...except for the ninja magpies
I had a very peaceful fly this morning at a local sports field. The weather started off sunny then quickly grew heavily overcast from the East, with dark grey clouds threatening imminent rain.
I launched the Phoenix 2000 with barely any breeze at all, and it glided contentedly into the overcast sky. Due to the major surgery done on the wings, I wasn't wanting to do any high-G manoeuvres in case of catastrophic failure. However I was wanting to assess the performance of the Phoenix with the new 2200mAh battery, the previous flight having been too breezy to really see how it went.
Well I had good opportunity, needing to outrun magpies flying at the glider with intent. I have figured the best method of dealing with these assaults is to maintain or gain altitude. In this endeavour the Phoenix performs well, climbing steeply under full power and rapidly gaining height. While it's long wings mean it's not the most agile, once it's seen off the attentions of the xenophobic avians, it glides with consummate ease and grace.
In calm conditions the flaps are quite useful, slowing the approach down to a comfortable pace. I also did do some flying with the flaps down, allowing slow cruising at very low power - most relaxing experience.
The landing in calm weather can be a little challenging, mainly because it is easy to misjudge the approach because of the good glide characteristics. Additionally, the trees surrounding most of the field necessitate a sharply banked turn onto finals. Nevertheless, I managed bring the Phoenix with two pretty good landings to end an enjoyable morning's flying...
...and lots of angry magpies
We took the Walrus for a fly this morning at one of the local sports fields. It was a perfect morning, sunny with some high cloud and beautiful blue sky. There was also hardly any breeze, just the slightest suggestion of air movement.
The field area is quite big however I'm still nervous about flying the plane over anything that could get damaged, like houses cars or people. The risk now is much lower, having tested that the transmitter and receiver work at the limits of my vision. Still, I don't want to have to explain to people why a plane flew through their lounge window...
Having "bench-tested" the carbon propellor yesterday after having fitted it, I was quite confident that there wouldn't be any issues. So I lobbed the Walrus into the air and it took off as happily as you could like.
The carbon blades appear to be quieter and require less throttle input for equivalent performance. I didn't really try it much at full power, but what I did seemed to point to better performance. So, all in all, an awesome upgrade!
Being spring, even only just, the Walrus was visited by several local avian residents, all of shared a similar agenda of scaring the invader out of their territory. They're obviously not familiar with EPO foam...
In a Zen Flying-first, I've actually got footage on the wing-cam of magpies accosting the plane and, in another video, the magpie actually contacted the plane, although only barely. Nevertheless, this display of aerial combat provided hearty amusement for one of the ground-staff who arrived to prepare the fields for the morning's soccer games.
After we'd finished flying a hot air balloon drifted over and headed for the far field to land. Appearing serene and elegant, these perceptions were quickly dispelled by its hazardous approach for landing, with it skimming over treetops and narrowly clearing a floodlight tower. The touchdown was surprisingly good, but then the gondola proceeded to tip half-over along with the occupants as it got dragged by the balloon in the breeze.
I think I'll stick to flying the Walrus...
...not the most peaceful flight ever
I had a quick fly at the local field just down the road this morning, but it turned out to be not as good as I had hoped. Being between two busy roads made it quite noisy, also there are a couple of lamp posts to be careful of as well as some trees and cars parked at the end of the field. Not very relaxing.
Moreover there were a pair of territorial magpies nesting in one of the trees bordering the field who flew into attack me as I walked onto the field. I ended up having to defend myself from their repeated attacks with the Walrus. I'm not sure whether it was me or the fact that the Walrus looked like a large white bird, perhaps the latter as I had an angry magpie following inches behind the glider for the whole flight.
The video actually looks a lot more relaxing than the flight actually was - you don't get to see the magpie trailing about two inches behind the wing with its feet down and beak snapping, although you can hear it calling during the much of the early part of the flight. In fact I was half expecting the magpie to physically attack the plane and cause it to spiral out of the air. However the "attack" remained just a scare tactic - it didn't bother the Walrus but I must say that I found it a bit off-putting!
And finally, after a nice smooth landing, the Walrus nearly got retrieved by a friendly dog out on his morning walk at the field. He couldn't resist coming in to have a sniff at the just-landed aircraft, despite the strident yells of his owner calling him back. He probably thought it was just a high-tech version of a stick being thrown. Fortunately he didn't actually take the plane - whilst it would have made a lovely video I'm happy just to have the Walrus in flying condition.
The first flight was ok, the large glider launching with a whistling whirr of its large folding propellor and gliding across the oval.
The Phoenix 2000 is my first radio control plane, a beautiful two metre glider with a slender nylon fuselage and expanded polymer wings, commonly referred to as EPO.
Being a maiden flight, both for the
Phoenix and the pilot, I was extremely nervous so enjoying the moment was difficult. With total concentration I guided the glider round the field and made a turn to bring it back. It was percentage flying to be sure - no bravado like on the simulator, just dedication to giving the craft some air and hopefully bringing it to ground to live another day.
The flight sparked the interest of a magpie who peeled away from his friends flying across the field and briefly flew formation as he inspected this curious companion. However, with my courage already waning, I kept the
Phoenix in a wide turn bringing it past the clubhouse and turning on finals back to me.
The long slim wings, their size accentuated by the proximity to the ground, slowly descended towards the turf and finally clipped the grass in a brief staccato to bring the first flight to an end.
With a thumping heart I retrieved the glider, removed the canopy and disconnected the battery. Then I heaved a sigh of relief, finally able to enjoy the moment...
