WJCJR1 Flight Logs

[WJCJR1]

40 minutes flight time,
T-28D,
Crow River R/C airfield, Waverly, MN,
Weather: calm winds 2 mph variable direction, low 70's, clear sky.
Was a beautiful night and enjoyable calm air. Been cloudy little windy all day so the clear weather was Welcome.

I really stomped on the 4S Power 15 enhanced T-28D tonight. Very fast, fun and agile to fly. I am trying new tricks, orientations and having a ball. Perfecting a climbing knife edge tonight, prop really washes the air in this position amd makes it sould pretty funky.

With mixed flying I can get 12 minutes out of the 2150mAH 4S batteries but today I was more Zooming than floating so 10 minutes each battery and she was done.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

28 minutes Flight Time
5 minutes Parkzone T-28D, 3minutes E-Flite Apprentice
Crow River R/C Waverly, MN
Weather: Calm, 74*, Clear turned to cloudy
Invited my neighbor to the field today to Buddy-Box on the Apprentice. I flew my suped-up T-28D first and thankfully this, http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=784, happened after I was done playing around. I was pulling some hard close in low to ground last minute frontal coming at you pull-outs before the linked incident accurred. If it had been seconds earlier there could've been trouble.

After my incident with the T-28D was resolved I Buddied-up with my neighbor and he flew my Apprentice. I took off got up to ~200', good ways up but still clearly viewable and pulled the switch for Brian to have control. Brian has plenty of ground R/C experience and besides a couple small hiccups Brian did very well. I had Bryan perfect a left hand circuit of center field, followed by a right hand circuit, followed by a figure 8 circuit, followed by a loop, a roll and then some more figure 8 patterns. Brian had the controls for about 20 minutes I flew directly for only three with a couple saves/preventative insertions inbetween Brian's flight. We may have a new up and coming pilot and member very soon.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Nearly 2 1/2 hours flight time with 140 minutes.
68minutes Flight time T-28D, 72 Minutes flight time Apprentice.
Crow River R/C, Waverly MN
Weather:Clear to Partly Cloudy. SE wind turned to SW 10mph gusts to ~15mph.
Had a great day at the field. Checked in at 11:30 left at 3:30. Couple fellow pilots flying as well, always a bit more fun with a crowd. Had three planes in the air at once, again makes it more fun to share the hobby.

Son joined me and flew his Super Cub, he's definitely getting more confident and competent.

Got the T-28D back in flying shape after the recent fly-away and unintended landing in the trees. She most certainly looks like she has been in war or a victim of Dr. Frankenstein. She was cutting the air great today again and not Transmitter problems:thumbsup: Ran 6 2150 4S packs through her, I love speed and the sound of carving air. Did a real neat 90* knife edge inside turn at about 10' above the deck.

Apprentice flew just as good as ever. I had one 32 minute flight. A meandering flight I put on display for one of our older members who likes to fly slower and was considering the Apprentice as an addition to his Hangar. He was impressed with the flight time given the at times moderate winds. Ran 2 other 3200's and a 2200 through her today. Need to put on extra bands on windier days I popped the wing up a couple times, that'll get your attention!:eye pop: Vision pulling north after a LONG dive from 600+ feet and the plane responds slugishly then POOOOM it shoots vertical. That is what happens when the wing pops up on the Apprentice.

The airplanes today were joined in the air by migrating gulls of some sort. They would come in flocks, was wondering if a mid-air was possible a couple times.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

40 minutes flight time.
4 Flights with the T-28D
Crow River R/C Waverly, MN
Weather: Ultra CLEAR, wind NW 9mph, cool 46*F
Typical flights with the supped T-28D. Coolest evening I have flown this fall felt crisp especially with the 9mph wind from NW.

Still trying to dial in the Knife Edge of the T-28D, ever since implanting the Power 15 Knife Edges are a bit difficult. Pull into a Knife Edge and she'll immediately start going into a broad Knife Edge inside circle. I can apply up elevator and get her to go straight but it's A LOT of up. Assumption is thrust angle is too far down causing the pull downwards, thus the inside circling Knife Edges.

The Power 15 is still kicking serious power with the stock flimsy prop no less, liking it much but getting used to it's speed and want more:rolleyes:

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Oct.17,09
Duration: 30minutes T-28D, 25 minutes Apprentice. Additional 8 minutes T-28D buddy-boxed. Additional 35 minutes Apprentice Buddy Boxed.
Location: Crow River R/C Waverly, MN.
Weather: High clouds, 42*F, wind 7-11mph WSW.

After a near 3 week dry-spell I ripped a hole in the sky. Well dry-spell is misleading we have had nearly 6" of rain here and if it wasn't that it was WIND or WORK. Today after WORK that was it!

Wife, son and I met some fellow fliers at the field. Great time was had. I have been grabbing a minute or three on the simulator here/there but was missing the real deal big time. Got my son going with is Super Cub then I flew the T-28D moderately for a few circles around the field then lit the Afterburners and spent the rest of that battery and two more not looking back. Spent the majority of a fourth battery buddy-boxed with our Airfield owner who was very impressed with the Power15 and 4S zoom. He has a 480+ in his T-28 and was WAY impressed with the 15's performance. Also found today the T-28D will flat spin nicely! I am going to tear this thing in two afterall :thumbsup:

Flew the Apprentice very spiritedly for about 15 minutes with go stick never dropping below 3/4 throttle. This Apprentice you can't kill it. Had a drop-in visitor at the Airfield whome I introduced to flying. Both father and daughter got about 7-8 minutes each in the flying seat. They were VERY thumbsy with no R/C experience so the trusty buddy box served it's purpose and the spring toggle switch was in retreat mode often. The Apprentice is a great plane to Buddy on since it is big enough to see at a safe altitude and can be slow/fast, docile/aerobatic, it is a good package. They learned some basics of aeronautics and hopefully will be back. My son spent over 20 minutes buddied up on the Apprentice today as well. I only had to save him once when he got disoriented inverted. He is doing phenomenally well. May be time to upgrade him from the Super Cub.

All in all a very satisfying day at the Airfield.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Oct.19
Duration: 55minutes; 40 minutes T-28D, 15 minutes HZ Super Cub
Location: Crow River R/C Airfield, Waverly,MN
Weather: 51*F, Clear, Wind North 7mph gusts to 14mph.

Had a chance to escape to the airfield on a balmy fall evening so did.

Before my son arrived I flew his Super Cub and had a great time. For what it is the Super Cub just can't be beat. Coupled with a high discharge LIPO, CC ESC and a Park 450 the Super Cub evolves into a fairly fast agile flier. I had fun pulling low altitude loops, sustained inverted flight and some full throttle sub-5' fly-byes.

After my son arrived I surrendered his Super Cub for the T-28D. I spent the first battery working on my flat spins both upside right and inverted. I really enjoy the nice slow spins where the plane is dancing with the air but LOVE the fast prop wash burning snapping spins. I held one of these snapping spins down to an altitude of about 35' and was shocked to have the plane not immediately respond and she fell to a low altitude to conservatively below 10', I think the air was still disturbed around the wing/prop. Spent the next half hour playing around tearing her apart, boy she toots along nicely.

To not much surprise I found some spongeyness around the leading edge of the wing where she is epoxied to the fuselage. If I continue my assault on the plane this 4S powered Power15 will rip this thing apart. I may try to reinforce the wing, or not and see how far we get. For sure those flat spins are tough on them when you gas em up real good.

Great night at the field and good company with son and couple other members enjoying the evening. RAIN for rest of week so I am grounded.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date:Nov.7, 5:25pm to 6:40
Duration: 65 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C Airfield, Waverly, MN .
Weather: HOT 61*F, light and variable winds

Was talking with CLSSY56 when I got the call to get to teh flying field it is great out here. I accidentally ditched Travis and went flying, sorry Trav.

Flew 3-3200's and 2-2200's basically wide open the whole time. Those 2200 LIPOS nicely spruce up the Apprentice.

Nice low passes over our 360' Tarmac, couple runs up to the light clouds, inverted flights, knife edges, loops, rolls. Whatever I could get in I did. Also pulled a few low to ground loops, sure do miss the suped T-28D so I had to do something to spruce it up. BTW that gets sent in tomorrow morning, all packaged to Horizon Hobby at front door.

Apprentice is a fun platform to fly. Right before calling it a night it was getting quite dusk dark and I flew up quite high and the Apprentice shown yellow up there from the now fully set sun. Looked pretty darn neat as the rest the sky around was dark and she was shining bright oranage/yellow. If I had a smoker on board it would've looked like a slow moving ball of flame in the sky.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date:Nov.16, 12:10pm to 2:40pm
Duration: ~120 minutes (7 flights with the Apprentice)
Location: Crow River R/C Airfield, Waverly, MN .
Weather: Seasonably warm 48*F, calm to 6mph NEwinds

Mostly 3/4 to Full throttle flights. Mixed altitudes with a couple runs to the stratosphere then a couple dozen sub 6' fly-byes.

Slowed down for about ten minutes to see if I could get her to crawl in the air, the Apprentice with a 4-5mph wind will almost stop with elevator up and 1/4- to no more than 1/3 throttle.

Used to feel the Apprenitce ws a rocketship unitl the T-28D stock then moreso with the 15 upgrade so I need the aerobatics and low fly-byes to keep me on task.

Did some nice field length Knife Edges encircling the field.

