Ken's Flights

[apprentice1]

I'll start with my last three. My flight schedule is hot and cold, like everyone else depends on time on hand and the weather. I do log my flights at home so I can keep track of things like; how long a motor last, repairs and the stupid mistakes I make etc.

Sat 9-26-09 19:15 Apprentice, 88 deg. scattered high clouds, winds light from NE, 12 Min. flight, got dark. Mostly acro at 50 to 100'.

Sun 9-27-09 07:15 Apprentice, 67 deg. clear, winds light from SW, 16 Min. flight, battery failing(stock batt). Flew at about 400' (this is what I normally do) winds very strong at that altitude. At half to 3/4 throttle zero ground speed. Came down some and did acro.

Sun 9-27-09 07:50 Apprentice, 67 deg. clear, winds light from SW, 21 min. 3s 20c 3200mah battery much better. Same flight as above, with the exception of strafing a couple of cars as they passed by.

[apprentice1]

9-29-09 18:30 Apprentice, 80 deg. scattered high clouds, Winds calm. 21 min.

9-29-09 19:05 Apprentice, 78 deg. scattered high clouds, Winds calm. 19 Min.

[apprentice1]

10-04-09 18:50 Apprentice, 80 deg. clear, Winds calm(dead ). 19 Min.

[apprentice1]

10-05-09 18:50 Apprentice, 82 deg. clear, Winds NE at 4 (OMG thats strong for Ken ). 20 Min.

Now this was interesting. I had the plane up about 400' flying into the wind, the ground speed was about zero. Then suddenly a object appeared due to the sun light (it was near sun set) shinning on it. It was moving east to west very high and looked like a satellite but it's speed looked to fast for a satellite. It was only visible for about five seconds then here’s the neet part. About 15 seconds after I lost sight of it I heard a boom and the distant sound of a jet! I live in the country where it's quite. It had to be doing mach 2 or 3 and was probably around 60,000 to 70,000'
I have been an airplane watcher all my life and pilot for 29 years and have never seen anything like that before, very cool.

[apprentice1]

10-07-09 18:30 Apprentice, 82 deg. broken clouds, Winds calm. 12 Min.

My first dead stick landing! It was exciting but I hope I don't have to do that again. It was my fault. I really wasn't planning on flying, I just happen to notice that the winds were calming down and conditions looked good. I have two batteries and both were not fully charged. I started charging the batt. with 10.7 volts on it, charged it for about 15 min. and brought it up to 11.6, ok that should do it. 10 min. into the flight and an altitude of about 200' I noticed the plane was slowing down and the throttle did not seem to have an effect! OMG, engine failure! Anyway I made it down safely. The batt. had 9.38 volts.

[apprentice1]

I'm copying your format rcdude07

Date: Tuesday October 13, 2009
Time: 6:20pm CDT
Temp: 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: overcast
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: high flight / basic Aerobatic
Duration: 21 mins

[apprentice1]

Date: Tuesday October 13, 2009
Time: 6:50pm CDT
Temp: 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: overcast
Winds: calm but during flight SE at 10
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: 100-200' / basic Aerobatic
Duration: 12 mins

When the wind pickup it gave me a 90 deg. X-wind to my runway that's 22ft wide. I made one attempt but when I would drop below the tree line the turbulence was just too much. Had to make an emergency landing into the wind in the front yard, no damage. This is too much fun:)

[apprentice1]

Date: Monday October 12, 2009
Time: 6:45pm CDT
Temp: 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Fog
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Parkzone Vapor
Type of flying: I got a cat nap in
Duration: 6 mins
Some moisture does get on the electronics, but this plane is expendable to me.

