Panteradise 2012 Please post flying reports here!

[forvols]

After an over night low at or near freezing degrees, the forcast for today was for sunny skies, temps in the mid 60's, and finally... winds less than 10 mph and not gusty!

I charged all my stuff last night in preparations for some flying today. When I arrived at the Dalton RC Flyers field this morning about 9:45, I was excited to see a full parking lot of fellow flyers. The pit area was approaching capacity as all but one of our set up tables were occupied with planes and flight equipment

I took the last open table and got the Pantera ready for some flying in what can only be described as "calm" conditions! After taking a few minutes to hob nob with everyone, I took advantage of a lull on the flight line and tossed the Pantera into the air. After the last session that Dale and I had on Wednesday, today's wind was of no consequence and the P50 was absolutely as smooth as silk! After doing some cruising, I made a beautiful scale approach and sat the Pantera down on her skids as soft as a snowflake landing on a frozen pond. I flipped into idle up, lifted off about 2 feet and then 1/2 rolled to inverted and stabilized the inverted hover about a foot off the ground. From there I did a full negative pirouetting punch out and started emptying out my small bag-o-tricks. Our club is primarily a plank club so rather than doing stationary flips & rolls I let the P50 enjoy stretching her legs and started flying the helicopter more like a pattern plane than a helicopter.

The majority of the flight consisted of half reverse Cuban eights, big air loops, inverted passes, and the essential planker crowd favorite... slow rolls low and down the runway. At the end of the tank I pulled off another beautiful scale landing by flying a classic downwind, base, and final approach with the final being a very steady, predictable sink to feathery light touch down on the center of the runway. When I killed the engine there was applause from the pits and comments about how smoothly the flight had been flown. We had some non flyers at the field that quickly came over to my table to inspect the helicopter, and of course the main response from them was that they had no idea that a helicopter could do "tricks". These comments were quickly followed by the typical questions of "how much, how far, how long" which I happily answered.

The skies quickly filled with various aircraft ranging from Kadet Seniors (my most favorite) to Cubs, Big stiks, and a couple of profile 3Ds.

It was obvious that everyone at the field had been waiting for a day such as this! Smiles were everywhere and there just that unspoken celebration that the 2012 flying season has officially started for us!. We had folks at the field who haven't been there in quite some time and it was "interesting" to see the models that they had acquired sine their last visits.

My fellow pattern flier Mike Robinson showed up after my 1st flight and had brought his 110 inch Sig Rascal with him. He had some minor issues getting the Rascal flight ready at the field, but once the issues were resolved he took to the air and flew a flight as gracefully as the Rascal looks! When Mike offered to let me hold the sticks for a few laps, I graciously accepted the invitation and shot a couple of touch and goes. I don't care for the smaller Rascal, but the big 110 inch version is such a delight to fly! It felt great to scratch the airplane itch by floating the Rascal around and shooting some touch and goes with her.

My second flight was a pleasure to fly! My grandson, Colt and wife Janelle had arrived so that Colt could see all the different airplanes and "help Paw Paw fly" his helicopter. The flight was very much a repeat of the 1st, except that I did spend a good bit of time doing skid scrapes down the runway. The plastic struts are now worn to the point that the aluminum skids are just barely being held in place. Am I the only one that has to order landing gear struts on a regular basis even when I don't crash?

Man what a beautiful day to be out flying! I feel prepared for a great time at Birmingham next weekend and it's looking like the P7e will have her maiden flight there at the event. My batteries have not yet arrived from Hobby King USA, and I have asked Steve Poretz to allow me to borrow a set of 5s packs from him at the event. He indicated that he was going to try to make the event on Saturday, but was not 100% certain. So.. if it works out, I'll have 2 Pnateras operational on Saturday!

I hope weather has been allowing opportunities for everyone to be getting in some early season stick time. Dale and I both feel like we're off to a great start for the season and very much looking forward to some great times! We are planning on flying Sunday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon (weather permitting) to further boost our confidence going into the Birmingham event. We both know that flying at our home field won't really help the nervousness that will be caused by being in front of a large crowd at a unfamiliar field, but it can't hurt right?