The motor is slowing down too I think. I have MANY MANY hours on this motor so if she's pooping out I am not suprised. As a matter of fact, I am impressed she's still going as strong as she is. The motor is beginning to get louder, may try a drop of lube on the bearings.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Nov.27, 09 Late afternoon
Duration: Approx ~40 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D
Location: Crow River R/C Waverly, MN
Weather: 39*F, Clear Skies, Wind SE @ 7mph.

Flying the T-28D stock. Last T-28D I flew was the Power15 T-28D and WOWZER I forgot what the original was like. She is very light and snappy and I made the mistake of pulling the elevator control linkage in to the innermost hole, wow she was acting SUPER TAIL HEAVY but mostly this was attributed to a ever so slightly positive elevator and the T-28 likes a small amount of down elevator. When I was adjusting the trim down I of course had to fly and wow she was a bucking bronco due to the elevator sensitivity. Looked a bit funky, Jason Dumke was there Jason did you note her bucking that first flight. I promptly landed and moved the clevis to the outer hole and now much better.

I do miss the added weight of the larger motor, esc, 4S battery, and COG weight. The added weight makes this already AWESOME plane a fantastic tracker. The T-28 already tracks very nicely but WOW she tracks with determination with a little extra weight, mind-you mostly productive weight of larger equipment.

I will leave her stock unitil the motor arrives and go from there. This is a great platform and very happy to be back in the skies with a T-28.

Sadly I noted my LIPOS were a bit flat today. They didn't really come to life as usual. Temperature was in the upper 30's so I am thinking they were getting a bit affected. I left them outside about 1/2 hour before we went and they were for practical purposes air temp when they went into the plane, ooops.

Jason Dumke took the T-28D for a quick half battery flight and enjoyed the plane quite a bit.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Dec, 09 midmoprning Duration: Approx 11 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D
Location: Crow River R/C Waverly, MN
Weather: 14*F, Heavy Overcast, Light powdery snow/flurries Wind SW @ 9mph.

Well as you note on the log this is my first 'winter' flight this fall. We got a dusting to maybe measurable in places 1/8th inch coating of snow last night and the Very light snow continued this morning.

I have been on vacation for 10 days now and have flown only today, WRONG OH SO WRONG! So the coldest day of my vaction so far I decided snow or not it was time to go! Planning for a full morning I started the truck to get her warm so the LIPOS could stay warm when I was flying. I dawned my 1000G Danner's, cover-alls and top grabbed the planes and headed out the door.

When I got to the field, 4 minutes away, I got the transmitter turned on and popped a battery into the T-28D. I tried using my Seal-Skin gloves but man I am just not used to not feeling the sticks, skin to stick, so took them off. I took off and wow my hands got cold quick, REAL QUICK. Being thumbsy in the air was ok trying to do some point rolls and Knife Edges I was not very smooth and gave up as the ole fingers were not responded so nicely.

14*F and a 9mph wind cools off your hands quickly especially when you are just standing there and not really working your hands.

I flew for a good 10 minutes then lined her up and brought her in. I switched the controls to LOW for landing as again my hands just weren't very smooth. Landing was no big deal and it was fun getting out. I decided to not fly anymore as my hands were definitely cold and I didn't need to be reporting to you a crash because my hands were too slow.

I know later this winter I will scarf at 14*F and say hey this is balmy but for now I am still too summerized and need a bit more exposure to get acclimated.

As I was packing up, prematurely for sure, I was wondering about an R/C mit. I am going to try and find some options and will post as I do know we have some Northern Tier flyers as members. Anyone with experience with these products shoot a post I am sure some of us who are 'plane-nuts' would be interested.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Dec, 7
Duration: 45 minutes (4-2200 mAH Tenergy)
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D
Location: Crow River R/C Waverly, MN
Weather: 18*F,Overcast, Snow Flurries, Wind NW @ 9mph Gusts to 14.

Great flights, great fun! Unfortunately nobody else at the airfiled but sill fun. We have a forecasted 6+ inches of snow coming in tomorrow so today was the day to get out before we have to start brooming the tarmac.

I flew my first flight with no gloves and DARN that gets cold. Hold your uncovered hands out in the wind @ 18*F and a wiindchill of ~10*F and do not move them or cover them for 12 or 13 minutes, they'll get cold. I forfeited after my first flight and said that's it I need some sort of covering. So I devised a Cold Weather TX Mitten from an insulated flannel I had in the truck. This shirt will now be in my R/C Flying box for the rest of the winter. Read here; http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=990

My next three flights were comfortable and enjoyable :thumbsup: With my new 'mitten' I was able to fly with more precision as compared to my cold jerky hands.

Flying today consisted of mixed flying, some tail slides, Knife Edges, Loops inside and outside, some inverted flying, few sub 6' fly-byes and then just general dillydallying.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Jan. 2, 2010
Duration: ~5 minutes (4-2200 mAH Tenergy)
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: -24*F, Clear, Wind NW @ 4mph, windchill of -36*F


This flight was short at an estimated 5 minutes but the signifiance is first flight of the year and obviously the temperature. This is the coldest I have ever flown.

I wrapped the LIPO in about ten wraps of Charmin to insulate it from the cold. I attached the wing inside and put my transmitter in the Wayne-Be-Warm transmitter mitten, grabbed the Apprentice with my free hand and headed out.

Takeoff, climbout first couple circuits no big deal then I made a couple away and return 1/8th mile long straight shots at a slow speed so my wife could get a picture of the Apprentice flying in the Tundra and me in the foreground.

After these two passes the Apprentice began acting a little weird she wasn't pulling through the corners very well, she'd bank fine but when I inserted a little up elevator she was slow to respond. I figured it was time to bring her in so I did one loop which was unintentionally LARGE and at this point I figured out my elevator was not pulling up and deflecting as it should. I lined her up with the road and brought her in, I slowed her WAY down and the heavy air carried her fine then I touched down with a nose wheel first bump nothing bad but not what was intended and she rolled out maybe 10 feet. Upon stepping over to the Apprentice I confirmed YUP the Elevator was stiff as a board. Full Up elevator would cause the elevator itself to deflect maybe 1/8-3/16th". Also when up was applied she would pull the outside edges of the elevator up kind of like a banana shape, not as dramatic. Down elevator was fine. Got her inside and 5 minutes inside all good.

My wife was to take a picture from in the house but instead got a phone call from her mother and was preoccupied. My wife knew I wanted a picture but she was not concerned that it was an instant priority as my flights are usually WAY longer and she thought she had all the time in the world. Due to the elevator issue I will not be doing this again with this plane as I do not need a folded up Apprentice or a hole in someone's roof from -24*F frozen elevator Apprentice!

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Jan. 31, 2010
Duration: 12 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice, Maiden after Hop-Up.
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 11*F

Found a nice potent combination on the Apprentice, Power15, 11X5.5, 4S 4200mAH. ENDLESS vertical and nice speed. Probably could exchange some vertical for some more speed but she is very responsive on this setup can go from a near stall to straight vertical and see YA! Will put a hop-up in Apprentice section.

Little cool today at 11*F but wind was only 6mph so I wanted to get out and fly at least a little bit. I did not use the Wayne-Be-Warm hand/TX cover so the ole hands get chilly quick when you are not moving them around much. Son was going to fly today as well but deceided he wanted to learn to drive snowmobile so he opted out and we spent 45 minutes doing that.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Feb. 17, 2010
Duration: ~15 minute dusk flight
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 30*F, Crystal Clear
Wind: NW 7mph

With my wife and son @ karate I took the opportunity to get in a late evening flight with the Apprentice. The Power15/4S Battery mod is nice, however I stand by my maiden assessment and some vertical can be swapped for speed.

With the 11X5.5 APC Amp rating of the motor at WOT and is 39.5A WOT and 594Watts. The E-Flite Power15 constant rating is 34A with burst to 42A(15sec) so I may try a slightly stiffer prop. At 2 clicks below WOT the reading is 31.6A and 458Watts. It may seem small in diameter but dropping to a 10X6 or even 10X7 may do the trick of bleeding some vertical and gaining a little more speed. Seriously current state with an 11X5.5 2/3 throttle and she'll climb vertical so there is plenty room to work the speed vs thrust ratio. Only potential consequence is since the Apprentice has kinda a big butt she may accelerate to full speed a bit slower than I ultimately like with the 10".

As the weather warms and the true performance comes with batteries that discharge better than in the cold weather I will be able to tune her more. But right now she's faster than stock and gobbed with thrust.

Lack of radiational heat as the sun dropped below the treeline it felt much cooler than actual air temp. Nonetheless a great 15 minute flight today with some inverted flight, big easy couple hundred foot tall loops both inside and outside, Immelmans, Half Cubans etc.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Feb. 18, 2010
Duration: 13 minute dusk flight
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 33*F, Crystal Clear Skies
Wind: W 6mph

Another great February evening for flying in MN. I hesitate to fly much close to home just because I am used to the open expanses of my airfield and I don't like trees, houses etc. for obvious reasons. With that said I had a great time flying for a tonight.

I plopped on a 10X7 prop onto the Power 15/4S combo'd Apprentice and she flew very well. I will detail these reults more in the Apprentice section.

Tonight I spent my time feeling out the Apprentice's new setup and played a bit with some more basic aerobatics. She is definitely faster on the 10X7, YeeehAAhhhh!

