Rainy Day Thoughts
When the weather forecast suggests a 50% chance of rain tomorrow, it means this:
In the past when conditions were similar to today, it rained tomorrow 50% of the time.
What this doesn’t tell you is how often it will rain tomorrow: will you have periods of an hour or two with no showers?
But just as you’re thinking about this you notice that the wind is forecast for 10, 20, 30mph during various parts of the day.
So even though the sun is shining for a moment right now I won’t try to fly today.
Instead, I’ve returned to assembling my T-Rex 450 kit.
It’s taking me forever to put together because I’m so unsure of what I’m doing.
Puzzling Linkage. A few weeks ago I stopped working on it because I couldn’t figure out how to snap a plastic linkage onto the expanded center part of a flybar rod.
“This must be the wrong linkage,” I thought, but rummaging around in the bags of T-Rex parts produced no credible alternatives.
So I put everything away for a while, worked on my website, then tunneled into a novel.
Then the other day I was helping someone with a computer problem.
“You’ve got to assume success,” I told her when she told me that she didn’t think she could do something.
I remembered that bit of advice yesterday when I started working again on the T-Rex.
A Crisp Little Click. Assuming success, I pressed the linkage down on the center of the flybar rod and was greeted with a crisp little click as it seated itself.
(I didn’t press hard in the first place because I’ve learned delicacy. I used to snap, crackle and pop crucial little bits of balsa as I tried to maneuver them into gluing position. I regularly felt like Godzilla, but not in a good way.)
Well, choose your successes.
I’ll persevere with the T-Rex as I watch the weather forecast, waiting for some 0% chance of rain days with tolerable winds.
The T-Rex is amenable to attitude. The weather, not so much.
(Sorry about the recent lack of fresh photos. This nasty weather is killing my photo ops!)
Tags: Flying, Helicopters, Life, Wind.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Theory soured today. When I straggled in about 10:20, it was windless and reasonably warm. By 11:30, perhaps a 3 mph breeze that finally became annoying around noon — along with the whine-o-matics.
One wing flight, one Formosa, three Flash. Four unplanned landings, all without consequence. Some hanging around and fat chewing. Feet bogged in the swamp, but high ground can be found.
Only three failed attempts to hit me with a plane. The fourth succeeded, but required hand guidance! Several fun crashes by various fumblers, including a full-tilt into a tree and a solid ground thumper. All in all, great fun.
If ya don’t play, ya can’t win.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm