Monday morning was grey and miserable but, just to be sure, I packed the DC-3 and Radjet. This was just as well because, by lunch time, the weather had cleared to a beautifully sunny and mild afternoon and I would have been most upset to have been flightless. Happily I headed to the field with the afternoon winter sun flooding the fields with warm afternoon light as it began to dip towards the western horizon.
The DC-3 is a docile creature suited to slow flypasts and modest aerobatics, so I spent an enjoyable quarter of an hour doing just that. I managed a really nice touch and go as well as a fast flypast.
Being quite slow I have been pondering a few possibilities to see if it can be made a little speedier, but we'll keep those musings for another day...
Friday was one of those days; the weather so changeable that one could literally not anticipate what the sky was going to do next.
Despite the dull conditions, that afternoon I headed out for a fly as things had settled a little. As happens more than occasionally, I swung the Fox in in order to setup the camera; the low afternoon sun had sunk just enough below the western clouds to that warm rays were beginning to hit the paddocks.
By the time I'd got the Fox back in the air and done a couple of circuits, the whole meadow was flooded with almost tangibly soft and golden afternoon sunlight. The beautiful clouds, a moment before hanging grey and dull, now came to life with luminous white crowns and deep grey shadows. This is the perfect sort of occasion for flying...
Having an opportunity to get into the hills I decided to pack the Raptor in the hope that I might be able to find a good spot to have a go at slope soaring, a sadly outstanding item on the RC list of things I want to do.
As it worked out I wasn't able yo find a suitable slope, however I did manage to get the Raptor out for a fly.
Having finished an enjoyable walk to a hilltop with a beautiful scenic lookout, I found a spot flat enough to get the Raptor landed. It was a beautiful afternoon with clear skies and barely a breath of wind. And, with hills in the background and rows of brilliant green pine saplings in the foreground, it was a beautiful setting.
Flying the Raptor here was actually great fun, with the thinner air meaning it flew flatter and faster, and enjoying the sun glinting off its long wings as it soared and turned in the cool afternoon air.
The awkward bit was the landing; the field wasn't all that flat and I was without flaps as the switch on my radio was broken. Also, the fluffy little saplings turned out to be much more solid than I thought, knocking one of the Raptor's tailplanes loose on landing...