These 30*F days are probably short lived here in MN in February so I am happy I jumped at the opportunity to get out and fly at least some.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Feb. 19, 2010
Duration: ~20 minute mid-day flight 12:50-1:10
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 24*F, Light High Whispy Clouds
Wind: N @ 5mph

Good flight enjoying the newly upgraded Power15/4S Apprentice.

I clocked the WATTS today with the 10X7 APC prop and she's running static WOT; 37.3A and 548Watts. Theoretical Flat Run Speed is 92.51mph, 80mph is my seat-of-the-pants real world guesstimate. The 10X7 prop is a very nice mix of incredible speed and vertical for this bird, and offers the Power15's full range of power use from idoling to hair of fire. For anyone looking at upgrading their power setup this is an instant win.

Back to my Flight-Log I did some slow flying at varying low altitudes, I like the scale feel of the Apprentice flying by at or just above eye-level :happy bounce:. I then tore up the sky having more fun than once should have standing outside in the middle of February in MN with hardly more on than a light coat! General Figure 8's, Loops, Immelmans, sustained inverted.

Did have an awkward moment around 15 minutes into the flight a spectator drove up on the road behind me. I was thinking about thinking about landing as I had to return to the hospital with my wife very shortly, another story another time :opto:, but the spectator parked his car directly in the center of the already snow laidened/narrowed road which was my tarmac. The spectator got out, came over and watched for a couple minutes then I decided I better land her, where I was flying at is in front of my house down the road a bit and there is not much extra room length wise for an approach so I came in above/beside the car and landed a few yards passed the car. All good but this is an example of where flying in a non-dedicated area can pose some challenges. Not that these challenges can't be met most times butthese challenges offer potential accidents to happen. It doesn't take someone getting hurt to make new rules in a city, if someone gets scared by a plane landing and they complain here comes a new law. So be careful.

My spectator, very nice guy, was really suprised of the size of the Apprentice he didn't really capture the real size of the Apprentice when it was 100 feet up and about 100 away from us at it's closest during flight.

I expect we have a new member coming soon as he has been thinking of dabbling in the hobby. The sight of the Apprentice and the fact it is practically no-maintenance and electric had him very interested.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Feb. 21, 2010
Duration: 50 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice 1 Flight 11 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D 3 Flights 13 minutes each
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 20*F, High Clouds
Wind: N @ 12mph

First flew the Apprentice just some great blasting around various aerobatics toying with combining moves, having fun. Detected a weird noise in flight just before landing, landed found out motor was loose. I neglected to Loc-Tite the motor mount screws from the mount to the motor. I Loc-Tited these on my recent Deuces Wild build but did not here so need to fix that. In addition I was using a very light battery I was running a small, in comparison, 2150 mAH Rhino 4S. I have the CG set up for the HUGE 4200 mAH 4S TP battery I had been using in it. The Apprentice was snappier with the 2150 but a bit of a wanderer on landing. Due to the small size battery I set my countdown timer to 11 minutes and was landing in unison to the timer beeping.

I dusted off the T-28D and lofted around for a few flights. I enjoyed the T-28D on the Power15/4S combination but will leave this one stock for the time being. I turned up the rudder a bit and Knide Edges look sweet and Hammerheads are fun as well. I am flying in a residential area and set the countdown timer to a conservative 13 minutes and landed either with the buzzer or immediately thereafter.

Crosswind was a factor a couple times today. With the snow piles, one house and some trees around the 12mph crosswind was playing hide&seek so I needed to make some quick last minute adjustments as the crab landing orientation would all of a sudden take off in that direction when the said obstacles would all of a sudden shadow the wind. Landing in an area like this is what JRB calls landing on a pool table.

Lastly I put the Deuces Wild through a Taxi test today and found that others who have reported prop strikes with the 13X6.5" props weren't kidding. Any anamoly on the ice packed road would result in a prop strike, I am using the E-Flite suggested Power32 setup with the 13X6.5 props. I may add a slightly taller nose wheel, taller wheels all around or drop prop diameter. At the current moment I will be flying fixed gears as I await E-Flites larger Electric retract setup's release.

All in all a good day, got a couple things to work on and looking forward to heopfully maidening the Deuces Wild next weekend on a lake nearby or snowed-in Airfield. Airfield owner is plowing off a strip this week for a bunch of us to fly this weekend.

Last note HOW did I get by without this DX7? Great TX, Love not retrimming for every model and servo reversing for this that or whatever. Also very accurate, fast and nice features. After you learn to interface with DX7's software she's a beauty.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: Feb. 28, 2010
Duration: 48 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (3) Flights, 11 minutes combined
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1) Flight 15 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights 12 minutes each
Location: Waverly Lake, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 34*F, High Clouds
Wind: East @ 8mph Gusts to 13

Maiden Flight and 2 subsequent shorter flights were a blast with the Deuces Wild. I was amazed at how stable the Deuces Wild is. As with most maiden flights I was rather cautious and other than a few rolls, a loop and a moment of inverted flight I kept it to flying circuits and feeling out how she flew. All that was needed for trimming was some up elevator other than that she's a straight flying ROCKET-SHIP. Per the video, physical length of fly-bye and time poled from video coverage the Deuces pulled a 96mph FlyBye pass.

My landings could have been better with some rough hard landings, these were of my own doing however I attribute some of the angst of the rough landings due to the orientation of our flying path which had me looking directly into a late afternoon sun and the unusual runway as it was a plowed off lake runway with snow berms all around. The runway was rather short and narrow, going off the runway path yielded a spinout into the snow once on landing.

Before the maiden of the Deuces Wild I flew the Apprentice and T-28D with mixed flying. These flights although spirited at times were mainly a live feel of the area as I had never flown here before and wanted to get a feel for the size of the area before maidening the Deuces. The 2 flights of the T-28D and Apprentice were fun however the T-28D took the 8mph usting to 13mph crosswind a little crab-like when landing and made it a bit squirelly. No crashes or mishaps but the T-28D's light weight make it susceptible to wind and especially cross-wind landings.

A great day we all had this was a last minute gathering of a few of us from the Airfield. This site was nice to fly at since there are no obstructions on a large frozen lake but this site would be a far better morning flying site as you face South West into the afternoon and evening Sun.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 3, 2010
Duration: 36 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1) Flight 12 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights 15 minutes and 9 minutes
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 31*F, High Clouds
Wind: SW @ 6mph Gusts to 12

First T-28D flight was a moderately gentle flight with some light aerobatics, Second much shorter flight was primarily a 3/4-Full Throttle assault of the sky. I tried dearly to rip a hole in the time continuum but was unsuccesful.

Apprentice flight was very spirited as well with some hovering, (Power 15, 4S, 10X7), giant inside and outside loops, Immelmans, Knife Edges, Split-S's, Cubans, Half Cubans etc.

Getting ready for this year at the airfield it is going to be a good one, especially with the presence of the Deuces Wild.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 4, 2010
Duration: 31 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1) Flight 11 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights 10minutes each
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 33*F, CRYSTAL CLEAR
Wind: S @ 13MPH

Flew the wings off the T-28D had a small audience about 1/3 mile away on an adjacent dirt road enjoying the show. Threw some aerobatics at them with Cubans, Half Cubans, Reverse Cubans, some Bunts, Loops and an inside/Out eight or two, That Inside Out Eight is a fun one going from an normal loop into an Outside Loops, for practical purposes just like a Cuban but you go outside loop on one side. The T-28D stock doesn't have lots of vertical so the loops are not that big and if you don't get some speed on the down slope you are done, especially on the outside loop side of it.

Second T-28D flight was just me and no guests but I managed to rip it up again and enjoyed.

The Apprentice flight was cut short. Running a 3S this time I slapped on a 12X8 prop on the Power15 WATTS tested and all good. Problem(s) arose 8 minutes into the flight above 3/4 throttle the motor would pulse. Anything below 3/4 NO problem. I SWEAR the battery read 12.56V volts before takeoff so either I have a battery going south or I misread and it said 11.56Volts. I flew a couple more circuits then brought her in and voltage read 10.34V and later rebounded to 11.17V. This is the 3200 15C that came with my Apprentice stock. It is possible the internal resistance rose just enough to cause me troubles today as it is sorta cold in the 30's and she wasn't able to hold voltage. A 3200 15C should hold 48Amps and I was only pulling 31A on the WattsUp Test, we'll see and I'll report back next flight. Battery was warm from inside house not like it was cold....

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 5, 2010
Duration: 56 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (1) Flight 15 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1) Flight 11 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (3) Flights 10 minutes each
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 36*F, Mostly clear, high whispy clouds
Wind: SE @ 10 Gusts to 16MPH

First flight was my son's Super Cub, yes Dad gets to have fun too! This Super Cub sports a Park450 and goes rather nicely. I slowed down to a crawl a few times just having fun then had fun crusing, blasting, doing BIG loops and just general fun. With the Super Cub being a Teach Yourself to Fly plane once after learning and you are comfortable with your Super Cub I totally recommend putting in the Park 450 upgrade. Run either a 1800 mAH or 2200mAH battery, she actually benefits greatly from the extra added weight. Stock configuration the wind I had today would have been a real challenge and with the added extra weight it was more of just a nuisance.

