Conference vmszoo::rc

Saturday 9-Dec-1989 I took the Thermal Charger out to the Orange Airport.
Got in one quick cold flight.  Didn't even bother to bring a charger.
I was the only one there (although there were other car tracks in the ice
at the flying site.  The tar was covered with ice patches but the grass
near the runway was pretty much snow and ice free.  I was hoping for
solid white with nice hot black runways.

It was approx 20 degrees and a stiff breeze.  I put the wing on the
fuse and got back in the car to warm up.  I took out the transmitter
and checked everything out and got back in the car to warm up.

I threw it into a stiff breeze (kinda just let go actually and fought)
the sticks till it ran out of power.  It was a real hand full and I was
all over the sky.  Not a pretty sight.  After I shut down the motor
it flew pretty good and I greased the landing on the ice on the runway.
After it started skidding on its belly the wind turned it sideways and it 
scraped the bottom up on the tar.

I got back in the car to warm up.

Then I disassembled the plane and packed up and got back in the car to 
warm up.

I'm starting to feel cold again writing this note.
I've been checking old notes and can account for March-1989 (In Phoenix) thru
Dec-1989.  So I have only two months left.  I subscribe to Dan Snows
interpretation of the rules.  That means that the letter of the law
may say one calendar year but the spirit of the law must mean 12 consecutive
months.  So my solution will be (assuming I complete Jan and Feb) to just
state that I have flown 12 consecutive months from March-1989 to Feb-1990.
That way I will be making an honest statement of my accomplishment and
it will be up to the AMA to nit pick.

Al Ryder wrote about this is some AMA note.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Flew the Thermal Charger at the Orange Airport Saturday about 11:00.
Almost no wind and caught a small thermal right away.  I also used
an Astro electronic speed control for the first time.

Waiting for a back ordered prop adapter before I can replace the Leisure
05 with the Astro Cobalt 05.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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I flew two short "up and down" hops in the Thermal Charger
at the 495th Fun Fly in the Soccer Field in Acton.

Very windy.

One guy managed to hit a Soccer Goal Post with his plane
but it was so windy that he sort of hovered into it.  It took
the wing off and the motor was still running so he just completed
his landing and taxied back the fuselage without the wing.

There was no damage to the plane or the wing.

More details in the programmable radio note.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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It's been tuff catching up since Phoenix but.

23-March-1990 I flew the Berliner-Joyce in Phoenix first time I used my
              JR Single Stick transmitter in ages.

8-Apr-1990 I flew my Thermal Charger at the Orange Airport - very windy 
           and cold.  First time I used my Futaba 9VAP.  I finally got
           a radio that understands V-Tails.  The trick is in the case of
           a V-Tail glider without ailerons to tell the radio that it is
           a flying wing and set up the V-Tail as Elevarons - that way
           the dual rates work correctly and in the case of my Vision it was
           just about impossible to convince the flap lever that it was a
           throttle because I wanted to add throttle -> elevator mixing and
           the Vision couldn't understand that back stick was off throttle
           since it thinks you pull the stick that way to apply the flaps.
           Bottom line is the 9VAP is for power planes and the Vision SP is
           for sailplanes and never the two shall meet.  The second bottom
           line is I have had my last V-Tail - tho I must admit I'm starting
           to like it more all the time.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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I must be the only one using this note.  

Anyway I got in my May flight with the Chuperosa off an Up-Start at Acton
this lunch hour.

Brings up an interesting question tho about what counts as a flight.

Is is a flight if you fly a Scale F14 off grass?

You bet.

Is is a flight if you fly a Panic off grass - that's a lot easier to achieve?

You bet.

Is is a flight if you fly an electric from hand launch (getting easier)?

You bet.

Is is a flight if you fly a glider off a high start?

Is it a flight if you fly a glider off an Up-Start?

Is it a flight if you fly a HLG off a hand launch?

Aha - we're getting close to a moral decision.

I maintain that the flight doesn't count from hand launch unless you
catch some up air and manage to stay up for some measurable amount of
time.  That is if you hand launch and glide back down - that was fun
and might count against the HLG log book but to me it doesn't count
for an "All Season Flyer" flight.  It would be hard to argue with 
a slope flight or a HLG by an expert that catches a thermal and makes
a good flight about it.

Anyway - back to rambling.

===============================================================================
Here I was at Acton by myself.  First I hook up the Up-Start to a post
and step back and CRUNCH - I broke the canopy of the Chuperosa. 

OK - I'll fix that later - balance doesn't seem any different in this wind
so I'll fly anyway.

First launch - pop off - recover from big stall and land.

2nd launch with some down trim in - goes up pretty good then
a normal (all but thermal absent) flight and a terrible landing.

I was coming cross wind towards myself and just noticed a large pole
in my path and dropped the wing tip on the grass.  When I picked it up
the elevator was kinda pushed down.  I found the elevator was slipping in
the SIG EZ connector on the servo arm.  OK - I just pull it about right
and try again - this time with eyeball trims and plenty of down so I don't
pop off.

3rd launch - WOW way too much down - I hold some up and come off it starts
recovering - so I look down at the transmitter and dial in a bunch of up
trim - then I look up and javelin into the ground.

The nose is broke off (clean) and buried in the ground.  The wing is ripped
out of its mount and one aileron cable is ripped part way out of the wing
and the other aileron cable broke the servo horn.  

I can fix it tonight but darn.

Oh well - hope to try this again tomorrow at lunch.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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This is getting easier in the summer.

Spent last Saturday 2-Jun-1990 at the Orange airport flying
the Thermal Charger and the Hobie Hawk.  Had several flights
of the Hawk and NO good landings.  What a handful to land.
Kevin was taking pictures of all my cartwheel landings!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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8-Jul-1990 I put in several glider flights at the CRMCM contest.

This was my first contest this year and the first time I ever winched
the Hobie Hawk and first flight this year for my Sagitta.  I came in
last in 2 meter and 2nd to last in Open.  But I had fun - except for
one flight.

My first winch of the Hobie Hawk - launch went very straight and
got good height.  Shortly after I got off tow I got a short radio hit.
At first I wasn't sure what was happening as it was pretty far up and moving
hard to see.  But seconds later WHAM - I got it again.  Now I'm bouncing all
over the sky and it stabilizes again.  So I start making a slow descending
arc towards the landing zone.  Then as the plane starts truning on final
WHAM - it starts nosing over - I give full up but no responce.  Down it goes
from about 150 feet straight down till it dissapears from sight.  Discouraged
I turn off my transmitter and stop at the impound to turn it in.  Dan Miner
and I and one other fellow are the only ones on channel 34.  As I go to put
the frequency pin up another fellow grabs it for his friend who is down at
the winch with his transmitter in hand!  I asked the pilot but he denies
turning on so I don't argue.  Mean while on the long walk to the crash site we 
come across a fellow in a car filled with radio equipment - but he says no
transmitters?  Anyway some other fellows have already located the plane
and are bringing it out - I keep asking "How many pieces?" - no answer.
Out it comes (Dave Walter that brought it out) and guess what.  Only some 
dirt on the nose!  Not even a dent in the wing.  

Soooooo - you tell me was I lucky or unlucky?

Anyway for the next two flights of the Hawk I'm watching this other
guy on channel 34 like a "Hobie Hawk" and behold - no problems.  

Ironically I have a hard time landing the Hawk but with three rounds
I received no landing points with the Sagitta and managed to put the
Hawk in the circle 2 outa 3 times.  The 3rd time was the flight where
I was shot down.  In fact during my best Hawk landing (67 points) everybody
was yelling "Heads up!".  Hey - what do you expect when the announcer
stand and pit area is directly down wind from the landing circle!

I asked Harvey to please ask flyers to not remove their transmitters
from impound till after they had the frequency pin and alto I never
heard it on the loudspeaker - I think he did and things were a bit
less zooy after that.

Highlights of the event.  Dan Miner was there in his first ever glider
contest and finished in the middle of the pack - way to do Dan.
Dave Walter was also in the middle of the pack.  Dave only brought
one glider - some excuse about staying up to late to get his HLG ready.

Steve Smith was there all day giving moral support and helping.
Bob Burley showed up with two gliders in his car but we couldn't
convince him to enter.

Did I miss anybody?

Anyway the required July flights are in.
Next event is an Electric Fly In at the Northern Conneticut RC Club.
Anybody going?

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Hey - not many summer entries in this note guys!

Anyway - my first Aug-1990 flights were at the Ellington CT glider
contest yesterday.  Dave Walters and I were the only DECRCM members
present (unless I missed someone).  Lots of lovesongs and Daves
Flinger drew a lot of attention - it was easily the smallest plane
there and Dave winched it up in the 2 meter class!  I think the next
most popular ship was my Hobie Hawk - several flyers told me stories
of their Hawks from years ago.

I flew the Sagitta in 2 meter and the Hobie Hawk in standard and unlimited.
On my last 2 meter flight I got my only max of the day and I got greedy
and traded safety for landing points.  Now I have to spend a few workshop
nights repairing all those cracks in the fuselage.  All in all it was
a good contest and I had a lot of fun.  I didn't place very high but
I did manage to stay out of last place and I had a lot of fun.  One
fellow folded his wings on the winch.  A couple went deep into the woods.
One guys tail section ripped off as he was approaching the landing circle.
Several had landing damage.

Results were

2 Meter - 24 entries
1.  Jim Tyrie        1033 ?????????
2.  Chris Ordzie      942 (Dodgson Pixy with different airfoil)
3.  Robin Fleming     927
...
10. Kay Fisher        726 (Sagitta 600)
16. Dave Walter       579 (Larry Jolly Flinger)

Standard - 22 entries
1.  Grant Fleming    1118
2.  Rusty Knowlton   1086
3.  Chris Ordzie     1080
...
9.  Dave Walter       879
19. Kay Fisher        487 (Hobie Hawk)

Unlimited - 21 Entries
1.  Dan Carr         1210 (Love Song)
2.  Jim Tyrie        1158
3.  Chris Ordzie     1155 (Love Song with different airfoil)
5.  Dave Walter      1125
14. Kay Fisher        835 (Hobie Hawk)

Grant Fleming and Robin Fleming were a father & son - but I forget which
was which.

Dan Carr who won Unlimited with his Lovesong also brought 4 or 5 other gliders
and had them all lined up in front of his car.  They caused quite a bit
of comment because every plane was yellow!

Winds were constantly changing and varied from 1 to 12 mph constantly
through out the day.  The landing circles were kinda on a hill towards
the pits so frequently we were making down wind landings and the task
was 6 minute duration so landings were a very large part of your score.

I was actually in good position in unlimited until the last round and
Dave was setting in 2nd place till all the sandbaggers finally finished
up the round.  I finished all three rounds in all three classes at 1:00
and the last of the sandbaggers finished up at 4:00.  The way they were
calling you up to fly was kinda random and frequency based but they made
no attempt to make all flyers finish one round before anybody attempted
to fly the next round.  I kinda liked this as it gave me an opportunity
to go up frequently and get comfortable with the winch.  Then I could
wind down and kick tires and shoot the breeze with the others.  I must of
had fun because I went to put my Chuperosa up on the winch just for the
fun of it and on my way to the winch my Vision transmitter battery alarm
went off so I packed up for the day.  The same transmitter flew every
plane in all three classes plus some time hand launching the Chuperosa
before and at the end of the contest.

Dave can fill in the missing details on who had what plane.
I stayed for the awards (that lasted till 6:00) and Dave won
a $5.00 discount at Northeast Sailplane Products plus some zap 
and an ACE cooler.  I had to fill out a card for Dave's prizes and
I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of his plane - so
I put Sagitta 900 on the form (sorry Dave).

Remember - this next weekend is the Anker's Sudbury glider contest!
It looks to be the biggest event of he year - be there!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Spent the first day of Sep-1990 at the Orange Airport.

I flew the Thermal Charger a few times and the Hobie Hawk a
few times.  The goal Saturday was for Kevin Ladd to put a couple 
of practice flights on his P-47 before taking it to Dallas.

P-47 flights went OK - but we did notice a little Dutch roll
that it never had before.  On close examination later that evening
Kevin found that the servo tray was coming loose.

Monday (labor day) he put one more flight on it.  This was almost
a disaster.  Part way through the flight the drop tank fell off on it's
own.  Later the engine burped.  Then we decided to land and one
retract wouldn't come down.  Kevin added some G forces to the undercarriage
and it came down and locked.  Landing was OK - into a brisk wind.

The drop tank is lost in the swamp off the end of the runway.
We figure the PCM failsafed - that would account for both the
release of the drop tank and also the unexpected throttle down
of the engine.  We seem to be getting more and more of this kind of
hits lately at Orange - time for me to trade my scanner off for 
a new one.

Flew the Chuperosa Monday - I'll talk about that in the RCHLG topic.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Got my October flights in Saturday.  It was pretty windy.
I managed to cartwheel the Chuperosa and break loose
a servo mount.  I did high-start it a couple of times
and caught one good thermal.  