[forvols]

Dale and I met at the flying field for our last "scheduled" Sunday afternoon flying session until the time changes again in October.

Unlike yesterday, we had our normal 16-24 mph gusty wind back today. Temps in the 60's and except for the wind, a very nice day to be flying!

I burned 4 tanks of nitro, and Dale burned 3 tanks plus 2 flights on his P7e. I've consumed a gallon of fuel since Wednesday hoping to feel confident flying at Birmingham

It's hard to fly this close to an event, because I want to do things that build my confidence, but at the same time I feel I need to be a little conservative so as not to crash the week of the event, and be grounded.

Dale had his "um golly golly" DSLR Nikon at the field today so I felt compelled to try a little flippy floppy stuff down below the tree line. That nearly cost me a Pantera . I don't know if Dale was able to get anything worthwhile in the frame or not but I returned to a more conservative altitude and manner of flying.

Dale spent more time in the air with the P50 FBL than he did the P7e and with each flight he pushed himself (and Snowflake) further and further. By his 3rd nitro flight with the P50 Dale was simply a mad man and the P50 was doing it's thang!

Weather is looking "ify" for our Wednesday flying session, so this may have been our last warm up before taking the show on the road to Birmingham.

Sure do look forward to seeing all of you who aer making the trek. I think the weather there is looking great and we can expect some fun times!

Till next session,
forvols sends...

[dharwood]

As Forvols said, other than the wind, it was a GREAT day. We each emptied our bag-o-tricks without needing a rebuild, which is always a good thing (-:

The more flights I get on my 2 birds, the more I am enjoying them. I have some things I need to make better on my P50, mostly maintenance items, and several updates on the electronics on the P7e to do it justice. The P7e does great but in windy conditions, the 360/3010 combination is lacking.

Below are some pics from today. The last 3 are of me, the rest Forvols. Lighting was terrible so excuse that. (-;

Wonderful day of flying!

Dale

[zorro13]

I had my first flights in windy conditions yesterday.The wind was blowing from the south at around 15 mph.On the first lift off I was slowly going foward into the wind and once I turned around and started coming back I started sinking fast.I kind of lost it for a second and was getting close to the ground befor I remembered to give it more throttle coming with the wind. I did bounce off the ground lighty but got back up and then I was chasing the heli with the sticks for a few more seconds befor getting everthing under control. After that I landed and looked my poor heli over and made sure nothing had come lose and then used the rest of my flight time getting some flying in the wind practice.And now a question.How do you guys load pictures on here?Now I am not good with a computer but I did figure out how to put up pictures of things I have sold on ebay.Is it that simple here or is it done some other way? EDIT. OK, thank you dharwood.I put a pic of my P6e on the Pantera photos and vidios sticky .I will try to get more as I have time.

[dharwood]

When you post a reply, at the bottom of the page is an area titled "Additional Options"
In that area is a button marked "Manage Attachments" When you click on that button, a new window will appear. Within that window, at the top is a box marked "Upload File from your Computer"
Click the "Browse" button, navigate to your file, select it, then click "Upload"
Depending on the size of your file, you may be able to upload 4 at a time.

Dale

[Jermo]

First time at the controls in I'm estimating to be over a year. One full tank hovering tail in. 2nd tank was doing FFF circles around the field, getting my confidence back. I experienced a motor stall (which as the result of forgetting to re-connect the vent fuel line after fueling ), was too low for much of an auto but managed to bring her in flat with little/no headspeed from about 40' up.

Total damage (pending a full/thorough post crash inspection): 1 set of strut supports and 1 Grip (broke at the ball screw).

Easy fixes and minimal cost... Had that been my Trex 450 SE it would have been frames, blades, tailboom...etc...


soooo...before the crash I was having fun, getting my confidense back, and really appreciating the stability of the Pantera. It was gusty at the field and I only noticed it when hovering because she'd tend to weathervane. overall it was a SUPER success !!