I finished three flights of the T-28D pulling a series of long touch'n'gos. My approach area really SUCKS, well I have no lined up approach area, I have to pull in from the field I am flying at close to landing speed maybe a bit above make a 90* turn, square-up and land. I almost never but sometimes if the wind catches me out of tune have to go around. One thing about landing everyone if it is looking wrong GO AROUND again. Another good reason to leave a little juice in the battery, note I said LITTLE juice in the battery. Your flight times or exposure to in-flight experiences can only happen if one you fly and two you fly long enough, do your homework watch your final post-flight voltages and get acquainted with just how long you really can fly. I see a lot of new people getting in very short flights, that's ok better too short than TOO long but these real short flights limit the amount of learning you are capable of having.

Back to the log, my three flights on the T-28D were spirited angry flying. I can't get that hole poked in the sky. With the T-28D when she was Power15'd I could at least start tearing the sky but not anymore. I performed a variety of aerobatics mixed with some attempts to perfect a tail slide I am not very good at this yet.

My last flight of the day was with the Apprentice. Yesterday's performance where the 3200 15C battery was not holding voltage was unfounded today. I am unsure if this was a conditioning issue or a misread of the start voltage on my end. Today I flew the Apprentice, again Power15 3S 12X8, and she flew just fine. I ran her sorta hard about half the time but definitely below capacity, I enjoyed inbetween some nice slow fly-byes. A neighbor who informed he and his wife have been watching me :eye pop: came over, introduced himself and was very impressed with how these planes fly. They have seen the SC, Apprentice and T-28D and really like the looks of the T-28D aerobaticing around. I began to show my new friend some of hte very basics of R/C aircraft, their power systems, control surfaces, TX, RX and just general this is how it all works to FLY.

I suspect we may have a new member here and a new pilot amongst the ranks soon. My neighbor has been into R/C Nitro trucks before and always thought planes looked cool but thought they were too expensive or too hard to learn, we all know if either of these were true most of us wouldn't be here.

Good end to a fun late afternoon of flying.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 6, 2010
Duration: 11 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (1) Flight 11 minutes
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 33*F, Heavy Clouds w/Rain spits
Wind: E @ 6 mph

The heavy gray clouds from horizon to horizon, spits of rain and my sunglasses all coupled to make for an interesting flight today.

Just as my Gears left the road it began to spit rain, I covered the DX7 as well as I could, endured and had a fun flight. Basic aerobatics and some nice sub 10' fly-byes mixed in made it fun. I am still trying to practice the Tail-Slide and fincing it difficult to get just right. I have a tendancy to fall backwards, left-right I am pretty good there with the rudder it is the elevator that is gicing me trouble. Today to counteract falling backwards I definitely added enough elevator and I didn't fall backwards but added so much instead slid forward and to the right. She went over quick and when she tumbled over she rotated 180*, news to me, so when I pulled horizontal away from me it was really horizontal towards me. This I was not expecting and due to my current flying location going behind me is not allowable. No big thing really but the skies, the plane all combined to get me a bit disoriented for a moment, an eye-popper for a second.

The rest of the flight was great and finished with a decent nose high landing. At the end of the flight the aforementioned guest in my last flight log came over and informed me he did what I suggested he do. He went to Hobbyzone purchased a HZ Super Cub LP BNF and a DX5e TX. I was intending on getting him a DX5e real sweetheart deal but he bought a new one right away today.

I began the explaing the new 2.4GHz technology, the power and control systems of the plane. I then assisted him in getting his new Super Cub bound to the DX5e and I suspect we will be maidening in the next upcoming days. My neighbor has R/C truck experience and a decent amount of it so is not new to orientation acquisition but I will be buddy-boxing with him at least a few times to get him up, trimmed and land for him. Although urban we are still in a residential area and we don't need any oooops. It is my intent to get to the Airfield ASAP and use home base as a secondary flying area, this I will make clear to my neighbor the risks of an accident. It doesn't take a lot or even any damage to make a complaint to the city then NO flying within *** yards of a development. :mad:

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 13, 2010
Duration: 60 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub LP Maided (2) Flights Total 10 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (3) Flights totalling 50 minutes
Location: CRRC Airfield, Waverly, MN
Weather: 41*F, Heavy Clouds.
Wind: N @ 11 Gusts to 19MPH

First trip to the airfield in 2010 for me was a special one. Gary, neighbor, now fellow pilot and soon to be HorizonRcFlyers member got his first air under his wings.

The wind was blowing all day, I tried to hold back Gary from maidening his new HZ Super Cub LP as long as I could and decided if I tortured him any longer he would likely hurt himself. We packed the Apprentice and gary's new Super Cub and went to the airfield. Still needed 4WD to get up to the Airfield and once there trekked through 1 foot of snow but the sun did a number on the snow on the Tarmac and only a few chunks continued to cling on.

We flew the Apprentice first with this being Gary's first time seeing a wing being put on at the airfield and plane energized for flight. We spoke further of control surfaces, the power system and the VERY handy training systme by Spektrum that we would be using. Before takeoff we discussed the general goals for the day of maintaining level flight, the wind was blowing pretty sternly and this would offer another challenge.

I took off and got to about 100 feet, demonstrated what Gary was about to feel and pulled the switch. Gary's prior vast on the ground R/C experience shown through nicely as Gary had no orientation issues with simple flight. Gary and I spent three batteries going through the basics and at the end of the hour of flight was able to single handedly perform large figure eight patterns across the airfield. Now Yes, sorry Gary, I needed to step in a few dozen times but a quick course correction, tutoring and guidance and he was at the controls again in seconds. Gary was amazed as to how Stress-Free the training system is and did not think in his wildest imagination it would be as easy as hookng two TX's together and a toggle switch in between. I enjoyed seeing Gary grow and the excitement on his face when he coudl say I am doing it.

After a little under an hour on the Apprentice Gary said althogh it is windy I really want to see me new Super Cub fly. We agreed the slower responding Super Cub would not be a good plane to fly due to the higher winds and that I woudl be the only pilot if indeed it were to maiden today. Gary was excited adn said YES I just want to see it fly. So I flew the Super Cub for a couple flights, one battery totalling 10 minutes of air time. THis is the NEw Super Cub LP BNF and with the higher winds of gusts into the teens it was interesting at moments. As a matter of fact, aftermy inital takeoff and trimming it was immediately apparent the Super Cub's very docile nature and mechanical setting of the rudder was BAD news, I landed and moved the clevis on the rudder in a couple holes and now with more rudder deflection when I took back off I could more handle the plane with the wind. HAhaha one turn on inital takeoff I had her cranked all the way right rudder and 3/4+ throttle it took I SWEAR 10 seconds to get her to turn 90* into the wind, if it were any windier the small defelcting origianl setup would've spelt doom she would have winged over and went down I know it.

A new pilot was born yesterday and a very rewarding start to the year at Crow River R/C Aeromodelers has begun.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 16, 2010
Duration: 30 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (2) Flights totalling 50 minutes
Location: CRRC Airfield, Waverly, MN
Weather: 48*F, Mostly Cloudy.
Wind: NW @ 7MPH

Coupe nice flights at the airfield. Besides an Eagle it was a private event as I had the airfield to myself.

I am practicing faster landings with the Apprentice and mixing in down elevator with some throttle so mimic the Deuces Wild faster landing speed and nose up attitude needed on landing. So far real good and feeling like I am ready to rip out the Deuces Wild and make her a frequent visitor to the airfield. She is a little too big to just pull out any ole time and unfortunately I can not justify pulling her out when I have only an hour or so to go flying.

Other than the faster thrust/elevator induced landings I was practicing I had a blast with the Apprentice ripping through the sky. The Power15, 4S, 10X7 combo continues to entertain me. I may try the 11X5.5 tomorrow for some slower thrust packed acrobatic flying, knife edges look nice if you do them just right.

Further I forgot my tools at home today and had to fly my second flight with the 10X7 prop on the stock 3200 15C battery. Not very thrusty but more than adequate and again with the Apprentice you can't help but have fun.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 18, 2010
Duration: 20 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D
Location: CRRC Airfield, Waverly, MN
Weather: 61*F, Mostly Cloudy.
Wind: NW @ 16MPH

All day prior to getting to the airfield it was calm and Sunny. I get off work head home, pack up the Deuces Wild, T-28D and supporting equipment. I am heading to the airfield, still calm but a bank of clouds is rolling in. No sooner I get to the airfield get the Deuces Wild together the clouds lower in and a gust front ahead of the main front kicks in full gear. I went to NOAA WX history last ngiht to read the wind readings at the time I flew and it was 16 mph, calm to 16 mph snap of a finger ::irked::

So got the Deuces Wild put together put her on the runway and grrrrt props hit the tarmac. I put her in the grass and worse of course. I tried a couple times to get her airborne but all what would happen is I'd dead stop a prop and the ESC woudl shut the motor down to protect over-amping damage. Takeoff like that and you will have troubles. I did some taxi tests now to find a part of the runway that is clear of any ups/downs, did a few turns then plop! My starboard side landing gear collapsed. It appears one of my hard landings snapped the landing gear plastic. BUMMER DUDE. I got a replacement today but I was unable to fly obviously. I also switched to 12X8 props and now have plenty of clearance, presumably.

I grabbed the T-28D and her in the air for 2 flights of great fun. With a 16mph steady tailwind she gets going rather nicely with ease. Played with some fun Immelmans in the wind and even some 45* tail slides. Landings were interesting as the wind tends to bounce the T-28D around and the tree placement at our airfield causes some significant turbulence. No issues on landing other than having to go around a couple times as I really hate landing a plane when she's dropping and diving from turbulence.

