Category: Uncategorized

860 ,861,862 Arrowcam flights

Three flights with the arrow cam.  The first two were at Placida with the two Mikes.  The first launch was dicey.  I didn’t walk out the runway and hit a good sized depression just before takeoff.  My feet were knocked off the pegs and the trike started to yaw to the left.  I was half expecting to see the front wheel slam down starting a wheelbarrow flip but I was going fast enough that by keeping the he power on I was able to launch.  It wasn’t pretty.
None of us had radios so I wasn’t able to get any great footage but it was good.  I launched a second time just for the heck of it.

The third flight was the next morning at shell creek.  The launch was clean.  I circled the sand quarry and turned east.  The air was a cool 40* allowing for a nice quick climb up to 1000 feet.  When I arrived at the motocross track I spiraled down and played around the park.    

This cam has a much shorter lead so that it won’t swing into the prop.  It is mounted on the right side about 5 feet in from the tip.  When turning to the left the cam is on the outside; as the wing banks the cam lifts making the trike appear to decend.  It’s a cool effect that I’m going to be fun to play with.   On the next flight I’m going to do several turns with and without power.  It will be fun to see what it can do.
Lannie Garrett gave me permission to use her songs which is going to be fun.  I’m going to check with a few other friends who have cut CDs so that I’ll have some good background music.
Here is the video of the first two flights with the two Mikes
Here is the video of the Shell Creek flight

https://youtu.be/UYKaSaCLUuA

Flight of the Arrow Cam

MK

It took three trips out to the field before I was able to log number 859.  Monday night I was at Shell Creek but the winds never came down.  Tuesday morning I drove to Placida and stood in thick fog until 8:30.  But Tuesday afternoon I watched the winds go from 18 to 15, when the hit 12 mph I jumped in the truck and booked it to Placida.  

The wind was right at the edge of my comfort level, but it’s a wide open area without rotor and it wasn’t gusting.  I decided to go for it.  The launch was a non-event, the wing came up clean and we were off in a flash.  The first 300 feet was bumpy but once at altitude it was smooth and there was less wind than at the surface.  I flew out to the causeway and noticed for the first time a jet was taxing around the jet port. He never approached the runway but I kept an eye on him   When I reached the Gulf I turned back because I was alone and didn’t want to try a water passage without back-up.  The flight back was in calm air.  

 I’d cobbled together a new chase cam using only an aluminum hunting arrow.  It flew great and I look forward to getting some awesome video.  Below is the Vimeo link.

854 Shell Creek

Cool with steady NE winds.  Launched at 4:15 into bumpy air.  Flew for an hour.  The air started to settle down as I got colder.  Landed and watched a crop duster work the field south of the LZ.  

Practiced with the Hero+ . At the highest resolution the picture is jumpy and at the lower the picture is stable but the resolution is poor.

PPC Night at Shell creek

Last minute flight.  Very light Northerly breeze. There were 4 PPCs ready to take off from the “no mans land” between Richard’s place and the Sky Divers operation.  We chatted a little bit about runway edict and I got the message that these guys stay to the edge to allow for touch and goes as well as the possibility of other aircraft.  I moved my rig and everybody was happy.  

The flight was without drama.  We didn’t have much time before sunset but I think everybody got their fix.  The big surprise of the night was that I fly flatter than the PPCs.
No photos tonight. 

851 Placida

Mike Otten…. BobHarrison and I enjoyed a sunset flight in 6 to 8 mph breeze.  My gas flow problem has been solved. No Drama except that Otten stretched his flight to the very last second.  We damn near had to turn on the headlights for him.

Time aloft 1 hour 8 minutes

The last picture was not tonight.  It was taken Wednesday during the IYC  Social Sailing.

Engine Out!

This was a last minute decision.  The winds that were predicted to last into tomorrow had started to mellow. There was a high cloud cover and I thought it just might be flyable at Placida.  After texting Mike Lange that I was planning to fly and pulling on some long pants I jumped into the truck and headed on out.  At the LZ the wind was steady 6 mph out of the North East.  Trying not to waste any time i warmed up the motor, set-up and prepared to launch.  This flight was going to be naked, no GPS, Helmet, GoPro and it turns out….. No ear protection.  Two seconds after launch I realized my mistake and knew it was going to be a short and naked flight. 

This was guaranteed when two seconds after that, the motor died.  I was about 50 feet up and still above landable terrain, so it was a non event to glide into a smooth landing.  I checked the gas tank and discovered the problem was that the fuel had been turned off at the tank.  Probably by Mike when he repaired the cage.  I turned the fuel back on and motored back to the truck.  
What I expect happened was that I burned the fuel that was still in the pipeline during the warm up and there was very little left when I began the launch which was exhausted in seconds at full power.  
Back at the house I ran the motor for several minutes without a burp, so I should be good to go the next time my schedule and weather permits.

