Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

It has rained or we have had blowing winds 30 or 40 miles per hour for it seems like two months now on every weekend....lol...
well this Saturday it was perfect flying conditions in north Alabama. Blue sky, 75 degrees no wind! Finely!! I took my little yard dart out to the flying field behind my house, just me and my youngest son(11 years old), set up and got in five or six tank fulls of pure bliss flying...no one else was there, had the whole field to ourselfs, spent about two hours just before dark doing lazy loops and rolls, inverted fly bys, touch and gos, hammerhead stalls, and spins. Once a buzzard came right over the runway and of course it was my duty to drive the invader off by chasing him to the tree line at the end of the runway...then I just did an Immelman and flew back to the field, and landed. As I was cleaning up the plane
and talking with my son, a hawk flew past the north end of the runway, the sun was sitting behind a thin layer of clouds and made the tree line behind him turn a beautiful golden and orange color...he let out a long scrreeeeachhhh and swooped into a tree and landed.... off in the distance beyond him cattle was grazing in a field. We sat there with the sun warm on our shoulders and just watched for a few minutes..and I thought...what a wonderful hobbie this is....no stress...no pressure....what a healthy, tension releaving activity this is....I wish everyone could fly R/C at least once in their lives. We packed up and left , with a smile on our faces as we drove back home. All the waiting on the bad weather was well worth it.......

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Fine day it was on Saturday. I got out my Oly-99 sailplane and took it and the highstart out to a pasture and flew. Thermal activity was good: she flew like a hawk, and it was a relaxing time.

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Yes Bill the 'ol gliders are fun to fly....i'm working on one now to get me back in the air soon..... :)

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Geeze that sounds nice. I spent Saturday in the ER getting stitches for 6 prop bites!! I'm glad you got a good day in. I cant wait till I get to the point where flying is stress free. Now its white nuckles, all the time... Just praying I can get it home safe!!

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Three or four years ago I got bit by the soaring bug, and have spent that time doing "silent flight". Very relaxing and comforting, especially when thermals are strong and you can circle like a buzzard. My favorite sailplanes are a couple of 30 year-old birds I got at an estate sale and refurbished them.

This Spring I'm getting back into powered flight, that is one dimension of r/c that I've missed. Been getting my 4*60 ready, and then I'll get the backburnered BTE Flyin'King finished.

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Hey Kevin.... sorry to hear about your stiches!! But i know what you mean by white knuckel flying...we have all been there!!! I remember flying my first trainer and being so nervious I could hardly stand up!! It will get better and better as the years go by...LOL....soon you will be sailing along with out a care in the world.... I've done the stiches thing too.....when I first started R/C years ago....18 stiches up the inside of my middle knuckle on my left hand from a fox 40 at full throttle!! OUCH!! I learned well tho.....and havent gotten bit again yet...knock on wood!!! lol...paint the tips of your props white and be careful!! See ya in the air!!! :)

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Sorry folks, while I have one sailplane I seldom fly it. To me it's like watching paint dry.

After some 50 years with single prop planes, even the most unstable, while not a walk in the park, is just fun.

Only been flying twins for seven years now, and for me the twins are still sheer exhilaration.

Try a twin - a new world.

Bill.

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

LOL@ William..... :)..... Well I must admit William its a slower paced fun with gliders....but I enjoy every aspect of this hobbie....me and my brother in law was into 1/2 A planes a few years back. we would scrach build them, put the hottest Cox engines on them we could find....and pylon race them till they ran out of gas!!! Fast and ferious!!!! Then we would dogfight them with crape paper tied to the tails.....then we would break out the gliders launch at the same time and see who could stay in the air the longest!! Theres something about being up there with no power and still being able to find those thermals....ride till its a speck....and do loops and rolls till you lose the altitude...find another thermal....and do it all over again.....and I also like to fly my yard dart till the nitromethane is running through my blood too!! One day I'm gona do just what you suggested, and build me a twin engine job...and start another flying world for me....lol God I love this hobbie!!! hee hee...... :) :) ;) :}.......hmmmmmm lets see.....I do like the look of those scale warbirds too....hmmmmmmm

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Wesley:

Sounds like you 've had a lot of enjoyment.

When I was stationed in Texas, the last years of my USAF time, we too did all sorts of things with the little Coxes. Great fun.

But consider:

You look off to the right, a big twin is screaming down in a 45 degree dive, engines running 15,000 rpm, 16,000 rpm, still accellerating, 17,000 rpm, then a gentle flick of "Up" and it's level, five feet over the runway... 150 mph, beautiful sound of twin 46 engines at 18,500 rpm...WWHHHOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Pull up gently, do a large 3/4 loop, dive it back down, now a flick of "Down" and repeat the fast pass, but this time inverted.