Aside from the turbulence during landing I don't mind flyng in the wind, look at it as a free ride to altitude really.(Point the plane into the wind hold it in one place with 1/2throttle slight nose up and she'll go to the clouds hardly any battery power loss)

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 21, 2010
Duration:125 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (3) Flights totalling 34 minutes
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub Stock model (2) flights totalling 20 minutes
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub modifired Park 450 son flew I just trimmed and goofed for a total of maybe 3 minutes.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (4) flights totalling 60 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (1) Flight totalling 8 minutes
Location: CRRC Airfield, Waverly, MN, T-28 this evening in Montrose in front of the house.
Weather: 45-49*F, Mostly Clear couple whispy clouds.
Wind: SW @ 16MPH, Gusts to 17MPH, wind died to 9 mph by end of afternoon.

Great time flying, even greater time training. Gary, my student had a lot of airtime today and was able to mix that with meeting a lot of other wing-nuts so it was a good time.

Deuces Wild KICKS *** big time. Reduced props to 12X8's, using 3.5" wheels and much much better clearance. I did some taxi tests for a majority of the runway length and no prop strikes. On takeoff about10 feet before the nose gear was pulled up I hit a small 'valley' in the runway and ZRRRRRRT both props struck. Last time that happened it was more of a crash of the prop rather than a strike and I was fearful at that second I may have lost a motor since the ESC will shut down your motor if it amps out. Thankfully that did not happen as that would've been BAD.

I increased my idle throttle on the Decues to two clicks above static, increased the trim until the props started turning then added one more click for good measure. This setting assisted me in getting a beautiful main gear high comfortable landing. This plane is incredible. MAJOR LEAGUE power and so very stable I swear it is flying on rails. I did some nice large large large loops, few rolls and even managed a couple high speed dives today and developed a weird flutter sound, I believe the wings or horizontal stabilizer begin vibrating after 100mph ::very happy:: I also blessed the airfield with a couple nice full flap fly-byes, when my dinger went off at 6:00 it surprised me and I made a pass along the runway and a circuit of the field then made final approach and brought her in. Time flies when you are having fun. After I brought her in to a very nice landing I noted the props were severely damaged from the prop strike immediately before liftoff, honestly I am suprised they held together one prop had a longitudal crack in it I will post in the Deuces Wild section tomorrow as I am limited on time tonight. We have discussed rolling the tarmac this spring to flatten her we'll see, it was this only little section but that's all it takes is one bad stike and down she comes. Gary, my student, was very impressed with the Deuces and loves the sound and look of her in the air. Oh yeah BTW pulled a straight vertical climb to probably 400', IT IS ON, I like the smell of WATTS burning.

Apprentice flew great as usual, my student enjoyed the Apprentice much earlier in the day as the wind was just a bit much for the Super Cub. My student is either looking at moving to the original T-28 or Apprentice as his next plane. Either one will serve him well however that Apprentice is hard to beat as a first 4 channel plane. After some 3S 12X6 training I swapped in a 4S battery and 10X7 prop and chased the Sukhois around the field, she really hums in this set up. Then back to training I traded in the 10X7 for an 11X5.5 and 4S combination which offered a much more managable speed/thrust combination for those tight corners new flyers tend to make. My student has been learning how to trim the plane and just how much of a disadvantage it is to have an untrimmed plane.

My student flew his Super Cub with the rudder cranked all the way up today on the buddy box, this was his first flight of a different plane other than the Apprentice and he enjoyed the slow light nature ofthe Super Cub but missed the smooth nature or aileron banking for corners.

After all said and done today and back home with nothing much going on I went out for a three more flights this time on the T-28D. I am trying to perfect the square loop now, it is an awkward maneuver but very cool looking. Now I just need the guts to do this with the Deuces Wild!

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 24, 2010
Duration: 25minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights totalling 16 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (1) Flight totalling 9:30 minutes
Location: CRRC Airfield, Waverly, MN
Weather: 46*F, Mostly Clear, high thin clouds.
Wind: NW @ 13MPH, Gusts to 18MPH.

The Deuces WILD is certainly treating me nicely. I am however not treating her so nicely. I neglected to trim in prop throttle idle on pre-flight inspection and paid the price with a heavy landing that resulted in breaking the main landing gears, AGAIN. The Deuces Wild needs at the least a measure amount of throttle imput to draw her in on landing. The FLAPS stop this plane in mid air if you do not apply throttle and once again I broke the main gears due to me not respecting this fact. In addition I was landing into a stiff wind and this helped greatly to SLOW the plane almost instantly when I lifted off the go stick when I thought I was going too long on landing.

HOWEVER, It appears I have finally found a good spot to take off on my airfield's runway. I had one minor 'tick' and that was it so I will reserve this location of the strip as my only takeoff area for the Deuces Wild. Nice to not be breaking props every flight trying to takeoff.

This flight I meant to land at 8 minutes but ended up extending the flight to 9:30. I am impressed with how long of a flight time I can get out of the dual FlightMaxx 4S 4000mAH batteries, I guess when you are carrying 8000mAH of juice you should be able to go for a bit.

This evening was the most pushing of the Deuces I have done as of yet. Fast Fly-Byes with the lowest a safe 20+' off the deck, giant loops, couple runs to above 500', high rates rolls are very fast and awesome, Immelmans look great, Cubans and Half Cubans are a blast as she really stays on course, I have reserved my self on not performing English Bunts or much of any inverted flying to that matter. I flew inverted today for no more than a 20-30 sec. stint, she is very stable but I have felt a little uncomfortable with her inverted for some odd reason.

Again wish the end of this flight wasn't a day ender with the broken landing gears as I had plenty of batteries and juice to go for several more flights....

After setting aside the Deuces I flew 2 angry flights with the T-28D. I am certain I left a hole in the sky. First flight was fun with WOT from beginning to almost end pulling aerobatic stunts out of every angle I could imagine. Second flight nearly the same deal but I spent more time climbing to the heavens and thundering down than anything. I love the smell of BURNING WATTS! Both flight were a bit interesting at times as some of the aerobatic figures were at very awward angles as the wind would shift the T-28D around at will. Landings were a little fun as well, the T-28's can be interesting on approach when it is windy.

OK fix up the mains on the DW and I am back at it ASAP! I need to get some more video/photos of the Deuces she is a pretty plane with performance as her First, Middle and Last name.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: March 28, 2010
Duration:90 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (3) Flights totalling 30 minutes
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub Stock model (2) flights totalling 20 minutes
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub Modified (1) flight totalling 2 minutes I just trimmed the plane to the new DX5e, landed, handed it off to my son.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (3) flights totalling 33 minutes

Weather: 42-48*F, Mostly Clear, High clouds.
Wind: N16MPH, Gusts to 22 MPH, wind died to NW12mph Gusts 16mph by mid afternoon.

WINDY WINDY WINDY! It has been forecasted for several days to be a decent day with winds under 10mph, as of last night forecast was 6-9mph. WELL late this morning the forecast had changed to 10-20mph sustained with gusts. A bit disappointing but a couple guests were coming from a distance and we were flying. In addition my student took off today for the first time on his own and that was rewarding. I sorta forced it, he is ready and did a great job. Takes off now like a pro. Gary is flying a stock Super Cub and at times today FULL WIDE OPEN THROTTLE was barely making headway. I ran Gary on takeoffs for a good portion of his training time today and, tell you what, I got to learn severe cross wind landings with the HZ Super Cub. Takeoffs could be directly into the wind as they only took 10' but landing was 45* cross. That stock Super Cub did well though and honestly I ENJOYED the challenge :cool:

Gary only had one real bad issue today where he stalled the Super Cub at about 40' turning with the wind broadside and the wind blew her wing over. Stock Super Cub not a good position to be in, thankfully I leave my throttle at FULL when training as all I had time to do was let the switch go, drop 10 feet to get some airspeed again, roll out and pull up less than 10' from the ground. That would have been a bunch of bee-bees if it weren't for the Spektrum trainng system. My student left today feeling terrific and very happy with his Super Cub. In addition I buddy boxed Gary with the T-28D and he enjoyed that experience. Gary has approximately 3 1/2 hours flight time under his belt.

Had a couple guests come over and I provided them a brief introduction to R/C Aircraft and I gave the gentleman a few minutes of air time on the buddy-box. He was very excited by the ease of how the planes respond to imput. It was a bad day to give someone an introduction as the wind was terrible but the Apprentice pushed through valiantly.

Other than the training, great other flights of the Apprentice, T-28D and guests there was a bit of carnage today. My son panicked and dropped his Super Cub into a field. He felt he could not control the Super Cub, although modified with a Park450 it is still only a 3CH, and when the wind was preventing him from turning he just stopped flying and said something is wrong. All appeared to work once we got to the airplane, I anticipate the slow reaction of the plane to be the wind. This is the TX HorizonHobby sent back to me after repairs so I certainly hope there were no blurts in signal as I documented here prior. Anyone who has flown a Super Cub knows in the wind she is sometimes VERY slow to respond especially to an upwind turn. The carnage appears limited to a detached Firewall, not a biggie should be up and going in 20 minutes, epoxy and a few sticky fingers.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: April 4, 2010
Duration: 20 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights totalling 20 minutes
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, MN
Weather: 56*F, Clear.
Wind: SW @ 13MPH.

Busy weekend and not much free time but I was able to eeek out two flights with the T-28D. Wind was primarily blocked below 50' by the surrounding trees so conditions weren't too bad.

