Field Report for Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 28-29, 2012:

Headed over to the airfield around 11:00 AM or so, and met Ed Vincent who was already there with his Green Stick flying it. Bill Worthen and his wife stopped by en route to the lodge to say howdy and to visit for a bit also. Next thing I know Dennis Sporing and Marlowe Cassetti showed up, and Marlowe brought out his LT-40 and got it going to fly. In the meanwhile I was getting my Big-Stick .40 readied and noticed the throttle idle setting kept changing from a low to a fast idle....one time when the stick was pulled all the way down it would have a low idle, but the next time it may have a faster idle. It wasn't as dead-on consistent as it normally is, which caught my attention, so after only one flight, I started looking into the problem more closely. It appears that the throttle servo could be showing signs of failing, but I haven't exactly pinpointed the problem to that just yet.

  In the meantime, Dennis Sporing ran back to his house and got his trainer Kadet Senorita, which by the way, I think is a fantastic looking job that he has done getting it ready to fly now, and he started prepping it to fly. At that time I had to leave to take care of other errands around town, and was unable to return later on in time to do any more flying Saturday. (Note the picture below, Ed took it up for a test flight)

 Also, as I was leaving Cloyce Mann showed up with his large MOOSE OF A BIRD STINKER..... <I still chuckle every time i read that description...hahahaha>,  but I was unable to stick around any longer to visit.
Dr. Tim Brown and his son Grant arrived to fly. Grant had a slow stick (see picture) which had some technical difficulties.
Tim put on a great demonstration of flying his Saito powered Spitfire. He is still giving the water tank a wide berth.






(Pictures and captions courtesy of Marlowe Cassetti.)

Sunday I awoke to overcast grey skies and strong breezes, varying between 15-28 mph at that time, and just kept an eye on the weather observation site at the field. No flying today but I got bored, and decided to head on over to the field and do some maintenance instead. Some of the starting tables were in bad need of some needed attention, so I worked on them until I used up both of my cordless drill batteries. A bit more work on a couple of tables and they should be about ready for some washing and paint when it warms up some later on.

Next thing up was removal of the old fabric on the ground, that used to be the club's Helicopter Pad. That fabric  is terribly brittle and dried out, and is no longer serviceable, so I removed it and hauled it away. There is one smaller segment of fabric that was still intact nailed down somewhat securely still, so I was able to put some more nails in it to try to help it stay down a bit longer, but, we will need to invest in something to replace the Heli-pad with before this year is out, it looks like to me.

Does anyone know where that fabric came from originally, and if so, is there a chance of getting any more of it, for use on our club's Heli-pad again?

Thanks everyone for all of the assistance and maintenance being caught up again,
Mark J. Sullivan

From Mark Sullivan: Field report for Friday January 27, 2012

I was in contact with Marlowe via email about the items he is sending with me up to the JEFCO auction Feb 3-5, and getting his items listed in their online catalog with pictures and prices this morning, when we decided to head over to the field to get in some flying.

I arrived at 10 AM to the field and proceeded to get my Big Stick .40 readied and started flying while awaiting Marlowe's arrival. I got in one long flight with the Stick and was treated to some variable buffeting winds both on the ground and aloft. I am getting more confidence in flying with some heavier winds and this was one of those good opportunities to get in some practice doing just that.

 About the time I'm ready to go back up for a second round of flying, Marlowe arrived and we started readying his SIG LT-40 plane, in some biting cool winds. About that time Buzz Haviland showed up with his repaired Mentor to fly also. After some initial adjustments and warm up time for Marlowe's new EVO engine on his SIG LT-40 the winds would not lay down so we retreated out of the winds to the shelter of my toy-box trailer out of the worst of the wind, to wait it out.

 As you can probably guess, that time waiting was to no avail, so the three of us packed everything back up and headed to Florence to get some lunch, and swap flying truths.....ahemmmmm.....<stories>....hahaha
After a very nice lunch and visit with a time of indecision if the flying weather and winds were going to be worth the gamble to drive to Pueblo to fly, we decided not to drive down but, rather wait until tonight for the flying in the Harrison School gym instead.

