Month: September 2024

Four flights in mid Sept.

I cracked off 4 this week. The first was pretty standard. The only thing of note was that I noticed one of the batons in the nose of the wing had gone missing. I also noticed that the right wheel strut was damaged.

After much head scratching trying to find a replacement I remembered the Hobby Shop across the bridge. They had the exact 1/16 nylon dowel.

While I was at it I replaced the strut and re-installed with the original wheels (better bearings) and new tubes and tires.

The second flight was on the 17th. The sky was a bit sketchy but I decided to send it anyway. Bad decision. By the time I got to the end of the runway at 200 feet the visibility was down to 50 ft. with no holes in sight.

I climbed to 400 feet feeling like I was inside of a ping pong ball . Still no holes clean enough to trust. I turned back to the airstrip and landed.

The third flight was total stupidity. The surface was clear but above 250 ft. was zero visibility . I tooled around for 10 minutes trying to get glimpses of the surface and landed glad to be Down.

The fourth flight was great in all respects.

The sky was 100% overcast and the wind was light and variable from the East. I launched East across the runway and turned North for launch.

At 200 ft. I entered a dense haze with no top in sight. At 250 ft. I lost sight of the ground and began to descend. Turned back to final and landed without incident. Time aloft 4 minutes.

Notes:

Inspect / replace right strut which appears to be sagging.

Replace right (blue) WST line due to burn on cover from muffler.

Move small mirror to left side of IPad .