What a day at the field!

So I'll do a little writing while y'all digest those videos.
It was about Noon thirty before we got to the field, and Wayne arrived before us along with Jim, the Jackson Flyers president and a few RC people. The Ring needed some work. We outfitted it with a 3 oz tank, the old Brodak uniflow wedge off of the Yak, which now has a 4 oz tank. I brought the Shoestring too. Wayne had planned to do some more trim flights on his Smoothie and vector in prep for Brodak, but due to the wind, he left them in the truck, and the SS remained idle. But that didn't slow us down flying the beaters one bit!

Matt and I took turns flying, pitting for each other and familiarizing him with CL protocol. I took the lines of the Ring a couple of times for inverted trimming reasons and after a couple of trips to the pitts, Matt and Wayne had worked on his needle valve and tank, and it was hitting the Fox sweet spot pretty well. It didn't take long for Matt to get the hang of some nice wingovers, and in a couple more flights he was doing inside loops.

Meanwhile I had been flying some full pattern maneuvers, not very well, having concentration problems as I frequently do. I turned the handle over to Wayne. I've never been sure if some of my ugliness is due to the plane of if it's just me, and I wanted to see him put a pattern on it. He's never flown it, so I fueled it up and off we went. He wrung it out like mad and reported upon landing that it has no bad habits. So my answer is clear... it's me.  I think he was surprised too. He has some tricks he does in flight for the purpose of exposing trim problems, and the Ray proved to be solid as a rock. No more excuses for me, I need to focus and concentrate.

Time was marching on and I realized we needed to get Matt on camera, so I set it up on the upwind side and he knocked out a great flight. He's pretty sure one of his earlier ones was the greatest... hmmm, sounds like me Lol. I'm always sure the camera missed my crown jewel of the day.  

I decided to go one more time, the camera was up, and I was determined I would fly a full pattern. I did. In a so-so sort of way. The second half of the reverse wingover comes up so quickly, it has to be automatic. I missed the second wingover from inverted, but finished it a lap later. I only completely broke one maneuver and aborted, and that was the hourglass. I was so flustered I went straight to the clover leaf and forgot the OH8, but went back and did it next. On the clover my second high loop was way too low, but I got through it. That's the first time i've done one.

It was a really fun day. I'm glad we could all get together and organize this trip. Matt will progress quickly, and may be the new owner of the old Ray Ray if he wants it, as soon as I finish building my new one. It's clear he will be needing another aerobatic plane. And after seeing Wayne fly mine today, I'm speechless with my mouth open seeing what it can really do in the hands of a competent pilot.

So, there's my flight report. See y'all in the funny papers,
Rusty