[ame]http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=3549529942877[/ame]

[forvols]

Zorro13, Welcome to Panteradise! The thrill of windy conditions. Hats off to you for having a go at it, and it sounds as if you were very successful

Everyone here knows all about those "chasing the sticks around" moments! When the wind starts pushing down on the disk it's amazing how much collective has to be used at times. Dale and I both experienced that very same thing yesterday. We both had near earth encounters of the unplanned kind as the gusts shoved us down and we tried to correct gingerly on the collective stick. Hope you get some pictures posted up soon! I find that most (not all) 800x600 pixle sized pictures post ok (anywhere between 1-3 at at time). If you get a time out error or some similar error, the first thing to do is try to upload a smaller version of the picture. You can download "GIMP" for free and use it to edit/resize your pictures. IRFAN View can also be used for resizing I think, and is a free download as well. A quick Google of GIMP or IRFAN View should get you headed toward picture posting bliss. 800 x 600 is your friend for posting pics here.

Jermo!!!!!! Sure is good to see a flight report (and pictures) from you bud . It's always those little things that go wrong during a flight that get us ain't it? Sounds like you did a good job getting down as safely as possible and hopefully you won't be finding other items needing replaced due to the forced landing

[barney11]

I've been out blowing the cobwebs of the Pantera over the last couple of weekends after a very wet winter over here. I bought myself the Phoenix sim for Christmas and I have to say it has helped keep the thumbs from rusting, so I can pick up where I left off last Autumn rather than start again.
I had a lucky escape last Saturday. After 2 flights, I was showing my setup to one of my clubmates when I noticed something on the drive pinion of the clutch bell. Closer inspection showed it to be a cage from the lower bearing, in the pic you can see where it has been rubbing on the 2nd pinion, just lucky nothing fell off or jammed.
You can see in the 2nd pic that the lower bearing had completely disintegrated, no sign of my balls anywhere!!
The grubscrew in the hex had siezed as well so had to take the main gears out, part the frames gently at the front and drop the whole assembly out, luckily I had a spare kit & just swapped the clutch bell assembly from it, so ready to burn more gogo juice this weekend!
There weren't any strange noises or vibes so not sure what caused this, but i've just added another checkpoint to my pre flight.

[forvols]

Originally Posted by barney11

no sign of my balls anywhere!!

I hate it when that happens!

Barney11 - Great catch on your part. Glad you found that issue on the ground prior to disaster. That's kind of weird though . I think the only way to keep bearings in great shape between season is to remove electronics, and simply submerge the helicopter in a 55 gallon drum of heli blend fuel until the next season .

Keep the reports coming and hope your spring/summer isn't as soggy as your winter


Jermo - for some reason I just noticed that you posted a video along with your pictures. The P50 looks as good now as it did when you posted completion pictures of your P50. Again.. very nice to see you back at it man. I enjoyed reading your many posts when I was first considering the Pantera as a "backup" helicopter to my Raptor. Now, I have 2 Raptors that only see sunlight through the window as they have not been outside for about 2 seasons now Somebody is gonna get a good deal on those one of the days.

Thanks for the flight reports guys. I enjoy reading everyone's flight reports and of the various challenges we all seem to face with various aspects of flying rc helicopters.

Cheers!

[dharwood]

Panteradise in Dalton 2012:

It has officially started, the Wednesday after work sessions at the field. I arrived today to find 3 other plank pilots already there, another rolled in as I set up waiting on Forvols. After he showed up, 3 other pilots showed up as well. What a crowd for a Wednesday. Weather was PERFECT! 79-80 degrees, winds at 5 or less, and clear sky.

I threw the P7e in the air and burnt around half a pack then landed. Handed the TX to Forvols and let him have some fun with the rest of the pack. He might comment on this.......

All flights were with plane flights in between so we did have some down/chat time.

I flew the P50 next, then one more set of batts trough the P7e.

For our last flight, we did something we have only done once before. We both took to the air at the same time. We figured since Birmingham is this weekend, we should do this one more time before we get down there. What a blast! Not nearly as scary as the time we did it last year. I hope I am more comfortable this year than I was last year as this will be my 3rd event ever to fly in (if I do fly).

