starts to go wonkie (technical term). Get it safely on the ground. Make a few adjustments and we’re back in the air. This time, it flies really nice. Great looking plane at speed, or slow.

Once again, Billy drags out this blue/white electric jet. One thing, he can fly. Two, it’s fast. So fast that the nose actually bends as he flies by full tilt. The odd part is the landing. No gear, just belly on the strip. The planes belly not his, not enough runway for that.

Lonnie has a new toy. He gets out his Eflite mini Apprentice. Basically the same as the full size, only smaller, duh huh. Still looks good in the air even with Lonnie at the controls.

As the “regular” fliers are having their fun, I hear this noise off to the right of the “hangar”. It’s Billy with a helicopter. I didn’t know helicopters could fly upside down. Looks like a dragonfly on steroids.

About 2:30, it’s like a bell went off and everyone bailed. Once the dust settled, I look around. There’s Lonnie and me, and the buzzards.

Now, not knowing when to say “uncle”, I take the Commander up again. The flight lasts a grand total of 4 seconds. My expert flying skills put the plane straight up and then straight down. More C/A. Bummer.

Note to self, know when to quit, and follow one’s own advice.

To finish off the day, Lonnie opens up this cardboard box and pulls out this plane. Now, I think you can call it a plane. I would call it a “seed” plane. Add water and it gets full size. It’s an Eflite UMX J-3 Cub BNF.

It’s got a 26” wingspan. Even with the wind picking up, it flew surprisingly well.

After going thru 3 sets of batteries, and a couple of way too close to us passes. Lonnie called it a day.

Once again, fun was had by all.

Come on out to fly, gab, help.

TTFN

Al “new guy”

CVRC 14 Tues. Dec 26, 2018

WELL, you know those days when you get up with a plan, then, everything does a 180. Today was that way. I had found a couple of plane kits on craigslist. When I talked to the guy, he said he had about 100 planes and or kits. Now, in my mind, this is going to be an expensive trip. I contacted Dick and Jim, told them about the deal, asked if they wanted to come along. Big ole fersure.

Before that, Billy West, had sent out an email that he was going to the field for around 11. One thing led to another and Billy ended up going to the “plane sale”. The story about the planes was that the guy had taken in these planes and parts from a guy who owed him money. This guy is not into r/c planes.

Now, 10 years later, he decides to sell all the stuff. Good news, bad news. No real good news, bad news is that everything wasn’t stored very well. So, Father Time had taken its toll. We spent some time trying to find a “keeper”. I’m the worst for trying to salvage a “deal”. But even I couldn’t. Billy saw a couple that fit his price range and interest. They ended up in his suv.

Dick and Jim had other plans. So, Billy was still headed to the field. Here’s where my day changed. I had not planned on doing the field thing, but thought, what the heck, It’s nice out. The rest of the week is supposed to be “ungood” for flying. Went home, loaded up the portable hangar (trailer) and headed to the field.

I was expecting to see Billy out there for sure. Turning into the lane, I see 3 vehicles. Wow, life.

Billy was there, obviously, and the guy with him is Steve Tisi. I have not met Steve, but turns out, descent guy, and pilot.

Alan Roberts was there also. They all said that they enjoyed my “newsletters”, so they thought it’s a good time to re-introduce themselves to the field. HOT DOG.

Alan is flying his Radian sailplane, amazing to see it in the air.

Billy started out with an Eflite Mini Pulse. This thing takes a 3s battery. But, Billy had put in a 4s. This thing just blasted around the sky. And, Billy knew how to fly it. More than once, I thought he was going to rip the wings off it.

A white truck heads down the lane, pulls in behind the “hangar”. Mark McClellan. I introduce myself. Ask him who he is an proceeds to tell me that he’s the club Pres. OOOPS. Told Mark that the last time I had seen him was in Feb. So, my memory sorta faded on that one. He also said that he wanted to check out what’s happening at the field after getting all these “newsletters”. Great, they’re working.

Mark needs no introduction to anyone, except me, they all know each other.

Next on Billy’s agenda was a drone. Not too unusual except, he put on a mask. Wonder if he thinks he’s the Lone Ranger? Actually, it was one of the FPV goggles/mask, what ever it’s called. Now for me, it’s unusual to see a pilot, sitting in a lawn chair, looking thru these goggles and the drone is soaring thru the air. He’s looking down and the drone is all over the place.

