my flight log

[bracesport]

My son was born nearly six years ago, and pretty much all free time stopped. I used to work too hard and for me, I really wanted to become a dad-aholic, so it wasn't a sacrifice, but it was a tough adjustment! Roll forward five years and after all the modelmaking with cardboard and hot glue, Xander (my son) decided he wanted a chuck glider - and so the journey began!

maybe 15+ years ago I was keen on RC planes and bought some kit - a 72mHz JR X-378 and a foam pusher, but for one reason or another it all fizzled out with no real success. At the same time, I went to a club field and saw a couple of guys flying a 1.6m V tailed pilon racer which whistled by overhead making an awesome sound - I went home and found one on TradeMe secondhand and purchased it right away! What was I thinking? It is still hanging untouched on my wall today!

I love the FT family and all the wonderful threads, but I thought it might be easier for me to post a flight log which also keeps better track of my flights - the first few flights will be a bit of a catch-up, but given I am such a nube there will not be many!

 

[bracesport]

DECEMBER 17 2018

When I first got started, I searched the internet for a slow-flying plane - I came across the 'fish', found some foam board, dug out all my gear from 15+ years ago and built my first plane - soon after that I found ED from 'experimental airlines' and copied his style of foam board construction to make his 'nube tube'.

The fish had a heavily undercambered wing and the nube tube ran with a 1.5m wing as I kind-a like gliders!

We also built our first chuck glider!

 

[bracesport]

JANUARY 12 2019

The nube flies again - short and sweet, but this is what got me hooked!

I had another few flights from the nube tube, before retiring her to the recycling department and salvaging the RC gear!

 

[bracesport]

FEBRUARY 4 2019

I had been getting ambitious with building and made my Vista - a 1.5m V tail sailplane using hand sanded FB for a wing structure sheeted with fibreglass, a 3D printed main fuse with an overly solid CF tail boom and a foam V tail.

When I went to the park to maiden the Vista I had all sorts of issues with binding, so I hung in back on the wall - I think it was a lucky escape, as there was no way I was equipped to fly this one - what was I thinking?

 

[bracesport]

MARCH 30 2019

I had been working on building Josh's TT with a hybrid FT and nube tube construction - I was building three - One for me and one for my brother in law, and one as a discus launch with a V tail!

My first go at a discus launch was less than successful!

 

[bracesport]

APRIL 19/22 2019

Finally I something to whoop whoop about with the TT!

I also tried my hand a slope soaring - it wasn't much of a success, but I liked it a lot!

 

[bracesport]

JUNE 3/16 2019

After these outings the TT's were retired - my wing was soggy and my brother in law smashed his TT putting it straight up and straight down! Recycle recycle recycle!

 

[bracesport]

JUNE 16 2019

I had bought a Bixler 3 spare part wing and added it to a FB fuse to emulate the 1.5m Pheonix sailplane that my brother in law had purchased. The maiden was not a huge success for the hybrid (I lost control losing orientation)!

I did however rebuild her!

 

[bracesport]

OCTOBER 13 2019

After the lack of success with my V tail DLG I started building a new one - this is my 1.2m DLG, again with a FB wing, 3D printed fuse, and CF boom weighing in at a flying weight of 260g - I had found a slope sight close to my house and today was the day to maiden the DLG, and re-maiden the sailplane.

I could not believe the success, and this really captured my imagination for sloping on our little island in the pacific!

I forgot to pull up the antenna of my FM rig and had a LOS and crash - this time I decided to retire this one and build up a new 3D printed fuse to fly again another day!

 

[bracesport]

OCTOBER 27 2019

Finally, I have caught up to the present - as you can see I have not had a huge amount of flying!

In the background, I have been obsessed with the slope soaring effort from a couple of weeks ago - to cut a long story short, after posting my Slope video, a guy put me onto a guy, who put me onto a guy in my home city and we arranged a flight date for some tips on sloping. The wind was horrifically strong, but we went to meet up, and I thought I would watch and learn!

As it turned out my new friend Jono said let's do it - here are the two best videos - Jono handled the takeoffs and landings and I had two goes on the sticks for my maiden flights of the FT Spitfire, and finally my Vista!

more videos from the day are on my Youtube channel.