I tried flying the Thermal Charger and made one flight
with that in the wind.  No real fun tho.

I took a local 15 year old with and he got in his first real
flight of his new Gentle Lady.  He had been hand launching down
some convenient hills so after getting used to the high-start
he is was grinning from ear to ear.  He soloed every flight.
I was standing by to help - but he managed with only some words.

Imagine that - first flight is a solo flight!

Kevin has an interesting tail to tell about his P-47 - but I'll
let him put that in the rambling section.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Got my November flights in Friday in the DECRCM fun fly at Crow Island.

Only 3 months to go for the two year award.

Flew the Chuperosa off Jim Reith's hi-start and the Thermal Charger.

Couldn't find a decent thermal.  Lots of bumps and teasers but nothing
going up.  It was beautiful and warm but the haze stopped the good
thermals.  Hand launching near the trees was dangerous due to the
turbulence.  Mid field was fine but the power flyers had no patience
for us HLGers.  The change in Crow Island from the last time I was there is 
unbelievable.  There was also a new full scale Kit Fox there that looked
beautiful.  Also a Chipmunk and a Stearman that pruned the top off a large
pine tree just before I arrived.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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This is beginning to look like my personal note.

Anyway Sunday 2-Dec-1990 I was at Church and a friend asked me
if I had my December flight in yet.  No - not yet I said.
Then he said - "Don't think your going to get a better day than today".
...
So I went home and started charging and at approx 3:30 I took the
Thermal Charger up to the Church Yard and got in a easy relaxing
December flight.

Now back to the workshop - I have to use the Lovesong plastic
aileron covers as fiberglass molds because I don't want one
part that is not compatible with my paint...

Only 2 months to go for the 2nd year "All Season Flyer" award.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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>    Question:  Does an All-Season Flier award consist of all 12 months in a
>    given calendar year, or ANY 12 consecutive months?

12 Consecutive months.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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    I thought it read "12 consecutive months in a calander year...
    
    I saw an ad/reminder for it in the latest Model Aviation...  It should
    say there...
    
    cheers,
    jeff
    

>    I thought it read "12 consecutive months in a calander year...
>    
>    I saw an ad/reminder for it in the latest Model Aviation...  It should
>    say there...

Jeff - you could have.  They phrased it poorly.  If you call the AMA
(I have) or if you go to the RAM show and purchase the patch from the
AMA booth (I have) then the sign up sheet says "12 sequential months"
or some such language - the intent of the rule is clear.  

They want you to have flown every month and they do not want to discourage
anyone from starting in "June".

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Put in the January 1991 flights today at lunch time.

We tried to stay in the air just in case Sudam dropped
a nuke on Ft. Devens - I wanted to catch one last hat
sucking thermal out of the mushroom cloud.  Oh well - be
my luck that the blast would take my Chuperosa behind
the trees - again.

Jim Reith was there with his new Gentle Lady, Lamar Phillip's
had a gnome (he was suppose to have a new Electra but must
have fallen asleep in the workshop watching Opra or some
soap.

George Mills was with us in Acton for the first time and flew
his UHU a few times.  He let me take it up for one flight - so
you see - he is not that smart after all :-).

It climbs good on the standard motor but does tend to want to
drop a wing tip if you stall in a turn - scared me the first time.
The yellow bottom was great but the white fuselage and white with
trim top just disappeared in the heavy overcast.  Probably should
wait for a sunny day before changing anything - but it sure would
stealth good in profile or the top view when turning.

Temp must have been around 40 and just a light wind (not enough 
for good upstart launches).

Oh well - back to building season - sanding fuselage and wings
on Lovesong now - will it ever end?

Only one month left for a full two years of all-season flying.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Put in the February 1991 flights Monday and Tuesday at lunch time.

Kinda feel guilty because we set record highs for 3 days here in the
north east but hey - part of the All Season Flyer game is trying to outguess
the weather man.  If you don't bring in a plane because the weather man
says bad weather - you will miss the best flying days.  If you bring a plane
in when the weather man predicts good weather you will be frustrated.  

But they were right about the last several days.

Monday we had great weather but couldn't find any thermals.  Yesterday
there were mild thermals.  

Let's see - who was there (in Acton flying gliders and electrics)...

Jim Reith (with his RB, he's always there),
Lamar Phillips (minus one electra, plus one gnome),
Jim Cavanagh (with relatives spectating - he's working on a glider
              made out of two by fours - sorta),
George Mills (showing us how durable a UHU really is)
Dan Miner (with a brand new Futaba receiver featuring a range of 20 feet)
and me with the Chuperosa.  I got a little too cocky and cracked my
stabilator (again).

Oh well - back to building season - almost ready to paint the Lovesong.

That's it.  I've got two years now - time to start working on the
3rd year.  Now I gotta get to that RAM show and pick up the 2-year
All Season Flyer patch.  Usually March is the easiest month - because
I cheat and put my flight up in Phoenix - but I don't think I can
afford it this winter.

Let's see - after flying today several of us ended up at the 495th auction
last night - more on that in another note.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Put in the March flight Friday 1-Mar-1991 with a crowd at Acton.
Again - this is becoming an easy year as we have had a few record
setting warm days to pick from.  Unfortunately I had to parking
lot repair sessions before I got the Chuperosa to the Up-Start.

That's two years and one month.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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26 months down.

Two flights in Acton with the Chuperosa.  Both off the High Start.
First was just under 10 minutes.  Second was just under 16 minutes.
Awesome thermals but also awesome turbulence near.  Had some fuselage
damage on my last landing.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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27 months down.

Two flights in Acton with the Electro-Streak.

Jim Cavanagh helped me trim it and Lamar helped the launch.

Lamar also put the maiden flights on his new Spirit.
Tell them about your goal Lamar.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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28 Months down.

June was easy and fun.  Attended the Simsbury CT. Spring Sailplane
Challenge.  Wow never saw so many sailplanes.  Unfortunately there
were 8 of us on channel 34.  Last year there were only two of us
on 34 most times.  Now to change frequencies I would have to order
one Tx freq module $50 plus 5 receiver crystals plus hack up
two fuselages to get my Rx out.

How much was that dial a crash Tx from Polks?

Anyway I flew the Sagitta 600, Hobie Hawk, and Lovesong for two flights
each in the 8 minutes thermal contest.

Maxed the Sagitta once and the Hawk once.  Never caught a good thermal
with the Lovesong - but I'm still getting used to it and didn't
search aggressively enough.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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29 Months down.

July was also easy and fun.  Lamar Phillips, George Mills and I were
flying in Acton yesterday.  Couldn't catch much - I think my longest
flight was 4 minutes (in the Chup of course).  But I did manage to
catch a little sustainer that promptly carried me north towards route
2 and I ended up with several long walks in the alfalfa.
Some place out there there was a boomer because as I was out the wind
would come up on my back big time and I wasn't climbing so I would
head back into the wind and not be able to make the field.

We did manage to catch one thermal that was a dead give away because
3 or 4 swallows were swarming around catching insects.  So as soon
as we could all get airborne we all three joined the swallows and
milked a few minutes out of that one.  It was kinda fun seeing swallows
and three sailplanes all flying together.  I think Lamar lost it first
and George and I didn't get to stay too long but for a minute or so
it was really fun.

As I was leaving I see this guy on the other side of route 2 flying
a helicopter.  I stopped by and warned him that we fly gliders on the
other side and he was completely surprised.  He is on channel 52 in
case anybody cares.  As it turns out the one resident of the industrial
park that flys with us (Peter) is also on channel 52.  I predict the
helicopter flyer will join a real club or loose his helo this summer.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Spent the last two lunch hours at the Acton Soccer field.  
So that's 30 months down.

Must admit the wind yesterday and today was challenging.
Didn't catch one thermal yesterday - but today I got two
from hand launch and one off the hi-start.  But it took
me for a good ride and I couldn't get back so some anxious
minutes were spend with Lamar Phillips and Jim Reith helping
me try and clear the trees and spot the landing - then
the long walk.  I don't know what the wind speed was but I
am used to some pretty good penetration with the Chuperosa
but not today and yesterday.  Problem is I have no room left
at the CG to add ballast on this plane.  Come to think of it
I can't add ballast to any of my gliders except the Lovesong.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Yesterday I put up some Chuperosa flights for the official Sep-1991
flights.  Pretty windy and really banging the sticks around near the
ground but there were some awsome thermals.  Problem was you went down
range real fast.  

We had a little excitement at the field.

1.  Lamar did a really exciting thing with his Spirit!
2.  A really neat looking canard flew over just as we were leaving.
    It looked like a twin pusher?  Speaking of twin pushers I went
    to the SAM and F/F championships in Westover AFB this last weekend.
    There were several rubber twin pushers there as well as many other
    classes of both rubber and gas - fun stuff.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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re:.55

>>1.  Lamar did a really exciting thing with his Spirit!<<

Yup, I was experimenting with the balistics characteristics of the Spirit fuse.
I had just replaced the rubber on my upstart with some I got from Dave Walters
and was "familiar" with the strength. The wind was gusting pretty good as well.

Anyway, I did a conservative launch(read: no zoom) on the first flight and got
about a 4-5 minute flight out of it. The next flight, I streched the rubber 
about 10 yards more than the first launch. Mike Pitoniak(forgive me if I spelled
your name wrong Mike), a new member of the Acton loonies, was there observing 
and chomping at the bit to get his Spirit built. I release the plane and as it's
going up I say to Mike, "I'll show you a ZOOM launch." As the plane gets close 
the apex of the launch, I push down, gain some speed, then pull up and POP! 

INCOMMING!!! INCOMMING!!! INCOMMING!!!

The fuse looks like it's heading right at another flyer who's setting up his 
plane, but luckily it lands on the other side of the road. The wing is floating
down towards Route 2(pretty busy road.) Mike offers to get the wing and I head
off in search of the impact crater. Peter (a non-DECie and the flyer that I
thought I was going to impale with the fuse) and I took off in search of the 
fuse that landed in a knee deep alfalfa patch. I brought the TX with me just in
case(but very doubtful) the radio was still working and we could hear the servos
move. We found it after about 5-10 minutes. Damage wasn't that bad considering
it had gone pretty much straight in. The fin had broken off and the front
section of the fuse had taken a good pounding. She puked her guts out as well,
with all the radio gear lying close by. Funny thing, I couldn't find any of
the lead I had in the nose to balance the ship. I plugged the battery back into
the RX and things seem to work okay. 

Now that's how NOT to do a zoom launch Mike! I got most of the repairs done last
night and should complete the repairs tonight. The Spirit is one tough plane! I
still have to check out the servos further, but they look(and sound) pretty
good so far.

-lamar

    
    I found when I had the bolts in my spirit I was constantly cracking
    things around where the bolt plates were. I promised myself I would
    go to rubber bands on the next good crack. One day when doing some
    touch up I noticed the block had cracked loose. But that's not what I
    had goine looking for!!. So that was it, out came the bolt down. I never
    broke a bolt once. I always cracked something. I'll bet you had a crack
    from a previous rough landing. Pulling up did not crack the block loose.
    
    Also a little off the subject. One time when I cracked up my UHU I had
    suspected I damaged my servo gears. I checked them thoroughly (so I
    thought) by holding the servo in my hand and putting some resistance on
    the arm while moving the stick. This way I thought I could feel a
    missing tooth. NOT SO. One servo had obviuos problems so I went to
    replace the gears (first time for me). I was nervous that I put the
    gears in the right place. So I opened up the other servo that passed my
    inspection. Guess what, it had more broken teeth than the one I was
    fixing.
    
    Moral, after any severe impact the only sure way to check the servos
    is to open them up and inspect by eye. At least with S133's.
    

This is almost a duplicate of the Sep-1991 entry.

For my first Oct-1991 flight I again took the Chuperosa to
Acton.  Yesterday 9-Oct-1991.  Again it was really windy.  
Jim Reith cartwheeled his new predator on hand launch and Lamar 
was missing a wing bolt so that left me to fly.  Didn't catch any 
thermals and it took about 3 hi-start launches before I didn't pop off.

Again - just like last month we were treated to a fly past
by a Beech Starship - neat.

That's 32 months in a row - but who's counting :-)

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Wow, Jim has his Predator fixed already??  Good work Jim!  Sorry 'bout
    that fence post!
    