I do look forward to seeing everyone there.

Until Saturday morning,

Dale

[forvols]

Well, it was really warm today with temps in the low 80's. The big news about the weather today isn't the temperature, but the wind! Actually the LACK of wind was the topic of our conversation throughout the day as we touched base with each other about our flying plans for this afternoon.

There was a rather steady 5-6 mph breeze with very mild gusts up to approx 8 mph. Mostly sunny skies made the day perfect for flying, and the conditions drew out a good little crowd of Dalton RC Flier members, which is a rare thing for a Wednesday!

Dale managed 4 flights today. 2 with the P7e and 2 with the P50n. 2 completely different machines that have 2 completely different sets of pros & cons. Perfect for the Dr Jekel / Mr Hyde pilot personality that Dale has developed. One minute he's all bold and twisty with the sticks. The next flight he's like Mr Smooth zoning out to the elevator music. In it's current cofiguration, the P7e on 8s is exceptionally well suited for the ultra relaxing cruising around the field at low altitude. Very smooth, and very very quiet - it's a kiddie ride to be sure! The P50n is his weapon of choice when he's feeling froggy (or maybe foggy?). I never know what to expect next from him when he's flying the P50n. It might be some nice cruising, or it might be some 1/2 piro flips or a roll extremely low on the deck when i least expect itt.

We have been trying to gear ourselves to be able to show up at Birmingham and attempt to fly and enjoy ourselves like we do at our own field. To that end, Dale suggested that we both toss our P50n's in the air at the same time. Sounded good to me and that's what we did. We were both able to enjoy our flights without getting all wadded up in each others airspace. Neither of us were affected by the nonsense of the othe. Dale in particular did a tremendous job of staying within a confined box while emptying out his every growing bag of tricks. Me? I was the rude, obnoxious snob that utilized the remaining 70% of the field

As we were packing up, about all that really needed to be said was "man, what a great day, and what a blast we had flying". The Dalton Heli Gang is headed to Birmingham, and we are coming to fly! Just hope it works out that way

Great weather, some unexpected friends at the field, watching Dale put on his show, and not having to replace any broken stuff at the end of the flying session. Sounds like a 10 on the Panteradise fun-o-meter to me

[barney11]

Went to the field today with the aim of getting the Panteras' skids to the sky.
I've been giving the sim a bashing all week to persuade my fingers to remember what they are supposed to do. I had a couple of flights with the 450 first to settle myself. I've gotten comfortable looping & rolling it over the last couple of weeks and it's a good build up to doing it with the bigger machine.
I'm glad to say that I managed to build up a head of steam & got her over the top of a loop, and as I found with circuits, it's the first one that is hardest, after that I couldn't stop!
Before the end of the session I also got the Pantera through her first roll (need to work on keeping moving!) and a 540 and another little kink on the stall turn with a 90 turn one way followed by 270 the other which i'm liking.
Only went home when the fuel drum was empty!

Big ole 10 on the meter!

Iain

[jbeech]

I did some flying for a change yesterday because Birmingham ended up being a no-go.

You see, between finishing the 3-year remodel from Hell last month (the county really frowns on contractors who lie about pulling permits while the homeowner - that would be me - gets caught in the middle), working on revamping the website, working on more prototype parts for the gasser project, and working on producing parts for the P7 conversion, plus all whilst juggling the usual balls like creating advertising, fielding orders, chatting with customers, and of course not neglecting my lovely bride, I've been a little busy. However, there's nothing new in this so late-ish Thursday morning I got started preparing models for the Birmingham event. That's when it all started to go wrong

First, while reaching for my P50n (my favorite beater), I thought, "Hmmm, I forgot about dinging that tail output shaft on the edge of the workbench while putting her away last time." Also, maybe I should install a P6 tail case while I'm at it since folks may be eyeballing the model to see what's new. Anyway, I sure wish I'd fixed that stuff immediately, flashed through my head as I got busy. As an aside, Dad always said my middle name should be Procrastinate, and looking down from Heaven now he was probably chuckling at how sure enough, "Johnny's still at it."

