This poor blog has suffered from the dislocation and dust of our ongoing Bathroom Remodel, not to mention a run of bad weather which has kept me from flying.

Monday was glorious, though.

Our contractor and his crew, who are Vietnamese, observed Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox) Monday and Tuesday, so the house was quiet and I didn’t need to solve the Goat, Wolf, Cabbage, Boat problem.

The temperature was chilly (low 37°, high 60°) but the bright sun felt at least five degrees warmer. Winds were light.

Time to fly!

When I got to Baylands, I flew three planes: my purple and pink Mini IFO, the small foam Rare Bear and the Multiplex Park Master.

For some reason, I had trouble keeping the Rare Bear in the air: it mostly flew fine, but every now and then I’d get into trouble and couldn’t pull out.

At first I thought it was a CG issue, so I moved the battery forward. That helped, but I had at least four unanticipated landings during the remainder of the flight. Sloppy!

The other planes flew fine, so I don’t know why the Rare Bear felt cursed.

Meanwhile, everyone and his dog brought out a new plane for its maiden flight.

(Dogs are, of course, prohibited at Baylands. Honestly, there were no dogs.)

Harold Hasselbach showed up with a pretty red and cream Taylorcraft from E-Flight.

This is a four-channel 46-inch wingspan 20-ounce balsa build-up plane powered by a Park 450 brushless motor.

Harold took off from the grass and flew it beautifully, executing a perfect landing at the end of his flight.

Next up was Gary Morgan, with a beautiful metallic blue and yellow electric ducted fan F/A-18 Blue Angels Hornet from Exceed.

Pete Kvitek helped Gary set up his DX-7 Spektrum transmitter for the flight. After lots of fiddling, they declared themselves ready to go and walked to the Great Meadow for the launch.

Gary revved the 70mm EDF and Pete launched the foam plane. It flew straight to the horizon, seemingly with no trim correction. Although the wing surface appears small, it glided nicely and offered no surprises. Gary enjoyed an exhilarating flight.

Tom Guerrette, who loves big planes, brought a black and yellow trimmed silver F-4 Phantom by Fly Fly Hobby for its maiden voyage.

With a 41-inch wingspan and 92mm EDF powerplant, this is a large jet, though it weighs only 16 ounces. It uses a pair of servos powering flaps and ailerons for control, so it’s not as agile as some EDF jets, but it flies well.

Tom is in love. I think he flew it three more times after the maiden flight.

What about the dwarf?

This is actually a week or two old, but Dennis Castleman asked that I document the fact that he doesn’t just build huge aircraft.

His latest project is a tiny scratch-built wing which uses the receiver-speed-control-servos brick from an E-Flite Vapor, plus a motor from a ParkZone Micro Citabria.

It’s a wisp of a wing. Dennis launched it from the park bench area and flew it in and out of the trees in the picnic area, demonstrating excellent control and much better depth perception than I’ve got.

Tags: Airplanes, Baylands, Flying, Gallery, People, Radio Control.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 9:53 am and is filed under Baylands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.