    

    Fixed and rebroken and refixed. Took about an hour to splice in a new
    section of leading edge and sheeting. The fence post went between the
    ribs and stopped at the spar. Trouble was I didn't put it onto the
    elliptical jig/building surface to check my work and I had an inboard
    warp which gave me an impressive right bank with full left rudder.
    Caught a wingtip and cartwheeled in the wind yesterday on the first
    flight. Boy, was I bummed. Fixed it again last night and jigged the
    wing and found the warp. Test flew it before sunrise this morning in my
    yard in the dead calm air (close to my shop so I could trim it further)
    and found a straight glide once again. I'll be back out at lunch today.
    I wanted to prevent an second embarrassing day (or would that be a
    third with the pit fence incident?) I built it from tuesday to sunday
    so why shouldn't I be able to fix it overnight 8^)

    Good to hear from you Kay and Jeff.  Hopefully it will happen
    at a greater rate than once a month.  (the file must feel so
    abused)( Use me once a month and then that's it until next month):-)
    
    
    Tom

Well I knocked off November's flight at the Biddeford ME contest.
Dave described the contest in good detail in another note.  I flew
the Chuperosa for a few hand launches and one winch launch of the
Hobie Hawk before the contest started then I used the Lovesong
for every contest flight.

First flight was a pop off (we were allowed one per round) and then
a poor launch because I had way too much down elevator.  Guess that was
caused by my trimming on a very windy day in Acton.  Looks like the 
general rule of thumb is dial in down for real windy days.  I really
don't understand why this is true but seems to be consistent across
all my planes.

I have to tell you about the wonderful cookies.  There was one
female pilot.  Phillis (from the Down East club) brought in a basket
of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies that were still warm from the oven.
Wow - were they wonderful.

Also they only charged $5.00 registration.  So most flyers also
bought raffle tickets for this weird looking slope flyer.  Jim Tyre
ended up winning it.  Others were buying "I'd rather be soaring"
bumper stickers.  I gave a donation.  As Jim Reith said - "Had
to do something so we wouldn't feel guilty".  Additionally of
course they sent out for Subs for us and furnished drinks.

The deer that Dave Walter spotted in the open was the longest look
I have ever gotten of a deer.  Hope she got away from the hunters.

Well - that's 33 months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Finally got a decent flight out of the Electric Cub that I purchased
at the CMRCM Auction.  Just got thru flying it at the Acton soccer field
on 1-2 inches of fresh fluffy snow on top of several inches of hard packed
ice.  Almost fell down several times just walking out there.  But it was
warm enough and very little wind.  

Well - that's 34 months down.  

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Yesterday Jim Reith, Lamar Phillips, Dick (never come down) Bissen
and I were putting in our flights at the Acton soccer field.
The most I got was a couple of small sustainers but after we all
gave up and left Dick managed to find some great thermals.

We're giving it another go today (in two minutes).

Anyway - that's 35 months down and one to go for the 3 year banner.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Well - that's 36 months down - ready to go to the WRAM show and pick
up the 3rd season banner.

The weatherman said Northwest winds 15-25 MPH changing to Southeast.
A quick check at 11:30 showed no wind.  So off to Acton I went.

Stayed farely calm and I put in a 4:30 flight with the old 900 mah
pack in the Electric Cub.  Then I switched to one of my new 1500 mah
packs and got another 4:30.  In both cases I had to run at reduced
throttle for a bit to stretch it out.  The weight difference with
the larger pack is very noticable.  

I was using my transmitter mitten that I purchased a couple of years
ago.  The problem I had at the time was I was using it with a plane
that I had little experience on and one that used some of the switches.
In the case of the Cub it is a good hands off flyer and all the switches
are disabled.  Also it doesn't seem that it would be any good for gliders
unless you have someone doing your launches for you because you have to
fiddle a bit to get into the mitten and it lends itself to a plane that
will ROG.

Dave Walter and Peter Orford show up about this time.  Dave only stayed
a minute but Peter put in several flights on his Oly II.

Anyway I finally put my remaining 1500 mah pack in and took off again.
This time I'm up a minute or two and starting to worry about the pack
when Peter goes up the hi-start.  So I tuck around behind him and follow
him up the hi-start.  His launch isn't very good because of the lack of
wind but when he gets off I'm above and behind him.  He starts circling
so I follow suit.  Seems to be raising - so I throttle back and keep circling.
Still rising so I throttle back some more.  Now I concerned that if I
throttle back completely I will cause extra resistance with the prop so
I'm at about 1/4 throttle position and still rising.  Eventually I'm up
pretty high so I chop the throttle.  

Then I stay in this thermal till it starts getting hard to see and the
poor little Cub is getting bounced around pretty good by the turbulance.
So I head back and slowly loose altitude and land.

10 Minutes!  And my fingers are still warm in the transmitter mitten.
Awsome - I finally thermaled out in the Cub.  I thought it was possible
but wasn't sure till today.  Now that I know it can thermal I suddenly
like the little beast a lot more.

I can't imagine how the weather could have been better.  Anyway I start
helping Peter shag chutes and Robert Bismuth stops by to watch.  Poor
Peter can't stay up to save his sole today - didn't help that the hi-start
without a wind and in the cold didn't give launches worth a dime.  
He'll be back to try again.

OK - ready for March - I can spend the rest of this month in the workshop
where it's warm.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

37 months down.

Want a nice day.  At one time there was a good thermal and I
think everybody was in it.  I had the Steve Schommer Special up
then up came Jim Reith, and Lawton Read, and Lamar Phillips, and
Dave Walter.  Did Mike make it up that time?

Great fun and easy flying and nice warm March day.

AWSOME.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

38 months down.

Took the cub to Acton for a couple uneventful flights.
Actually the first was my first flight on my new 1200 mah SR pack.
It performed outstanding as expected.  On both flights I managed
to snag one small but good thermal and gain lots more altitude that
I ever could have with just motor power - but it was kinda windy
and it went down wind pretty quick.  The cub does not penetrate
very well so I have to bail out much sooner than with a good glider.

Dick Bissen was there with his Spirit 100.  He managed to find
a weak part in the design!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

39 months down.

As I pull up to the Acton soccer field I see this guy out in the middle
of the field.  I figure he's flying hand launch but I don't recognize
the car.  So I figure I better double check what frequency he is on and
get my stuff ready.  But I don't see his plane - instead he is looking
straight up.  Hmmmmm - I don't see anything.  But after I put on a hat
and sun glasses and take a closer look - sure enough - there is a glider
way way up.

So who is it flying so high but none other than our own Mike Pitoniak.
Sun is shinning no wind and I had to even take my jacket off.

After I threw the Lawn-Dart till I broke my reinforcement block in the
finger hole I dug out the hi-start and put in 4 flights.  One under
one minute, one just over a minute, one at 7 minutes and one at 5 minutes.
For me finding thermals in 2 flights out of 4 is good.  But I must admit
with a plane that penetrates good (and the Lawn Dart Does) you have to
be able to find a thermal on every flight if you expect to win contests.

Great thermals and greater weather.  Acton was good Tuesday thru Friday
this week.  Probably good Monday also but I have to watch Star Trek Mondays
with the LTN crowd.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

40 months down.

Tuesday 2-Jun-1992 I went to Acton to test my new (kinda) E214 elliptical 
wing on the Lawn-Dart.  First I tried a hand launch or two with the
standard wing.  Once I dropped it on it's nose - but no damage.
Then Dave Walter showed up and threw it for me a couple of times
with the E214 wing - seemed OK - so up the hi-start it went.
It was too windy to make any serious evaluations so I just landed and
decided to trim more on a calmer day.

Anyway - I'll count that as my June flight.

Yesterday I went to Acton again to try some throws with the E214.
On the way over I see this guy pulled over by the farmers field taking a
Duraplane out of his car.  I asked his frequency.  He said 48 or 78 - let's
see - yup - 48!  I went on my way but figured I'd like to stay and see the
crash.  Anyway a few minutes later he shows up at the soccer field.  The farmer
had just kicked him out of his field.  We talked a bit and he wanted to
stay and see my Lawn-Dart fly.

I explained that there wouldn't be much to see because my only goal was to
see if it threw better (straighter) than the standard wing which still wants
to roll left.  I explained that my main goal was to stand down for the NATS
and I didn't want to risk anything

Anyway with my spectator watching I give it a mighty heave and right in my
hand the port wing falls off and the fuselage and starboard wing (with less
weight) make a nice high launch.  It kinda javelins into the turf.  I'm busy
mumbling about standing down and not taking risk as I check the damage.

The wing joiner tube in the fuselage is pushed out of the glass on one side.
I push it with my finger thru the finger hole and it snaps back in.  The reason
the wing fell off was because my joiner rod can slide freely and there is lots
of free space in the wings such that you could assemble and the rod slide as
you put one half on.  The wing that fell off only had about 1/4 inch of wing rod
in it when I threw it.  Needless to say I put some dowels in the wings last night
so that can't happen again.  Anyway I put the wings back on and got several
(10 or 15) good throws.  As it stands now - I will plan on using the E214 wing
at the NATS.

The 3rd set of wings for the Lawn-Dart came out of the bag last night.

I gotta get a power plane flying soon.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Steve tapes his wing roots when he flies his Lawn Darts. This would help 
avoid the wing coming off.

I hope the Duraplane guy doesn't start flying at the soccer field.

>Steve tapes his wing roots when he flies his Lawn Darts. This would help 
>avoid the wing coming off.

Having more than a quarter of an inch of rod in should help also!

>I hope the Duraplane guy doesn't start flying at the soccer field.

I told him the whole history behind Acton and I think he will join 
the 495th club.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    
    Then again, like some of the yo-yo's that cost us the field in the
    first place, he may just stop by and fly! (Well actually durplanes
    don't really fly. Like helicopters, they just scare the ground away!)
    
    40 months eh Kay? Not too shabby for someone who hates the cold as much
    as you do! (This weekend I should log my 56th month)

    
    Kay,
    	You need to contact AMA and get the new guidelines for the
    "All Season Flyer" patch.  Now you need to log a longer flight
    each month than the previous month.  That should wipe out about four
    years of your log...:-)
    
    
    Tom

    If it is, then it's another AMA HEAD UP THEIR BUTT rule. After a couple
    of years, you'd have to be out there forever. Let's see.......you put
    in a 10 minute flight in January. If you extend it by only one minute
    each month, by the following January you would need to put in a 22
    minute flight. By the January after that (only two years now), you'd
    need a 44 minute flight.
    
    I wonder what size gas tank you'd need to fly a 25 size Gremlin for 44
    minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    Steve

>   I wonder what size gas tank you'd need to fly a 25 size Gremlin for 44
>   minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave Walter can do it with the engine off on a good day 8^)

41 months down.

Was at Acton with the Lawn Dart with E214 yesterday.
3 Decies, 1 non-decie, and the AT&T flyer spectating.
Dick Bissen caught his first 40 minutes plus thermal.
I couldn't catch anything - in fact my longest flight was just over
2 minutes.

Last night I started covering the Gremlin.
I was going to do light blue on the top and dark blue on the bottom.

I finished completely covering the bottom with light blue and stood
back to look at my great job and realized I wanted light blue on the top.
ARG!  What a klutz.

Soooooo - I stripped the Ultrakote off and cut it in half and recovered
the top with the used pieces.  So in effect I covered both the top and the
bottom but I still am only 1/2 done.

Oh well - maybe I'll catch a thermal today and cover the correct half
tonight :-)

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

42 months down.

I put in one short "safety" flight of the Lovesong
at the Orange Airport yesterday.

Boy is that hard to launch without help.  It was all I could
do to hold it back and give a very shaky release.

My wife helped - she stood well clear!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

43 months down.

Went to Acton today for some nice relaxing soaring.

But...

Was it windy.  Put in one quick 2 minute flight.
Launch was good but I just pointed the Lawn Dart
into the wind and road it down.  Thought I had something
for a few seconds but had trouble penetrating back
so I bailed out real early.

Dick Bissen did well in the wind.
But he put some serious negative Gs on the wings coming off
the hi-start and speeding back from down wind he had some
serious flutter.

As I left he was still out there.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

44 months down.

First flights this month were at Al Ryder's New Boston N.H. contest.

Started out calm but the wind picked up thru most of the day and was
really challenging to land without damage most of the time.  I couldn't
find a thermal all day and after putting in 2 rounds in 2 classes
I had Terry Sweeny coaching/timing for my last round.  I maxed both
of them.

Some DECies had some bad luck.  Lamar found a tree but no damage.
Dan Miner found a tree but we didn't find the plane yet.  Jim Reith
kitted his Gentle Lady (Rude/Bitch) on launch.  One wing is still
at the top of a tall tree.

The F3B speed runs were fun - but dangerous.
We were all standing around the winches which was also the middle
of the course.  Normally you wouldn't do that but Dennis Phalen and
Mike L***ski were teaching us.  Twice we had to "hit the deck" and
once Art F.  must have missed Dave Walter by inches - course he had just
slowed up in a turn and I'm sure some speed was lost and it dropped below
100 MPH by then.  But when your flat on your belly on the grass you quickly
run out of options.

I flew the Hobie Hawk in speed and didn't realize till after my terrible time
(about 62 or 68 seconds) that my biggest problem was at high speed it wouldn't
turn right - just left!

