...making the most of it
Today was another perfect flying morning. Colder than yesterday, the low mists across the paddocks were beginning to clear when I arrived.
I had a pretty lazy flight, a bit of aerobatics when the moment presented itself but otherwise low and slow, guiding the Walrus around the trees and over the fields. I even flew over the top field, which I'd previously always avoided because of the floodlight posts. If you look at some of the videos it's as if a force-field existed, with the Walrus shying away any time it approached.
I also did a few slow fly-overs of the kangaroos, and might even have got a shot of a pair of them having a morning boxing match! I tried out a few half-barrel rolls to check out inverted flight but didn't maintain that for long. Also tried a negative-G pullout, but it felt quite freaky so I abandoned it half way through!
The flights ended with nice slow landings. I'm still getting the feel of the landing flare - I usually over-do it but the Walrus hangs in the air so nicely with the ground effect that's is easy enough to catch and slowly ease it down onto the deck...
...looking good for calmer weather
Today was breezy from start to finish, so flying wasn't even in the picture. However the wind has now died down and tomorrow morning is forecast to be calm, so we should be good to get into the air again.
I'm wondering whether to fly at the paddocks or go to the sports fields, where I had that really good flight. That makes me want to return there, but on the other hand there's the possibility that if I fly there again it might not be so nice again. I might just see how I feel tomorrow...
One thing I want to try is flying inverted. I've done a few barrel rolls, which the Walrus really well, so I might see if I can do half a roll and see how it goes staying upside down. I could even try a negative-G pull-up...
...not so much flying
Well, the suburban flying has not been too successful after my enjoyable Saturday-morning fly. I ventured for another outing late on Saturday and again late today but was foiled on both accounts by too many people. Particularly it seemed to be end-of-season celebration time at the local sports fields, so I settled for kicking a ball around for a while as evening crept in.
So we'll try again tomorrow at the usual place. I'm wanting to give the Walrus a go again with flaps down to see if I can get some better low-altitude footage sweeping across the fields with the wing cam, and maybe some good shots of the kangaroos and cattle, as long as they're not scared of the plane. However it is very quite under low power, and they don't seem to fussed with anything in the air, not having any concern of unfriendly advances from that vantage.
I also want to have a bit more practise with the aerobatics, although very aware that I don't want to risk damaging the Walrus. Nevertheless, barrel rolls and loops, particularly getting the hang of entry into the loop, is on the agenda. I'd also like to have a go at inverted flight but I think that might wait as the consequence of getting that wrong (hang on, which way is up?) would definitely be substantial damage, which is not on the agenda.
Anyway, we'll have to see what sort of weather Monday morning offers us...