I know the club started in the last century, but the field really showed it’s age. I heard this noise and looked in the sky and saw a teradactyl. That’s one of those dinosaur flying birds/buzzards. No, I haven’t been into the “sauce”. If you don’t believe me, check the attached pic.

Steve took his turn flying some of Billy’s planes, and then pulled out this 4 bladed, slime green “thing”. You could put this in a lunch box, that’s how small it was. Next thing I know, it’s in the air, video recording all of us standing there. Gotta love technology.

Not to be outdone, Alan brings out one of his drones. So not to be out done either, Billy pulls out one of his other drones. So, here you have the field with 3 drones in the air at the same time, buzzing back and forth, up and down, sideways, any ole ways.

In the corner of my vision is see something, it’s a hawk. Real live hawk checking out to see what’s for dinner. Luckily, he didn’t try to mess with the drones. 

For me, it was time to head home, had some honey dews to do before the end of the day.

I thanked the “boys” for showing up and make sure they came back out.

Al “newguy”

TTFN

CVRC 13 Mon Dec. 24, 2018

At the prompting of Lonnie Hagadorn and Bill Holder, we were going flying today. So, I show up at the field, and, as usual, I’m the gate unlocker (that’s a technical position). Anyway, as I’m driving up to the club house (car port), I notice the wind sock is straight at 9 o’clock, blowing so hard the pole is bending 10 degrees to the south. Now, before I left the house, the Hickory Accue Weather said 4-5 mph winds. According to the internet, with the sock doing what it doing, we’re sitting at 15-20 mph.

So, make lemonade out of lemons. I had brought a plastic Northern Tool tarp with me. I was using it as a wind break on the runway side of the carport. Spent some time getting it installed. Not pretty, but it sure blocked the wind from that side. 3 more sides to go.

Phone goes off, it’s a text from Lonnie, Bill and him after decided not to come to the field. dhjaskdfjpwuerp;ajwew. Once again, in a crowd by myself. Drag out the problem child Corsair and other “stuff” while having a coffee break. Well, there’s another faithful (out of his mind) flyer. Don Jerch shows up. Gets out of his truck, looks at the windsock, pulls out his phone, looks at the pilot’s information ap on his phone. According to it, the winds are at 15-20 mph. I guess they know what they’re talking about. Didn’t deter him. Brought out one of his sailplanes. Very nice rig. Gets it put together, ready to fly, but Don keeps looking at the windsock and shaking his head.

Looks kinda doubtful, even for a sailplane. 

I text Dick Blackburn to let him know of the situation. Dick states it’s not a problem, and Jim Bates is coming out also. Go figure. 

So, Don and I chew the fat (technical term) for a while. Neither one really brave enough to try to fly in a gale force wind (a little exaggeration). (not much).

Tim the farmer shows up to check on his cattle. Once again, if you’re out at the field, don’t be afraid to talk to him, great guy. 

Dick shows up, opens his truck and pulls out 6’ plus Cub. Now I enjoy a cub, BUT!, this one has a Saito 4 stroke in it. Now, if you’ve ever heard a 4 stroke run, you’ll know what I mean. Almost as good as listening to Rolls Royce Merlin engine (nothing beats that).

As Dick prepares his Cub, Jim Bates shows up. Toboggan on his head, heavy sweater, and probably long johns (didn’t ask). Jeez it’s cold and windy. We all watch and help as best we can to help Dick with Cub. And then it happens, the Saito starts. Sweeter than a sweet tater pie from Georgia.

Before I can catch my breath, the Cub’s on the ground, blink and it’s in the air. Now, for a 30 year old plane it flew phenomenally. Had nothing to do with Dick’s skills. The wind didn’t seem bother the cub. Dick put it through it’s paces like it was a WW II war bird. Who says a Cub can’t maneuver. 

Then, after pulling off a few super landings, Dick takes it out again. Now, because of his expert piloting skills, he shuts off the engine from about 100 yards out and brings it in for a perfect landing. Don and I pipe in about the same time about how he killed the motor. Big grin from Dick, that’s his piloting skills and smiled.

Once again, we’ve all had enough fun, wind and cold,  then it’s the hangar talk time. Half hour later, it’s Christmas wishes all around and we leave.

As usual,

Al “new guy”