Next, I turned my attention to cycling the battery pack to see how it looked and figured I'd better also pull the fuel tank to R&R the lines. You know, the usual springtime ritual for a model, which hasn't flown for a couple of months (even though winter doesn't last very long in Florida). Then, while idly fiddling with the cooling fan I felt a slight roughness to the rear bearing. Hmmm, did I forget to load this puppy with afterrun the last time I flew, I wondered? Off I went to look for rear bearings, and so it went.

After all that I pulled down stretch, my P7e Pantera (the prototype) and realized I'd clipped out the ESC last month to send to Castle for an update and completely forgotten about it and thus, I had neglected to replace it. So I whipped out the heavy duty soldering iron and while I am waiting for it to heat up I realize the P50 canopy looks sort of ratty, so why I thought, "Let's build up a new P6 canopy - complete with P7e decal - to proudly announce her identity."

"Good idea.", said Lynn who had come up behind me with a ice cold Coke in hand for me (I must have been mumbling out loud). So after flame treating the new P6 canopy, and trimming a windscreen, next I began cutting out decals (yes, the soldering iron completely forgotten). Anyway, a few hours later (I'm slow) I stand back and admire my handiwork. Finally, I turn my hand to soldering in the ESC. And so it went.

Finally, I pulled down yellow bird. I really dreaded this because last time, after a fabulous day of flying, while hoisting her up to the rafters she somehow came loose form the head hook and fell 9 feet to the concrete floor. Call it a blade stop auto if you will, but a scale model like the Agusta deserves better. I had already determined she would need new front windshields, repairs to the lower dorsal fin, and a bit of touchup on her paint, but mechanically I hadn't even looked to see.

Turns out the tail output shaft was tweeked, so I replaced it (this is made somewhat more troublesome when clothed in a fiberglass fuselage). Next I slipped in a pair of LiPo packs and lifted her into a hover. Yup, out of track and back on the workbench, static tracking showed one blade to be riding 1/4" lower than the rest. Sure enough, a bent spindle - the price of being stupid or careless. And so it went.

Anyway, long story shortened, while we had hoped ot leave for Birmingham Friday AM, that had slipped to a 4 PM departure (I don't like flying at night in general and landing at an airport I've only flown into once or twice was definitely not high on my list of things to do). Sadly, before even starting on yellow bird around 3 PM I knew that wasn't going to happen either and thus, I told Lynn we would try to leave at dawn Saturday instead.

With this plan, we would get into the Bessemer airport around 10 PM local (it's about a four hour flight from Sanford, FL in the Bonanza, minus an hour change from the Eastern to Central time zone) and if we departed at first light (or a little before, like maybe at 7 AM) it would have us at the field between 10:30 and 11 Saturday. Sure, that would be a bit late, but still in time for a good day of visiting (I'm not really fond of flying with whom knows who in the box next to me with 10 other pilots all doing their thing). However, come midnight Friday, while I was practically done (the operative word being practically) I was feeling rather tired (well and truly ripped actually).

The truth is I my ass was dragging and waiting until the last minute had finally caught up with me. That's when I suspected we were in trouble, re: attending Birmingham. Nevertheless, I was up at 6 AM Saturday and while standing half asleep in the shower I felt my resolve slipping away as I pndered what I still had to get done. Later, while sipping on chemical supercharger (a cup of coffee) and wondering if I could get to anything done before the liquid rooter effect kicked in, I also relfected on the wisdom of flying whilst tired. The fact is tht's not smart whether it a 747, a Bonanza, or even a model.

In the end, I thought better of it - probably smart on my part though disappointing nonetheless. Frankly, it was reflecting on what I still had to get done, e.g. I'd not programmed the ESC for the P7e yet (and no, it doesn't take long but it does take some time), plus I hadn't test hovered the P50n (or even the P91), and I'd also not . . . there was still a list of things to do. Granted, it was a short list but nevertheless time consuming. Further to this, doing these things at a fun fly is the height of stupidity which I knew better than to give it much more than a thought. Anyway, that's when I finally realized it wasn't going to happen and thus, I made the decision to not go.