I enjoy the snappy nature of the T-28 and as I was enjoying a spirited round of aerobatic flights my student strolled down from the other end of the neighborhood and chatted. Gary just got his Phoenix Flight Sim and is loving it, he has been practicing A LOT. I anticipate our next day at the airfield will at some point encompass my student's first landing. Solo to come soon, he really has been learning a lot at the field and supplementing it to his credit on his own with the simulator. The Phoenix really brings things to life.

I really need time at my airfield and hope to steal away this weekend to tear it up and get some good flight time on the Deuces Wild, Apprentice, T-28D, my son with his Super Cub and in between that some definite training time with my student.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: April 11, 2010
Duration: 25 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (2) Flights 25 minutes
Location: CRRC Airfield, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 66*F, Clear, High light clouds
Wind: S @ 10 mph

I was always at the stick and made a few saves but my student was the primary pilot for these flights. Gary had about 3 1/2 hours buddy box airtime under his wings when we bagan flying yesterday. Gary took off, flew and landed. It was a satisfying feeling having my student go from takeoff to land, seeing the joy on his face that he did it was all worth the effort.

Gary had about 18 landings and 20+ takeoffs, I filled in the extra landings as some tutoring.

Aside from a full scale Super Cub near stall speed like literally 35 mph crawling around the airfield , one minor stuff from Gary that required only a landing gear rebend and one MayDay as I had to land her in the field since we ran her plumb out on juice it was an uneventful and VERY rewarding day.

Having to handle some unforeseen issues at home I only brought my DX5e Buddy-Box and cable to the airfield. I hope to get some time in this upcoming weekend, it is the official opening weekend of our airfiled so many pilots should be onsite. I will try to get some videos.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: April 17, 2010
Duration: 111 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (1) Flight 15 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (3) Flights totalling 39 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (3) Flights totalling 35 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (3) Flights totalling 22 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 50-65*F, Crystal CLEAR, other than the migrating Pelican squadrons
Wind: VARIABLE calm for a bit then 12mph NNW Gusts 21-24mph

Today was our opening day at the Airfield. After some clean-up, touch-up of the Tarmac and erection of our shade tent most of us got some flying in. The flying was fun but was interrupted by s nagging and very variable wind. Wind would be nearly non-existent and then pick up to a steady 12MPH NNW and Gust into the 20's. Very unpredicatable, as the day worn on passed 2:00 the wind gusts(bursts) waned and I finally after flying my other planes decided I had to fly the Deuces.

MY three flights on the Deuces Wild were Wayne-Wild. This plane fits the bill exactly what a powerhouse on the twin Power 32's with 4S batteries pumping juice. All three flights included basic aerobatics and a general still getting a feel for the plane and how she reacts to being tossed about. I did have one error on my first landing, which was near picture perfect, when I reached to bump down my trimmed in idle throttlle I also bumped the throttle stick ahead to about 10% and my Deuces baby ran off the end of he runway. I obliterated the nose hear but having one on hand did a field emergency repair :clapping: and was back to flying in NO time. Other two flight were great with one flight I did a few landings and takeoffs. A few of the gusts caught me off guard as they snuck up but no broken landing gears this time out since I added some throttle trim in during preflight, well no broken landing gears from landing too slow and stalling on the tarmac.

The three flight of the Apprentice and T-28D each were spirited. I did however take advantage of a wind gust moment and fly the Apprentice backwards a few feet a couple times. Hold the plane into a stiff wind and use very minimal throttle then rudder, elevator and ailerons to keep a slight nose up and the wind will turn the apprentice into a kite. I did seriously achieve momentary backwards flight a couple times.

The Super Cub was fun too, I flew for a bit then had my student buddy up with me. My student is advancing rapidly now and is started to mold right in with the club and other than a hand at landing his Super Cub he did very well all on his own today with his plane. Gary also flew another gentleman's gas trainer today, liked it so much he bought it! 4 1/2 hours of training and he's about ready to jump from the nest!

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: April 18, 2010
Duration: 54 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (1) Flight 18 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights totalling 21 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (2) Flights totalling 16 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 70*F, Partly Cloudy
Wind: Calm with occassional light breeze to ~10mph ( never fails 10mph cross kicks up when you got to land) ::tonguee:

I stuck with an 8 minute flight time on the Deuces Wild but ratcheted up the go factor. I had planned to extend the flight time a bit but decided to run her a little harder. Amazingly I have TONS of juice left in these batteries. The Power32 motors are dead in synch and very efficient, both batteries consistently come down with .09V of each other. The one battery that is always lower is the one running the servos, receiver etc. So I am very pleased with the consistent performance of this airplane. All landings were great today, this is a sweet plane. I pulled some more loops and runs to the moon today, as well some more inverted flight. In addition to my fun I buddied an experienced pilot, Terry, on the Deuces today for a couple minutes, he enjoyed the performance quite a bit and was impressed with the snort she packs.

My flights with the T-28D were a failure, I was once again trying to poke a hole in the sky but I couldn't break through the time continuim barrier. I was playing around with a few sub 5' fly-byes and then some Double Split S's, sustained inverted, immelmans, hammerheads and just general blasting around.

The one flight I had with the Super Cub was a shared flight with my student. Before I arrived at the field today Gary had his first two Solo flights. Gary did cartwheel on his third solo flight but we had the little chunk of foam back on his Super Cub wing in 10 minutes max. Ready to go another day. So I shared a flight on the Super Cub Buddy-Boxing with Gary, he really enjoys the E-Flite Park450 enhanced Super Cub, along with the longer flight times yielded by the 2200 mAH batteries I use. 3/4 to WOT throttle the swhole time and we got an 18 minute flight. Very spirited flying for 18 minutes on a 2200 mAH battery :thumbsup:

A good couple hours at the field today it was.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: April 19, 2010
Duration: 24 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (3) Flights 9 minutes each
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 64*F, Partly Cloudy.
Wind: CALM

Nice calm evening couldn't resist taking the opportunity for three spirited flights. I worked the T-28D motor pretty hard running WOT most of the entire three flights back to back to back.

I was about to try some touch'n'goes on a Pond by my house but the weeds @ both ends offered a challenging approach. My flights were done just now at dusk so it was even more difficult to see where the weeds were and I wasn't about to clip a weed and dunk a perfectly good airplane. When the chance arises earlier in a day I'll try some Pond touch'n'goes and get a photo or two. This will be a new one for me, water touch'n'goes with a stock T-28.

The T-28D/T-28 is certainly a special airplane. Light enough to slow WAY down when commanded yet storng enough and heavy enough to track well and go pretty darn good. Anyone looking for that second plane after learning the basics it's hard to beat the T-28 maybe only winner in this duel would be the Apprentice.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: May 4, 2010, Evening
Duration: 18 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights 9 minutes each
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 56*F, HEAVY Clouds.
Wind: SW @ 7mph

First time we had a break in the wind, it has been blowing here with gusts well into the 25+ mph range. No fun flying with that at all. We had some rain thei evening and in between a couple fronts was this little sliver of calm and I capitalized.

I flew two flights of the T-28. Both flights I used the new KeyChain Camera, first try was a bust because I forgot to turn it on. Second flight yielded this video; http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1470 The camera angle needs changing but the camera does indeed work and does so pretty well for $20.

My flights were fun, spirited and although short were satisfying as again we've had a grounding of aircraft here due to the weather. I threw in a few Full Cubans, half cubans a Hammerhead then a few rolls, basic loops and maybe a little sustained inverted fun as well. With the heavy cloud cover that T-28D really blends in so you MUST NOT take your eyes off.

AS noted in the log details above I was flying by my house and the area is rather tight so the video at times seems like a perpetual turn.... This weekend airtime at the airfield (Sunday) is much needed.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: May 4, 2010, Evening
Duration: 25 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (2) Flights 9 minutes each
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1) Flight 7 minutes
Location: Outside my house, Montrose, Minnesota
Weather: 56*F, Mostly Cloudy, rain RETURNING.
Wind: E @ 8 mph

Flew the T-28D and Apprentice today all enjoyable flights. Once more a momnet of oportunity before the weather caved again so I flew right outside my house a bit snug but doable.

I took 2 videos with the T-28D today with the camera in a much better position. However both videos are impossible to watch without getting a migraine as camera position put the camera squarely in the thrust stream and the camera was vibrating the whole time above 1/2 throttle giving the videos WAVY effects. Grrrrrrr.

Both T-28D flights were very lively with lots of fun sub-10' flying and buzzing of the pond grass and pond by my house. I have a hard time just putt-ing around and the T-28D eats up my little space awfully quickly, still fun but looking forward to returning to the airfield ASAP.

Flew the Apprentice today as well. Had the KeyChain camera along and got some better video. Will adjust the angle a bit next time for an even better video but it wasn't half bad. NOTE: Shortly after takeoff the house all the way to the left at the dead-end with the Red Pickup in the driveway that's my house. http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1473 The Flight was short with a mixture of some lower flight, slalom with the light pole a couple times, little higher flight, some forested views, some farm views and a few basic loops and splits .

Flight was short, very short, as the battery I was using is going kaput. Shortly after takeoff you'll hear the motor pulse and a couple times during the flight any time I requested over 3/4 throttle she would pulse. Battery reads full charge but just won't hold the voltage. Battery has been used A LOT but think a poor storage technique of storing fully charged all winter killed it. I never store long term fully charged but missed this one somehow.

