Drizzly Flight

...a quick flight before the rain moved in

I managed to get in a quick flight this morning before the showers reached the field in earnest. The odd speckle of rain was about as I prepared the Walrus for its morning run, but the heavy black clouds with tendrils of rain nearby portended the onset of heavy showers was imminent.

For the first time the kangaroos stayed on the field while I was flying, the lack of wind allowing me to launch from the near-side of the field without disturbing them too much. Sadly, turning off the road into the field I saw a dead kangaroo lying in the gutter - one of them had ventured to a reserve on the other side of the road but hadn't made it back...

Lots of People

...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...

Walrus Flies a Goal

...and a smooth landing

Grey clouds hung heavily in the morning sky, with just a int of colour showing through above the horizon. Not the most spectacular dawn, however the morning was still and cool, perfect for flying which was great!

The kangaroos were on the field in force this morning, grazing on the pitch. They seemed a little less shy this morning, hanging around near the fence as I prepared the Walrus. However the noise of the propellor revving up for launch was a bit much for them, and they had hopped off to join their friends in the paddock by the time the Walrus had cleared the fence.

I had a few good flights this morning, just easy circuits with a few low passes nearby. I also managed some good landings, without flaps though, as I still haven't changed the settings for the flaps.

One thing I have been missing is the relaxed floatiness of the Flyer. That's not to say I don't like the Walrus - it's a great straight flyer without the pitching characteristic of the Floater. However the Floater does produce magic when it floats silently past you, seemingly weightless.

I've just been considering flying the Walrus with flaps (on a reduced travel, perhaps twenty degrees). I think this might give the best of both worlds, clean flight for straight balanced handling, and flaps deployed for slow, floaty relaxed cruising. If the weather permits I think I'll give that a go tomorrow.

On the last flight this morning the Walrus flew a goal, flying its approach through the posts, a first for me...

A Little Skysurfing

...a break in the weather

The turbulent run of weather continued last evening with a thunderstorm and rain - the calm settled nature of mid winter seems now to be taking on the blustery characteristics of spring.

Remarkably, the morning dawned absolutely clear although a little gusty, not great for flying the Phoenix which, with its two-metre wingspan, is especially touchy in unstable conditions.

Nearing the field I rolled the car window down for a local weather report and found the conditions virtually still with only the slightest northerly - good to go. Arriving at the field three kangaroos were nibbling at the grass. I must say I feel very bad disturbing them - I try to be as inconspicuous as possible in the hope they'll stay, but being very shy, they disappear into the paddock within minutes.

Unfortunately getting a picture of them is beyond the scope of the phone camera - I hope my wing camera will open up opportunities for some closer views of the paddock inhabitants.

Not having flown for a few days I was a little nervous getting the Phoenix into the air, so launch and climb-out was a little on the wobbly side. However conditions were quite smooth, with the gentle northerly lofting the Phoenix a little as it turned into the wind, slowing it down to an almost standstill; surfing the breeze.

After a few circuits I decided not to push my luck and brought the glider in for a landing. Following on from my incident with the tree it was hard to see how I'd run out of space - that's what happens when you're not in the zone.

Anyway, I brought the Phoenix quite low over the fence at the duck-pond end and, having cleared the water, put down the flaps. Flying almost right past me, I brought it with a last second flare to land with the slightest of bumps...

No-Fly Day

...but still lots of interest

No flying today unfortunately. The forecast was for 12 km/h winds but arriving at the field it to be gusting around 20 km/h, just a bit too much.

Still I did get to say hello to the kangaroos who’d ventured onto the field for the soft green grass. Also the cattle were in residence, the first time I’d seen them closeby in the morning for quite a while. Heavy rains over the weekend had swelled the pond to generous proportions but, oddly enough, there weren’t any ducks about. Perhaps the rains had produced enough ponds around for them to be spoilt for choice.

I took a drive around to another field, where I’d had my tree climbing sorties, but found the winds there much the same, the trees not providing much of a buffer. So flying was pretty much ruled out for the day. Some noise in the trees across the field attracted my attention so I took a walk across.

A flock of the large black cockatoos at work, stripping bark and looking for breakfast. They have long straight wings and fly with a curiously wooden action, like a wind-up bird might look. However, they have a remarkable ability to make very rapid changes in direction, seeming to stall one wing and then spin vigorously before flying again. This trick seems particularly useful when they’re playing with their mates in the boisterous manner characteristic of cockatoos.

On my way back I pulled up to watch some ducks, half a dozen very small brown ducks (I don't know what type, some homework for me to do) were standing near the roadside fence near a small pond. I had seen these ducks come flying at speed across the field I had just been at, before banking sharply and dropping out of sight behind the trees. Very impressive flying for such diminutive creatures.

The Magical Things

Mornings mists are magical. They're not to be found in built-up suburbia around houses or on roads, they appearing only on the wilder stretches of bushland and paddock. That’s why they're a magic, a product of the earth yet suspended in the air like a wisp, pure and ethereal. One of the things I enjoy about going flying these cold mornings.