Gotta run.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Good contest. We got lots of flights in (3 rounds of two classes, plus
    handlaunch, plus speed run), but it did make for a LONG day. I never
    really appreciated the capabilities of the F3B planes until Dennis
    Phelan blasted through the course (150 meters out and back, twice) in 
    21 seconds. And was doing a good 70 mph coming through the finish when 
    we all hit the deck for our lives. My buttons got in my way. When I
    tried the same thing with my Prophet, I wasn't even able to finish the
    course. I didn't get a real good launch, but I think the high lift/high
    drag Prophet just lost too much energy at speed. Dennis's plane is 105
    ounces UNBALLASTED. Once he puts it into a dive, it doesn't loose much
    speed.
    
    I gotta get a real glider (I almost said "I gotta get a real plane"
    here but I didn't want the power guys to jump into that lead-in...).
    
    Wish we could have found Dan's Oly. Hope it doesn't stay in there til
    next spring.
    
    Dave
     

45 Months down.

Put in 3 quiet (dead air) flights at the Acton soccer field during lunch
today.  

The highlight of the day was seeing Dick Bissen's new Magic - awesome.

The finish and the completeness out of the box is amazing.
Cheap too :-)

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

46 Months down.

This all season flyer stuff is interesting.  Sometimes (in the summer) it's
free cause you go flying several times anyhow.  Sometimes I have a heck of a
time coming up with an airplane to get in the monthly flight.  And sometimes
(like yesterday) it is a real challenge because of the weather.  The weather
man said it would be 32 and calm.  It was 20 and windy.

I put in a nice flight in Acton yesterday with Lamar Phillips and Dan Snow.
Lamar was flying something electric and Dan Snow was flying a brand new
Predator.  He said he put less dihedral in than the plans called for but
it seemed to turn fine from the flights I saw.  We used my small hi-start
but the rubber really died in the cold.  Felt like a lot of pull but only
pulled for 20 feet or so before we got slack in the line and this was with
a modest breeze.

Anyway I only launched twice.  Caught a nice thermal on the second launch but
after only a 5 minute 55 second flight I was glad to land and warm up my fingers.
They had just fertilized the field up wind and between the bitter cold and the
farm smell we really earned our December flights.  I'm busy working on an
Astro Mini-Challenger and I hope this will be the easy way out for mandatory
cold weather "All Season Flyer" flights.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

47 Months down.

It was very interesting in Acton at lunch today.
Lots of folks showed up and flew even in very windy conditions.
Let's see there was Dave Walter, Jim Reith (with a new wing made out
of salvation army parts), Mike Pitoniak, Dick Bissen (interesting launches
of his Spirit 100 in the wind), Lamar Phillips (with a almost complete
electric breeze), Dan Snow (with a new puppy (Holly) and his Predator),
and Lawton Read (with wife and daughter).

Did I miss anybody.

I put the first flight on the Mini-Challenger.  I wish I could tell you
how great it flew but frankly I was busy banging the sticks all over
the place in the wind.  At one time I couldn't penetrate with the motor
running and quite a bit of nose down.  I ended up with one short flight
and never touched the trims.  Now I have to clean the mud off the
nose and prop.

Thanks Jim for the throw.  One of the last steps in the instructions
says - Get someone you trust to throw it for you!

It may get calmer but it probably won't get any warmer in January!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

It was an interesting lunchtime. We had more people with planes than we did 
most sessions last year. I think the mini Challenger will fly well once it 
has some ground speed 8^)


I showed up with a well prepped plane. My stab was still flopping around from 
being pulled loose last month. I got my flights in in spite of it. My "Salvation
Army" parts are simply an attempt at finding a reasonable cheap covering 
material. I vacuum bagged colored poster board over white foam and am pleased 
with the results. Should have good characteristics for HLG and the slope.

Brrrr - 48 months down!

It was about 30 and a breeze - so there was a wind chill.
Anyway Jim Reith and Jeff ??? met at Acton for the February flights.
Unfortunately Jim's Predator failed the range test - about 4 feet!

But the mini-challenger flew OK and I actually caught the first
thermal with this plane.

I still haven't dialed in the correct down trim with throttle
mix yet and it was too cold and breeze to figure it out today.
I'm beginning to regret not having a receiver switch and externally
accessible power pack charger...

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I can't believe this guy grew up in Minnesota. I had to put my coat on just to 
keep HIM warm 8^)

Yeah, I got me a rangeless RCD 535. (crash damage)

    Take it to the WRAM show and make a fuss.....you might get a free one.
                                                    

Nice weather today - got in the March flight before it was a hassle.
Last month was a constant battle with the weatherman and wind and cold.

Put in one 9 minute flight on the Astro Mini-Challenger.

I must admit I didn't catch a thermal till the 2nd climb out but
the wind wasn't bad so I got the first flight with any confidence that
my throttle/elevator mix is near correct.  Also since everybody else
is still sticker shocked from the WRAM show I was by myself so I hand
launched the Mini-Challenger for the first time myself - piece of cake.

I was a little worried tho because I had never launched with the mix
on before.  I could have specked out if I just trusted it to penetrate
but so far my observation is that the Mini-Challenger has poor penetration.
Seems like when you put the nose down it just comes down.  My guess is that
the low weight doesn't make it go much faster and the drag
ramps right up so that basically without a whole lot of down (a dive)
it can't speed up much.  Anyway - that's fine for nice days but I've pointed
it into the wind and hovered then turned on the motor and still just a hover.

But with one short flight per month I can't really say I have gotten a feel
for this plane yet.

Oh well - 49 months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Beautiful day out (for a change) and nobody was at the Acton Soccer Field.
I dragged a friend from work and got two nice flights on the Paragon.

Are you guys waiting for better weather?

50 Months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Last Friday 7-May-1993 I finally got in my first May flight.  Jim Reith and
Lamar Phillips and I went to Acton again.  It was a bit windy and I got
3 or 4 five minute flights in.  There were thermals about but couldn't
find a good one that didn't go down wind fast.  

Saturday I drove to Sidney Maine for my first thermal duration contest
for this season.  I think this means Lamar officially owes me a Fribble
for not having his Falcon ready!  But we have another one bet on who can
get their 1/12 scale combat plane airborne first.

Sidney was fun and very interesting.  There weren't many people
there and none of the locals from down here showed up.  There were
5 in 2-meter and 3 in unlimited.  Or was it vice versa?

Anyway I managed to get first in Unlimited.  Actually it was so much
like a fun fly that you can't put much stock in placing.  We ran
all 7 minute rounds and the emphasis was on fun and safe landings.
After 7 minutes the seconds didn't count against you till you went
over 8 minutes - then you got a zero.  The landing tape was very very
long and if it could reach any part of the plane you got the landing
and it counted 10 percent of your flight score.

Even at this we managed to miss many landings.  

The most exciting thing that happened to me was when I was launching
the Sagitta - on toe it was really straining and I was just verily tapping
the winch.  I couldn't figure why it looked so stressed out so I popped it
off and it zoomed like crazy and the wings which were bent first for high
positive G's now bent hard for high negative G's.  Then it rolls hard left,
then hard right.  I'm busy yanking the stick all over the place and telling
the guy timing for me that there sure is a lot of turbulence up there.  

Seconds later the wind on the ground hits me big time and behind me I can
hear all the parked airplanes banging around.  It seems that I launched
into a dust devil and didn't know it.  After I land I find that the
Paragon had it's horizontal stab and fin/rudder ripped off by the dust 
devil on the ground.

A fellow named Bob helped me glue the tail back on the Paragon and my next
flight on it was a perfect 7 minutes with the landing.

They normalized all the scores on a per round basis.  Another interesting
thing was the pop off rule.  The CD says "You can take a re-launch any time
you don't like any launch for any reason".  I didn't take any because
I wanted to be responsible for bad launches (I had a couple) but it was a
relaxing way to hold a contest.  

As it turns out the weather was pretty breezy at times and seldom
in line with the winch.  Bob - the fellow who helped me repair the Paragon
had tough luck all day long.  Seems like every time I turned around he was
ripping off a wing tip on landing.  

Rick Hallett (the CD) also owns a hobby shop (I'm not sure where) and
so for prizes he had quite an assortment of stuff.  Now you have to picture
this - there were only 5 pilots and Rick is trying to give away various
equipment/building supplies to whoever wants it.  First he had a 1/2 A
sport plane (balsa kit).  No body wanted that.  Then he had a Robie
slope soaring flying wing (balsa kit).  One fellow finally volunteered
to take that.  Then he got to the good stuff - dope, epoxy, paint, etc.

Nice trophies for 1st and 2nd in each class.

Summary - the Paragon has never lost a contest!
Would I go again - sure if it was close - but for a 4 hour
drive I need the weather man to promise great weather.  He did this
time.  Last year wasn't so nice and two years before that we spend
a couple of hours in Walt Rady's camper watching the rain.

Rick worked real hard to put this event on and other then the pilots
pitching in it didn't look like he got any help or support from the local
club.  Art (a fellow I met last year) was there helping in the AM and
didn't fly.  So if your ever up in the Augusta area and come across
Rick Hallett's hobby store - spend a few bucks - if your like me you
always have a parts list in your pocket.

Gotta get back to my tug boat.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Yesterday (Sunday 13-June-1993) I finally got in the June flight.
Between having problems with cars and car pooling and family obligations
and fixing things at the house and really windy days - at last.

This was also the maiden flight of my Sig Clipped Wing Cub.
This is the small 1/6 scale one.  A friend at worked stopped in my office
this winter and handed me this kit.  He said he purchased it several years
ago and came to realize that he would never start it so asked me if I knew
any kids who would like to build it.  I said - hey - I'm a kid and I love
Cubs!

Later I purchased an OS 40 Surpass from Dan Snow.  This is the one
that appeared on a Gremlin in RCM's coverage of Eric Henderson's Gremlin
construction article.

It was a perfect day at the airport both Saturday and Sunday - I was really
stewing about missing Saturday because of family obligations so I charged
up for Sunday - enter tangent...

I recently ordered two ACE auto trickle adapters.  These are just little
plastic boxes with two switches and 8 wires that you put in series with
your normal factory charger.  There is a switch and a LED for each and
in the normal position the charger is shorted past the switch but in
the trickle position a resistor and LED are in the circuit.  So for now
I have the capability of keeping two planes and two transmitters constantly
trickle charging - forever.  Think I will order some more of these guys.
They are so simple you could just purchase a resistor but for $10 each
you save the hassle of hunting down all the parts and...

Anyway Sunday my wife and I head to the Orange Airport.  The only flyer
there is a local pattern guy - Steve La?????.  

First I fuel it up - and up - and up - and...
Turns out I must have a hole in my exhaust pressure line because fuel
doesn't want to go in very easy and but I can look thru the Cub windows
and watch the tank - as it gets full - I can't force any out the exhaust
pressure line.  Rats a brand new installation and a leaky line.  So I
figure - I'll just ignore that.

Then I start the motor.  It is mounted inverted so I have the Cub on a cradle
up side down.  It starts right up - full throttle and chucks the prop
and spinner.  The prop hits me in the belly!

No injury or pain - just scared me a bit.  
Hmmmmmm - must not have tightened the prop the last time I put it on.

So I put it on tight and try again - still hadn't figured out yet that
the throttle servo was reversed.

So now I fiddle with the radio and the throttle end points for a few minutes.

When I notice that when I dump the flaperons the elevator goes up.

I remember I was planning to tune that at the field so I go poking around
in the Futaba 9VAP menus to find the flap/elevator mix stuff and I can't
find it to save my sole.

So I asked Steve to help - since he is a pattern flyer and since he also
has a 9VAP - come to think of it since there were only 2 flyers present
Futaba 9VAPs were the dominant radio!

Anyway - after poking around for a while Steve can't find it either - so
we leave it.  I really wanted a little down mixed in with the flaperons
not up and wanted to adjust the amount.

Anyway - we get ready to launch and it starts smoking in the cockpit.
This didn't look like exhaust smoke but more like an electrical fire.
Actually more like cigarette smoke.

Anyway - I figure it is the pressure line leaking so I pull off the muffler
pressure line.  About that time we notice the muffler is swinging loose.

Steve thins the low end is rich so I attempt to adjust it but I don't have
a good enough access thru the canopy.  

So I tighten the muffler as best I can and we restart it and attempt the first
flight.  I take off at approximately 1/3 throttle.  It climbs and wants to 
roll a lot.  Steve helped me get it in trim but the pitch remains a problem 
as there is quite a difference in climb when I change the power setting.

Several laps around the field and we attempt to deploy the flaperons.
It turns out it does pitch up but not much.  I suspect if I didn't put
any elevator compensation in at all it probably would have been fine.

The landing was OK - but a breeze picked up about then and I ended up almost
at a dead stop with the wind holding one wing tip up and the other on the tar.
I forgot that I had the engine inverted and I had planned to restrict all
take offs and landings to grass so I wouldn't scrape the engine on the tar.
Fortunately this didn't happen on this flight.

Anyway - back to the hanger with a long list of things to do.  I figured
out the radio mix as soon as I sat down in the living room with the plane
and the radio and a cup of tea.  What a difference it makes to not be under
pressure!

