Category: good pictures

#479 Snowflake



Blast off….No Kidding  !

Finally a March Flight… It was 43 degrees when I arrived at the field at 7:30.  The winds were out of the west blowing 12 gusting to 15.  Mike called and said that he was running late, I told him to take his time.  8:15… Mike and I were, “outstanding in our field”, watching the winds blow.
8:25… Wind shifts to the north and drops to 2-4
8:30… Mike launches
8:35….I launch   Gawd I love it when the weather Gods agree with the Internet!

My pronghorns were waiting for me and even though I throttled way down they were running hard.  We made a few turns together before I headed over to the gun range to see what was up.
//www.youtube.com/get_player
Its a race to the fence!



Mike Bennett carves a turn

The air was mostly good with some twitching.  It got worse above 500ft. so we both stayed low.  Just a nice day, no drama, no issues. 
Nuff Said



Taxi Practice for a new pilot

#450 & #451 and a half

Video
This was my 451st launch.  It looks bad but I just knew I could save it.  Probably should have aborted but I backed off the throttle two times till i got it sorted out.  Mike and I flew till the chill and sun forced us down. 
 The wing loading was too slow…. I’ve also had problems when the loading is too fast… if it begins to oscillate
There was a group of pronghorns I just couldn’t help following across the highway. 
Ground handling. 
Ground handling with a frame like the Falcon is much different than the trike buggy, Both work fine but it takes some different techniques.
Falcon vs. Trike Buggy 4 stroke
  Trike Buggy…Built to take a pounding (stiff frame) for kiting over rough terrain 
Falcon ……Built with suspension has wider wheelbase and springer rear axle …
could be described as loose goose… it dances over the surface but at close to take off speed can get bouncy.  I do not recall the buggy coming up with a twist to the left or right.  Could it be that I’m being lifted on the outbound leg of an oscillation and because one wheel is on the ground a split second longer… it causes the trike to twist in that direction.  ???
The only suspension in the buggy was the slightly bigger tires.
It’s a puzzlement …I’ll have to work on

#447 & #448 Titan

Got up early and launched at sunrise minus 20.  Nice 40 minute flight.  I practiced power on landing a few times with increasing power each time.  Finally getting this machine dialed in.

Back at the field at 4:45.  Good launch.  The highlight was a huge flock of white pelicans all hanging out at the east end of the Lake.  The air was mostly good with some mixing air toward the end.

Marek Flew over from Simms.  We flew around for a bit and landed at Titan.  While we were packing up Steve Abby came by to chat.   Beautiful night.

#340 Titan Chatfield Stealth Launch

Chatfield….Home Sweet Home !

It was O’ dark thirty when I pulled in and set up. Paul arrived at 6 followed by Greg.
I forgot how nice this LZ is. The hay has been cut, it’s flat and no bumps. What a pleasure to launch from. I took off right away, to the Marina, to shoot a few pictures, and then worked my way around the lake to the corn maze. There were 4 balloons that launched but it was too late for us to fly with them. Next time.
On the way out I saw a pilot go down over by Santa Fe and Titan. It turned out to be John Sieb who was still having trouble with his motor. Craig also had trouble…motor out somewhere…his wife picked him up. Those guys with the two strokes have all the fun!
We all launched and enjoyed mostly smooth air. Paul was dealing with high winds at 2500 but I was fine at 2000.

#332 Simms

Beautiful sunset flight with Craig and Marek.

Smooth and warm!
Last night I remounted the Tac it’s easy to read but it’s not reading correctly. I’ll try again with a smaller gauge wire and if that does not work I’ll try finding a position that has a shorter run.
The take off was slow with lots of sink around the field. Tomorrow it’s off to snowflake.