Last week Mike had been kind enough to to weld up the damaged cage and replace the nose wheel.  

849 850

It’s not really a milestone but it feels like one.  I popped off a quick launch and landing and reset for 850.  Ground fog and nil winds were the order of the day.  Nice long flight, one hour and 45 minutes.  I flew down to the RNYC at 850ft and dropped down to do some touch and goes on their parking lot.  The air was so still that the only bumps I encountered were from my own prop wash and because it was so still, the vortex was undisturbed and packed a real wallop.


No Drama… No company… Just me and the birds.
Tech Note…. The new GoPro is not working on my iPad.   Try 30 frames/sec instead of 60.

448… It’s been awhile

                                                 Chilling with Angelica

Wow.!  It’s been three weeks since my last flight.  The First week was for a good reason .  Dawn and I were sailing the Eastern Caribbean on the Carnival Cruise Ship Glory.  Then there was a high pressure area north of us that was encouraging a North East wind. It was blowing 10 to 20 mph constantly for more than a week.  Then, last week was my birthday Thanksgiving and the girls visit.  It blew so much that we didn’t even go sailing.   Go Figure?  It’s beautiful here in the winter and would be the best time of year to fly except for the wind.

Today was the first decent day in awhile.  Mike rallied the troops and we met at Placida about 4pm.  Lange and Otten were testing the air as I arrived.  They both landed when I pulled up.  It was still a bit thermic.
I took pity on Beau and brought him along.  Big mistake…… When the two Mikes decided to cruise over to Englewood Beach I had to content myself with staying near the patch so that I could check on Beau every once in awhile.  The wind was blowing about 8mph toward the Gulf,  I was cruising downwind a couple of miles and working my way back.  After being above 1000 feet for 15 minutes I decided to drop down and check on Beau.  After 3 loud “BEAUs”, out he came, bouncing out from under the pickup.
I stayed up about 90 minutes and only landed because the sun had set and it was getting dark.
The Mikes showed up a few minutes later.   I didn’t stay around to chew the fat due to mosquitos.

845. Sunset flight

It was not a big one.  It was not a long one.  

The best way to describe this flight was …. I don’t know….maybe? Dicey.  
First….The winds were from the East giving me the shortest angle on the field.  I had to thread the needle between several obstacles and…  if the Lift EZ decided not to live up to its name, I would be apologizing to the rancher for scaring his cows.   In my favor …. there was a healthy 8 mph to help me climb.  So… I kited a bit.  The air was only slightly twitchy and most of it was caused by soft edge rotor from upwind trees.   I decided to set-up the wing in a chevron with the center tucked in.  

It inflated beautifully and I only needed to taxi for a short time before committing to launch.  The climb out was acceptable.  It was one of those times I missed the old simonini trike buggy but the Falcon did fine.  I headed upwind and tasted the air.  With the trim still in neutral Airspeed was 16 mph with mildly bumpy air.  The first turn downwind was sluggish.  Subsequent turns I used more brake pressure and found it better.  I suspect that had I let trim out I would have been much more comfortable.  
The real problem was that I just wasn’t feeling good about the flight.  There were too many little things less than perfect.  I was pissed not to have my camera available and was trying to use my iPhone to shoot the sunset.  Try as I might, I couldn’t settle down and go hands free.  An angel looking over my shoulder would have thought that I was spastic seeing the convoluted way I was trying to hold the phone and shoot with one hand.  The sunset was stunning …. The pictures were not.
Then,  I noticed an unusual amount of play with the nosewheel.  I could feel the caster moving way too much in the mounting plate and wondered if the whole thing would fall off when I touched down.  I couldn’t see where the problem was from my perspective but it was, “hillbilly sloppy”.  It wouldnt have been a good idea to land after  sunset, when my nosewheel was acting funny.  The winds were good for a slow landing, right now.  But, after the sun sets, they have a tendency to decrease, meaning that my landing speed would be faster.
Time to land.  
After an uneventful landing, I inspected the wheel and found that the caster bearings were gone.  Without the 3/8 balls filling the caster plate there was a huge amount of play with the whole wheel assembly.  It was ugly but I can probably fly it that way forever.  

When I got home and did a more comprehensive post flight inspection, I discovered that a weld had broken in the center of the cage.  It happened after my preflight and I’d like to think that the vibration from the broken weld played a part in my unease.  Probably not.  Either way,  it wasn’t structural and not a showstopper in itself. 
So…. I cheated Death yet again and flew like a bird.   Gawd love this sport.