Later that morning, after breakfast, Lynn accompanied me to the hobby shop (Graves R/C is probably one of the better, if not the best, hobby shop in the world - we are truly blessed to have Bill and sons in Orlando) because I had smoked the balancer for my Thunder Power 1010C. I also wanted a few other odds and ends. Anyway, once back at the workshop (after lunch) I proceeded to finish my list of to-dos and began test flying the fleet.

In the end I had the most fun with the P7e with which I got in several test hops plus four genuine flights before calling it a day.Meanwhile, I just got off the phone with Gus this morning (he and I played phone tag since the middle of Friday morning). He sympathetically listened and said they had missed me (Gus is a very kind and generous soul). Anyway, they were in the process of checking out of the motel in preparation for their drive back home, so we signed off. I also tried calling Forvols but got his answering machine. So here I sit, sad I missed the Birmingham event, but regardless, finally ready for next weekend.

I'm presently thinking we may fly up to Jacksonville and visit with their club next weekend, or maybe fly somewhere else - I wonder how Dalton International will be this coming Wednesday? Regardless, the fleet is ready again.

Folks, I sure wish I'd gotten started sooner but these things happen. The last few days have been (other than some middling decent flights) a 1 on the scale of 1-10 - heavy sigh.

[dharwood]

Birmingham......

Panteradise easily went to an 11 for this event.

First let me say it was GREAT to get to meet and fly with Forvols, RCGeek, Gus, Hillbilly, and SteveP. I was impressed (as usual) with everyone's flying and had an off the chart amount of fun hanging with everyone.

This was the 3rd event ever where I showed up with an aircraft. Last year I had my first funfly flight with the P30/MiniMe which was short/ scary for me/ and rather lame. The MiniMe was the only Pantera I had airworthy and between its underpoweredness, combined with my lack of abilities, the flying was rather lame.
I flew 3 flights middle of last year at the Menlo event and was slightly more comfortable.

Enter Bham this year. I decided that airspace was airspace and it was no different than flying at home. That got me to the line but did not cure the shakes. I worked through them and had the most fun I have ever had at an event. I put 1 flight on the P7e and had a lot of fun with it. On the 3rd flight on the P50 I cracked my 2nd OWB on my backflip departure. As I pulled the nose high after clearing the ground, I heard WahWah. The backflip to tail slide completed and I proceeded to my stall turn where it again went WahWah, Landed after a minute and back to the pits. I robbed the P7e OWB and did get in one more P50 flight. Absolutely the most fun I have ever had flying. Somehow I will attend Friday and Saturday next year.

The end of the day was special. While waiting on the Bobby Watts night demo, Gus, Timmy and a few others threw all combinations of led blinged-out foamies/ helis/ and rc controlled parachute jumpers (hang the jumper on a skid of a heli, carry him up 500+ feet and piro to sling him clear (-:
It was quite obvious that Gus and Timmy had done the night foamie thing before. Awesome!

The Bobby Watts demo was off the chart. My phone video captures about 0.01% of what it was like so my apologies. Simply put, I was blown away by it.

Birmingham Fun Fly 2012 Bobby Watts Night Show (8 min 44 sec)

JB, you missed an awesome event. I think there were 10-11(unclear on Steve's total count) total Panteras there with 9 (at least) of them flown. Wished it would have worked out that you could have attended.

Lotts of Synergys (possibly outnumbered Align) there as well as 3 Goblins (ohhhhhhh).

I would never pay what they cost, and it would not make me fly any better than I do with my Pantera, but you have to admire the out of the box design. They nailed it. (and it has belt main and tail drive)



Again, good to see everyone that made it, and I am already looking forward to next year!