WOW, I am certainly hooked now!

 

[bracesport]

DECEMBER 13 2019

It has been six weeks since my last trip to the slope and I was itching to get in the air. I have been furiously changing over to the Jumper T16 and getting the ships dialled in with OTX.

I have to say that so far so good the OTX platform suits me well - my Flysky Rx’s don’t like to auto bind, but the FRsky gear is working a treat - I have my eye on some G- RX6’s for there size and onboard telemetry.

Wind NW 35kph (last time our it was NNW 60kph).

We were only able to get some short flights as the rain came in.

I botched the Spitfire after a handover from Jono, and ended up down on the beach. It took me 45 minutes to retrieve it, but luckily no damage. The Spit weighed in at 1.20kgs including ballast. Jono said it was not flying as well as last time out!

The Vista was weighing in at 0.9 kgs and we opted for no ballast. It flew really well and Jono put it through its paces before the handover to me. I had a great flight with nothing tricky going on. I just need some more time on the sticks before getting excited! I don’t want to hike to the beach again!

Flying again Sunday!

 

[bracesport]

Spitfire walk of shame!

 

[bracesport]

DECEMBER 15 2019

Met up again with Jono - he was having a combat meet with a couple of mates and apart from some more flying I was keen to see that in action!

Wind NW 40 kph (a bit higher than Friday and more turbulent).

I took three ships, the Vista, the Hybrid V and the Speed V (warmliner) and flew all three!

First up was the maiden of my Hybrid V - it has a 3D printed fuse, Bixler 3 wing, Bixler 2 tail modified to a V, and weighs in at 1.2kgs - Jono handled the launch and reviewed the trim before giving me the sticks - WOW it flies really well - smooth and stable - I am still flying figure 8's and while it seems really low tech the confidence is building - Jono was encouraging me to do some downwind legs but sadly I didn't get there today - all the telemetry was working and we had a bit of fun with the airspeed sensor - where it all went wrong was I got in behind the cliff and lost it as you will see in the video!

Second was the Vista again weighing in at 900g - today I had reattached the prop in case of an emergency (thankfully there was none) - on the first launch the prop was windmilling and getting no airspeed traction, so Jono landed it and we taped the blades to the fuse - on the second launch it was flying beautifully again - it was amazing to feel the difference with the lighter ship and you could see it getting buffeted more than the Hybrid - I think this flight was nearly 20mins (I did manage one loop) and Jono bought her in for a textbook landing!

Third one up the maiden the Speed V - I was using the Rx from the downed Hybrid, and after a good launch we got a critical warning and Jono bought her in for a check - it was awesome to see Jono in action in a crisis situation landing with precision - as it turned out the antennas were damaged so I swapped out the Rx and we launched again - what an awesome ship, the first of the fleet that I did not build - I think it is a pylon racer and weighs in at 900g like the Vista - before taking the sticks I asked Jono how it compared to the other two, and he said it is certainly sporty and he pulled 109 kph on the airspeed sensor before handing over the sticks - WOW - I loved it - it flies like a dream (fast and slippery) and I did not feel at any stage it was out of control - again I stuck to my figure eights, but I did manage 97 kph on one pass - my adrenaline was through the roof and Jono landed her for a second time without incident!

One more launch of the Vista to seal a great afternoon of flights - I toyed with handling the launch, but it was getting quite blustery, so I did not push my luck - more of the same figure eights with the flight, but this time I went for two loops - next time out I need to crack the downwind leg and I will try some sim time for that too!

All in all it was an awesome afternoon!

 

[bracesport]

Maiden and demise of the Hybrid V - it really does fly well and deserves a rebuild from its minor ding!

the Vista is a trouper - sadly I bungled a heap of footage with a flat camera battery, but this is a short compilation from several flights - for the landing section the prop is windmilling and was taken from the first flight of the day before we taped the prop flat!

 

[Wildthing]

DECEMBER 15 2019

Met up again with Jono - he was having a combat meet with a couple of mates and apart from some more flying I was keen to see that in action!

Wind NW 40 kph (a bit higher than Friday and more turbulent).

I took three ships, the Vista, the Hybrid V and the Speed V (warmliner) and flew all three!