Amongst the things I gotta do is add more down thrust.  Unfortunately that
will screw up the looks of the cowl.

Amongst the things I wish I had done is to glass the wing tips so they
can't get scraped up on landings.  But if I stick to grass it shouldn't be
an issue.

Oh one other aside.
Last fall at the Ware Gremlin contest I had a heck of a time keeping my
Gremlin running.  Jeff Friedrichs was helping.  Eventually we switched to Jeff's
fuel and that fixed it.  But I remember bench testing Dan Snows OS 40 Surpass
with this fuel so I save it.  I ran it yesterday in the Cub and it worked
fine.  So I have two tanks of fuel right now - one for Gremlins and one
stale one for the 4 stroke - go figure!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Kay,
    	If you had trouble forcing fuel into the tank, your vent must be
    plugged, not leaking.  I had a problem with my Ultrasport last year
    where there was a kink in the vent line where it left the tank and went
    through the firewall.  It caused problems with the engine running very
    strangely.  It ran fine for a few minutes except when the plane was
    inverted.  The muffler pressure was having trouble making it through
    the kink.  I re-plumbed the tank and all was fine.
    
    Charlie
    

    Charlie is an expert on plugged passages these days! :-)
    
    Couldn't resist!.
    
    E x E.

    I've added a bottle of laxative to my flight box!  Got to keep those
    passages open and the SH%T flowing! :-)
    
    
    C

Another month has past.

This afternoon we (Dick Bissen and I) put in out July flights at the Acton
Soccer field.  It was good flying today - much better than yesterday
when I only got one flight in :-)

I gotta say I still love that Paragon.  Last weekend I took it to the
Minot Maine contest and maxed every round.  It is such a pussycat to
launch and find thermals with.  The only disadvantage is penetration and
those who know frequently carry a lot of ballast on board.

I got a Dodgson newsletter in the mail yesterday.  He has a new 2 meter
plane out now called a Sprite.  It sells for $155 and has several innovative
features.  The wing bolts to the tow hook.  Spoilerons - although Bob calls
them negative flaperons.  Unique fuselage design.

If I was looking for a 2 meter plane today I would order one but I have
a Pixy kit that I haven't started yet.  This ain't a commercial but I
have always been impressed with Dodgson kits and will continue to support
him whenever possible - can you name another glider kit manufacture that
has been going 20 years?  No company's now - individuals.

Anyway - that's 53 months down for all season flying.

P.S.  Lamar also had bad luck yesterday and didn't get many flights
      in.  I had to sign his LSF form to make him feel better :-)

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I was out at the Acton Soccer field today for the August flight.
I tried a different prop on the Mini-Challenger.  I used a master
airscrew 8x4 folder that I had from previous planes.  This replaced
the stock 7x3.  My concern was that I was out running the prop.
Initial climb was OK but subsequent efforts were hopeless.  The
only consolation is at least when it is over proped when you bring
it in and try to run the motor down it is well over the knee of the
discharge curve.  Before I seemed to have lots of battery to drain
off even tho it wouldn't climb.

Anyway - conditions were ideal.  No wind and sun shinning.
Maybe I'll call Mr. NiCad and switch to those Sanyo's that Charlie
recommended.

I hope to finish my repairs on the Paragon soon and get it back in the
air.  It is a ton more fun to fly that the Mini-Challenger.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Last Wednesday or Thursday I flew the Paragon at Acton.  The sun was
just starting to come out and there were thermals all over but they
were kinda lame.  I think it was the awsome high humidity.  The old buzzard
says you want hot dry air - it was hot wet air - humidity must have
been close to 100 percent.

But never mind that - I flew the Mini Challenger and Gremlin at Rhinebeck NY
this weekend.  But I'll write more about that in the Rhinebeck note.

Lets see - 55 months down...

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

56 months down...

Flew the Paragon at lunch time in Acton.
Lamar was there zooming all over the sky in his Falcon 880.
Sure make the Paragon look slow!

My first flight was only 3 to 5 minutes long.
The 2nd was 22 minutes.

Still need one more 1 hour flight for LSF.

I can vividly remember fighting to get that first 5 minute flight.
I knew I could do it but to do it at the same time as I had a witness
proved to be much more difficult.  Then the idea that the next flight
would have to be 15 minutes seemed awsome.

Course there's always guys like Dick Bissen.  Every time I show up at
the field Dick is busy staring up.

Oh well - I'll keep trying.

Dave Walter was there with a new set of Falcon 880 wings.

I was hoping to complete my Pivot Plus before today - but
that didn't happen - I'm close tho.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

57 months down...

Flew the Pivot Plus at lunch time in Acton.
Dave Walter was there with his latest Predator.
No tow hook - what a purest!

My longest flight was just over 5 minutes.
But I did manage to change the trim and launch and
reflex settings some and added some more wingeron throw.
I like it more today.  Still not fully comfortable with
it yet.  It can fly quite fast.  One flight I had a bit
too much down trim in and I covered a lot of ground!

I was making port holes last night for my model tugboat.
Hey - JimB - that's electric :-)

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Kay,
    	Did Dave have any 5 minute hand launch flights?
    
    Charlie
    

>    	Did Dave have any 5 minute hand launch flights?

Yeah, but he didn't find any lift ;8^0

    Nope, no 5 minute flights. A couple times I thought I had something, 
    but just couldn't hold on. To me, flying handlaunch thermal is very
    much like fishing. Throwing the plane into a promising spot in the
    air is like casting to a likely area where a bass just HAS to be. And
    like the fish, you can't see the thermal, but when you hook one it
    takes all your skill to not lose it. Today, I was a lousy fisherman.
    
    Dave
    

58 Months down.

Dave Walter and I were flying at the Acton Soccer field during lunch.
It was suppose to be Sunny and 45 with a 10 MPH wind.

It was overcast and cold with very little air movement.

This was the first flight of the Pivot Plus since I broke
the tail off in Maine slope soaring.  I had added a bit of
nose weight before the slope soaring because it was tucking
under during the dive test.  Couldn't tell much difference
given the slope conditions but because I was making repairs
in the read I added some more nose weight last night.

First launch was pretty bad and needed a lot of up - like
all the trim I had.  Each launch after that I would add a 
few more increments of up trim.  It doesn't tuck under
any more - but I couldn't catch any thermal in the dull
cold gray weather.

Dave's launched his Falcon on my big hi-start.  It just
staggered into the air the first time.  The rubber only pulled
back about 1/2 as far as he stretched it.  I know that cold
makes the rubber less useful but I believe it has less effect
of nice fresh new rubber than on old worn out hi-starts.
Mine are getting old and not putting out at all like they
did when new.

After a few launches I switched from a little hi-start to
using the big one on the Pivot Plus to get better height.

Well - it was a good time to trim!
I'm getting to like this Pivot Plus more all the time.
I like the way it flys but I don't like to turn at low
speeds near the ground.  I have all the throw I can get
in the Wingerons without finding a special servo arm
for the Hi-Tech MG80 servo.

Sal (from NSP) advised me the yesterday to cut the tips
off and put them back on with some polyhedral.  He said
it would turn much better at low speeds.  In fact he guaranteed
it.  Said he would get me a new wing kit if I didn't like it.
Hmmmmmmm - something to think about.

Remember - this Sunday - the Al Ryder flaming barrel HLG contest.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

59 Months down

I was stuck with family obligations Saturday and couldn't
believe the nice weather.  But I charged up and Sunday turned
out to be nice also.  Below freezing but gentle wind and
thermals.  Pat and I went to the Orange Airport and I put
in a nice 13 minute flight on the Mini-Challenger.  I was kinda
hoping it wouldn't fly good because I'm building a new HLG
and I would like to take the Rx and servos out of the Mini-Challenger.

But the darn thing flew great.  The first and second climb out under
power were both awsome.  Now that I have removed the speed controller
and am using a micro servo and micro switch I get much more power to 
the motor.

Never believe the weather man!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I managed to sneak December in on New Year's Eve. Headed down to a buddy's 
house and we flew our Gremlins in a local school yard (cops told us to use 
it) Launched off the shoveled sidewalk and got in two flights each.

    Hi all,
    		New seasons greatings and all that, hope you all got what
    you wanted from santa...
    
    Last weekend I dusted of the algebra and participated in the BARCS 
    postal with four other chums.
    The object is to fly 5 flights within a 2 hr slot, attempting to
    achieve 10 mins duration each. (once started all flights to count). I
    did rather well for this time of the year with four out of the five over
    8 mins and one of 4 and a bit.
    
    Happy Thermal hunting
    Trev

60 Months down (5 Years)

Again I was frightened off by the weatherman and decided to get
in the flight on the weekend when the weather was nice.  So I
put in a short flight at the Orange Airport.  I spent more time
trying to figure out how to get in the gate and then after in
the old road was not plowed so I had to fiddle with getting
the car in for quite a while.

But the weather was nice and the Mini-Challenger flew great.

I really was anxious to put my altimeter watch in but I couldn't
quite get the darn thing to fit - rats - because the first climb out
was really good and I wanted to see how far off my altitude guessing
would be.  Have to wait for the Paragon I guess - plenty of room
in that.

Now I gotta worry if I am going to take the March flight in Phoenix
or Massachusetts?

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I got in some Gremlin flights before the Loopers auction. I was afraid 
it might get sub-zero again

    Hi,
    	Just got my February BARCS Postal flights in yesterday. The weather
    was not so good, we had to dodge the showers and the wind was fairly
    brisk. I used ballast; starting with my algebra loaded at 13.5 ozs/sq
    ft, the last two flights were at 15.3.
    
    Flight times: 5.07, 8.13, 7.43, 6.23, 6.40.
    
       ...all flights were completed down wing of the launch, the last
    flight in constant drizle..
    
    The model and me are hung out to dry..
    
    Trev

    I think I'm now up to 42 months straight.  It was touch and go for
    January due to the weather (or should I say temperature?), but I
    managed to squeek in two Gremlin flights on 1/30.  This past weekend, I
    got in some Feb flights off skiis.
    
    March may be a challange if the meltdown brings lots of mud.
    
    Regards,
    Joe

61 Months down.

Beautiful day today - sunny and near 40 degrees.
Took the Mini-Challenger out behind the Church today
immediately after services and got in one relaxing
flight.  Couldn't find a thermal but I couldn't find
any sink either.  So with good conditions I got it to
stay up 9.5 minutes - not bad for an electric with a stock
motor (Astro Cobalt 035).

The landing was looking to be perfect but then it nosed over
and plowed into the snow up to the wing.  It seems like the
Mini-Challenger wants to stall more in ground effect than it
does in free air.  Probably just a fast stall speed that I never
get used to.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    
    
    >The landing was looking to be perfect but then it nosed over
    >and plowed into the snow up to the wing.
    
    Electric flight primer : "Always ensure that your motor has adequate
    			      cooling"
    
    That's one way to do it Kay!   8^)
    
    Nigel
    
    

Weatherman said winds light and variable and partly sunny today.

It was pretty windy and no clouds.

Put in some nice flights with the Paragon in Acton.
Dick Bissen had has Magic up darting around the sky.
I would find one thermal then point it into the wind.

The last flight was 29:11 and the highest altitude attained
was 2,700 and I wasn't specked out yet.  Less Gerhardt 
was with me tho and he was having trouble seeing it.

Less had an interesting story about Acton.
Last month he finished a brand new Sagitta and
had a battery go bad while down wind over the swamp.

He ran down to get it and it was in the river.

He got to it just in time to reach in and snatch it
on it's way bye - but - he slipped and went in.

Over his head!

He got the plane back and didn't drown but he isn't
planning to repair it.

Anyway - that's 62 months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Ok, here comes the obvious question.......
    
    How do you KNOW your highest altitude was 2700 feet. Did you strap on 
    one of those altimeter watches??????????
    
    
    Steve

    Less did and it was minus 2' :-)))))
    
    EVL-1 is back...................

>    Ok, here comes the obvious question.......
>    
>    How do you KNOW your highest altitude was 2700 feet. Did you strap on 
>    one of those altimeter watches??????????

Yes.
Actually it recorded a max of 2800 ft but
it was reading 100 feet after the flight.  It varies and the barometric 
pressure changes thru the day.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Put in the May flights at the Sidney, Maine glider contest
Saturday 7-May-1994.

Details in another note.

63 months down...

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    I read an AMA by-law that said the flights had to be in the USA or
    Canada.
    
    I checked into this when I got my February flight once in AZ.
    
    :-)
    
    E.

Put in the June flights at the Simsbury, CT glider contest
Sunday 5-Jun-1994.

Great contest - I finished in the middle of the pack but my scores were
pretty high.  I didn't need LSF contest points but I had a ton of them.
Since the points are your percentage of the winners score times the number
of people you beat.  

