Never mind the weather - who has been flying, then?

[Peter Jenkins]

Snuck out again this afternoon and got in 1 1/2 hrs at the patch.  It looked like the cloud base would be too low but as I was pondering this I saw a slightly lighter patch of cloud coming along.  Launched with the brighter patch overhead and was delighted to discover that the cloud base was well above the 1,050 ft high that I had on the first flight.  I'd taken my laptop along again to look at the Flight Coach trace and having absorbed the gross errors I could see, and remember, I then launched into 3 more flights of the schedule I'm flying.  Left the field at 4.10 as it was getting even gloomier feeling that the effort had been well worth it.  What was very useful was the almost dead calm so that all the positioning errors were solely my fault!  

 

On my return home, I reviewed the flight traces from all 4 flights and was pleased to find that some of the time I had corrected my faults!  More correction needed with the additional need for consistency!  As ever, I was the only one there 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Took a bit of a flyer today (excuse the pun) and ignored the worst weather forecasts and made my way the the strip at lunchtime hoping the mist had cleared. I was prepared for murky conditions and have flown is those conditions many times. I must when I got there it was better than I thought it might be.

 

 

 

Perfectly flyable although you can just see some lack of clarity in the distance.

Anyway off we go and zero wind conditions. Aeros where able to be flown although at the height I normally need for spins she was just edging into the lower part of the cloud base. Very low cloud then. Anyway another great session of four flights. I am glad I made the effort. 😁

 

[leccyflyer]

Fantastic day today. Set off in thick mist and an hour and a half later climbed out of the mist and crossing the Highland Boundary Fault saw the first hints of a blue sky. Arriving at the field it was still cloudy, but calm and during the morning the clouds moved away, the wind settle to a comfortable 5mp breeze, initially not in a brilliant direction, but then swinging round to a nice SW wind. Not too many of us at the field, which was now bathed in sunlight and with big bright blue skies. The warmer weather recently has caused some late growth in the grass, but not enough to cause problems with reasonably sized wheels. 

 

I like to start the flying off with one of the wee Volantex 400mm warbirds and then after a bunch of bottle building flights with my Flightline Spitfire, HK Hellcat, SEMFF Zero and Warbirds FW190 it was time for the main business of the day - my Flair Beaufighter, I'd made a new dolly, which sits between the nacelles and supports the Beaufighter fuselage and wing. I'd also swapped out the 3 bladed Graupner nylon props for 12x6" APC-E props for the maiden flight.

 

 

 

The dolly tracked Beautifully and the Beaufighter leapt into the air and climbed out a little steeply, but perfectly in control and with no drama.

 

 

 

The model flies perfectly and feels like a much bigger aeroplane. After a series of low and high passes for Derek to capture some images, I threw in a no-drama loop and roll, before setting up for an approach and gentle belly landing. The model behaved impeccably from start to finish and I'm delighted. Thanks so much to Derek for these excellent pictures that he's rushed through to me this evening.

 

 

Enjoyed several more flights before setting off back into the mist for a memorable day. At home it seems that the mist didn't lift at all and it had been drizzling the whole day.

[leccyflyer]

Not as nice a day today, but not too bad and to be fair better than we had here yesterday, more in keeping with the time of year. The postie arrived at lunchtime with my latest delayed Volantex wee fella - their new FW190,. which was held up for a few weeks. So made a brief trip to the field a few minutes away and squeezed three flights in before it started to get dark. Sunset is at about quarter past four here at the moment, so just about now.  The wee FW190 is a looker, with the distinctive eagle's head insignia on the cowl and wing root, signifying an JG2 Richtofen aeroplane. She flies just like all the other Volantex 400mm warbirds, namely perfectly. - though the skies were pretty grey. Looked great in formation with Bob's Me109 Red 6.

 

 

One thing to note is that they have changed the prop hub assembly and it's no longer compatible with the original hubs and props, though they did include a spare old style hub, which you could retrofit if you were wanting to use your older props. This one comes with 2 off two bladed and 2 off three bladed props. THe other notable modification is that the model now beeps when you close the throttle at the end of the flight and keeps beeping, which will be a great help in finding them in the event of coming down off the field somewhere. 

[Eric Robson]

A murky day at the field on Tuesday, still managed a lot of flights with the Warbirds Replicas Yak9. A lovely flying machine. Thanks to Mark Robinson for the photos. 

[Graham R]

On 03/10/2024 at 23:06, Eric Robson said:

Sunny but a cool breeze from the coast brought the most I've seen  at the field this year at least 15 up till I left. I had 9 flights with my Warbirds Replicas Yak9 average 8 mins. A few vintage models ,and a few foamies. 

Hi Eric, I have flown Richard’s Yak. Loved it. Asked him to make some more as I would like one..Think the request fell on deaf ears.

