The Lockdown Restrictions Have Been Relaxed. Who's Been Flying?

[David Davis]

The lockdown has been eased recently in my part of France providing we adopt certain precautions like wearing masks, maintaining social distance and not having more than ten on site at the same time, so three of us took advantage of a dry day yesterday to go flying. From left to right in the picture, Gerard van der Moelen, Your Humble Servant and Francois Dutreuil. Gerard flew his ARTF foamy, Francois his electric powered Baron and I chose my WOT 4 Mark 3 as it has the heaviest wing loading of any model I own and it was rather windy. It was an eBay purchase which I restored and covered in film off-cuts. It is powered by a Thunder Tiger 54 FS. None of us had flown since February.

Gerard had already flown before I arrived but as I prepared the WOT 4 both Gerard and Francois were in the air. Then I heard a distinct snick and both models plummetted towards the ground. Gerard's model sustained a broken wing, Francois' a broken prop and cowling but was otherwise undamaged.

I had not flown the WOT 4 for some considerable time and I had some difficulty in starting the engine. It turned out that the feed pipe to the carburetter has detached itself. Having connected it up I resolved to have one brief flight. With the engine running well and feeling slightly apprehensive I took off into the wind. I must have used too much rudder for the model veered to the right but didn't hit anything and soon I was looping, rolling and flying reversals, eights, Cubans, stall turns and spins. I remember thinking, "Who is this Christophe Paysant-le-Roux?" I decided on a stall turn followed by a three turn spin to the left. If I had left well enough alone at this stage all would have been well but I decided to do three spins to the right as well.

 

Precisely when the engine had cut I don't know but when I fed in down elevator and opened up the throttle there was no respose from the engine. I was also at fifty feet and flying down wind at speed. I felt that if I tried to turn it through 180 degrees and land it on the runway I would either run out of height or stall. The fields on each end of the runway are sown to spring wheat which is currently waist high, but they slope away in two directions. I chose to put it down in the crop but I had failed to allow for the efficiency of Mr Foss's wing and out of sight, the model glided over the fence of a local builder and crash landed in his yard.

 

 

Actually it's not as bad as it looks. The firewall has popped but I wanted to change the engine anyway and put the Thunder Tiger in my Baron. It's more accessible now! The nylon bolts on the undercarriage and wing did their jobs so there's relatively little damage to the fuselage.

 

She'll fly again.

 

Happy Landings?

[Robert Welford]

Not a very successful flying session then!

A lesson for us all that we need to be a little more cautious when returning to flying after an extensive layoff.

We have a similar problem (but a more serious one) at my gliding club (same for all UK gliding) where many pilots haven't flown since last September and when (if) we are allowed to fly again 2-seater flying will not be an option because of social distancing (2m rule), so no training and no check flights.

Edited By Robert Welford on 13/05/2020 12:01:54

Edited By Robert Welford on 13/05/2020 12:13:18

[Paul Marsh]

When I fly again, just will take out some trainers an make sure I'm ok with them, as almost a year of proper flying is crazy.

[Adrian Smith 1]

I intend flying on Friday. However, I will start off with one of my more benign aerobats as I am rather rusty.

Edited By Adrian Smith 1 on 13/05/2020 12:15:37

[Geoff S]

It's surprising how often mid-airs happen when only 2 aircraft are flying. I've only had a couple and one of those was whe there were only 2 of us in the air - fortunately I managed to land my Contact 140 but the wing ws sufficiently damged to justfy buying a replacement from Dave Smith Models.

A more spectacular mid-air happened at the club a couple of years ago when our chairman and our treasurer were flying 1/3 scale WW1 bipes. They hit head on right over the runway with the obvious anount of carnage - expensive carnage, too!

Looks like David and his clubmates had flying rebirth of fire. When I eventually pluck up the courage to venture to the airfield (I'm giving it a couple of weeks at least) I'll bear his experience in mind.

Geoff

[Brian Cooper]

I went flying this morning.

It felt sooooooooo good.

B.C.

[Steve Colman]

My club here in Spain has notified members that we can go flying again along similar lines to those of David's club. However, we're required to give 24h notice; maximum of 15 at any one time, social distancing of 2m plus a few other simple and sensible restrictions/requirements.

I have booked my place for tomorrow!

