Today was a great day for me and some of the buds. We got up early and headed out to our favorite test site for a little flying before heading up to Columbia TN for their fly-in. The weather was great, so with a box of Krispy Kremes in tow and a cooler of drinks we made it to the field around 830. Little to no wind, low humidity, and clear skies....we must be living right..woo hoo!!!

Got started with the Boomerang to calm my nerves. This is a great pic, you can see the efflux in the trail....

After a flight with the Boomerang it was time to finally render no more excuses and get the Airbus in the air. This plane was built by Peter Ayache, my friend, and he did a nice job of it. I kept having problems with the little hand starters on the Wren 44's, just too much for me to think about, so Sara at Wren and I talked about it and asked her to have them converted to air start. I have finally gotten the hang of it and now starting the two turbines is much easier. Seperate fuel cutoffs prevent me from flooding the engines, and I can shut them down indepentantly if need be. Taxied to the end of the runway, locked the brakes, dialed in 15 degrees of flaps, and ran the engines up, at half power I released the brakes and she started rolling, as I increased the throttle, she lifted off by herself, so more excuses, I had to fly her then. I was so nervous, but the guys around me kept telling me all was well. The landing was a little hot, I was afraid to stall her, but in reality she is a *****cat. Nice job Peter!!!

The sound of the twin Wrens is exhilarating!!!. Landed with plenty of fuel left, no since in taking chances....

A quick shot of the proud owner, then it was off to Columbia to fly with the rest of the guys.....
Lots of fun and sun today.....

So thanks to all my rowdy friends for a great day, it was nice to be away from work for a day and have some fun!!!!

Congrats Doc !!!!Sorry I miss your maiden flight. Looks great. Scott

Congratulations Tommy!!!

I know getting an airliner in the air has been a dream of yours for a long while. Glad all went well for you and wish you many pleasant flights with it.

Great Tommy, you got er dun, huh? Congrats, Roger

Wow that’s cool.

Great job Tommy! Good to see you today. I had a great time in Columbia as well. I thought I might go back tomorrow with the HS.
I hope to see the airliner go soon.

Was really only a "maiden" for me, Peter had flown it before, and he got it right. I just had to get everything "customized" for me so could feel comfortable flying it. These big airliners look so good in the air. Now to finsih up the 727. Randy I can't make it back out there today, but I am sure you will "wow" them with your talents. You need to drag Scott's sorry behind down there with you, and show him how you can fly that big bird. That thing is monstrous, its bigger than you...LOL

Thanks for the comments fellas, I had a "posse" with me and we had a great time. One of the guys soloed this past week and the trip to Columbia to was his first fly-in, I think he is hooked.
Tommy

congrats tommy. looks like you are having fun. tell that pig hollaring mike hello for me. barry

CONGRATULATIONS
Very well done.
Looking forward to your B727 build.
Perhaps we will get a chance to fly both our 727s together some day.

Great job.
Enjoy
Peter

Thanks Peter, I will hol you to that. Thanks again for all your help.
Tommy

We're so pleased to see the Airbus back in the air - and delighted that the airstart conversion is working well for you. Maybe I should explain to people that we (you and Wren) decided on this because the cowled fronts of the MW44s look quite authentic in the nacelles and adding pods/FOD guards with starter motors would have spoiled the effect.

Sara Parish
Wren Turbines

Congrats, Doc. By the way, how tight of a fit are those Wren 44's in the nacelles?

I was half thinking about the possibility of fitting an autostart -44 Gold into a Rauch DC-8 engine pod - x2 of course. I think the DC-8 pod is a little slimmer than the Bus engine pods but not by a whole lot.

Your new jet looks spectacular.

Sara is right, the only reason I chose not to use the autostart is because this would ruin the effect by having the starter stick out the front of the nacelles since Peter had doen such a nice job of making a removeable FOD screen in the nacelles, and I did not want that. Wren went out of their way to help me. Peter had no probelms with the manual starters, but I am too clumsy and it was awkward for me, so I opted for the air start, which is something I knew I could get the hang of, but it does require you to lug a big tank around with you.
Eddie, the Wren are really swallowed by the nacelles, so you should have no problems fitting them in there. These little engine have so much power and in the airliners a .6:1 ratio is about right. This airliner flies at half throttle. They sip fuel, so you don't have to have a huge fuel load on bard unless you want to make an intercontinental flight. You are right that the DC-8 pod is slimmer than the nacelles of the Airbus or the Boeing, so you would have to get the dimensions to make sure they will fit, but the Wrens are extremely small engines, and with the manual version they are even smaller. Sara and Roger can give you all the dimensions you need and the specs on the engines.

Sorry Tommy, I do not mean to barge in onto your thread.
I just wanted to reply to Eddie.
The 44s will most likely fit the DC8.
Here are a couple of pictures to show how much space there is in the A321.
You can use a can of Coke or Pepsi for comparison.

Regards
Peter

Thanks Peter, don't miind barging in, I started this thread for that very reason...
I was looking for those pics, to show the size comparison and the installation. As you can see the front of the nacelle is held on with rare earth magnets, and the FOD screen is built in to the front of the nacelle. Lots of power out of those small engines.
Tommy

Are you passing the TX on this one like you did the E-Flite airliner at the Blue Grass event next year?? :-)
Great job btw.

I really like the Gold 44 in my Grumania F-100 too!

I was shaking so bad on the first flight with this thing I would gladly have handed you the transmitter.... But if you want to fly next year at Bluegrass, just tap me on the shoulder and I'll let you have a turn. BTW the E-flite airliner is still going, I don't treat this baby as rough as the E-flite however.....
Thanks
Tommy

That's awfully trusting of you Tommy, same goes for flying the F-100.
Bob

Thanks Tommy and Peter, the pics and the discription are quite helpful. So I take it both of you are building Rauch 727's too? Outstanding.

Yes, that is essentially how we met, talking about Airliners. We both have the parts to build them. I have made a little progress but not much, hopefully I will get back to it soon.
TOmmy