Just had my first flight today after being away from the hobby for 5 years. Not too bad a take off. Wind was gusty and it really got my heart beating a few times when it caused the plane to wing over (well at least I'm blaming it on the wind). Took forever to get it set for hands off flight. Flew for about 5 minutes and brought it in for a 3, 4 and 5 point landing (gear, wingtip and prop). All in all not bad for my first time in 5 years. I'll wait for calmer wind the next time so I can work on knocking the rust off without having to fight the wind. If you go by the old addage "a good landing is any landing you can walk away from. A great landing is any landing you can still use the airplane" then I had a great landing.

Has anyone else out there been away from the hobby for a few years and got back into it like me? Share your experiences.

Oh, the plane was a SIG LT-40 I built 13 years ago with a Tower Hobbies .46ABC engine.

Hi Bob,

Welcome back to RCing, I am also back after a hiatis of 15 years. A friend of mine purchased two 40 sized trainers from a yardsale for guys called "Haydays" The planes were complete except for transmitters. So he gave them to me to see if I could get the motors running, well one thing led to another and I bought a radio and have 6 or 7 flights on the "Flight Star" and have not touched the SIgtrainer yet. I picked up an OS 46ax and stuck it in my old Tiger 11(Frankenstien) that was hanging in the rafters all this time and now have 4 flights with 4 deadsticks on it. I should have just changed out the fuel tank, but oh no, anyway all landings were walkaways.

Now I am working on building a couple of Ultra Sports(with flaps) and would like to try a contender next, or maybe a cub or maybe both!! Yikes bitten buy the RC bug again.

Calvi

OK, had my second flight today and WAAAAYYY better! Much better flying conditions too. Wind about 5-10 MPH from the NW. Take of roll was easier and had much more control once I got it airborne. Mostly flew a box pattern but I did do a loop and tried to do a split-S. The split-s was ugly, but hey, it's a trainer so....... Had a couple of approaches before I got a good one, but after I extended my downwind I got myself lined up properly and greased the landing! Nice, smooth and just settled down on all three gear, the engine even stayed running! Much better than my last flight. I'm only able to get one flight out of the plane today because the battery was too weak after the flight, have to replace that, but all in all I'm happy. Couple of flights like this and I'll see about flying my 4Star 60.

Just to give you an idea of where I'm flying from; I'm at my mother-in-law's horse ranch in eastern Colorado. Elevation about 4400ft. The field is a horse pasture so the surface is pretty rough. I cut the buffalo grass to make a runway. All in all not a bad place to fly.

Welcome back... I came back myself 3 yrs ago after about 25 yrs away.. There has been many changes... You have the best trainer there is... The LT40 is a fantastic plane... We have built some that we have enlarged 9 percent and we have built floats for them...They are great flyers.. We put Saito FA 82's on them ..Be very careful that you don't allow yourself to destroy your plane by flying it with a questionable battery...A new battery is not all that expensive and can be moved from plane to plane... Make sure of the batterys in your transmitter too...Wow Calvinman , it took me a year of flying my Tiger 11 before I was ready for an Ultra Sport... I built mine and finished it just when Minn flyer passed away....He helped me thru my build...The Ultra Sport is a real spicy meat ball....I have a OS 75 ax on it and it's a pretty good match...I put retracts in it and doing it again I would not bother...It makes it heavy and they just don't work all that well in my opinion... Jeepers I think the second biteing of the bug is even worse than the first.. You fall deeper and faster...Oh but I love this hobby.

Congratulations! and welcome back also.
I, too, have gotten back into the hobby after taking nearly 20 years off to raise a family. But now, I'm fighting my work schedule. [:@]
I'm buying LOTS of stuff. [8D]
Without the kids to take my money something has to! I think of it as an investment. HA

Hi BikerBC,

I had a couple of UltraSports back in the day, I sold everything but my Tiger II which is so ugly only it's mother could love it. I think by the time I get the Ultra's built I will be ready, but I am going to have to find a club to join, right now we are flying off of a gravel road with steep ditches.

I am hoping to get out and visit a couple of clubs soon. My old club ACRA now WHAM has moved it's field so I will check them out and another club to the south of town, see which one is easyer to get to.

I agree with you on the retracts just one more thing to go wrong, just like the flaps I am going to build into them, but I have learned about the retracts the hard way like you. At least there is not much to go wrong with flaps.

I am happy to hear your second flying day went better than the first BobFE One good flight sure does boost the spirits!!

Calvi

OK, third time out. First flight was good. Wind a little more than last time but not gusty so had fun. Did a few rolls, loops, etc. Flew great. Landing a little rough but not bad. Second flight was a lot of fun. Took my youngest son (10 years old) for his first flight. He didn't do to bad. Kept loosing altitude on his turns, but still had fun. Last time he had a nice turn before loosing it. Not bad for his first time. Landing was great, greased it in. Third flight started out great. Did a few loops, a few hammer head stalls. I was having a lot of fun. For the rest of the flight please refer to "Sig LT-40 Crash" in the "Crash & Rebuild" forum. I've attached a pic of where I'm flying.

Why did you mount all your propellers to those sticks? just kidding.

I hung them up to dry, LOL. Actually they make great wind socks. Makes it easy to figure out where the wind is coming from.