Archive for the ‘Baylands’ Category

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The Tree Tamer

Friday, September 12th, 2008

No treed plane will escape its grasp!

No treed plane will escape its grasp!

Lust stirred in our hearts when the great white bucket lift pulled up to the base of the Killer Yuke.

Regular readers will readily remember accounts of encounters between wayward aircraft and this cruel tree. The tree always wins, of course.

Its success in preying on airplanes led us to develop the Fetchomatic 3000. Unfortunately, the Fetchomatic trailed webs of monofilament. After a Red-Tailed Hawk got snagged in monofilament, we banished its use. (Fortunately, the Red-Tailed Hawk was rescued and returned to Baylands.)

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A Cloud of Pelicans

Friday, September 12th, 2008

This giant group of Pelicans soared over Baylands Friday morning.

This giant group of Pelicans soared over Baylands Friday morning.

For a few weeks we’ve seen small groups of American White Pelicans Pelecanus erythrorhynchos thermaling over Baylands, flying from the north and slowly drifting south.

These are very large white birds with black wing tips and big orange bills. With wingspans up to 9 feet, adults weigh about 15 lbs.

Floating on the water, white pelicans fish in groups. They use their feet and wings to herd fish. Instead of diving they simply dip their heads below the surface to catch their meal, scooping the fish up in their elastic pouches. Most feeding takes place during the early morning and early evening hours.

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Wild Wing Showdown

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Wild Wings swirl in close-quarters combat.

Wild Wings swirl in close-quarters combat.

Lightweight Wild Wings will take on Boomers in a sure-to-be epic encounter Saturday morning, September 20.

Our friend Kevin Chin, who introduced us to Boomers about seven months ago, is coordinating a battle pitting Baylands flyers against a contingent in Dublin, CA.

We fell in love with the acrobatic and slow-fly qualities of the Boomer, but found it somewhat fragile in combat. Dave North experimented with simplifying its construction and came up with a similarly agile Wild Wing airframe that is much more robust.

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Lots of Gliders

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Our red-tailed hawk keeps track of us from his perch in the Giant Yuke.

Our red-tailed hawk keeps track of us from his perch in the Giant Yuke.

Gliders dominated Monday at Baylands.

Sure, there were scads of Wild Wings, a sprinkling of EDF jets, some helicopters and other aircraft, but I was struck by the prevalence of big motorized gliders.

Peter Rasmussen brought two of his vintage built-up gliders, complementing a big old red V-tail glider which Andrew Eichenbaum was flying.

It’s been around awhile: Andrew bought it from Bob McGowan, who was not the original owner. Bob added the V-tail.

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Jets, Jets, Jets (and Skis)

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

Larry Smith’s 10-year-old F-16.

Larry Smith’s 10-year-old F-16.

Seemed like Wednesday was Jet Day at Baylands.

Larry Smith showed up with an F-16 by Kyosho, a 10-year-old classic model.

He checked it out, then launched it into a smooth takeoff. Unfortunately, the elevator malfunctioned about 15 seconds into the flight and the plane crashed at the far side of the Great Meadow.

Meanwhile, Anh was working on his big F-5E, powered by a non-stock brushless mini fan and a 3300mAH 4S LiPo pack.

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