Our own Dave Walter took first place in Standard.  The wind picked up through
out the day and by the end of the last round it was challenging.  Dave didn't
like his last flight but while he was up Jim Tyre was way out and way up and
Dave still got a better time.

Worst crash of the day goes to Jim Tyre.  I didn't see it but I heard it!
Dave saw and can report more accurately.

One fellow lost a plane some place down wind.  My wife was walking down
by the recreation complex when these guys were driving around asking people
if they saw a sailplane!

I flew 3 planes in competition plus had some trim flights on a HLG before
the start plus I put in one winch launch of the Pivot Plus in high winds
just for the fun of it.

64 months down...

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Sounds like Jim was testing his wings again.....and failed
    

Went out to the Orange Airport Saturday morning before breakfast.

Didn't know what to expect since I haven't received the normal
spring notice of a club meeting and dues.  As it turns out
our president has been sick so no spring meeting.

Anyway there was a gaggle of scale and ducted fan folks out early.

Jack Buckley was test flying someone's F5 as I arrived.  Later he
put in a practice flight of his Yellow Aircraft P47.  There was
another Yellow P47 there but I didn't stay long enough to see it
fly.

Harvey Thomasian put in a nice flight of a Laser type aircraft.

Eventually I got the my Sig Cub fueled up and running and Harvey
called for me and gave advice.  I was hoping to take it to the
scale qualifier next weekend if I didn't have any show stopper
problems.  

All in all it flew pretty good.  I couldn't turn off the engine
after landing so I have to fiddle with the throttle - no easy
task the way I have it hooked up.  The big deal is this was the
first full flight with a new on board ignition battery.  Up till
now I never had enough power for a full tank.

Got a list of things to fiddle with but should be ready for next
weekend in Westover.

First powered flight in a long time.

That's 65 months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I attended the Ellington CT sailplane contest yesterday.
It was absolutely positively the best thermal day I have ever seen.
I was in all three classes as usual.  My first two flights, 2-meter
and standard were both maxes (8 minute) and for unlimited I was launching
the Paragon while 3 sailplanes were circling in a nice thermal just to the
right of the winch line.  I was getting a good launch when greed set in and
I had to try for some more altitude from a modest zoom.  Boom - I folded
the wing on the Paragon.  It doesn't look pretty - I'll probably strip
the radio out for another kit.

Later that day I started popping off with a slight tail wind.
Then still later I managed to get disoriented with the Hobie Hawk and
stuffed it into a tree.  That took the rest of the afternoon to retrieve.

They ended up flying 4 rounds with one throw away round.  Since I spend
the entire 4th round with Les Gerhardt getting my Hobie Hawk out of the
tree I didn't have any throw away.  

Scores were generally good across the board and the throw away round really
brought them up.  Chris Ordsey(sp) took two first places and Jim Tyre got
a trophy in every class plus a high points trophy.

Les was going good but broke his tail loose after the 3rd round so he was
available and had equipment to help me retrieve the Hawk.  Speaking of hawks
there were several available during the contest.

It was great flying the only wind was from different directions all the time
pointing to the thermals.

I was sad to fold the wings on the Paragon but I have known all along the wing
near the center section was a weak point.  This will give me more time to get
to work on my submarine.

That's 66 months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Kay,
    
       I have a Paragon wing in very good-to-excellent shape that has
    Multiplex blade spoilers activated by a Futaba S-133 servo that is
    imbedded in the center section of the wing with an access hatch.
    
    I would sell you this for the cost of the servo and the spoilers
    ($75) if you were interested in getting your Paragon going again.
    
    How about a trade?   Got anything yo want to get ride of?
    
    Regards,
    
    Jim 
    
    

>                      <<< Note 1151.126 by UNYEM::BLUMJ >>>
>
>    Kay,
>    
>       I have a Paragon wing in very good-to-excellent shape that has
>    Multiplex blade spoilers activated by a Futaba S-133 servo that is
>    imbedded in the center section of the wing with an access hatch.
>    
>    I would sell you this for the cost of the servo and the spoilers
>    ($75) if you were interested in getting your Paragon going again.
>    
>    How about a trade?   Got anything yo want to get ride of?
>    
>    Regards,
>    
>    Jim 

No thanks Jim - the wing isn't too hard to fix - the tail is.
Even that could probably be done in 2-3 evenings.

My heart is just not in it at this time.
But thanks for the offer.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################


    
    

What a great way to get in my first September flight.
Rhinebeck Jamboree.

I was in a 6 plane Gremlin Gaggle.  Again I didn't get any cuts
and someone cut me (just a little) during the second gaggle.
But both times I flew the entire tank out and never became disoriented.

I suppose you go thru more Gremlins like this but I must admit I
prefer the gaggle to the one on one stuff.

I suppose I should comment on Rhinebeck.

1.  If you like WWI aircraft you really should drive down to Rhinebeck NOW.
    Who knows how many years they will be able to remain open and still fly
    all those vintage aircraft.  I wish I had a list of all the WWI planes
    they had and which flew.  I think it is safe to say it is one of the 
    best museums available for WWI aircraft and when you only count what flys
    I'll bet it is the best in the world.

2.  Our group all flew mission and did pretty well.  I helped where I could
    but Saturday was pretty slow.  Sunday I discovered Jim Grady way up on
    line 1 with no help so I started going up there every time that I wasn't
    busy on line 3 with Jim Reith and Mike Seines(sp).  But I did take time
    out to take in all the Rhinebeck museum pieces.

3.  I called for Jim Reith on his first round.  Just after he dropped his
    bomb we here this thud.  It was Jim's plane (actually he was borrowing
    Jeff's).  As I watched where his bomb landed so did Jim!  Neither of us
    saw the plane crash.  Mike Seines did and he was laughing hard.
    Minor damage - just straighten the landing gear and replace the prop.

    Near the end of the contest I was on the far end of the flight line
    and when I returned to Jim Reith's end Jeff and I went searching the
    woods for Jim.  It seems he lost the plane but Mike found it and now
    we had to find Jim!

4.  The scale turnout was pretty good and there were some very interesting
    planes that I had never seen before.  One fellow had a big model
    with an Enya V-240 twin with the exhaust made scale and exiting over
    the leading edge of the wing.  Looked and sounded great.

5.  I purchased a on-board electronic glow switch for my Cub from one of
    the vendors.  As of early this morning I still couldn't get it to work.
    I think I have a shorted cell in my pack.

6.  There were some good deals there on used engines.

7.  I haven't got the bug enough to push a WWI plane to the front of my
    building queue yet.

8.  Altho I agree that Gremlins aren't in the Spirit of Rhinebeck - neither
    are the Cubs and frankly I enjoy seeing different stuff during half time.
    For instance I would love to see a real turbine Jet.  I enjoyed the fun fly
    plane demo last year.  I don't think it makes since to watch Scale planes
    doing exactly the same maneuvers that they have been doing all day.

9.  I left with an ear ache and a cold and forgot to bring jackets and I baked
    special glider cookies and forgot to bring those.  It was cold and my
    cold and ear ache went away - go figure.  Must have been the Pizza and 
    friends.

Well - anyway - that is 67 Months of all season flying.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################


    
    

Saturday weather was warm and calm so I didn't fly.
Sunday 2-Oct-94 was cold and windy so naturally I went
the the Simsbury CT Fall Sailplane Challenge.

I never seen so many cars at a meet.  There ended up
being 16 in 2-Meter, 19 in Standard, and 22 in unlimited
class.

Our own Dick Bissen won unlimited with his Magic.
Conditions were pretty bad but Dick managed to get
a max on every flight and good landing points on all
but his last round.  This left room for the upcoming
experts to edge him out - but they couldn't do it.

Dick only flew unlimited class otherwise he may have
cleaned up.  He also had to take care of his son and dog
so he had his hands full.

There was a tie for second place with Dennis Phalen and
Iforgot Hisname.  So after the scores were added up they
had a fly off between these two.  They were both in the
air at the same time and Dennis managed to find better lift
and Iforgot landed much sooner - but wait - what's that.
Dennis lands in a tree for an official off field landing
giving away 2nd place.

Landings were pretty dicey and there were lots and lots
of pop offs.  At least one guy folded a wing on launch
but generally because of the high winds folks were pretty
gentle on the launch.

After the first two rounds I had good scores in 2-meter
but at least one poor score in unlimited and standard
class.  In fact on my first round in standard class I
got a nice thermal and went down wind very fast.  At
approximately 1 minute in I turned for home and pointed
it into the wind.  Added a few clicks of down trim and
waited and waited and waited.  Adding more down trim and
waited and waited.  Eventually at 5 minutes 30 seconds
I fly thru some power lines and land off field - right in 
the middle of the road and some cars stop while some guys
a lot closer to the plane than me snatch it out of the road.

So my off field landing earned me a zero for that flight.

In two meter I had the lead after round 2 but at least two
experts are close behind.  We had open winch lines and
could pick our own air.  I thought conditions were going
to get worse - clouds moving in big time so I put in a quick
155 second flight.  I had to avoid hitting a pair of flyers
who were walking to the landing zone.  I dove a little and
pulled up over their heads then pulled the spoilers and
dove for the circle.  I hit about 3 feet early and slide
all the way thru and hit myself.  So I had to take a zero
for the landing.  As it turns out after all the scores
are in I get 4th place (no trophy).  If I could have squeezed
a 50 point landing I would have had 1st place.  Course I
didn't know this till after the fact - but I'm glad I picked
safety over points.  I only wish everybody would.

Awsome contest, awsome turnout, awsome wind, and real cold.
Had to stop at ChiChi's after and warm up to hot Mexican food :-)

There was a lot of Dodgson sailplanes and the contest and they
all flew great.  I gotta get building.

Well - anyway - that is 68 Months of all season flying.
Now the hard months are coming.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################


    
    

Awsome weather Saturday.
Pat and I went to the Orange Airport after breakfast for a quick flight.
Was kinda concerned about the wind but when I got there they
were doing competition driver training on our runway again.

Rats - so I figure I'll do yard work and check back later.
At 3:30 we show up again - their still going at it and the
wind has almost died down.  

Rats - so we go to McDonalds and come back at 4:00.

Now they are clearing out - just two guys left and they apologize
for taking too long - hmmmmmm.

I set up and put in one GREAT 17 minute flight on my Clipped Wing Cub.

Not that I flew so great but the sun was at my back, didn't need
a coat, absolutely dead calm,  no other planes so I could hear the
little OS .40 Surpass.  I had the most enjoyable power plane flight
of the year - several touch and goes, and many many stall turns.

I worked on my loops and they were awful and concentrating more didn't
help.  But what a great day and great plane.  Hope I get some more
warm November days on the Cub.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Awsome weather Saturday.
Hey - I said that last month also!

Pat and I went to the Oxford MA for the Gremlin contest that
Jim Reith sneaked into the schedule at the last minute.

I had to replace a broken fuselage from the last Gremlin contest
and only got it done in the neck of time.

I put in a safety flight then (according to Steve Smith's note)
we put in 6 rounds - didn't seem like that many.  Without bragging
too much - it was the best I ever flew.  I had one round against
Charley Watt and managed to hit his ribbon 3 times - no cuts tho.
I had a round with Eric Henderson and managed to hit his ribbon
once - again no cut.  I had a round with Dan Snow and avoided
a mid air - but I had to work hard at it.  I had a round with
Ray M. and managed my first cut.  I wrapped his banner string
around my engine shaft (had to take the prop and thrust bushing
off to get all the string out after landing).  This was my first
cut EVER!

I had been badgering Jim Reith all day to have a all up last down.
He came close by having an all up.  During this poor attempt at formation
flying on the last flight of the last contest of the season I lost
radio signal and my Gremlin climbed up and did a sort of wing over
then went straight in.  From about 100 yards away I made a very 
loud WOMP!

I checked everything out as I walked up to it and the radio was working
fine then.  I managed to do some damage to the wing.  I trashed my
brand new fuselage.  I sheared the carb off the OS .25 and sheared the
needle valve off the carb.

I thought maybe a low battery since I never put in so many Gremlin
flights in one day before plus the rounds were 4 minutes instead of 3.
But it cycled with a spare 150 mah.  I had a buzzer on a timer and thought
maybe with it running and a low battery I would have reduced range - but
I couldn't confirm that at home.  Finally I thought maybe the above along
with engine vibration - but I had no fuselage or engine to shake it with
so I started wrapping the receiver with a screw driver handle.  This caused
a jump in the servos.  I tried another crystal - same.  I tried another
receiver - no symptoms.  So I took the receiver apart and a little piece
of music wire fell out - about 1/8" long.  But I put it all back together
again and could still see servo jump when I strike it with the screw driver
handle.

I'm just thankful that it didn't fail till the end of the contest 
(because I had a great time) and that I didn't have to look for it in 
the woods.  But come to think of it - I have a busted fuse - a wing
that I have repaired for two years, a busted engine, and my receiver
needs to be repaired, Oh - the fuel tank now leaks also.  How much more 
would I have been out if the darn thing just flew away?