Buzz and myself headed back up the hill to the field to put the swing together and fasten it so it hopefully won't blow apart in the winds, and weighted it down with some blocks. Also updated the list in the impound, to reflect all of the recent maintenance items that we can scratch off the list now too.

So now its shop time to prep some of my stuff to fly tonight in the gym, and to get some other items ready for the trip up north for the JEFCO auction next weekend. Almost nothing is better than a nice afternoon spent in the shop amongst balsa and adhesives, I'd think.

Indoor Flying Report Friday

The turnout for Friday wasn't a large as usual, but we had a lot of planes in the air. Bob Crofford flew his 3D plane, Ed and his little friend flew his heli, Cloyce, Marlowe, Buzz, and Mark all put Champs in the air. Only one collision when Marlowe's Champ hit Bob's plane. No damage done. Buzz showed up the rest of us with near flawless Champ flying. Beginners luck or practice?

Club members, remember to come to the Harrison Gymnasium every Friday night 8:00PM to 9:30PM, except for the first Friday when it is our club meeting. It is quite a spectacle watching the little planes and helicopters flying around in the gym. Also it is a good time for us to plot our weekend outdoor flying activities and share weather prospects. A good time can be had.

Field Report for Thursday, January 26 2012

I received a phone call from fellow club member Buzz Haviland, at approximately 9:30 AM this Thursday morning, wanting me to meet him at the airfield, so we could get the new "Welcome" sign post-hole dug, and the new sign installed on the road leading into the field.

Upon my arrival at the field, Buzz was hard at it, working on the pipe that is pounded into the ground, where the entry gate positioning rod goes in to the ground, so we can now use that again, to secure the gate properly when it is closed.

After completion of that task, we moved on to digging the post-hole for the new sign, and got it installed also. It is quite noticeable we felt, and hopefully it will make spectators to the field feel welcomed, and that they will also come in and watch the activities, and possibly join the club.

Buzz Haviland

It's Installed!!!

Spectators Welcome

Transmitter Reminder

Next on the agenda was for us to take advantage of our dead calm weather conditions, and to remove the jackets, as it had warmed up beautifully with crisp clear blue skies, and get in some flying time.

Buzz brought out his Mentor electric plane, and proceeded to prep it for flying. It sure is a nice flying aircraft.

Buzz' s Mentor

Buzz readying his plane for flight

His first flight in dead calm conditions was a handful he reported, so he brought it back in and made an adjustment, and then back up he went again, for a few more beautiful passes.
After a battery change-out he went back out for more taxiing and take-off practice, and work on keeping his altitude the same in his turns at both the entry and exit, and throughout the entire turns.
He soon had difficulty again, and had to put it down in an emergency landing, away from the runway, where it suffered some slight damage, but upon further inspection, it appears to be not too bad to repair it thankfully.

I then got my plane readied to fly, and had a good time.

Big-Stick .40

Great Planes Big-Stick .40 size plane

I flew my Big-Stick .40 size plane with its OS 55AX overpowered horse up on the front, and had a couple of nice flights with it, shooting "Touch and Go's" and burning fuel.

After we flew, it was time to head out and get busy with lunch, and also unloading items from my pickup and toy box trailer back at the house, and then a  trip to visit a fellow RC flyer from Pueblo West, CO by  the name of Roger Stasiak, who has several RC planes he is selling, to enable him to thin the hangar down some at his beautiful home there in Pueblo West, CO.
I ended up purchasing 4 different aircraft from Roger over the past 2 days, and possibly more in the future from him. He is a generous individual,with fantastic knowledge, and I am thankful we have now had the opportunity to meet each other. He even donated a free  flight box to Buzz to assist him getting started in the hobby. He has several more aircraft available for sale, and if anyone is interested in them, please get in touch with me and I will gladly assist you contacting Roger.

Is it working YETTTT???.....why yessss it is!!!!.....yaaah

Field Report and flying update for Jan. 24th, 2012:

I want to thank Ron Prewitt for working so diligently on this blog web site, and also to Marlowe Cassetti for all of his assistance in solving my dilema as to why I was unable to at first get this blog posting working correctly.

