I am loving the hobby of R/C Airplanes! I had another awesome night of flying yesterday. I got in three solid flights. What a solid flight looks like for me is approximately nine minutes, as that is what I have the timer on my transmitter set for, which I start right before takeoff. The realised duration all depends if when I first hear that beep I come in for a landing right away, decide to wait for the final minute warning, or if it takes me a few attempts to get a landing I’m comfortable with which leads to about a +/- of a couple minutes. The wind permitted takeoffs and landings going South to North on the runway last evening, which is the way in which I talked about in a previous post and really just started doing.
This evening wasn’t without a little added nervous excitement either, lol. On my very first takeoff as soon as my LT40 lifted off the ground the right wing dipped, as if I wanted to bank right… which I didn’t, that could have lead to disaster. I was quick enough on the controls to level it out and shakily gain some altitude before getting comfortably high up in the air for the remainder of the flight. I heard “nice save” from John for that takeoff. Not sure what was with this evening but the second flight it came on the landing. When approaching from the South I was way to far down the runway and had cut the power so when the aircraft landed I went right into a pool of water on the airfield. A big thanks to John for retrieving the aircraft for me! The lesson learned here is to not cut the engine so quick, come in lined up and low and then cut it such that I land up closer to the fence we stand behind as my aircraft doesn’t require much runway to come to a stop.
I managed to squeak in a third flight before the sun set which turned out to be my best flight of the night. My takeoff was very smooth as the plane came off the ground effortlessly and uneventful, levelled out to gain airspeed before climbing into the air and performing a smooth right bank across the North end of the field. After flying around I came in for a landing, learned from my swim in the pool, coasting for a smooth landing near wear we stand followed by a short taxi trip towards the exit.
Last evenings flying came with a little extra special moment as I got to see Peter fly his plane multiple times. He’s always helping others on the ground or on the buddy box teaching someone how to fly so it was a pleasure to see the teacher up flying around, in this case breaking in a new engine. I also got to assist Peter, for a change, prep for his flights, even if it was just in little ways such as holding the plane while Jon started and Peter revved it while out on the field.
After cleanup I caught up with the guys at McD’s, which is the tradition for at least some to go, where we shared some stories.