The Apprentice is a great platform for a camera as it is very stable at low speeds and is capable of being seen at higher altitude which makes it fun. I plan this weekend at the airfield to get up there and do some Earth Curvature video shots! This little KeyChain camera is so small it has NO noticeable effect on the Apprentice, she can carry a much larger 'full-size' camera but at this time I am happy with the cheapo fun cam. Biggest downfall of these smaller cameras is heavier wallet as you have to keep your money in your pocket and the fact the lense is so small it can only pull in limited light thus cloudy days or shaded areas give it trouble.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: May 9, 2010
Duration: 103 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (2) Flight 20 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1/2) Flight totalling 8 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (5) Flights totalling 45 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (3) Flights totalling 24 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite T-34 Mentor PTS (1) Flight totalling 6 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 55-65*F, Light High Clouds
Wind: VARIABLE direction @ 6-10mph

Great day at the Airfield. I flew on the Buddy-Box with my student and my student's grand kid(s) for a couple flights. Gary's grandson had an unfortuante accident with his stock Super Cub and after working with him for just a single 10 minute flight on the buddy box he has his confidence back and is back into the hobby ( I think). I coached him how important it was to take things slow and not try to be aggressive and that flying with an experienced pilot with a training system can make all the difference. I am unusre what he was expecting from the Buddy-Box setup but it felt like his expectations were more than surpassed.

I maidened my Stiudent's new T-34 Mentor for him and with him. :laughing: two things were a bit not cool, first I couldn't get the DX6i and DX-7 to talk to one another properly with the DX-7 as the slave and DX6i as the Master. So we went with the old pass the TX deal, I was a bit uncomfortable with it but we did just fine. I took off, trimmed thoroughly then handed off for a coupel minutes to my student then took it back and landed it. Second funnier thing Gary dialed in NO down elevator with the Flaps and when I deployed them she stood straight up in the air. I actually punched it and went all the way around in a loop at the same tiem retracting Flaps. He needs some down elevator and maybe less deflection. The T-34 flies nice however it is more scale like than I would care for stock, I like the Deuces Wild's endless power.

Got three flights in the Deuces Wild and she is quickly becoming my favorite. The Deuces Wild is no doubt the plane for me that demands the most respect but is also the plane that delivers the most rewards when prompted to perform. The Wayne's Wild, as dubbed by some at my airfield, is a performer and a crowd pleaser as she can fly inverted nice and slow, do nice stable sharp aerobatics fast or slow and is a pleaser for fly-bys with a nice sound of WATTS burning.

Flew several flights on the T-28. Have one video of my son flying the T-28 as well, it is an onboard and a little shakey but a video and some fun views. Will render down in size and post soon. All flights on the T-28 were fun, some sub-8' fly-bys in front of the tarmac were good fun as well.

Lastly, best for last, put the camera onto the Apprentice and sent it to the Stratosphere. I put the Apprentice WAY WAY WAY up there. A Power15 coupled with a 4S battery spinning an 11X5.5 can get way up there very vertically and quickly. So I Was up there on the edge of hte atmosphere, :happy bounce: , then made a dive down into a fly-by at great speed. Went around the field got in a few LARGE loops, then a brief climb to about 350 feet and began a WOT shallow decent, rolled pulled a loop nothing to aggressive then the wind caught me I swear only gust above 10 all day. Anyway this was a Large loop and not overly aggressive of a pitch but the speed coupled by getting wacked with the wind BUSTED the wing. The Port side wing wenty BANG sounded like a .22 RIFLE and then the wing bent back. I called out a Broken Wing the same time I rolled out of the loop (gently) and brought her her around for line-up at a very docile speed. Even with 1/4-1/3 the wing pointing in the air she was stable as ever and landed beautifully without issue. Turns out the ~3/4" tall fiberglass spar pulled out of the wing and for about 8" in length, when the wing flexed as it flexed back the spar missed it's slot and actually propped the wing up in a bent position. All is back together now but still needs to be reglued. So got home expecting a GREAT in-Flight video and hearing the BANG of the wing was going to be fun. WELLLLL something went wrong as I got no video, not even a second. I think I may have turned the camera on and off all at about the same time by accident as the video was less than a second long. I was bummed. I will repeat the Stratosphere in-Flight video flight no doubt many times but I will skip the broken wing part this time.

All in all a great day at the airfield. Throughout the afternoon more than 25 maybe 30 aircraft at the airfield. Maybe 15 different aircraft made it into the air. Was a bit rushed again, usual, and forgot my full-size camera at home. This Sunday will try to get camera put in car night before :thumbsup:

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: May 16, 2010
Duration: 106 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (2) Flights totalling 30 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (7) Flights totalling ~70 minutes, some shorter than 10 minutes a couple longer than 15 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice (1) Flight totalling 6 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 65-73*F, Light Clouds, SE Winds at 10 Gusts to 18, calming in afternoon as packing up (figures)......

Thought I had fixed the Apprentice's wing by epoxying in the thin Spar that stuck out of the wing after last flight's mishap with the wing breaking in flight. WELL..... It is not fixed. As soon as I took off I felt something wasn't quite perfect. I retrimmed and flew on a little better now but not perfect. I took the Apprentice up several hundred feet, took some decent aerial video then came down and was playing around a bit when I started a shallow climb and BANG the wing really bent up! Turns out the smaller spar I glued back in place was not the problem but an after effect of the main wing spar breaking. The main spar is busted and rather than digging out and replacing this I just grabbed ahold a new wing. I will post pictures of the spar, my still holding but the problem fixed spar. Also I will post the aerial video, when she goes you can see the CENTER of the wing go up nevermind what we saw I bet the wing folded up a foot to maybe even 18 inches! It settled back in but is now very floppy and flimsy and I will not fly like that of course.

My son was troubled by the field's gnats and flies (we are rural MN and butted up against a farmfield so flies just happen) so we flew together sharing some buddy-box time on both the T-28 and Super Cub. I hope to get him flying on his own again soon, he flies very well and I am saddened to see him lose excitement over the hobby over some flies. Maybe we'll surround the field with TIKI torches ::cheerful::

My son and I's flights were fun, spirited and satisfying. The Super Cub is over-powered and I was managing some hover time so that was fun stuff. I also got some aerial video from the T-28. It seems mounted to the main fuselage I get horrible wobbling or waves in the video, I will try placing the camera out on the wing and see what happens. I will get these videos taken from aboard the Apprentice and T-28 posted soon.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: May 23, 2010
Duration: 92 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice 2 Flights totalling 26 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (3) Flights totalling 33 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (3) Flights totalling 27 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite T-34 Mentor PTS (1) Flight totalling 6 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 86*F, Light Whispy High Clouds
Wind: VARIABLE direction @ under 5mph to calm

Nice evening for flying very muggy, hot and humid but nice.

I had a terrific time flying with a few other flying buddies from the airfield including my latest student pilot graduate Gary. Gary is for the most part flying on his own, we still buddy up with the T-34 and the Gas trainer he recently purchased.

Gary challenged me to, "Catch Me if You Can", while I had the KeyChain camera on the T-28D; here's that video: http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1506

I flew with a potential new student; our new grounds-keeper. He has never flown before but with some coaching and on the buddy box with the Apprentice he did just fine. The DX-7's Trainer switch has had a workout recently and that is a good thing. I believe our Grounds-Keeper may be back for more, he has plentiful previous car r/c experience so 2 dimensionally his orientation is great and his experience showed. I look forward to the opportunity to work with another eager pilot.

The Real personal growth and fun for me today was more time on the Deuces Wild. I have increased the flight times to 9:00. Right after takeoff I hit the timer than at 8:30 I am setting for approach and on the ground at 9:00 or a few seconds after. True ripping it up flight time is around 8:20. Post Flight with some pretty hard flying the batteries are coming down at a static Voltage of 14.75-14.85 range. I am also now trying to extract more from the Deuces and need to get comfortable with letting her settle down, I have a tendency to smoke laps around the airfield. I want to use her good aerodynamic abilities and start pulling more maneuvers but find myself going too hot for Knife Edges which I think this plane will look awesome performing. The Rudder of the Deuces is not as influential as I had anticipated likely the Twin engines neutralize to some degree the effect of the rudder. With a single center prop the axis of the plane can, I think, be more easily manipluated to track sideways. I will find out once I get more comfortable to slow her more if she is happy with Knife Edges. Split-S's, Cubans, HUGE loops both inside and out, slow or fast rolls are all awesome. Of course the thundering Full-Throttle fly byes are fun fun fun. Now that I have it programmed into my head 4 clicks of idle throttle at pre-flight landings are nice. I have also moved the CG back a little by moving the 2#'s of batteries back 5/8ths inch.

I flew Gary's T-34 as well with great fun. He has swapped out the trainer prop for a stiffer APC of the same size and that definitely sparked her up. Also the new batteries of his are coming to life and their capacity and performance in power and duration are improving.

The Apprentice and T-28 flights I had were a pleasing experience, can't ever go wrong here. I had some more fun running some sub-10' inverted fly-byes over the length of the run way with the T-28D.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: June 13, 2010
Duration: 79 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (1) Flight 12 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (4) Flights totalling 40 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (3) Flights totalling 27 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 65*F, Mostly CLEAR, VERY pleasant!
Wind: less than 6 mph NW to NE variable

Several people at the airfield this afternoon all having fun :clapping:

Good times with the Deuces Wild, need more batteries! Nothing too crazy just funning around enjoying the plane. I need to step up the challenge level, also need to get some flight video will try to do so soon. I had an incident at IMAC yesterday whereas I drained a set of batteries extremely low ALL good they all charged great and settled in exactly as they always do and remained balanced perfectly so it appears all is good with the set of DW batteries I feared I may damaged from overdischarge.

