Fly With Catawba Valley RC

Dec. 7, 2018

Well, on the spur of the moment, I decided to go to the field to “test” the problem child Corsair.

Upon arrival, there was Lonnie Hagadorn and Bill Holder. Hmmmm, thanks for letting me know you 

were coming out. In unison, they both said, well we sent out an email a couple of days ago.

Hate to admit it, but they were right. Still had to give them a hard time.

Lonnie was sitting watching and filming Bill fly his Apprentice. He’s coming around, landing the 

Apprentice

With a bounce and back in the air. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but to Bill, it’s nirvana.

He’s been practicing. He does a couple of 2 bounce hops, and 3 bounce hops, the plane, obviously.

Show off.

So Lonnie, aren’t you flying???

Bill laughs, and Lonnie said, yup, I was………. Pause.

Ok, what happened. Lonnie is flying his new Eflite Variant. A really good looking plane.

Well, I sorta planted it nose down.

WHAT HAPPENED!

Lonnie took his plane in the air, another obvious, and was doing all sorts of aerobatics. Quite well, Bill piped in. But Lonnie seemed to get a little far away. Facing the runway, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy past the field, is the stone enclosure.

While executing (how’s that for a fancy word) a loop, Lonnie was getting a little too close to the ground, switched the plane into “SAFE” mode (Auto Pilot for us old foggies). Worked perfect except he waited just a little too late.

Smacked the belly of the Variant off one of the stone pillars. After that, a bit of a walk to pick up the 

remains. And to add insult to injury, Lonnie, is the cameraman, so Bill didn’t get pics of the event, bummer.

As for me, if you’ve been following the past “updates”, you know I’ve got a problem child. The Corsair.

For reasons, I haven’t figured out yet, the thing gets into the air, and about 30’ out wants to dive right and down. I’ve checked everything 3 times over. Only way to fly, is put a ton of left trim into the ailerons.

Get it back on the ground, belly up. No damage, except my pride.

By this time Lonnie and Bill called it a day. They had been there since 10 a.m. 

Take the Corsair back to the carport. Check everything again. On the right aileron horn, I had put the rod into the second hole from the top. The left was in the top hole. YEE HA! Smoking gun.

Make the adjustments, all trims back to normal. Take off and same dive to the right, only not as severe. SO, the only way, again, is a ton of left trim on the aileron.

Once more on the ground, I’m tempted to fudge the right aileron clevis to raise it up to compensate.

By this time, Tim, the farmer, shows up to talk a bit. Nice guy, if you’re ever there and see him. Have a talk. Interesting guy.

30 minutes go by, and it’s getting too cold for my blood. 

HEAD TO THE HOUSE

Al “newguy”

CVRC 8 Dec 4,2018

You know it’s one of those days where I should have stayed in bed.

Went to the field. Cold, windy, cloudy, toboggan and long johns weather.

Started with the Parkzone Corsair that I had trouble with before. Wants to dive to the

right and down after takeoff. Still doing it, but not as bad.

Kept it alive for a couple of flights.

By now Lonnie Hagadorn and Bill Holder have arrived.

Take the corsair up again, put in a ton of left aileron. Helped, but didn’t cure. So, I come in for a landing. A couple of feet off the ground the wind catches it, plops over, breaks the prop. No big deal, only, I didn’t bring any spare props.

Lonnie brings out one of his “fleet”, the HobbyZone Variant, and proceeds to fly flawlessly. But, he’s got that “little electronic pilot” to help him out.

Still looks good in the air though. He does some touch and goes, 3 hops and goes.

I ask about the “autopilot”, he then shows me all the features of it, impressive.

He shows off for a couple more flights.

Bill brings out his “Apprentice” plane. This is a great plane. It’s also got the “autopilot” in it. But fair is fair, Bill knows how to fly the plane well. 

NEXT, up to bat is my FunCub, the “go to” plane for me. Been thru HE++ and back with my flying ability. But just like the old Timex commercials, takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Get 4 good flights in, for me. Lonnie takes some great “close up shots”.  Never tried this before, but Lonnie suggested I try flaps for a landing. Um, ok, so I try half flaps, slows down to a crawl, touch down. Yeah me.

Lonnie suggests I try full flaps for a takeoff. I’m kinda leery, cause I’ve never tried that before. Oh what the heck. Takes off, hard left and straight up, then straight down into one of the wire pilot stations. Many pieces later, plane 2 down for the count. It ain’t purty.

Now, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson, nope. Lonnie (see a pattern here) talks me into flying my Eflite Commander (of which he has one). Besides Bill wants to see it in action also. My first mistake was being talked into hooking up the AS3X (auto pilot) system. I’ve seen too many “oopsies” with that, so I use a plain ole receiver and “fly” the plane.

After a long time, programming, we’re set. In “safe mode” should fly itself, plane goes up, up, up, does a 180, then down, down, down.

Plane 3, down for the count.

Time to call it a day.

Al “new guy”, 3 planes down

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

CVRC Sun. Dec. 2, 2018

SO! I send out my usual “gonna be at the field Sun.” letter.

I show up at the field and I’m all by myself. What a bunch of babies. Just cause it’s misting a bit, you

can still fly. Worst part is wiping off my glasses when the misting gets too heavy.

So instead of getting upset, just fired up the FunCub and flew the living day lights out of it.

Loops, barrel rolls, Cuban 8’s, tried some inverted flying, WOW, am I getting good at this.

Throw in a couple of touch and go’s, perfection. Too bad I didn’t have a video of all this to show the

“OLD GUYS” how a newbie can show them how it’s done.

