We should be ok, though, because you should be able to get us an RCU discount, right? Right??? Hey.. Bruce.. RIGHT????

Marc has to call Fred to arrange any discounts that big. I just calculated out an entire (recorded) flight, it came out at 52 gal/min average not counting fuel burned on the ground. 21,800 pounds of fuel burned.[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] 64 minute flight time.

Oooooh kay.. When do we leave? Wait.. we gotta gather all participants!!!

Sorry Bruce, but how does that break down into dollars? [sm=what_smile.gif]And I don't think we can make it all the way to Australia in 64 minutes.

Well, we can, if we go fast enough. [sm=bananahead.gif]

SuperSonic.

Depends on how much you pay per gallon of fuel. An individual pays considerably more per gallon than an airline does due to contracts and volume. Of course you can't make it in 64 minutes, that was just an analysis of a 64 minute trip I had available to work with.

Well it is New Years Eve , here in Australia , so i would like to wish all my friends the world over , an very Happy New Year , may all your flights end in a soft landing . .
Bill

G'day Bill,
Greetings & a very happy new year to you & all our friends world wide.
Are you getting the wild weather, at your place, not too bad here at the moment, but a bit windy.

Keep em in the soft stuff, Bill, just above the hard edges of the air.

Hello Bill and Allan. It's New Years eve here, well, almost... it's 6:00 AM so we have a few hours yet till the 'official' eve time. Yeah, I'm at work.. jeech.. . It's the only way I can afford the fuel for my planes.. Petrol..well, it's just a means to the end (FLYING RC!!)

I hope Bev logs in and reads some of the posts here. I enjoyed the banter. Lots of fun.

Allan.. I will PM you about a little bit of idiocy here on RCU this past week. Someone flexing imaginary muscles in another forum.

Anyway.. you guys have a Safe, Happy, and Prosperous New Years. As Allan said.. keep 'em in the soft stuff!

Oh, I figure out my little problem with my Seagull Super Star and the OS 1.60 FX muffler issue. It seems that it isn't a problem after all. It fits fine with the extender removed (the one on the muffler that lengthens the overall muffler length by about 2.5 inches.) So, onward and upward. I hope to fly that thing within the next few weeks.

Later.

Dick.

[color=#FF0099]Gentlemen (JR, Bruce, Alan, Bill, Dick, etc),

Greetings and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope it is a healthy, and prosperous one for all of us! I just caught up on the thread....hysterical stuff as usual... had a nasty computer virus, [:'(][:@] so I've been out of touch, but I'm BACK NOW!!! ......besides, I've been in my closet trying to pack for the trip down-under!!!!

Been flying of course. Even flew on Christmas Eve! Made Christmas trees for Joel and Ray with airplanes on them of course, and Fockers as the star on top!

.......and then there was today (or yesterday I should say) New Years Eve! Got to the field just after a mid-air (should have taken it as an omen)....

I was holding the tail of my "running" Funtana on the taxiway, Terrence had the radio, and David (in the first pilot cage with a student up on a buddy box), hollered heads up to me. [X(] A plane was on the ground and headed towards me and my plane, I scurried out of the way still holding the tail of my running plane, Terrence grabbed the wing of the runaway plane with his free hand and held on while it tried to turn on him, and the owner threw something on the prop to stop it.....but we aren't finished yet....David then immediately said "where's my plane?". He had started "looping" it to warn me and lost sight of it, so there we all were in chaos till Terrence spotted it out in the field "landed and listing"..... again...I should've considered it an omen, but we took off anyway and the Funtana flew beautifully until......

...long story short, I pancaked my Funtana 40 on the runway when landing (no damage, just ripped off the gear) .....and then proceeded to dead stick my SkyRaider twice....the first was a beautiful dead stick landing on the runway.....the 2nd....I should've just put her on the ground....but no, not me.....I always have to make it to the runway....so there I was, too low when I dead sticked and ended up cartwheeling and ripping of half the horizontal stab and elevator. Joel fixed it at the field, and I have to put a piece of balsa on the corner of the elevator in the morning...

A first for me....I never came to the field with 2 perfectly good airplanes and left with 2 not so perfect planes before!!! [:@]

David and I are going to do tandem take-offs and landings as well as play "tag" tomorrow with my SkyRaider and one of his old teaching trainer planes...so she "has" to be airworthy by mid-day (weather permitting)

Bev

You Build them, You Fly them, You Crash them...and you share about it and you're all smiling in the photos! Great to see your really enjoy the hobby!
Happy New Year!

[color=#FF0099]Gentlemen,

Well, today was great!!!! I trimmed the elevator and cut and glued a new corner piece of balsa on it.. Came out great. David called me early (his student had cancelled this morning) to get me out to the field earlier that we had planned. No problem, I was almost finished with the elevator.

We checked over the plane, I packing taped the top of the wing that had opened up all the way down one side yesterday. Changed out my aileron servo arm, and David put it in the air to check the trims. A foot long hunk of covering blew off the underside of the wing, so upon landing I had to packing tape the huge hole. We all had lunch and then went to put the two planes in the air to do some synchronized flying and it started to rain while we were on the taxi way.... (good news actually, because it chased everyone else off the field with their planes and equipment) We hung out under the impound till it let up and took off......

WOW, WHAT A BLAST!!!! I haven't had this much fun since the two night flights!!!! We even did loops together! I can't wait to do this again...next time hopefully some touch-n-go's in tandem! Both planes survived...no mid-airs or touches. We included one of David's more "seasoned" airframes in the shots. Notice in the 2nd picture it is even missing half it's horizontal stab!!!! Believe it or not, ugly as she is, David will have her together and airworthy (at least for a night flight where you can't see her livery ) Even the top of my wing is covered in packing tape...almost all the damage is from "hanger rash"!

