original: ArrowNaughtic
Well, seems today is a flight report day so will let you guys in on my day before I ask my question........
The day started with my GWS Estarter and the less than reliable landing gear. It has a tendancy to flod back upon any landing that is less than perfect. It took off okay and flew as well as can be expected with the bent motor shaft. (I straightened it as much as i could) Loops, some very sloppy rolls and the ugly knife edge attempts all went okay. I landed and checked things over after about 5 minutes of flight. The landing gear did as expected and folded on touchdown and bent the GWS aluminum mount back but was easily straightened out and up in the air again......... Finished out the 3S 800mAh battery and scored a perfect landing. Time to let the Estarter cool off and fly the Slow Stick.......
Took off and in the air within about 10 feet and did some circuits around the field with some loops and dives tossed in........ landed once and let it sit for a couple minutes then while attempting another takeoff........she lifted and apparently got afraid of heights and decided to dive for cover. Broken motor mount (GWS aluminum stick mount just like the Estarter) Ok....so that plane is done for the day so decide to put the fresh battery in the Estarter and take off........... after about 4 attempts and restraightening the motor mount she was finally airborne. One circuit to adjust the trime.......a couple of loops and one aileron roll and Viola!!!! The motor seperated from the mount! I landed it about 60 ft away almost on top of my flying buddys Slow Stick. Anothe plane bites the dust............ Home fixes are better than losing screws in the grass and sand.
Time to maiden the roomies Slow Stick we built together......... She is afraid to take off with it and decides to let me take off........trim then hand her the TX. I take off, fly one circuit and adjust the ruddr trim to get it into level flight with zero stick input. I handed her the controls and sadly she only got one circuit in before losing orientation and trying to hand me back the Tx as it was barreling for the backstop of the baseball field we were flying in. Both servos stripped and prop broken as well as the ELE horn ripped out. A little CA and a servo rebuild and she will be ready to go again tomorrow.
Three planes, 3 casualties and I was afraid to bring out the helis now. One look at the Century Swift 16 told us the tail belt was loose. I am pretty new to that one and not knowing the heli that well was not willing to make a field repair. Too much money and too big of a heli to have it explode in flight. Next up was the TREX 450.......... this heli has been my long standing friend since I got it dialed in. A good 10 minutes of hover and she was ready to go home. In one piece again! Knock on wood, that heli has always been reliable and steady, I can't say as much for the other bazillion helis I have in various states of repair.......