Canadair on the Duckpond

...finally flying off the pond

The field where I often fly was prone to flooding at the southern end; an event which occasioned the influx of birds of all kinds and the occasional kangaroo something for a splash.

However, unfortunately the sports club didn't share my enthusiasm at an inundated playing field and so instituted an engineered solution to pump the flood waters away. Happily, after a year or so, this fiendish system has failed, heralding a triumphant return of the ephemeral pond.

I had often been tempted to get something flying off the pond but for some reason never got around to it. However, for once, I managed to get to the field with a float plane while the pond was still full and when the weather was OK, in this case with the Canadair.

Unfortunately, as far as the video was concerned, the sun dipped away behind the clouds just as I the Canadair hit the water, so the video quality was frustratingly compromised. Despite that technical hiccup, the flying was a success, making the wait worthwhile...

Canadair on the Lake.

...an afternoon cruise

It's not often that I get to the lake; access is restricted so it's only on nice afternoons when it's not to windy. And only on a few couple of days a week.

On this particular afternoon things were looking good, so I arrived at the lake only to find that it was pretty windy.

Now the Canadair is a very capable and stable flyer, but I'm nervous about mishaps on water, necessitating getting my inflatable rescue craft out, blowing it up before paddling across the lake you're not supposed to go boating on.

Anyway, I decided to fly nonetheless and, fortunately, things went fine. The water wasn't too rough nor the wind too gusty, so I had a pleasant afternoon cruising the Canadair around and doing takeoffs and landing without having to call the rescue squad...

Canadair CL-415 1390mm. Flypasts

...cruising past

A pair of paragliders were heading back to the far field, so I headed the Canadair there with onboard camera, hoping to get some nice footage. Unfortunately I didn't judge the closing distance too well and turned the Canadair back when it was still well off, the paragliders unresolved dots in the distance.

For the rest of the time I just cruised the Canadair around doing flypasts, enjoying the lovely afternoon. After returning from its initial sortie, I took off the camera and then hand launched it to conserve the battery for a bit more cruising around.

The resulting video was then a little unexciting, so I decided to play around with it a little, adding in some flash-forwards and colour-to-mono fades. Completing this slightly experimental video was a backing track with a little attitude, dramatic hip-hop according to YouTube.

Anyway, I had enjoyed creating the video...

Canadair CL-415 1390mm. Scenic Outing at the Little Lake

...a bit more successful

Following on from my rather unsuccessful previous expedition to the lake, I returned a week later with the Canadair again for another attempt.
I find flying off water to be rather stressful, due mainly to the inconvenience of failure, namely having to the boat out to rescue the plane and then pack it all up again. As a consequence I am much more nervous and therefore tend to fly much worse than otherwise.

The Canadair is easy to fly and I can generally fly it off the grass, not dissimilar in nature to taking off from water, with little issue. The takeoffs on this occasion were, happily, more successful although most were still a little nervy and one, which didn't make it into the video, was absolutely awful.

One contributing factor is that you don't always get to stand near the plane like you do at the field, and as a result you are literally distanced. I probably should've just gone to the large lake where I could have launched from right next to the jetty. However the little lake looked so scenic with the clouds in the afternoon sun..

CL-415 Canadair 1390mm. Field Takeoffs & Landings.

...cruising on a beautiful morning

Winter can be a bit challenging when it comes to flying with grey rainy days and dull mornings. However, one bonus it that you do get to see sunrises, when they happen.

Taking the Canadair to the field the other day I was treated to a lovely sunrise, made more enjoyable by having the Canadair to cruise around.

As usual, if there's something worthwhile I get the camera out, and in this case put it on top the Canadair to get an elevated view of the sunrise. And, for a bit of extra fun, included a couple of takeoffs and landings in the flight...

Canadair Flips on Takeoff...and Survives!

bad and good...

The other day, after a long hiatus, I finally got the Canadair back to the big lake to have a bit of a fly. The big lake is good for its large expanse of water, meaning less issues with dodging trees or having to constantly turn.

Being a large expanse of water does however mean that it does pick up more of a breeze though, due to the large expanse of open water. Nevertheless, on the afternoon, there was a moderate westerly blowing in, noticeable but not sufficient to unduly affect the water.

So I got the Canadair ready to fly and, at the last minute, decided to shift the battery back a little to help with the landings, where I kept on finding I didn't have enough elevator to float it in for gentle touch-downs.

All ready then, and I hit power with full elevator to get the Canadair on the plane. Unfortunately, the combination of the fresh westerly and th enow nose-light Canadair meant that, as soon as it begun to rotate it just kept on lifting and, quickly reaching a stall, the left wing dropped and dipped into the lake.

So, within a second of hitting the throttle, the Canadair was floating upside down, both motors immersed in the water. I didn't feel like getting the inflatable out, so I waited for the breeze to transport the Canadair to the far side of the lake.

Finally fishing it out of the lake a leisurely quarter of an hour later, the Canadair had shipped just a smidgen of water, and the receiver and ESC's were all dry and safe, ready to go again...