At any rate - great contest - great weather - great flying site - great 
airplane - great...

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    I was going to mention it in my note, but didn't want to give Kay a
    BIG HEAD, so I decided against it. But, he'll probably have the winter 
    to get rid of the swelling so what the heck.
    
    Kay was awesome. I've never seen him so agressive. Eric even commented
    off line that he was tough to fly against. Kay was mixing it up with
    the best of them and even handing out some verbal abuse during the
    rounds. His Gremlin was running great (until the last flight) and was
    turning even better. Charlie Watt mentioned that he was always on the
    defensive because Kay could out turn him.
    
    Those are some pretty fine comments from a couple of the better combat
    pilots. Way to go Kay. Get that new Gremlin built.

Yep, I heard several people comment that the flight of Kay and Charlie was one
of the tightest contests they saw all day. It was amazing that Kay couldn't get
a cut with the three wing/streamer contacts. It sure did seem that the flying
all day was top notch. Even Mr "Midair" Snow wouldn't be having so many if he
wasn't "right there". Great flying!

>    Kay was awesome. I've never seen him so agressive. Eric even commented
>    off line that he was tough to fly against. Kay was mixing it up with
>    the best of them and even handing out some verbal abuse during the
>    rounds. His Gremlin was running great (until the last flight) and was
>    turning even better. Charlie Watt mentioned that he was always on the
>    defensive because Kay could out turn him.

Well - like I said it was the best I have flown but in Eric and Charlie's
defense I must add that Eric was losing power and Charley had just swapped
his .25 into a fuselage that had been flying a .32 before.  Charley had
the CG off and just couldn't turn as sharp as he was used to.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Been watching the weather man a lot lately.  I already blew a couple of good
chances and lately they have been predicting wind and it hasn't been bad at all.

Anyway - last Sunday I charged up the Astro Mini-Challenger and put it in the
car before morning Church.  I was hoping to get in a flight before Church 
started and beat the wind.  But I was too slow getting going so I flew after
at about 10:30 AM.  It was still cloudy and some snow flakes falling but the
sun was just starting to break out and I launched right into some nice air.

I soon got cold thumbs and started doing loops and rolls and cruising around
at low altitude and quit at only 8 minutes plus and ran inside to warm up.
The folks at church got a kick out of a sailplane in their back yard and I
got my Jan flight in.

I gotta get a gremlin building and other stuff.   I've been on a building
tangent creating boxes to hold sandpaper for two new sanders I got for
Christmas - I guess you could say I've been building sand boxes.

Two submarines in the ways which I hope to finish this month and ...

71 Months down.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I too found sunday to be a good day to get in my January flight. I've been
putting in a lot of time on the Estes order and a friend has been bugging me to
go down and check out the South Shore field so I fixed up a Gremlin and headed
down, 90 miles, one way 8^(

Managed 3 hours of Gremlin flying and found the new Gremlin has a weird spin
pattern that really looks strange. I also found that high temp bonding (crank up
the iron) the monocoat to the foam on the old flexible Gremlin wings I had
really made them rock solid. Really breaths new life into them. Sure was good to
get out.

It was a nice sunny day for a Feb flight.
I took a friend from work to Acton and showed him
how RC gliders work.  I got 10 minutes on my Mini-Challenger.

At least this month I didn't land because my thumbs were cold
I came down after I ran out of air and battery.

Mean while back in the workshop.

I have been busy lately installing a new lathe
and trimming out two submarines.

I have a lot of white foam in my large sub.  Any idea
what I could coat it with so I don't constantly shed
little white beads all over the place?

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Sure, just spread a little polyester resin on the foam.  No more
    bothersome flakes!!
    
    Congrats on the 6 years!!  It feels like we have been here every step
    of the way!
    
    :-) :-)
    
    cheers,
    jeff
    

    Oh, and Kay, you claim that it has been 6 years??  Sorry, you have only
    documented 5 years and 3 months...  see 1151.0, entered in Nov, 1989!
    
    

You beat me to it, Jeff. I was going to suggest CA or Acetone. Makes it take up
less volume as well 8^)

>       <<< Note 1151.139 by VMSSPT::FRIEDRICHS "I'd rather be flying!" >>>
>
>    Oh, and Kay, you claim that it has been 6 years??  Sorry, you have only
>    documented 5 years and 3 months...  see 1151.0, entered in Nov, 1989!

Geez - someone who actually reads "ALL" the notes.
I should have been more specific in the first note.  I was starting this
log file at that time.  My first entry was for my 9th month in Nov 1989

Going backwards before this note began is
8th Month 29-Oct-89 Orange Airport - flew Sagitta and Aeromaster (RIP)
7th Month 17-Sep-89 Scale Fly in, Salisbury MA, flew Berliner-Joyce P16 (RIP)
6th Month 12-Aug-89 CRRC Soar In Sudbury MA, flew Sagitta
5th Month 16-Jul-89 Scale Masters Qualifier, Westover MA flew Berliner-Joyce P16
4th Month 24-Jun-89 District I Fun Fly, Westover MA, flew Aeromaster
3rd Month 18-May-89 DECRCM Fun Fly, Ware MA, flew ???
2nd Month 17-Apr-89 DECRCM Fun Fly, ?????, flew Drifter II, Aeromaster
1st Month 17-Mar-89 Phoenix Scale Fun Fly, flew Berliner-Joyce P16

And you thought I wasn't keeping track!

I'm still flying a lot - just writing less.

Back to the workshop - I made a brass hammer last night and sprayed
expanding foam in the nose of my submarine.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I passed up some nice days last week spending every waking hour
building a pair of those "10 hour" gremlins.

I took a vacation day Friday for the last building session so that
on Saturday morning Pat and I slipped out to the Orange Airport
to put on a safety flight on the new Gremlin.

First launch - engine died about 10 feet out of my hand
and I land on the tar runway.  Scraping up my brand new UltraKote.
Rats.  Turn the needle a bit more rich and try again.

This time success - needed a few clicks of up trim and it sounded
still a little lean but it flew pretty good.

I brought it in and added 2 or 3 more clicks of rich and took it home
for Sundays contest in RI.

Sunday I put in 5 combat flights.

It was a 3 round contest but I got to fly target once and ended up
tied for 4th so had a fly off round with Dan Snow for entry into
the play off rounds.  He beat me by a few feet on the landing.
I had good landings all day and even earned a couple of points but
not good enough.

Damage for the day - two props.
New plane flew great - it launches better than the old wing.
Probably must be lighter.

I also gave my old wing a destructive wing fold test in preparation
for it's destiny - the garbage can.  Anyway - this old wing was
awsome.  It was very hard to break and even after folded it was pretty
rubbery and I had to cut the glass strand packing tape to get to let
go.

73 months down - 35 to go.
After 9 years there are no more all season flyer badges.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

> 73 months down - 35 to go.
> After 9 years there are no more all season flyer badges.

You'll have to take the hint by then, Kay 8^) Guess you'll have to get out there
and try for that LSF level V!

Sunday we went to Hurricane Al Ryder's glider contest in New Boston, NH.
Windy and cold.  

This has to go on record as my worst contest.  Other than the friends
I would have rather stayed home.  First a round of hand launch.  I didn't
expect to be competitive with my Pivot-Plus - but what the heck.  Second
throw I catch a thermal and climb pretty good.  Only the second thermal I
have ever caught from hand launch with this plane - usually I only hi-start
it.  Anyway up over the trees I go and get stuck in the top of a very tall
Popular tree.  So I spot the plane and go back for some tree equipment.
I came prepared - or so I thought.  I had a sling shot and lead sinkers
and a new "cheap as you can get" fishing pole and casting reel.  So Terry
Sweeney does the honors with the sling shot while I hold the pole and on
the first shot he went right over the top and over the glider and the sinker
gets to the ground.  WOW - how hard can this be.  Nothing like having good
tools.  So I go back and get a big rope to pull up with the fish line.
But the rope is too heavy for the light fish line.  No problem - I've got
some hi-start line but before I get it we try wiggling the tree with the
fish line and fiddle around and... Eventually I manage to break the line.

No problem - just fire another one up the tree - WRONG.  Now every time we shoot
the brand new "American Made" (proudly printed on the reel) starts snagging the
line before the sinker can make it up to the top of the tree.  Come to find out
there are some ruff edges inside the reel and anytime the reel is not full - it
doesn't freely pay out line.  Well I did purchase the cheapest reel I could
find.  Anyway I keep trying to sling shot over the tree - but without the aid
of the fishing pole.  Now the problem is with hi-start line (not nice light
mono-filiment fish line) the sinker doesn't weight enough to come back down
after you fire it over a branch.  After several good shots with different
weights I eventually manage to get a line over a major branch.  Send up the big
rope and start swinging the tree - but no progress.  Then this fellow named
Mark Daily comes by and climbs up the adjacent tree.  Devoting about 2 hours
of his time - and we borrowed some chimney cleaning poles from the guys
from Maine - Mark manages to free the Pivot-Plus and it tumbles to the
ground with only minor scratches and dents.  Lets see - now it is 4:00PM and
we are the last ones to leave.  I never did see the contest and for my
$15 entry fee I had two throws.  Does this count as an April Flight?

Must thank Jim Reith, Mark Daily, Les Gerhardt, Rick Hallet, and some other
fellow from Maine who's name I forgot.  

It was real windy most of the day and there was apparently a lot of damage
but since I didn't see any of it I'll hope Jim will fill in the details
in another note.

Sunday we go to the Gremlin contest in Billerica, MA.
It was cold and windy again.

Sign in at 8:30.  First flight hours later.  Well - it seemed
like hours.

They allowed anything in unlimited class so there were a couple of fun fly planes
in combat.  There was one good mid-air and one spectacular crash into a tree.

I flew 3 rounds.  On the first round I flew my standard Gremlin against an unlimited
OS .32 that volunteered to be a target drone.  I got a cut!

On the second round I flew against Wayne Field but maybe two minutes into the round I
lost power and had to dead stick.  Too bad as we were having some nice close passes.
If fact you could hear an engine going sour but we didn't know which ones was about
to die.

With my two points from the first round I managed to get into the fly off for 3rd with
Ray M.  Ray got a cut - but the judges would only give a cut point if they saw it.
I don't know when or where I was loosing ribbon but I was and it was real short
when I landed.  The judge called Ray the winner as soon as they saw some of my
ribbon coming down but not a cut - (one point).  Since this was for 3rd it
didn't matter anyway and since it was our last flight Ray and I elected to keep fighting.
Great fun.

They had terrible ribbons - some were brittle (not mine - I used the same ribbon
for 3 flights).  They had nylon string so if someone would have gotten a wing or prop
into a string I think both gremlins would have come down.  The biggest problem was the
lack of queuing for the rounds.  One pair would finish combat then there would be
a long pause while two others would get ready and start.  If you didn't make
the fly off you only got two flights.

Never the less it was fun (not counting the cold).  Pat drove a few miles away
and brought back my daughter and my grandson so it was fun to watch him see
his first model airplane contest.

Lets see - now I gotta fix the Pivot-Plus from the tree damage.  Fix the Hobie
Hawk from the hole it got in the wing from being blown around the pit area.
Fix the wrinkles from the Mica film on my Sagitta I noticed when I put it 
together.  But the Gremlin - the plane were not suppose to care about - it
is perfect.

Well - if the hand launch into a tree doesn't count - the Gremlin combat does!

74 months down - 34 to go.
After 9 years there are no more all season flyer badges.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Last Saturday we went to the Gremlin contest at the Lazy Loopers.
I arrived at 9:00 - nobody there - but we waited around an hour
or so.  Say a beaver in the parking lot that must live in their
small creek.

So Pat and I went out for coffee and came back before 12:00 and folks
were starting to show up and because it was drizzle and windy talking
of canceling.  Fortunately a fellow named George (forgot his last name)
wanted to fly so we put ribbons on and tried it.  The rain took his
ribbon off before I could get launched and mine came off before he
could get close to me.  But I flew.  The Lazy Loopers field is really
nice.

There is another Gremlin contest this Saturday at Oxford.
9:00 sign-in - I just checked the time :-)

75 months down - 33 to go.
After 9 years there are no more all season flyer badges.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Last Saturday I took the Cub out to the Orange Airport
for a couple nice easy flights.  Great day - cloudy but
almost no breeze.  The word is that the Airport is going
to rip up our runway and we "might" get a new area allocated
to fly from but perhaps not off tar.

76 months down - 32 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Tuesday - the 4th of July I took the Cub out to the Orange Airport
for a practice flight before the scale qualifier next weekend.

It was a bit gusty but I put in one long (20 minute) flight and went
thru the contest pattern 3 times.  The funny thing was there was no
full scale traffic at the airport.  RC wise Pat and I had the place
to ourselves.

77 months down - 31 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

On Saturday the 12th I took my little Cub out to the Orange Airport
for my first August flight.  I would have logged this sooner but we
had a death in the family and I just got back from Minnesota.  Anyway
I attempted to go thru my scale pattern and managed to do so a couple
of times unfortunately it was very windy and I didn't learn anything.