Panteradise-0-meter = 11

[forvols]

Great flight report Barney11

Sounds like your Fight Skillz box just expanded. Good on you! Doing something new always makes me very nervous (and sometimes makes my wallet even thinner)

Like Dale, I enjoyed the gathering of Pantera drivers at Birmingham and very much appreciate that each of you put in the time and effort to be there. You guys made my participation more fun than it would have been otherwise. John, I hope you get that 450 tail deal worked out before I toss my project out the window I"m gonna go with a new main shaft, and new tail output shaft and hub. If that doesn't work I'm done with it.

I was very glad to see Dale uncorking his "stuff" in the air yesterday. It's the first time that he's let lose with the thumbs in public. Maybe some day we can be as entertaining to watch as Gus is when he flies .

While there were still a good many T-rex machines on the ground and in the air at the event, it was Synergy who had the lions share of machines I think. One trend that kinda has me laughing is what appears to be a big move AWAY from torque tube tail drives to high quality belt drive machines. Obviously, some brands have options to build with a belt drive or a torque tube, but many of the "high dollar" kits are belt only. The Synergy is all about the belt drive, the ever sexy Goblin is over the top with regard to it's belt drive system. The reason I find this funny is that 2-3 years ago folks were paying some pretty hefty prices to buy torque tube upgrades for their existing belt drive helicopters. Seems like the earth makes a new revolution every day

I failed to capture many Pantera pictures, but that was primarily because when one of us was up flying, we were (for the most part) all up at the flight station. Maybe the synergy folks took some great pictures of our Pantera's for us

[rcgeek]

B-Ham was Great........I should have some Pic's up tommorrow evening...Sorry so short but it's late and I'm Tired......

[forvols]

Originally Posted by rcgeek

it's late and I'm Tired......

I only had a 3.5 hour drive and was beat when I got home. I can't imagine how tired you guys must be! Again, thank you for coming because it sure was great to hang out and fly with you!

Loved the night rigs. Might have to do something like that myself at some point. Although Gus's night wing was super fast, your Stryker was extremely easy for me to keep orientation correct.

Dale has already spoken his desire to make next year's B-ham event a Friday/Saturday thing, so I guess I'll be back to Saturday only (we both work in the same territory and he's my boss so...). Maybe next year I'll take a 2 day vacation time and head to Indiana. Would the Lafayette fly in be one that you guys usually attend? Is there one in Indianapolis that you guys would go to?

[dharwood]

Glad you guys made it home safe! AND as Forvols said, thanks for making the trip.

I am hoping that Forvols and I can both make the trip next year on Friday. I have an entire year to work out that one day detail. I should be able to handle that (-;

I got the OWB out and it is cracked in 2 places. I will repair it stock and it will live the rest of its life in the P7e. The ESC is much more gentle than my thumbs apparently

Until Wednesday, (if the rain stays away)

Dale

[rcgeek]

Panteradise in Birmingham.
It was a great event, It was great meating and flying with you Chris and Dale, cant wait until we get a chance to do it again. JB, you missed a great event, I think the Pantera's may have out numbered the Align's. Had a blast.

[dharwood]

It was a decent day at the Dalton Intl Flying Field. Wind was very gusty but nothing like we had in weeks prior. I think the gauge said 14 gusting to 20. It did make for some bumpy flying but bearable.

I started the day not starting. I ran out of glow plugs a week or so back and all we had in stock was a used one from the Forvols pit. It worked well until today and died its final death. I installed a new one and FINALLY, we are off.

4 total flights for me on the P50 (the P7e is down due to a robbed OWB). I spent all of my flights just doing stuff. I did make a few attempts at the "Gus" and while somewhat successful, fugly does not even cover it Will have to work into that one for a while.
I did a couple of autos "with the wind" and they too were pretty bad. Had a blade scrape at the end of a mini auto where between myself and the wind, we really had the P50 aggravated. It tried its best to tip over but it was never successful. (at slow enough speeds, blades can be used as training gear )
Nothing I did today was pretty or nice but I did push myself doing "stuff"

Forvols and I both had a very large time, broke nothing, and got to verbally unwind afterward which is always welcome after a stressful day at work.

Until our next installment,

Dale