 

ld

[Eric Robson]

3 hours ago, Graham R said:

Hi Eric, I have flown Richard’s Yak. Loved it. Asked him to make some more as I would like one..Think the request fell on deaf ears.

 

ld

Russian aircraft have gone out of fashion at the moment Graham. If there was some in Ukraine colours, they would sell better. 

[leccyflyer]

If the Yak is half as good as the FW190 I'd have one in a heartbeat - it wouldn't be modern Russian anyway, it would be the Red Air Force.

[GrumpyGnome]

Limited photos, and none especially interesting - I may add a few once I've uploaded them from my phone.... I need to cultivate a decent photographer.

 

It's been a really good, if grey, cool and murky week near the East Coast of Gods Own Country.

 

Flew Sunday with 3 clubmates, and saw some Basil Fawlty action over a crashed model .... 🙂

Flew Monday with my regular flying buddy - all my models returned safe and sound, flying buddy damaged one and had a rare deadstick with his other. My TimberX had a rare outing - feels like months since I've flown anything electric outdoors.

Flew Indoors Tuesday - great fun, and warm!

Flew Thursday on my todd - 3 models, all needing attention.....

• DT aileron coupler came loose on 5th flight - flies pretty well on 3 functioning ailerons!
• Broke the fin off my W4 putting it in the car 😞
• On my P51 the screw holding the arm onto servo was loose, allowing some slippage - no damage. Would have been a 2 minute fix but only this week I added a shelf above the servos for the receiver so I could move the battery back..... knew I should have used screws not glue.  This model is now in storage until the ground freezes

Flew this morning with my regular flying buddy, and our chairman. All three of us retuned home with damaged models - one worse than the others!  I think mine was the most lightly damaged..... pilot error, a poor landing and I delayed going around again until it was too late - minor wing damage that's already been repaired.

 

Every day was grey, cool and damp - properly Autumnal.

 

Pottering day tomorrow, flying again Sunday. Hopefully.

[Hangsegler]

We were there in sunny weather and light wind, but only 10 degrees Celsius. I flew with a Trojan T-28. With Mod 2!!!!
After two false starts, it went quite well. I have only ever flown with Mod 1 since 1992!!!😀😃

A friend encouraged me to do it. He flew the model for me a few times.

 

Edited November 8 by Hangsegler

[Jake Bullit]

Fun morning today,chasing a lawnmower round the sky!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW7xzVjzHp4

[leccyflyer]

Dreich day today, but the forecast promised better conditions up north and I'd committed to go to my old club field. Loaded up in the dark and in heavy drizzle. That continued all the wat to the hills an hour later - first glimpse of just a hint of blue sky crossing the Highland Boundary Fault, but still a heavy, dense mist on arrival with the ceiling probably about a hundred feet,  A huge skein of geese were perturbed to find their way over the Cairngorms blocked by a cloudbase below the hills and circled for ten minutes, before giving up and heading back northwards, from whence the had came.

 

As usual I had my first flight before anyone else arrived, with my Volantex Me109, testing out where the cloudbase was and had about a 17 minute flight, landing before the telemetry announced the battery was spent. As my flying pals arrived a variety of models took to the air, though it was decidedly murky the flying conditions were good, calm and later on stable air with a gentle breeze right down the field. The murk made it very tricky conditions for any photography though, but Derek did manage to capture some atmospheric pictures of the maiden flight of my Dornier Do17, which has been a couple of years coming, since the design and build of the model by Jim Jamieson. The new wee Volantex FW190 was more of a challenge in the murk, but also successfully captured.

 

 

The Dorner flew beautifully on what was her third flight. I let the take off run use most of the field, to ensure she was up to full flying speed and was careful with the elevator but truthfully she was a pussycat, flying like a big trainer, just like Jim promised - a really workable practical twin. Against the misty hills the big bomber looked ace and the pictures captured the silhouette of the Flying Pencil - that mist made sure that it wasn't a Flying Coloured Pencil though. 😉 These twins are great fun and sound great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also had a rare outing for my now remotored Trick Razor, which was a bit of a wild ride at first and still suffered a bit of PIO through the flight, courtesy of my twitching thumbs, but was flying better than she has ever flown before and didn't do the usual death spiral. 

 

 

Arrived back home to heavy drizzle and darkness, but very happy with how the day went.

Edited November 9 by leccyflyer

[Tosh McCaber]

Well done getting the Pencil sorted out Leccy- very realistic in the air- the photos do it justice!

[Eric Robson]

Zero wind yesterday and the sun shone for 10mins mild enough to spend 4 hours at the field,  flew my foamboard Me110 badly in need of tlc. And my Yak9, took a Kyosho Spitfire up  but couldn't get the engine to run properly.

