Ralph Morris

Anyone want to complain about the weather where you're at?

Here in "sunny" southern California it's been raining for two days now, and the forecast says rain off and on for the next several days.

Is there anything worse than having a new airplane when it's raining? Just a couple of weeks ago we had a few sunny days with temperatures near 90. That's unusually warm for January, even in SoCal.

I just finished my newest electric-powered sport-aerobatic plane, and got to fly it only twice before the rains came. Now I just go out into my shop and look at it once in a while. Click on this link to see a photo:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/sh...t=1&thecat=500

Usually we complain about not having a building season here. We have good flying weather well over 300 days per year, and you know how hard it is to build when you could be flying.

Mettler1

Hey Ralph, get your butt up here to Michigan. We haven't seen 30 degrees in the past two months and last night we got 14 inches snow dumped on us. 71 inches so far this winter. And some other areas have got it worse.
Couple of days ago I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel but it was only the damn train.

Hope we see 50 degrees by April!!!

Ptarmigan

Its been cloudy a lot lately. Also, it is going to rain this weekend, so no flying for me
Weather here sucks.

vegas mossie

It rained here in Las Vegas for the first time in like a year. Man this sucks!! A whole day wasted...

GrnBrt

My Feedback: (5)

Just a t-shirt for me here in gods country, heck there was a guy driving down the road with the top down. sure has been a warm winter here but we will pay for it this summer. The snow pack in the mountains is down 60% and that's not a good thing.

Jason Beach

My Feedback: (4)

A bit of snow here and there.
3 weeks of steady wind 20+mph.

Jason

RCaeroguy

My Feedback: (4)

Ah yes, the whine of the fair weather bird. I long for days back in the 30's. Up here just south of Buffalo, I don't think it's made it past 30 for a couple months. We did have a warm spell a couple weeks ago. It made it all of the way up to 40 for 2 or 3 days. Several feet of snow but the floats work pretty good. As long as the wind's not blowing.

beardking

My Feedback: (4)

To your question "Is there anything worse than having a new airplane when it's raining?", yes there is something worse. Having beautiful weather (70's, no rain, mild wind) all week long, then the weekend comes along and it decides it's going to drop down to the 40's and rain. Oh, and add to that 3 planes that haven't seen a runway in about 3 weeks.

Ralph Morris

Hey, at least you get a building season.

Unstable

you know.... i just have no sympathy for you guys.

as for having a brand new plane and not able to fly it I would say something worse is a perfect day with nothing to fly

SunDevilPilot

Well Ralph, I am in the same situation as you are. 360 sunny days interupted by this storm that is rolling through the west coast. I live in Arizona so the temp is great but this rain that is coming from the coast is really making life unbearable (hahaha, NO SNOW!). I will admit, this weather is all my fault. I washed my car on Monday and the storm came here on Tuesday. Sorry guys! Will be flying in sunny weather and 75 degrees by the weekend I hope.

Later, Phil

Groundforce-RCU

My Feedback: (20)

We had 50 - 60 mph hour yesterday. Not that I can go fly or nothin (both planes on the bench..well for snow anyways). Close to fixing them, and ill bet when they are ready to fly, THIS WEATHER WILL BREAK..
Anyway I know ill be up soon, the willows here are golden, and that means within 3 weeks, ill be able to slosh on the MUDDY field LOL

RSprinkel

My Feedback: (3)

Well we still have at least an inch of snow on the ground and in the low 30's during the day and low 20's at night. But, we are expecting a BIG winter storm this weekend from Friday night straight through sunday night. No accumulations have been called yet. Some are saying up to 30" and some say up to 20". So we will have to wait it out I guess :disappoin

Ralph Morris

I just put a set of bigger wheels on my new plane, 'cause when this rain breaks it will be gooey mud at the park where I fly. We don't have topsoil here, just a sort of clay they call adobe. When it rains, it gets real sticky. You can't even wipe it off your shoes. When it dries, it's hard as brick. In fact, they used to make houses out of it.

Mettler1

Well Ralph, where I'm from we have "green" grass (when you can see it). So there!! N8HNQ

Ralph Morris

Hi Mettler; Here's a link to a photo of me at our flying field. There is some green stuff growing out of the adobe, here and there. They call it "native grass." Our flying field is in a park that's biologically significant. We're not allowed to plant anything or cut the natural growth.

The model (train) engineers had to re-route some of their track on the other side of the park because a spotted owl moved in.

In the background you can see some sage brush. Cushions hard landings in the boonies.

I grew up in northern Indiana, so I'm familiar with the nice green grass you enjoy, once the snow melts. Do you fly off grass, or pavement? Skis?

http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/sh...t=1&thecat=500

spooner

hey ralph if you would quit watering your clay then we here in NV can have water in lake mead to try to fly off of. ha ha ha..its trus. nite and still raining here.......where in s.cal r u? spooner

spooner

..its trus. nite sorry should say thurs. nite

Bob Peterson

Hey Ralph,
I'm just about an hour down the coast from you. We have the same problem with clay. We have the most fantastic field I ever saw, but the road in is clay. With this rain we will probably not be able to drive on the road for a few days after the rain stops. Luckily the sun should dry it out pretty quick. Right now it is known as "Owl Poop".
Bob

Ralph Morris

Hi Justgotr; We're not allowed to water it, either. Might flood out the spotted owl. We have a lot of tree-huggers here on the left coast.

We had rain left over for you this morning. More coming, according to the forecast.

I'm located in Orange County, Calif. Costa Mesa is close to Newport Beach, but only about 1/2 as expensive.

We're thinking about moving either to Phoenix or Las Vegas, eventually. My wife prefers Las Vegas and I think I would prefer Phoenix. Maybe we'll do both.

spooner

both have good flying weather but we have more days of it. its about the same temps. we save money by staying awy from the casinos..... grew up next to Edwards AFB, but don't tell anyone.... spooner

Ralph Morris

Hi Bob; and welcome to the mad, mad R/C Universe! I'd like to visit your field one of these days. If you're up this way be sure to come by Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. There's free flight, gliders and electric planes and helicopters, including some awesome ducted-fans on weekends.

Is that what makes this clay so sticky? I knew we had spotted owls in the park, but I never suspected. It sure is difficult to get it off your shoes, isn't it?

Ralph Morris

My lips are sealed. Hey, you didn't grow up at Pancho Barnes' Happy Bottom Riding Club, did you?

Mettler1

Hi again Ralph, I used to do the ski thing with C/L and once with R/C but now I just hibernate in the winter. We have five acres of grass in the middle off farm country. Our club spent $7,000 on a new commercial last year and it was worth every nickel of it. Really does a nice job of cutting unlike the "old" mower.

About a dozen of us retirees get together on Tues. and Thurs. mornings for breakfast-go flying (weather permitting) and then go to lunch. Then we meet at the hobby shop on some of the other weekdays for coffee. We spend WAY to much time together but you won't find a nicer bunch of people!

Here's a couple of pics of my Dragon Lady. Nice grass too!
http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/sh...e=&ppuser=2147

Capt Jim

My Feedback: (168)

Our "building season" is the sticky, sweltering hot summer. Our winters here in S. Fl. are usually 75 degrees every day, and real nice for whatever you like to do. This year however, the temps have been a lot lower and its been too windy for casual flying. The cold fronts are hitting us quite frequently this year. All that said, I'll stick with this weather rather than go back up north and have to deal with snow, ice, freezing cold, etc. With gas prices up as high as they are, it costs a bundle to make the 45 minute (one-way) run out to the field and back every day....the flight simulator is a real nice option, and you can fly anytime of day or night, in any weather,.... And crashs are free!