And of course, that's just one way to clear your sinuses with a twin. While you can do it with a single, it's just a pale imitation.

Think about it.

Bill.

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Bill....good description of that flight!! I got goose bumps just imagining it!! I'd love to have a P-38 lightning scale plane and do that!! I'd probably pass out as it went by me....lol...gona have to try it ...... thanks... :)

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Wesley:

We have to be (painfully) honest here - with just a couple changes that description is how I had my last major crash.

Wasn't a twin, and flat out it would just barely run 80 mph, but I waited too long to do the inverted pull-out. And it was still running 80 mph when it hit the asphalt. Parts scattered for about 100 yards. Damage included half the fins broken off the cylinder head, broken muffler, and bent crankshaft. The only reason any part of it still looked like an airplane was that the covering held its shape, but the covering had become a bag of splinters.

But with the modern miracles of CA and epoxy, that same plane is about ready to fly again. The wing and vertical fin/rudder are completely replaced along with the muffler, I straightened the crank and left the head damage alone.

So why did I bother to repair it? Total cost of repair, including a new muffler was less than $150. Would have been hard to replace it for that price.

And as strange as it may seem to some, the only thing that bothered me about the crash was that I had pulled a damnfool stunt. Damage to the airplane and engine didn't bother me at all.

All up, that plane was less than $400. Now had it been one of my twins, representing a couple grand, well...

It's all in fun. You get yours with smooth soaring, I enjoy violent maneuvering. Done smoothly, of course. Haw.

Bill.

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Wow! what a crash story Bill...I've had a few of those myself...lol ...left me with just a hand full of eletronic speggitti!!! LOL. Hey while we're on the subject of twin engines here bill can I ask you a question? Whats the best kit or arf twin engine for someone to start off with?? I dont have the funds for an expensive project right now so I'd be looking for the cheapest twin "trainer"...lol (if there could be such a thing).. prob..a .25 size...lol..any ideas???? BTW....I just saw that you have been made a moderator in the twin engine dept. .....Congratulations!! :)

25 size twin trainer
 

Wesley:
You may have noticed I'm a big Duellist fan, but the Duellist is neither an easy kit to build well, nor is it really a good twin trainer - it's too responsive for a first twin unless you've been flying aerobatics for a while. And with the demise of the Twinstar there are no ARF's I'd recommend.

But.

Northeast Aerodynamics (and John Marien, owner) has a pair of very nice twins, the Twin-Air 25 and the Twin-Air 45. And, if John can get a little free time, there will be a Twin-Air 15. He has promised me one of the first 15's, maybe even a pre-production kit.

Unlike any other manufacturer you can name, I have never heard a bad word about N-E Aero, either their products or customer support. And I've never seen a piece of bad wood in any of his kits.

The TA series is easy to build, difficult to build badly, and they are very nice fliers. It's one of the few twins that aren't really hard to take off and land with only one engine running. Not recommended, but you can do it.

And they're not expensive. $155 to your door, including freight. Just about the same as the Duellist 2/40, but a much better plane for the inexperienced twin flyer. Sorry, but I don't know the price on the TA 25.

Web site: www.ne-aero.com

Click on "Dealers," then "Direct Sales."

Thanks... I think. Haw.

Enjoy.

Bill.

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

Thanks Bill..... I just went to their site and man those are some pretty planes!! I think I'll order that twin air .25 that looks like a perfect beginner twin for me, and I'll start looking for a pair of .25's to go on it too.....thanks a million!! :)

Got to fly on a sunny saturday afternoon...
 

This talk of Pica Duelists is bringing back fond memories of one I had for about a year. Had two Supertiger 40's on it. Flew great, really stayed in a groove, and there is nothing like having a twin engine plane make some noise for a while. This was my first and only twin.

Good things come to an end, on take off one day an engine died, and I wa trying to get it back to the field when about 10 feet off the ground it quit flying. Fuselage really got dorked, but I thought it was pretty fragile, anyhow.

So I put the pieces in the corner of my shop for 5 or 6 years, and about a year ago pulled them out and cut the engine nacelles off the wing, built up what was left of the fuselage, fixed some scars, bolted on an OS91 4 stroke, and now fly it as a single. Still good flying characterists.

Of course, I made quite a point of show and tell to my wife that this really is an inexpensive hobby when I recycle like this.