Flight #1099. Lack of power

This was interesting and potentially dangerous. One of the push/pull rods in the choke assembly came undone causing a lack of power. The takeoff was slow and climb out was worse. I steered between the clumps of Palm trees, stayed on the throttle and made a flat turn back to the truck at about 50 feet of altitude.

I wanted to fly beyond the truck and turn back to land into the 6 to 8 mph winds. Unfortunately I was losing altitude and there were still a bunch of palm trees that I would have had to clear. So, I picked the first available road and set down 90 degrees crosswind. The palms blocked the wind and the landing was soft.

I taxied back to the truck and diagnosed the problem. Safety Wire should prevent another occurrence.