gaRCfield
Posts: 1254
Joined: 5/20/2008
From: Burlington, VT, USA
Status: offline
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So tonight was club/training night. I've been waiting for today since about 9:15pm last Wednesday night. The weather here in VT's been nuts all week, with spotted thunderstorms popping up out of nowhere. Today was only a 30% chance of thundershowers, so I took that as a definite day of flying. I stopped by the new LHS to order my new Decathlon (feeling a little reserved after all I've been hearing on this forum, but figured I'd be ready by the time it's ready to fly. More on that later.) He was just finishing up his new plane, and we got to the field at about 5:15.It turned out to be mostly sunny; blue skies, some whispy white clouds way up high, and the corn surrounding the strip is just starting to grow; everything (including the mountains in the backdrop) was nice and green. Well tonight they came out of the woodwork! The lot was filled, and there was a great number of guys and planes in the pit, among fold up chairs, tables, and canopies. Maybe 78 degrees, no wind, perfect! The sky went from empty to full in 10 seconds it takes me to start my 46AX. We have been talking about a 6 plane max in the air, and it seemed to stay right around 4 to 6 planes. I found an opening, started up my Dolphin, and away I went. I was super psyched because the instructor who I worked with on my trainer was there. I haven't seen him since before my crashes. I'm sure he saw quite a difference!
The Dolphin flies so perfect, doing everything it's asked. I practiced a bunch of stuff I've read here on the forums, and most noticeably was the easing of elevator into a loop. I had been trying to steer my way through loops with some rudder, but was finding the amount to be pretty inconsistent. Well easing on the elevator straightened everything right up! I was nailing some sweet looking Cuban 8's most of the night. I toned up my rudder use on basic turns just a bit, and had nice smooth, constant altitude turns, without the tail dropping at all by the end of the night. My take offs, and most notably my landings, were followed up by my trainer saying "I wish I could get my other guys to do that!" or a whisper, "hey Joe, nice take off!) as an instructor walked by. The goal for this upcoming week is elevator practice during knife edges. Who knew it took so much stick input just to get a plane to fly on its side (and in a straight line)?!  I also practiced getting myself into a couple of (tip) stalls, and this definitely confirms the 'hits' that I had over the past week-and-a-half. Wing dropped, plane rolled and started to turn itself around when I was at I think one, maybe two clicks of throttle and started to turn. Over two clicks (three) is just enough to turn base to final without a stall, lose a click as I make my approach and fly in at 2 clicks. When I'm maybe 4 feet from the ground, hit idle, and the plane greases right in  It's all about stick time. I think I had close to 10 flights tonight!
It's been an insane week for me with work and school, and speaking of which I really have a lot of work to be doing. But a day at the field is so relaxing and peaceful, and challenging when I need it to be. Everyone was in a good mood, there were new planes, new faces, and old friends. It sounds like we're planning a camp out during the upcoming weeks. I couldn't think of a group of guys I'd rather spend a night camping with. All day glow plane flying, night time electric flying, marshmallows, barbecues...what fun! There's really nowhere else I'd rather be on a Wednesday evening.
So I got the OK from a couple of different instructors to get my Decathlon. They said I'm totally ready; that it would snap a bit more than my Dolphin, but that I'll have fun with it. I've been waiting 20 years to fly a scale RC plane, and the time has finally come!
Well thanks for reading. I guess I gotta get myself an electric plane (and lights) for the club camp out 
< Message edited by gaRCfield -- 6/26/2008 4:00:14 AM >
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..this hobby is doing weird things to me...
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I love this hobby... - 
