September 26, 2011

  • Monday 26th September 2011

    Monday Morning: Mostly sunny, some low cloud on the mountain tops, other than that clear above, mild 23C.

    Saturday began overcast after light overnight rain, but cleared up later. We went to town in the afternoon to do the shopping. Sunday was clear and sunny, 25C with a light easterly breeze. I have been re-charging and balancing both of my old Lipo batteries with the new charger and have found they are in surprisingly good condition considering their now rather old age of some six years! With the peace of mind that the battery is good, I flew the Lady B.....

    To avoid damage from the very sharp dry stems that poke up on the terrace, I spread out the almond net, which is 4.5M square so I could land on it. Flying was good and the final approach was gentle and on target, until the very last few feet when the model suddenly dropped with no warning and hit the stone wall below the terrace nose first...... OK this is Lady B, it is very strong and only had a broken front former, which was quickly repaired with cyno.....

    In the mean time I decided to fly the new Tiger Moth again, it also flew very well. For the landing this time I decided to approach from the South as the sun was very low and bright. All was going perfectly, then the model suddenly dropped in nearly the same place as before, I put the power on quickly and caused it to snap roll and then the inevitable, she hit the deck nearly vertical. The bottom left wing was snapped clean off at the root and the right wing was hanging with a thin strip of foam barely intact.....

    The Plaza has been built on a long spur, so either side are deep valleys. When the wind is from the east there is lift on that side, the landing area is almost calm, but obviously there is an area of "dead air" or a down draft right before the edge

    Apart from a few of the struts also pulled out, it wasn't too bad. I took it inside, got the cyno and 20 minutes later it was back in the air..... The last landing I approached higher, steeper and from the north and plonked the model in the middle of the net........