But I suppose a bad day flying is better than a good day working. Went to field Sunday, and man was it cold. But there were only three of us there, and my instructor turned me loose. SOLO! Whoo hoo. Plane was flying good, but I wasn't. You know you're having a bad day when you have people diving behind the jersey barricades. My problem was that I was turning too sharply onto final, and winding up with the a/c flying right twoards me. I would then make major corrections on final, and, well, see above. I did manage to break two nylon! props, but that might have been because it was only about 22 degrees that AM. I managed to bounce into the ground, break the prop, stall the engine, and wind up about five feet in the air, nose high, low speed, and no engine, but got the nose down and flew behind! me and miss the impound tree and land it in the grass. On its back, but in one piece. Well, two if you count the prop blade lying on the runway. Luckless plane didn't taxi back to the pits once. What's a real bite is the last time I was out there, I was greasing it in like I was a natural. Ah well, there's always next Sunday!

Andy
Scared Avistar

Sounds like a fine day of flying ... apart from the props, the plane's in one piece.

gus

Always a good day when your plane goes home in one piece. I did manage to break the fuselage, tail, split it apart over the horz. stab. Only reason it happened was the stab/vert stab shifted, will eventually get around to epoxing them in place so it dosen't happen again.

Andy

I agree, if you still have a plane, it was a good flying day. Consider yourself lucky. I wanted to fly Sunday. I guess the club I joined don't open on cold days. Bummer...

Wings

22 degrease is not all that cold, unless you live in a high climate area, but aleast your model is
re-useable!

I can relate!! I`m a fairly recently solo pilot too. While training there were days when I`d fly great then the next day out it was like I`d never flown! Now that I`m flying on my own I realize that this an EXTREMELY dangerous time for a crash. Once I`m up, I stay high ( altitude is your friend! ) and about the only thing I do low is land! Keep practicing!

I'm with you bro.

I see a bunch of people fly by at like 30 feet high full throttle. It looks cool and all, but to me, I am content watching it fly by WAY up in the air. Maybe someday when I am good I will get some guts.

Stick time fellows, stick time,it even took God more than one day to make the universe.

I remember those days of terrorizing hapless pilots

So true...

And before too long, you'll be at 30 feet inverted.

Just remember that everyone has good and bad days. The trick is to realize when it's a bad one and fly more carefully. [&:] I was at the field with a few other guys one day earlier this year, and a couple of them were sitting watching a couple of us fly. I thought I'd show off a little and made an inverted pass down the runway at about 15 feet. My fingers twitched just a bit on the right stick and the plane dove! [X(]

Fortunately it cleared the ground by about a foot! That's what I call a GOOD day.
Dennis-

Hi a65l,

"Too soon old, too late smart". The older I get, the HIGHER I fly!!! SMART!




Good Flying

And missed the "Impound Tree" ? This sounds like a good story!

Glad you solo'd! Glad you took home a complete plane! I remember worse days!

Good luck,
Dave Olson

22 degrease is not all that cold, unless you live in a high climate area,

Yep4-

You do understand that's 22 degrees Farenheit, not Celsius. That would be what, about -5C.

-Scott

It is always a successful flight if ya only have to bend over once to pick up the airplane.

I have found the most dangerous flier at the field is the one who just soloed, I always keep a barrier of some kind between me and the new pilot

Congrats on a good day flying

Terry

My Sunday was ...well OK. We had temps in the 60's, but had real windy conditions. Some were cross wind and it gusted alot. I was trying to maiden my Magic Extra, so was more cautious that normal. My biggest problem was getting the engine (OS46fx) back in tune. I was in my Avistar that crashed last summer and hadn't run since then. I had to spend quite a bit of time trying to get it in. I did get in two partially successful flights close to sund down. Partially successful because I also had two dead stick landings. The engine quits about 1/4 tank into the fuel. I think it is too lean on the top end so more fine tuning is needed. I can tell you this though, even though the flights were short, I think the Magic Extra is going to be a great fun plane to fly.

That's the way I always land. You mean there is another?


[8D]

Sounds to me that maybe the clunk line has a hole in it, or has fallen off.

gus

30 feet?
lower lower

Hmm. Glad your plane ended up relatively unscathed and nobody was hurt. Where exactly was your instructor while all this was happening? The most dangerous time for a new pilot is right after he is "certified". the expression at our field is that once you have your "ticket" you are now allowed to crash your planes all on your own!

If you aren't doing so already, have an instructor level pilot spot for you whenever you can. Just knowing he is there will help keep you calm and flying nicely. As far as how you flew that day, what were you wearing on your hands? It is sort of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario, but cold desensitizes your fingertips and most gloves you can wear may keep you hands warm, but transmits very little feel (feedback) to your fingertips as well. It is extremely hard to fly when you can't feel the sticks.

gus: I got a chance to look at it this past week. I found the plug twisted almost a quarter turn, also loose, but everything else was fine. I have tightened the plug, and repositioned the clunk, and the pressure line. I think this should help, but the weather is so crappy this weekend, it will be next weekend before I can get it back in the air.