First up was the maiden of my Hybrid V - it has a 3D printed fuse, Bixler 3 wing, Bixler 2 tail modified to a V, and weighs in at 1.2kgs - Jono handled the launch and reviewed the trim before giving me the sticks - WOW it flies really well - smooth and stable - I am still flying figure 8's and while it seems really low tech the confidence is building - Jono was encouraging me to do some downwind legs but sadly I didn't get there today - all the telemetry was working and we had a bit of fun with the airspeed sensor - where it all went wrong was I got in behind the cliff and lost it as you will see in the video!

Second was the Vista again weighing in at 900g - today I had reattached the prop in case of an emergency (thankfully there was none) - on the first launch the prop was windmilling and getting no airspeed traction, so Jono landed it and we taped the blades to the fuse - on the second launch it was flying beautifully again - it was amazing to feel the difference with the lighter ship and you could see it getting buffeted more than the Hybrid - I think this flight was nearly 20mins (I did manage one loop) and Jono bought her in for a textbook landing!

Third one up the maiden the Speed V - I was using the Rx from the downed Hybrid, and after a good launch we got a critical warning and Jono bought her in for a check - it was awesome to see Jono in action in a crisis situation landing with precision - as it turned out the antennas were damaged so I swapped out the Rx and we launched again - what an awesome ship, the first of the fleet that I did not build - I think it is a pylon racer and weighs in at 900g like the Vista - before taking the sticks I asked Jono how it compared to the other two, and he said it is certainly sporty and he pulled 109 kph on the airspeed sensor before handing over the sticks - WOW - I loved it - it flies like a dream (fast and slippery) and I did not feel at any stage it was out of control - again I stuck to my figure eights, but I did manage 97 kph on one pass - my adrenaline was through the roof and Jono landed her for a second time without incident!

One more launch of the Vista to seal a great afternoon of flights - I toyed with handling the launch, but it was getting quite blustery, so I did not push my luck - more of the same figure eights with the flight, but this time I went for two loops - next time out I need to crack the downwind leg and I will try some sim time for that too!

All in all it was an awesome afternoon!

That just sounds like a fantastic day that can't get any better.

 

[bracesport]

FEBRUARY 20 2020

Today I finally flew my scratch-built DLG - the launching was easier than I thought it would be, but it was harder to keep it in the air than I expected - the wind came up a bit so maybe that contributed a little first time out - I messed a bit with the elevator trim which made a difference in speed, but I could not get it to float as well as I would have liked!

Great to bring it home in one piece so I can also try her on the slope!

 

[Wildthing]

FEBRUARY 20 2020

Today I finally flew my scratch-built DLG - the launching was easier than I thought it would be, but it was harder to keep it in the air than I expected - the wind came up a bit so maybe that contributed a little first time out - I messed a bit with the elevator trim which made a difference in speed, but I could not get it to float as well as I would have liked!

Great to bring it home in one piece so I can also try her on the slope!

View attachment 158603 View attachment 158604

Beautiful

 

[bracesport]

MARCH 01 2020

A beautiful day here in wellington - breathless - after messing up the video on the last outing it was check, check, and recheck - today was also an improvement in the flight performance with some better air time - the issue I had today was that is was stalling off of the top of the launch - probably a CG thing (will need to research)!

All in all a great outing!

View attachment

 

[Wildthing]

MARCH 01 2020

A beautiful day here in wellington - breathless - after messing up the video on the last outing it was check, check, and recheck - today was also an improvement in the flight performance with some better air time - the issue I had today was it seemed to be stalling ooff of the top of the launch - probably a CG thing (will need to research)!

All in all a great outing!

That was great, definitely towards the end they were getting a lot smoother

 

[bracesport]

MARCH 02 2020

my third outing with the DLG was intended to test my launch mode and trim the CG but unfortunately, on the third launch I broke the tail - after taping it back on it had added a bit of tail weight, so things were not as planned - the launch mode works well, and after some repairs to the tail, it should go well!

The launch 'mode' is 10% up-elevator on switch F which is a two-position switch in the back left corner - I push it back into Launch Mode and bump it forward to exit the mode - seemed to work well.