Sunday the 13th I finally attempted to put the first flight on a
Royal Zero I had completed a couple of years ago.  Yes - it has been
setting in the basement with a new motor and radio and plane waiting
for me to think I could handle it.  

Had a hard time getting the engine to run decent.  It is a new ASP .60
and ran fine on the test bench but now in the plane with a cowl and
chicken hopper tank it was more difficult.  But it seemed to be OK
and I took off.

Rock and Roll - ailerons were off and I was over correcting.  Then the
engine quit when I got about 50 to 75 feet up.  Just managed  to turn around
and dead stick in.  Heavy plane (9 lbs) and it took all the runway down
wind and flipped over when it finally ran off the tar into the grass.

But no damage.  Fiddled with the engine for an hour or so and attempted once
again.  This time the Rock and Roll take off got the best of me and
I broke a retract on my aborted take off.  Back to the work shop.

78 months down - 30 to go.

I missed the Gremlin contest in R.I. on the 20th.  Did anybody go?

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

On Saturday the 2nd I took my little Cub out to the Orange Airport
for my first Sept flight.

Nice and calm - I put in a 22 minute flight with a few touch and
go's.

79 months down - 29 to go.

Been an awful quiet notes file lately.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

On Saturday the 1st I took my little Cub out to the Orange Airport
for my first October flight.

Nice and calm - I put in a 25 minute flight with a few touch and
go's eventually running out of fuel and making a dead stick landing.

80 months down - 28 to go.

Starting to sound like I'm in a rut but it was a most enjoyable flight
and I had the airport to myself.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Sunday I attended the CMRCM Gremlin contest.  It was cold and windy.
First I took a trim flight - was all over the sticks and just made one
or two circuits and landed (poorly) - broke a prop.

First combat I dead sticked before engage was called.  Made it richer
and re-launched.  Still ran out of engine before the 4 minutes was up
and had to give up a point and land with a sick engine - another prop.

Combat rounds 2,3, and 4 were OK with the engine and I even got one
or two landing points.  

One round was with Andy, one with Steve Smith, and one with Charley
Watt.  So if you noticed them in the money - it was because they
were cutting me!

At the lunch break I put in a nice long flight.

So by the end of the day I had flown 6 times.
I cleaned up the plane real good for the end of season.  Ran the
engine dry.  Took the transmitter off the tray and stowed in the car.
Was thinking about after run oil when I hear this conversation about
the 3 way tie for 2nd place and my good friend Jim Reith says...

"Oh KKKKKKK!  Could I borrow your plane???"

This is just after he mid aired his own.
It's all clean and everything.
It's trimmed out and ready for spring?

Well - I thought about it and said "OK - but if you wipe it out I don't
want no stinking KIT - we're talking a whole plane.  

"Sure - no problem" says Jim.

As I help him launch I'm having more second thoughts.
I figure if he wipes it out I'll still have to re-trim.
and re-install electronics and try to make the balance the
same as my other gremlins and...  We're talking hours
here and like Jim - I'm fresh out of spare time.

Plus it's gotta be Carl Goldberg Ultracoat light blue and dark blue and
the last time I purchased some I had a hard time finding the right dark
blue because they make two shades.

Up my plane goes and the call engage!

Then I'm thinking - this gremlin sure flies nice compared to my 
previous gremlin.  I wonder if a new one will fly as nice.

Then I'm thinking - if he has a mid air with my plane that at least
I'm gonna concentrate so I don't miss it.

I concentrated and didn't miss it!

The worst part is - my Gremlin was the first fuselage down!

81 months down - 27 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Hey! Did you see that! He still said "good friend"! What a guy!
    
    Kay will have his Gremlin for December if he's interested in flying it.
    I don't take friendships like this lightly.
    
    I must say, it was a terrible thing to do to him. He's truely a great
    friend. 1 month down and an unlimited number of months of ribbing
    ahead.
    
    8^)

    This is a test of the emergency friendship network. If this had been a
    real emergency you would have been informed to "close your eyes, this
    won't hurt a bit". This has only been a test.
    
    I've been into the "woods" with Kay more than once. This is just the
    first time I've been on the sticks. "The thermal's further down
    wind..."

    RE. "I've been into the woods with Kay more than once."
    
    	Just how good a friend ship is this anyway???????  8^)
    
    Steve

Sunday December 3 I took my trusty Astro Mini-Challenger to church and
put in a couple flights around noon.  The first was difficult because 
my charger must have detected a false peak and it started loosing power
on the initial climb out.  After 20 minutes of charging the second flight
was normal and I ended up getting a 10 minute flight.  Didn't catch a good
thermal until after the 3rd (and last) climb out.  By then my thumbs were
getting numb.

I would have flown my Gremlin but Jim swallowed some of that balsa-slow!

82 months down - 26 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    
     Hey Jim, I might be wrong, but I think Kay gave you a shot! :)

Direct hit, down in flames again.

SOrry, I put in 20 hours here over the weekend. Didn't bring in a building
board...

Yes, I've not forgotten Kay. Still need to stay home after 6am to get to DB
Cottons as well...

    RE: Sunday December 3 I took my trusty Astro Mini-Challenger to church
    and put in a couple flights around noon.
    
    I hope you waited till after the sermon........8^)
    

>    I hope you waited till after the sermon........8^)

Yes I did.  Also I flew the Mini-Challenger last Sunday in the Church
yard.  6 Degrees above but my fingers got numb fast and I came down
after 3.5 minutes.  It was all I could take.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

I was hoping to put in the February flight in my newly rebuilt Gremlin.
I finished it last week but between bad weather and the road going
into the airport I had to cop out and fly the Mini-Challenger again
Saturday for the first flight this month.  I threw into sink air and it
was all the motor could do to climb.  I only got about a hundred feed
high before I started running out of battery but the conditions improved
and some warm up air came thru after I had given up on powered flight.

Still was a short flight and even tho it was significantly warmer than
most of this month - it was still too cold for me.


Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Sunday 10-Mar-1996 I put in a couple of flights of the Mini-Challenger
in back of the church.  The first flight was really short.  I only had
enough battery to get to about 1/2 high start height.  Then I recharged it
and got a beautiful flight.  I quit after 8 minutes because my thumb was
getting cold.

I guess I'll never learn - but I NEVER get a good launch on the first motor
run.  I peak charged it up the night before but all for naught.  It seems
like the battery won't really take a full charge unless it is warm.

85 months down - 23 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Attended the Sturbridge Gremlin contest Saturday 13-Apr-1996.
Jim Reith was the CD - we put in 3 rounds plus I flew one
trim flight before the contest started.  It was a pretty neat
field.  Muddy but had great potential.  There was only one
mid air.  Ray Mierzejewski (from Ray's Hobbies) was flying great
all day - in fact he took first place in the end.  He managed
a great mid air.  I don't know who the other pilot was.  Ray
was also very aggressive in a round with Dan Snow but they didn't
hit.

My Jim Reith built Gremlin flew OK - I think I have it a bit nose 
heavy - lands like a rock!  Went thru two props in 4 landings Saturday
but that wasn't because it was nose heavy - that was just poor
piloting.

I think Jim owes us a full report.
How much money did Ray win?
Dan Snow took 2nd place.
I got 3 landing points.  One in each round!

86 months down - 22 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Awsome weather Sunday.  I had the Clipped Wing Cub all charged up
and ready.  Unfortunately I slept late and by the time I got to the 
Orange Airport the wind was really blowing.  Never the less I put in
one flight of the Cub.  I figured that with that wind I wouldn't be
able to really learn anything but it seemed to calm down after I got
up and I ran thru the Scale Pattern maneuvers a few times and did better
than I usually do.  

87 months down - 21 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Saturday I put in a nice flight on the Clipped Wing Cub at our yearly
and only club meeting at the Orange Airport.  It looks like maybe we
will only have the field for one more summer.  Even at that it is booked
for nearly every Sunday for race cars.

Sunday I attended the Spring Sailplane Challenge at Simsbury CT.
Steady wind all day.  I only entered two classes and only flew
one plane for the first time since I've been going to glider contests.
Managed a 3rd in standard class with my trusty Hobie Hawk.

88 months down - 20 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Sunday we attended the local Scale Qualifier at Barnes Airport in Westfield MA.

Used my only flying scale plane - little Sig Clipped Wing Cub.

2nd place in Sportsman!

89 months down - 19 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Saturday I took the Clipped Wing Cub out to the Orange Airport and
attempted to use up the last of my very very old fuel.  I put in a nice
15 minute flight and went thru my scale routine 4 times during the last half
of the flight it was surging a lot and didn't ever have full power.  Seemed
to idle and low power OK.  As I landed it died.  Then I went to restart it
just to burn out the last of the fuel before after run oil and it wouldn't
start up - would fire but not every cycle.  It was very hot so I just
oiled up and left it alone.  

Would getting it hot (perhaps slightly lean) make it cut out?
Maybe this is one other symptom of a glow plug going bad?

I used this same very old fuel last month at the scale qualifier in
Barnes and it ran great.

Sunday I attended the NCRCC Sailplane competition in Ellington CT.
Nice turnout, great field, and a very relaxing day of flying.  I flew
the Hobie Hawk and got a max on the first round but the heat kept changing
my elevator trim and I spend most of my good launches trimming out the plane
on each succeeding round.

I also managed to get several fun flights in on the Pivot Plus.
I assume the rest of the glider guiders were at the CRRC ESL contest.
How about a report?

90 months down - 18 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
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Wednesday I took the Clipped Wing Cub out to the Orange Airport and
put in a nice long late afternoon flight.  I switched to new fuel
and had to make it much richer - but it ran good and cool.  Been on
Vacation in Minnesota for the last two weeks so kinda out of touch with
RC life back here in Mass.

91 months down - 17 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
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Just like last month - flew the Mini-Challenger in the church yard.
Still have a bad cold also - that's over 4 weeks!

Unlike last month I couldn't get a good peak charge on the
pack to save my sole.  It peaked early and the battery was hot
but the performance was lack luster - managed a 2.5 minute flight
with poor climb out.  But after re-charging it took another 15 minutes
(instead of a nice 30-40) at 4 amps then the next flight was much
better with a 10.5 minute flight.

96 months down - 12 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
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Flew the Mini-Challenger in the church yard again.
Boy was it cold.  I believed the weatherman and thought
I better get in a flight Saturday morning before the wind came up.
He was right - it was windy later and very very windy all day Sunday.
Got 8.5 minutes and saw some thermal activity even though it was
over cast and damp and cold.  Had to bring it down early because
my fingers were numb.

97 months down - 11 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
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Again I put in the first flight this month in the Church yard with
the Mini-Challenger.  Unlike the last few however it was nice and warm
Saturday 5-Apr-97 and I caught some small thermals.  I managed a 22 minute
flight and for a change didn't have to come down because I was loosing
the feeling in my numb fingers.

Unfortunately I didn't visit this notes file and missed the Gremlin
contest Sunday - how was it?

I did however attend the Salem N.H. Barnstormers auction Sunday.
There were big bargains to be had in radios and receivers and RC Cars.

One girl was selling many RC cars ready to go with radios.  Most went
for from $30 to $60.  There were a couple of RC10's mixed in as well.
Best bargains I saw - the fellow next to me bought a Spirit 100 kit
for $30 NIB and a Futaba 9VAP with extra receiver for $280.

Sure wish I hadn't missed that Gremlin contest.
Anybody know when the next one is?

98 months down - 10 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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    Kay: You didn't miss it - it got rained (well, drizzled) out. Jim will
    try to reschedule the meet for sometime in May.
    
    Don't forget the April 20th date at the Lazy Loopers club.
    
    /dave

Put in a nice 8 minute flight at the local Church with the Mini-Challenger
again.  Last Saturday.  It turned out to be a wonderful day but I flew
as soon as the rain stopped an it was real cold.  But the low ground
fog was lifting and you could see lots of air turbulence and it it wasn't
so darn cold you could sit around and pick your thermals visually.

Anyway - so much for the required flight - I am sorry I missed that
great Gremlin contest - I had to go to Maine for my daughters wedding
shower.  But I am looking forward to this weekends Gremlin combat in
Sturbridge.

99 months down - 9 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Starting the month out with a bang - or rather a boom.
Attended the Simsbury CT Spring Sailplane Challenge Sunday.

Didn't expect many to show up with the weather but the place
was mobbed.  Hardly a place to park.

On my first launch I managed to crash the Hobie Hawk.  It decided to
take a hard left all the way to the ground.  So I flew my pivot-plus
as a backup plane all day.  That is always a challenge to launch
because it is really too light for the winch lines.

Anyway - managed to get in three rounds in two classes before
the rain started around 2:00PM.  Don't know who won as I left in the
rain and they were still thinking about finishing round three.

100 months down - 8 to go.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
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