Two old retired guys killing time

Had some good flying lately. Last Thursday I got a good lesson on flying in a stiff breeze, about 14mph with gusts. Saturday at Watts house where we had our club meeting, and today another seriously gusty day with funny winds that would try to slap a plane out of the air doing nothing more than flat laps. I almost pancaked it halfway around my takeoff lap.

Here's Wayne and me in front of our fleet Thursday. We had to hold our hats to keep them on.


My ol' beater. She's a tough one.


Here's today's fleet. Wayne brought his new eSmoothie, but wouldn't fly it in the wind.




Take a look at my Skyray. I should have followed his wise lead. I pulled out a little low on the second loop of a H8. I think it would have cleared the ground any other day, but it clipped one blade off the prop and kept flying with loose lines, shaking like crazy, then hit the ground again and luckily the engine quit when the other blade broke off. Got a crack in the outboard center sheeting that should be easy to fix. And the stab broke where it had been repaired before I got the plane. Nothing else seems broken, so an hour's work and she'll be airworthy again.


Look at Wayne's dummy engine in the Smoothie. It's a film canister.