Much obliged to the both of them.

I now have the transmitter reminder sign finished up here at the shop, and will be digging the post hole for re-installing the sign hopefully tomorrow, on Wednesday January 25th. I think that everyone should like the new signs on both sides of the post when they see it.....I'll keep it as a surprise until I get it planted in the ground, and then possibly post a picture of it when I am done.

On Monday Jan. 23rd, I went to the field and met Ed Vincent there who had just completed some flying with his large green Stick, and was packing it up to leave. I pulled out my P-51 Mustang to fly, since it is such a good flying aircraft in difficult winds, which were not all that strong and gusty at the time when I flew, but they were quite variable both on the ground, and aloft. After warming up and taking off I made a few circuits and attempted a couple of low approach passes, to resemble a low level strafing run alongside the runway.

It was getting about lunch-time, so I packed everything up, and Ed and myself went to Florence, and had a nice time visiting and enjoying a good meal together.

Hangar9 P-51D Checker-Tail

From the restaurant I headed back out to the field to retrieve a set of stencils from the impound building that I was going to use on the sign I was working on back at the shop, and proceeded to lock up and head back to my shop. Upon arriving at the off-ramp on Highway 50 to Highway 115, my truck developed a strange difficulty in the steering wheel, and it would not let me turn off of the Highway at the off-ramp, but instead I had to proceed East-bound towards Pueblo for some unknown reason.........<ahem> <cough> <cough>....I had to drive alllllllll the way to the Sky-Corral RC club's airfield in Pueblo West to do some flying there that afternoon, before my trucks steering system would allow me to return to my own shop at home......I am going to have to look into the steering system's problem to see what the concern was, and what is going on with it.........<ahem> <cough> <cough>  Film at 11......Back to you Chet.

*** Paintball Shootdown 2010 ***

One of the attendees to our paintball shoot took some videos of his grand kids

shooting at the planes. The following are his videos:

Video1,   Video2,  Video3

For those of us that are checking in here? I am going to ask about forming a work day sometime in Feb. Will talk more about it in the Feb meeting. I would like to work toward getting the tables and benched and perhaps the building power washed and then painted the next day or weekend depending on the weather. We may have an airless paint sprayer available  for a 25.00 fee. Any ways just some thoughts. Planning to have the field and buildings looking better for this flying season. 

Monday Jan. 23rd Winds about 7 gusting to about 12 nice sunny day. Took the Big Green Stick out for some flight time.I did get  2 good flights in had a little trouble with the plastic bolts on the gear. Mark showed up and had a nice flight on his P-51 it seems to handle the wind nicely. Bill W and wife stopped by to watch for a min. Bill told me it was blustery I said that's ok I have a 10 bl plane.

Thanks Ron hope it is not too much trouble to do this for you.

Flying Report Saturday Jan21

No one was expecting to fly this morning, but the high winds showed up later in the day. Mark sent out a hurriedly composed message that he was headed out to the field. When I got out there at 10:30 AM, Mark was opening the gate and it was dead calm. We were joined by Dennis, Cloyce, and Kenny.

Mark readied his Stick 40. Earlier his OS 55AX had been plagued by poor running, but he switched to fresh fuel and that solved his problems. Mark got is some good flying. I had my e-Mini Stick and I got in many flights that morning. Cloyce flew his Twist 40 and he discovered a patch of rough air just north of the runway. When I was flying my E-Mini Stick I had some bumpy flying in the same area.


Picture on the right is Mark and Dennis fooling around with the GSE (Ground Support Equipment). What a beautiful setting with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background.
Now the following is a bit scary. Parental guidance is strongly advised.
Normally when you are landing a R/C airplane, you are looking down the runway visually tracking the plane in order to guide it in for a safe landing. On our field if the wind is blowing from the west and the plane is travel off your left shoulder (as you face the plane) as illustrated by the picture of Cloyce and his Twist 40.
Okay what happens then it if it approaches you off your right shoulder? (see next pix of Cloyce watching the Twist fly off to the side)
The answer is You have a major problem!
Fortunately Cloyce recovered from the wind gust pushing the Twist off course and then to buzz Dennis and Mark (the two guys fooling around with the GSE). Mark thought Cloyce was trying to fly through his trailer. Cloyce brought it around for a perfect landing.
Kenny brought out his Edge and attempted a takeoff. Unfortunately the soft dirt on the runway tripped it over on its takeoff run and it nosed over damaging the prop. By the time to prop was changed the predicted high winds made their presence known and everyone packed up by 2:00PM. It was an exciting day and I’m glad we had an opportunity to get in a few hours of flying. After all, we are in Colorado at  5,439 feet altitude.