Next on the agenda is the Parkzone Corsair. Once again, I amaze myself, doing the hardest left and

right banking as I can muster, the wings are bending so far that the wing tips are touching

each other. WOW what a plane, even more, WOW, am I ever good. Just for grins and giggles I bring it

in so slow, I can walk over and catch it. Instead of being “a show boat” about it, pull up on the elevator,

hit full flaps, and it plunks on the runway, rolling about 3’.

I thought this flying stuff was hard.

THEN I WAKE UP, I was on the couch, SLEEPING.

Al “newbie”

Sun Nov 25, 2018

Showed up at the field around 11. Overcast, cool, damp, all by myself.

Got a few flights in on my Parkzone Corsair. Three times up three times down, only damage each time, was the landing gear breaks off. Gonna have to get a better set up.

Next was “ole faithful”, Multiplex Fun Cub. It’s been rode hard and put away wet many times,

But like the old TIMEX commercials, takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Lonnie Hagadorn and Bill Holder arrive.

Lonnie unloads his “repaired, new Eflite Slow Poke”. Last week Lonnie decided on arguing

A couple of really good flights, Bill brings out his Eflite Apprentice.  Even with a few battle

scars, Bill puts the Apprentice thru its paces. A few touch and go’s. Very nice.

Next, Don Jerche shows up with his new to him Parkzone T-28. We do some last minute servo and linkage setups. A few changes on his DX6.

As luck would have it, Jerrel Bolick shows up and I talk Don into letting Jerrel take up the T-28 to feel it out.

A few changes later, Bill  takes over control. Bill does a few good passes, then down to earth, in one piece.

Next, Fun Cub, Apprentice, Lonnies Eflite Commander take turns. Now if you haven’t seen this Commander in the air, look it up on Youtube. It’s a sweetheart. It does everything beautifully. Fast, slow, acrobatic, even landing.

Jerrel takes out his trust Hellcat, and as usual, puts the rest of us to shame with his flying skills. Then to add insult to injury, he does the same performance with his Skyraider. Fast, slow, disgusting.

Don decides it’s time to try the T-28 on his own. Down the runway about 60’ and it does a torque roll to the left, runs into the wire barricades and that’s all she wrote.

By this time Lonnie and Bill are heading for their homes, Don does the same.

Jerrel and I spend some time talking about flying, what a surprise.

By this time we both decide “fun was had”.

CVRC Friday, November 23, 2018

Weather temp 39 degrees, winds from 5-15 mph, cloudy, damp.

This is the only time this week I can get out to fly. I invited a friend, Al Bolch, who I had met about 6 months ago. Great guy, who is just getting back into flying.

At the other field we flew at, his first attempt is a Sensei high wing. Pretty basic plane with the Autopilot stuff in it.

First flight, takeoff pretty good, then coming back towards the runway, sorta took an off flight plan veer behind him. Not too pretty, Al decides to hit the first tree he can come to. Luckily or not, it fell out of the tree and landed in the briar patch behind the tree.

Being the nice guy that I am (that’s total B.S.), I retrieved the plane for him. Not too  much damage, a little C/A and back in the air. Luckily, Jim Anderson (great pilot and teacher) was there to help Al with some pointers.

Spent the rest of the day, tweaking the transmitter adjustments, and slowly Al became more confident.

A few weeks go by and Al and I are the only two at the field. Al takes off and does some really nice circles, a few loops, and once again, takes a hard left into the tallest tree on the property.

The plane is now at least 60’ in the air.

I tell Al that I have a couple of options for him. Al put his trust in my judgement (fool).

I go down to the local fire department, if they can get a cat out of tree, they can get a plane out of a tree.

So, the “boys” show up with their pumper truck and try to “hose” it out of the tree. Exhausting all the water in the tank, they went to reload. Tried to talk them out of wasting time. But, they were facing a “challenge”.  20 minutes later, fresh load of water, same result, plane is stuck.

Boys wouldn’t take anything for their efforts. They were having fun.

SO! A couple of days go by before I can get a friend over with a bucket truck for his tree service. Bad news is that it poured rain for 2 days. The plane got major drenched. Good news, is that they got the plane out of the tree. Al was ecstatic. Bad news is that the rain messed up some of the electronics. And a little body damage.

Time marches on Al and I don’t connect for a while.

Tell him about CVRC. Amazed about the lack of trees, big field, great guys to talk to and learn from.

Getting back to today. I get Al out today. By this time his Sensei is history. His new “ride” is an Eflite Apprentice. This plane has the ASX setup in it, but he’s flying without it enabled.

Taking off in the wind and cold is a little shaky. Plane does some pitching and yawing, but it’s in the air. He makes a couple of circles with mixed results. Jim Bates, Dick Blackburn, and I, suggest that he bring it in so we help tweak the plane or transmitter.

Coming in from the left, all 4 of us are standing next to the flight line. Plane’s coming in fairly nice, a little pitchy. Then the Apprentice makes a bee line for all of us.  Now, Jim, Dick, and I bail, but Al stands there trying to get the plane in control. TOO LATE. Plane slams into Al about chest level.

Luckily Al was wearing a heavy coat, so no damage to him or the plane.

Jim and Dick decide it’s lunch time.

So, Al calls it a day.

My turn to “show off”. Ha!

Get the Fun Cub in the air and wind is making it do things I don’t want it to do. Make a couple of rounds, and time to come in.

By this time, it’s gotten colder, windier, cloudier.

Time to leave.

Al “new guy”

Al’s conversion, from glow to electric, great job.  Click the link above to view the photos.