[Hangsegler]

On 08/11/2024 at 18:29, Hangsegler said:

We were there in sunny weather and light wind, but only 10 degrees Celsius. I flew with a Trojan T-28. With Mod 2!!!!
After two false starts, it went quite well. I have only ever flown with Mod 1 since 1992!!!😀😃

A friend encouraged me to do it. He flew the model for me a few times.

 

Addition to post dated 08.11.2024

 

 

[Erfolg]

Unser DunkelFlaute ist zu ender. Jetz est regnet, as it says on the side of my Aldi Tomato sauce bottle.

 

The reality up here it is still a leaden sky, no wind, and now in addition it is raining. 

 

Apparently over the last few days wind power has supplied 10% of National grid demand, with a low at 4-5%. Just now need 10 times as many (at what cost)?.

 

I have only myself to blame, having spent + an hour washing the mud from the wheel arches of my car, just the rest of the car to do. I have a number of hand launch models in the tailgate of the car, together with a 40 os powered DB Mascot, hoping to finally fly it having  readied it for the first flight in my ownership.

[Simon Chaddock]

As the forecast suggested the calm all over grey is soon to end I flew both versions of my F707 "chuck glider" RC conversions. Being light they thrive in calm conditions.

AET basic. 1200mm span. 320g with an 850mAh 3s.

AET + flaps. 344g with a 1500mAh 2s.

Both fly very nicely. With 3 settings (0,15,40 degrees) the flapped version is more interesting to fly although the "basic" has a noticeably better glide ratio.

Not long after I finished it started to rain!

 

Edited November 10 by Simon Chaddock

[Futura57]

Calm and grey at Epsom Downs Race Course today. A good turnout of a dozen pilots. Mist turned to drizzle around 2pm and half the members left. An hour later it brightened up with a few tiny blue bits and the sun showed its face 10 minutes before setting.

 

 

 

"RIP"MAX 😁

 

[payneib]

I did a flying! 

 

Warbirds for Remembrance Sunday, and the Pup carried a Poppy. The new U/C on the Hurricane is showing promise, some smooth, hard ground, and a little bit more fettling should see it in the air. 

 

And transporting planes in the new car is SOOOOO much easier than the old Fiesta. 😂

[Peter Jenkins]

Just a thought payneib - I'd be inclined to put your flight box, fuel can and tool roll in the front of the aircraft in case you need to apply the brakes hard!  I use the footwells for stuff like that.  Acceleration isn't a problem as you have full control over that but braking might be different! 

[payneib]

The seats don't fold fully flat, it all slides back just sat on the drive. 

[leccyflyer]

A dull morning but with light winds allowed my customary Remembrance Day flying of SE5a and Hurricane at my local field this morning, with a few more flights thrown in, followed by a four hour round trip to the ADS indoor session at Bridge of Don, Aberdeen. quite a good turnout, for the usual aerial chaos and carnage. I got away with just one alleged mid-air and no damage, but my wee EFlite and Ares single cell batteries are long past their best, having not been used for ages.  Enjoyed flying the wee SE5a and Ares Sopwith Pup, but couldn't remember how to bind the EFlite MCX helicopter to the Vapor transmitter, so missed out on the helicopter slots.

[Geoff S]

3 hours ago, Peter Jenkins said:

Just a thought payneib - I'd be inclined to put your flight box, fuel can and tool roll in the front of the aircraft in case you need to apply the brakes hard!  I use the footwells for stuff like that.  Acceleration isn't a problem as you have full control over that but braking might be different! 

 

I'd recommend that, too. I put my tool/flight box immediately behind the driver's seat with a restraining strap to the head rest supports.  It's the first thing I load (usually through the rear passenger door).  I put wings down the outside retained by the rear seat belts but that's not so important

[Futura57]

No doubt about it @payneib , heavy gear at the rear of your car will find its way to the front under unexpected heavy braking, even if your nice aeroplane is in its way. 😬 It can also tip over in the event of a sharp/fast turn. Either scenario will ruin your day when you least expect it. Don't ask me how I know. 😪

 

Please do consider loading heavy stuff on the front passenger seat or in the foot well. Protect the seat with a towel or some such and restrain the load with the seat belt if you can. Get into a good habit with your new car, then you won't need to think about it much thereafter.

 

Happy loadings. 👍

[leccyflyer]

Another recommendation to put heavy stuff like flight boxes, batteries etc in the footwell, rather than in the back of an estate car. Those items can easily slide forward or fall over even during normal driving, but in a sudden arrival will wreak havoc with whatever else is between them and the front of the vehicle. I know this from bitter experience since my old IC flight box fell over and crushed the model which I had taken home and repaired for a young clubmate. All the repair work was undone and had to be done again. Since then that stuff travelled behind the passenger seat, on the floor.

 

On the weather front, this excellent flying weather that we've had in October and early November has brought my flying hours up to exactly what they were this time last year, from being about 20% down on last year by the end of the summer. It's forecast to be hanging around for the rest of this week, so make the most of it,