[apprentice1]

Date: Monday October 12, 2009
Time: 6:45pm CDT
Temp: 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Fog
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Parkzone Vapor
Type of flying: Just tooling around, it will loop.
Duration: 6 mins

[apprentice1]

Date: Saturday October 17, 2009
Time: 6:45pm CDT
Temp: 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Molt Models P-38
Type of flying: Maiden.
Duration: 8 mins


This was / is a very fun kit. I started it May 30th and the maiden yesterday went good. It was really the second try, on the first maiden three weeks ago the C.G. was to far aft and she stalled-spin in after takeoff. This time the C.G. is a little to far forward requiring 10 clicks of nose up trim for level flight!! I need to remove some weight from the nose right? I am limited by a dial-up connection so you will have to believe me that it flew:thumbsup:
The power system is:
1320mah 2c 13s thunder power batt., two castle creations 9 amp esc's, two feigao 4100kv brushless motors mounted in GWS Ips-A gearboxs and two GWS 9X7X3 props (one is reverse direction) with 1/4" trimmed off.

[apprentice1]

Date: Tuesday October 20, 2009
Time: 7:15am CDT
Temp: 53 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Parkzone Vapor
Type of flying: Just tooling around
Duration: 24 mins (2 flights)

I noticed the zero wind and thought it would be nice to fly the little Vapor. One flight was 10 and the other 14 min. I sat in a lawn chair with a cup of coffee, 1/3 throttle and it gently flew around, very relaxing.

[apprentice1]

Date: Saturday October 31, 2009
Time: 6:00pm CDT
Temp: 65 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: Just tooling around
Duration: 42 mins (3 flights)

On one flight I used a 3c 30s 1320Mah batt. it weighs 4 oz. much lighter than the regular batt. C.G. was no problem with the batt at the front of the tray. The Apprentice is allready a nice flying plane but with the extra weight out it was really nice! So nice I may use it again. The flight was 6 min. ending voltage was 11.65

[apprentice1]

Date: Sunday November 1, 2009
Time: 7:00am CDT
Temp: 45 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: Just tooling around
Duration: 36 mins (2 flights)

[apprentice1]

Date: Sunday November 1, 2009
Time: 8:00am CDT
Temp: 50 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: MM P-38
Type of flying: trying to stay alive
Duration: 6 mins

Third flight and I think I have most of the kinks worked out. Boy this is a hot little plane, reminds me of flying Heli's. Did a power off stall about 100', note to self, don't do that again with this plane, allmost spun it in ! Greased the landing.

[apprentice1]

Date: Tuesday November 3, 2009
Time: 5:45pm CT
Temp: 65 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Vapor
Type of flying: floating around
Duration: 6 mins

[apprentice1]

Date: November 6, 2009
Time: 6:45am CT
Temp: 48 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Vapor
Type of flying: floating around
Duration: 12 mins 2 flights

[apprentice1]

Date: Tuesday November 3, 2009
Time: 7:30 am CT
Temp: 50 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: MM P-38
Type of flying: Running from Zero's
Duration: 6 mins

[apprentice1]

Date: November 7, 2009
Time: 7:00am CDT
Temp: 55 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: 1/2 mile vis 200' overcast
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: rolls, loops, hammer head and spin
Duration: 26 mins

My first time to fly in a cloud! It was about 200' up at the base of the overcast and I thought, what the heck. I started a shallow climb and DOA! it's gone! I set the throttle at 1/4 and let go of the sticks and here she comes decending back into view that was cool ! Now I can say I've done it so I don't need to do it again.

[tkrahlin]

Date: November 7, 2009
Time: 7:00am CDT
Temp: 55 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: 1/2 mile vis 200' overcast
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: rolls, loops, hammer head and spin
Duration: 26 mins

My first time to fly in a cloud! It was about 200' up at the base of the overcast and I thought, what the heck. I started a shallow climb and DOA! it's gone! I set the throttle at 1/4 and let go of the sticks and here she comes decending back into view that was cool ! Now I can say I've done it so I don't need to do it again.

I'd love a chance to do that with my camera on the plane.

[apprentice1]

Date: November 22, 2009
Time: 7:00am
Temp: 45 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear, dense ground fog a 1/4 mi south.
Winds: zero
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: high flight,loops and a 9 turn spin
Duration: 30 mins (two flights)

One aileron servo acting up

[apprentice1]

Date: December 5, 2009
Time: 7:15am
Temp: 20 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Clear
Winds: calm
Aircraft: Apprentice
Type of flying: high flight,loops.
Duration: 20 min