T-28 is a blast as usual. EXCEPT I biffed her once today, totally stupid too! I was doing some lazy inverted flight around the field having fun being Wayne when my darn thumb boiiinggggG popped off the stick. I guess you could say I fell asleep at the stick, well not really but you get the jist. I busted the elevator and horizontal cleanly when she landed heavy in the corn. 5 minute Epoxy and she was flying minutes later. Felt pretty stupid, I almost recovered her but didn't quite get her and the knee high corn came up and grabbed her. No disorientation, no stunts just plain old boiiiinggggG with the stick popping off my thumb. I should've pulled an outside loop but sorta freaked and tried getting in a tight inside loop and full power my way up the other side but I never made it to the other side.

My one flight with the Super Cub was with a potential new student, a gentleman closer to youth than I stopped in asking about the field. We flew a buddy box flight for a bit then I flew for a little deomstrating the great ability of the Super Cub amd just how much more potential there is in the HZ Super Cub he has and that it is ok to stay with this plane for a while longer and learn some stuff. I expect to see him back, hopefully he gets AMA'd up, joins the airfield and I get another student in the air.

BTW my previous student now owns a 40 size Twist, Yak54, T-34 Mentor and a small Wing. Gary is doing rather well. It is amazing it was only a few short months back Gary came to me never having flown an airplane. His progression has been rapid, his one on one training, schooling with other pilots and continuous desire to ask questions and learn has propelled him forward at an amazing rate. Gary is the model student though he is cautious, happy to learn and fully embraced the moratorium on flying without an instructor for a few hours so as to NOT develop bad habits and learn properly. Other pilots at my facility have chosen an opposite approach with a stagnant level of advancement, I guess to each their own. Any students reading this flight log pay attention to your instructor(s) and it could be you purchasing and flying 3D aerobatic and sport planes a mere 3 months from now and flying them well.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: June 19-20, 2010
Duration: 195 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: Hobbyzone Super Cub (6) Flights totalling ~90 minutes
Aircraft: Parkzone T-28D (6) Flights totalling ~60 minutes
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (5) Flights totalling ~45 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 80-87*F, Mildly Coudy
Wind: 19th wind began in the upper teens but lulled by evening. 20th wind was under 10mph.

On the 19th my airfield had a Club Day. The turnout was decent but it could've been a lot better. I am assuming with the heavy winds approaching 20 mph for the greatest part of the morning and early afternoon this kept many people away.

I flew my son's HZ Super Cub to break the ice of the day. With the Park 450 the HZ Super Cub can cut into a heavy wind albeit a lot less peppy but can do so in a manner that doesn't disqualify flying the HZ Super Cub on a rough day.

The Deuces Wild was next. I put three consecutive flights on the Deuces Wild in the wind. Unfortunately TWICE I broke main landing gears. I haven't broke any landing gears on the Deuces in weeks so I was a little bummed. With the wind gusting I allowed the conditions to work me up. The direction the wind was blowing required I land on the short side of our runway which makes me very uncomfortable. Landing from West to East, my preferred way with the Deuces Wild, you have a clearer approach with less tree growth close to the runway and additionally you can roll off the runway into a grass field. Landing from East to West the approach is not as clear and also there is VERY minimal roll out after the end of the runway as more than a few feet off the end of the runway and you go over a cliff and drop a few feet onto a downward side of a farmfield. Going over the 'cliff' is very destructive to planes. Nonetheless I put the Deuces Wild down hard two times trying to slow her down too much in the air so my roll out would be contained to the tarmac. No other damage and each time the repair was completed with a spare part in about 4:30 and up she went again. The third and fourth landings of the Deuces Wild this day were fantastic as the wind had slowed and I was able to calm down. The Deuces Wild still makes my hands shake after flying her she is a very powerful capable airplane and I am enjoying the challange she brings. The Deuces Wild flies great as long as you mind some basic principles of remembering airspeed when banking and the fact she's 10.5# so any negative G maneuvers at low speed require altitude to recover. Also airspeed must be maintained on landings NO COMPROMISES. In short though we are a good fit and I hope to enjoy the Deuces Wild for many hundreds more flights.

T-28 was a blast of fun on the 19th. SADLY my full throttling finally took a toll on the motor. Well that and the fact I tried to put on an unbalanced prop and it shook the crap out of the plane on run-up on the Tarmac. I think I may have jostled a magnet loose. I have not taken her apart but after a good hour of back to back battery near constant full throttle blasting around the T-28's stock motor said, "Hey it's been great BUT I'm checking out". She didn't say this word for word but more with a howling screeching sound and the ESC kept shutting down power as the motor drag was over ampping the Motor and ESC. Motor smelled cooked on landing and if you spin the motor by hand she makes awful grinding noises. Nothing stupid here stock 9.5 X 7.5 black flimsy prop and 3S 2200 25C battery. Little blue I am she burned down but I have been running her at WOT a lot and I think that has taken it's toll. The T-28 is just so so so so slow in comparison to the Deuces Wild that to get my kicks I needed all she could deliver. It may be time to return a Power series motor to the T-28 ::tonguee:

THe 20th I had the honor of introducing two potentially new up and coing pilots to the joy of R/C Airflight. My folks wanted to see the Deuces Wild fly so we went to the airfield I flew the Deuces Wild with a picture perfect 9:00 flight and landing :thumbsup: then I Buddy-Boxed my folks on my son's HZ Super Cub. Neither of them have any real R/C experience so I was expecting a handful of a time but to my surprise and amazement they both flew VERY well. We did;

Trimmed out plane acknoledge plane will fly itself. (Hands Off Pass
Basic waving of the wings going away.
Basic Waving of the wings coming toward.
Holding a straight line.
Corner entry and Exit
Large Laps around the airfield.
Finished with Figure 8's around the airfield.
Obviously I needed to intervene a few times when orientation and elevator downs instead of ups happened but for the overwhelming time we were buddy-boxed there was a definite lack of my need to do anything but provide some verbal training.

Both were very astonished how fun and FREE the flying felt to be. They have both vowed to now get an airplane (HZ Super Cub LP BNF). I am happy they had fun and look forward to flying with them more.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: June 27, 2010
Duration: 29 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: E-Flite Deuces Wild (3) Flights totalling 29 minutes
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 75*F, Mostly CLEAR, HUMID Changing to Partly Cloudy with Thunderheads Billiowing up.
Wind: NW @ 12MPH Gusting to 21MPH

Little windy at times gusting over 20 mph but wind was mostly down the runway. I had a great time with my three flights and actually doing some wind assisted hovering.

Working on some maneuvers including the Sharks and Reverse Sharks tooth, Tear Drop, Loops, Immelmans and Hammerheads. Fun stuff tearing up the sky! I am getting more comfortable throwing Deuces Wild into some crazy transitions from maneuver to maneuver I have been very cautious to not overfly the Deuces. I do think if you did too heavy of a maneuver you could snap her wings, they are VERY strong and sturdily built but with her having a fairly heavy weight I could see the 37Oz/Sq Foot loaded wings saying SEE-YA.

All in all a fun three flights yielded from my unusually short visit to the airfield today.

Wayne

[WJCJR1]

Date: June 27, 2010
Duration: 48:30 minutes accumulated air time.
Aircraft: HobbyZone Super Cub (3) 18:00, 16:30, 14:00 minute flights
Location: Crow River R/C, Waverly, Minnesota
Weather: 72*F, Mostly CLEAR, Wind: NE @ 3-5 MPH Very nice evening.

I took the opportunity to steal away and Fly the HZ Super Cub, a fun plane to fly no matter how much experience you have or how long you've been flying. Zoom it up with a Park 450 and a 10X7 Prop and you'll have endless fun blasting around. You can still fly her slow as stock but can go WAY over the vertical and flat line speed limit of the stock version.

I had 3 Fun-Filled spirited flights and a few crop dusting runs putting the landing gears into the corn rows and even ticking a few leaves with the wings :yikes: Big loops, some inverted flight, Immelmans, Split-S's and Hammerheads are all easily achievable with the Powered Up Super Cub. This is even without ailerons, true rolls are more like a rolling spin without the aid of ailerons but can roll nonetheless.


Anyone interested in upgrading their HobbyZone Super Cub's motor and who have held off due to the motor mounting issue HobbyZone has just begun offering a full line of Aluminum Custom Motor Mounts for the Super Cub, T-28's, Corsair, P-51 and more. These are direct swap out and BOlt-Ons.

(Hobbyzone Super Cub) http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/hobbyzone_new_products/index_new/CRCA1021.html
(Parkzone P-51D) http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/hobbyzone_new_products/index_new/CRCA1020.html
(Parkzone T-28's and Corsair-Power Series Motors Upgrade) http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/hobbyzone_new_products/index_new/CRCA1022.html
(Parkzone T-28's and Corsair-Park 400, 450, 480 Motor Upgrade) http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/hobbyzone_new_products/index_new/CRCA1023.html
I have looked at these mounts and held them in my hand they are of great quality so no junk parts here. They are extremely light and will hold up for sure.

Wayne