[Nigel R]

I'll be taking a foamie or two for the first session back. Warm the thumbs up with something easily fixed!

[Flyer]

Still in lock down in Wales !!

[Engine Doctor]

We decided to keep our field closed . The relaxation of the rules is aimed at people from the same household or one other person from a different household with social distancing . And then all toilet have to be kept close sanitizer used when opening and closing gates etc. So many hoops to jump through so com decided to keep closed until next review in three weeks . Very frustrating but with over 100 members how do you limit numbers on field and police all the requirements etc ?

What are other clubs doing ? Most of our local clubs seem to be staying closed.

[Peter Miller]

A couple of us are planning to fly on FRiday.

There may be some more on Sunday.

[Anthony Scott 2]

Windy & cold in E Kent today but Friday onwards looking tempting

[John Lee]

Posted by Engine Doctor on 13/05/2020 13:45:41:

 

What are other clubs doing ? Most of our local clubs seem to be staying closed.

3 hours mowing this morning followed by 3 flights, all solo. Members must book a flying slot, max 2 Member at any one time but you can book a slot for solo use. All usual precautions of course.

Our Webmaster was hot off the mark & has embedded a calendar provided free by Bravenet in the Club's webpage. Members can book a slot online & it is visible to all.

It's been very well received by all Members. We are only a small Club but with over 15 hours daylight now even large clubs should be able to reach some accommodation.

Edited By John Lee on 13/05/2020 14:11:22

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Day off, slept in, winds picking up for weekend, Gallic (Yorkshire) shrug.

[Tim Flyer]

Our club opened today . There was no mad rush and good social distancing was observed

We are not choosing to book slots for members as we feel it is not needed and would be impractical as there are huge differences in plane set up times and reliability

If we had members booking slots we might risk having an empty flight line . At our club we have never had to queue to fly and members are kind enough give others plenty of space

We have a large area and members have close by parking facilities . We do not have padlocked gates and access is via a farm road track.

We have limited club house access to one person at a time we also spaced our flying tables further apart .

 

Edited By Tim Flyer on 13/05/2020 17:20:23

[Brian Cooper]

After the morning flying session, I came home for some lunch.

I went out again this afternoon. The wind was picking up but it was only blowing at about 15 - 20 mph. . Another great session.

It certainly feels good to be outside for more than just a walk around the neighbourhood.

B.C.

Edited By Brian Cooper on 13/05/2020 17:22:14

[fly boy3]

I,m with Flyer, I too live in Wales.

[Geoff S]

I had an email from the club secretary that the field was open for use with the proviso that we keep 2 metres apart in the pits as well as flying. The club hut will remain closed. It won't be too difficult to extend the usual pit area depending on wind direction.

At least the relaxation has encouraged me to continue completing my Pup which has been in abeyance mainly because I'm not sure how to achieve some of the scheme featured but partly because it didn't seem to be very urgent.

I had a short bike ride this afternoon as a blister has made my usual 4 mile walk a bit uncomfortable. It was cold enough for longs, full gloves and my winter jacket (albeit just with a thermal vest underneath). Despite a few steep climbs I didn't overheat. It would have been decidedly chilly at the Ashbourne airfield, which is very exposed so I think I made the right decision.

Geoff

[Stuphedd]

windy , most blue in the sky , perfect for a bit of fast flying .at midday ! After mowing !

gosh it felt good !

still smiling ! several hours later , and some what exhausted

[Keith Sharples]

I'm with Flyer and Flyboy 3. I'm in Wales and still on lockdown.

The little grumble is the club field is about 5 miles into England, all of the members live in England, I'm the only one in the club that lives in Wales and then it's one mile in.

Hay Ho, still have time to finish some new models.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Post deleted.

Let's keep the politics out of the discussion folks. Stay on topic.

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/05/2020 19:22:01

[Richard Clark 2]

Where we fly - not yet.

Our site is overseen by two national public bodies. One says 'yes', the other says 'no'.

And we don't want to upset either

[Cuban8]

Both of my clubs are opening so with a little under a hundred members in each it'll have to be closely monitored that things remain safe. No flying myself because my wife is shielded until mid June so only essential journeys and minimal contact with others for now to protect her.

[Bruce Collinson]

Expecting to fly tomorrow. Which way is up?

BTC

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Forecast has changed, tomorrow it is.