THANKS FOR A SUPER NEW YEARS DAY DAVID!!!! (and just in case no one noticed....it's January 1st and we're in shorts, t-shirts, tank tops and flip-flops....GOD I LOVE SOUTH FLORIDA!!! [8D]

Hey SafeTwire,
Yep, I don't just enjoy the hobby, I'm absolutely passionate about it!!!! Wish I had started as a kid, instead of being stuck on the sidelines!!! And, yeah, everyone has told me that every plane has an expiration date, and when you crash one of your planes, just enjoy the show!!!

Bev, looks like time to recover that bird, before the only covering on it is packing tape.



Happy New Year!!!!

Someday I'm going to cover a new plane in packing tape and patch it with Monokote. I did once cover a plane entirely in radio station bumper stickers (Don't do it; they are very heavy). One christmas I Monokoted my Dad's Christmas Gift. Apparantly that's not funny to a WW2 Veteran who can't see; OOPPS !! Bev your online groupies are probably thinking all we fly down here is super glue, tape, and Commie. pinko heart covered planes; without a frozen building season they aren't all that wrong. Bev you need to take pics of the normal planes we have out on a Wed. or Sun. Do these folks know we fly our junk trainers around simultaniously with two or sometimes three $6K- $15K dollar jets. My kill record is 14 unintentional mid airs and one real victory. I was on the buddy box with a student when a jet hit out trainer at 180 MPH. We landed safely and the jet crashed. Out knifelike alumimum landing gear sliced his wing off. OOO- Rah.

OH yes the pinko-commie comment wasn't just a reference to the planes pink hearts. The hearts aren't just a cute feminine thing. Folks notice her subliminal attempt to corrupt you. In the photo of Bev's packing tape covered wing is her S.U.V. (Seriously Used Vehicle) bumper in the bushers. An Al Gore bumper sticker is on it. [X(] You should see the grafitti she put on my airplane trailer>[] In all fairness she is pretty smart; there are no HILL_RY stickers around. FYI I might table fly tomarrow or thurs. Forcast is for 20+ and bone chilling 50 degree WX.

[color=#FF0099]David,
What time are the tables in danger? High wind is fun for me to Harrier my landings!
Bev

I figured Bev used the pink hearts to patch her plane. Guess she couldn't find one big enough for the wing.

[color=#FF0099]Jr,
I do use the pink hearts to patch holes....if you notice the top of the wing, six of the hearts are in the same positions on both sides of the fuselage....that was from forgetting and having my radio set for another plane and let Terrence take off and it inverted (perfectly) and skidded full throttle down the runway. OOPS!!!...my bad! [:@] I always keep peel-n-stick pink monocote in my field box and a pair of scissors...and of course I keep a roll of packing tape, and a roll of hot pink duct tape!
Bev

Hi Bev,
I wish we could get some of that global warming up here.

Bone chilling 50, I think it's going to hit 50 this weekend, first time in a month, bummer that will just make a mess,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZM1Ud60msg

Was that white sand in the video?

Gunfighter your a sick man. A modeler should never live where water can exist as a solid. I'm going winter flying today. Because it's 60 degrees I'll be putting on the bermuda shorts instead of my regular ones and an extra T-Shirt might have to be worn. Our field is in full season right now with all our Canadians and South Americans. During Summer it's empty at mid day due to the heat that our pavement reflects. You need to be flying down here; Bev looks better in a t-top and shorts then a snow parka and thermal boots..

CG,
Yes, that would be our beach front flying field.

RC,
Your right, Bev would'nt be Bev in a parka and boots.
Gosh, I hear Daytona beach is looking at snow today. That's getting a little close for comfort.

[color=#FF0099]Gentlemen,

Boy did it get cold and windy for us down here...no field for me Wednesday or Thursday!!! We hit an overnight low of 39. Joel and I went out Friday afternoon, and a few diehards were there...only a couple flying...I would have flown (don't mind the wind) but how do you guys handle being so cold??? At any rate, he repaired my landing gear on the Funtana, so she's airworthy again (at least until I fly her )

Gunfighter, I loved that video!!!! Is that something you guys did, or found? If you did it....kudos to you...I happen to love "Hoe-down" from Rodeo (I'm a Copeland fan) and the choreography was wonderful...great editing. I especially loved the Extra doing that half-gainer into the snow when the vertical stab hit. Almost makes me want to fly in the snow......almost [&:][:@].

I brought the new "flydog" out to the field yesterday... "Patty Wagstaff" wore her hot pink and purple quilted winter jacket layered over a pink t-shirt!! Me, I wore my leather navy flight jacket, (I wonder if navy flight jackets come in pink?) jeans, and heaven forbid closed toe shoes..... [>:] ...not my typical flying gear, can't wait for it to warm up again...maybe tomorrow. Definitely Monday...the weather channel says we are back up in the high 70's.

Bev

Hi Bev,
I was the pilot behind the half gainer I was'nt actually trying to do that but it just happened.

Bosch232 was the cameraman and editor behind the video, if you can believe this, it was his second attempt editing with the camera. This was a combination of the first time we went out and the second, I had repaired my Extra after the crash and the opening was of me test flying it again.

This was the original video we took right after the snow when the conditions were perfect, and was also his first time video editing, he was hoping for some good feedback on his work and I'm sure he will be delighted with your comments. He really has a knack for catching the right things.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=TO5Tm3HqOfE