Indoor Flying Jan 20th

There was an exciting time Friday night at Harrison School in Canon City. Many flyers attended and a great time was had by all.

Ed Vincent, our new Prez had his little E-flite blade heli doing lots of tricks. He demonstrated flying between the gymnasium rafters with great skill.

There were many HobbyZone Champs flying, it was hard to know who was who. New member Buzz brought out a new Champ and found it a bit easier to fly if the transmitter was set to low rates. Robert Crofford , Cloyce, and Marlowe were also flying Champs.

Bob Crofford put on a great 3D flying show.

 

Terry Davis brought out a Slow Stick but it has problems with the wing mounting to adequately try it out. Photo on the left shows Ed giving Terry some suggestions.

Another new member, Dennis Sporing, was flying a small coaxial heli, is pictured to below.  

At the end of the indoor flying session we talked about flying the next morning. However, the forecast was for very high winds on Saturday… up to 75 MPH. But you’ll be surprised what happened. See the next blog.

Flying Session Jan 7, 2012

It was cold and windy, but it didn’t dampen the flyers. Cloyce brought out his Stinger like plane with a great running Evolution gasser.
I took a couple of pictures which I will share with you. The first is our former Prez Cloyce, with the moose, which he calls the Stinker.
The next one is Stinker in flight before its tuned pipe came loose, necessitating an early.landing. Notice it hanging down. Fortunately the tube didn't dig in and ruin the landing.
 
The next picture is Mark’s P-51 during a nice landing. A few months ago Mark handed me the transmitter and I got a chance to fly it. It was a great experience that inspired me to get cracking to fix up my P-51 Voodoo.
Next is a buddy box training session. Allen Stecklein is assisting new member Buzz Haviland with his Beachcraft T-34 Mentor. Buzz did a great job despite the wind growing stronger. It is electric and handled the wind quite well. The trainer box didn’t support the expo function which did hamper Buzz a bit.

The Mentor, just before touching down.
I got in two flights with my e-Mini Stick that flew great in the wind, which grew stronger and colder. After the two flights I packed up and drove to get a hot cup of coffee.
Mark, our newly appointed Field Marshal reset all the combination locks at the field. I Emailed the new combo code to all 2012 paid members who are AMA current.

The 1st Annual New Years Flying Event

This was started by Mark Sullivan. He sent out a message asking if anyone was interested in flying on New Years Day 2012. It turned the winds were calm in the morning but the temp was cool. Mark was our flying earlier that morning, but he had to leave before more flyers arrived. Tim and Grant Brown plus Ed were flying when I arrived. Shortly Cloyce plus some of his guests came to the field. I assembled my J-3 Cub and prepared to fly but by then the winds picked up. With the winds came wind chill and I never flew on January 1st. However, on Monday, the 2nd, Mark and I did get some flying in to kick off the new year.

The photo on the right show the flight stands loaded with planes. Grant Brown’s T28 is in the foreground and his Dad’s Albatross is next. Ed is snapping some pix of the flight line.

 

 

 

The picture below shows Ed’s Kadet Senior (yellow body and tail). In the far background is Cloyce and his friends. Cloyce had a highly modified Stinger powered by an Evolution 35cc gas engine that howled through the skies. It is a moose of a bird. It is barely visible as a blue streak at the end of the flight stands.

 

Maybe the club can have this as an annual event with prizes awarded to the brave souls that fly that day. I never did fly my J-3 on Sunday, but with an enticement of a prize I just might have shrugged off the wind chill and given it a try.

Marlowe