Another is the sunrises, or often, the vivid splashes of colours painted on the clouds before sunrise. These too are ethereal and ephemeral, colours changing as you look at them, so gorgeous and yet intangible. I’ve taken that many photos of the sunrises, yet looking back at them is somehow never boring - the images manage to retain some of the magic.

Of course the kangaroos are another source of enjoyment. Sweet-natured and very shy, they will be observing you with absolute intent long before you can even see them clearly, standing straight up and with the dark shows of their ears perked up and aimed straight at you.

On a few occasions they have been on the sports field when I have arrived, nervously edging along the fence as I walk down. I try not to frighten them, and funnily enough they don’t seem bothered by the planes, only if I approach them too close. In any case, they jump over easily enough - I’ve flown the plane for a short while and then looked around again to see if they were ok to find all four or five of them having silently disappeared...

Then the ducks occupying the duckpond-end which fills up after a few heavy showers. It is amazing how happy these creatures are with a small expanse of water a few inches deep - I find it quite touching. And the herons fly in occasionally as well.

The cattle, large and black moving slowly through the pastures, from the  swampy lowland to the sunny hillock, grazing contentedly. Unlike the shy kangaroos, they are very interested in you - first motionlessly and intently staring, then almost imperceptibly, you realise that one, no that one too, no actually half the herd has started to amble towards you looking expectantly.

Time to get out of there...

Frosty Flight

...and a crisp landing!

It was a very cold morning with the sky completely clear following an unprecedented run of cloudless weather, literally in the middle of winter. The field was consequently almost entirely covered in frost so I donned my jacket and mitts as added protection.

I have been told that there is a transmitter glove that you can get (I see it's apparently called a transmitter glove) which encloses the radio and into which you insert your hands to keep warm! An interesting concept, although for now I am managing. However, for fliers in colder climes I can imagine this would be most attractive.

The Floater launched flawlessly, as it had got into the habit of doing, and climbed happily into the frosty air. I flew the usual circuit around the field, and then a little over the paddocks, cautious of the two hundred metre reception-limit that seemed to exist - I certainly didn't want to be tramping though soggy paddocks in freezing weather searching for my plane. The thought certainly generated empathy for the poor kangaroos, standing motionless on the frosty ground waiting for sunrise to warm them up.

By now, seldom ten minutes of flying later, my fingers had gone from being cold to being numb and aching. Before things got desperate I brought the Floater around and lined up for a gentle finals approach. It touched down about ten metres over the fence and then, instead of the usual brief slide to standstill, it slid a full twenty metres across the frosty grass, making a delightfully crisp scratching sound.

The most brilliant landing, ever...

Dangerous Cattle and Signal Loss

...pondering the cause of so few landings

At work, I did a web search on the dangers of cattle, and you may be surprised at the results, Agriculture is regarded as a dangerous occupation, with cattle being the second highest cause of injury, second only to farm implements. The article read that encounters with cattle might lead to minor injuries such as broken bones or more serious maladies such as punctured organs or broken neck. Two things became immediately apparent - these people had a fundamentally different perspective on the seriousness of various injuries, and I was definitely not going to be foraging for my plane in the midst of a herd of devil cows.

Nontheless I could not relinquish the Floater so vapidly, so I determined to return during my lunch break and reassess the situation. In the meantime I had opportunity to ponder what had happened that morning and, so it now seemed, also on the Floater second maiden flight. However it must be said that disorientation, although not responsible in these cases, is remarkably easy to suffer from and can be very difficult to recover from.

It seemed certain that there really was a signal-loss issue, as opposed to ignorance or gross incompetence, so I set about considering what should be done. There were several potential root causes. For now I discounted the transmitter - although budget basic it's new and the only "reputable" brand item I have (boxed with the flight simulator).

The second was the speed controller, a unit supplied with the Phoenix and, judging by reviews I'd read, a potential candidate. Speed controllers also supply power to the receiver, so it stands to reason that a dodgy power supply would equate to interrupted reception.

The final suspect was the receiver, a budget unit bought online. However this unit had the facility to connect a satellite receiver which could be a possible solution. As I happened to have a spare satellite receiver sitting around I decided to go this route. For now, however, I decided to return to the flying filed during my lunch break and hope that some miracle might happen to allow me to retrieve the Floater without flouting with death.

Arriving at the field, now bathed in sunshine, I was amazed to see the paddocks devoid of any cattle whatsoever. Amazing! Looking around I spied a hillock perhaps half a kilometre away, now dotted with the black forms of grazing cattle. How good was that. Wasting no time I hopped through the fence and dashed off in the direction where the Floater was last seen heading. Having got about halfway I easily spied a white wingtip above the grass - a definite bonus of having a large foam aircraft is they are so easy to spot.

A quick look around confirmed the cattle had not returned, although my behaviour was being anxiously observed by the resident kangaroos who, upright and with ears pricked, weren't going to let down their guard until I was well away. So, before the cattle decided to return and to allow the kangaroos to return to their lunch in peace, I turned towards the fence and headed for the car...