Flew for a couple of hours today. Jerry and Ryan came up too. It was fun to be out in the wind and it not be winter.

Haven't flown since last fall. Flew the Bee today. Nice.

Flew the Bee. The wind was nice so I put the Expresso together. The Left Flap had some issues that took 10 min to sort out. By then the wind had died so I left. It was raining by the time I got back to the car.

Walked up DPH for the best flying afternoon of the year so far. 80 deg with a gusty 20 mph wind and four planes in the air. John and Jerry and Forrest and some crows and I had a great time.

Flew the Fun-1 off DPH yesterday afternoon. It was Fun! I added a 1/4oz of lead to the nose with almost full ballast an it carried more energy through the turns. It needed a couple clicks of down. Hope I remember to take out the nose weight when I take out the ballast.

Bagged the Jart tail feathers this week and they came out very nice if I do say so myself. I'll post a thread after I cut the hinge free.

I've got planes in the van, hope I get out early today. Not looking good right now. The weekend doesn't look good either.

Ballistic wind at DPH yesterday. Flew the fully ballasted Fun-1 til I broke a wing bolt then the Bee til the rain came. I wish I was done with the Jart. I'll bag the tails this week I hope if the unicarbon gets here.

Say Cory Nie up there. He owns the place and gave permission to walk up and fly any time.

Hiked out to DPH today. The wind was light and off the point. Would have been good for the Weasel but I left it in the car. Flew the Bee til my hands froze.

Finished the vacuum pump system yesterday. I'll bag the LEG Jart tail when my order from CST shows up.

I got to fly today. I hiked out to Glen Eagle with the Bee, Fun-1 and Expresso. I charged all their batteries and they were ready to go. Unfortunately I didn't charge the transmitter. No worries, I flew the Bee til my face and hands were numb. It was alot of fun.

The transmitter battery is charging now .

The Jart progresses. I just may glue up the wings and fuse tonight.

Happy New Year!

The wind was at a good angle and speed for the first time in weeks so I climbed South Sentinel and flew the Bee for a half hour until my face felt too frozen. I managed 2 DS circles in a row, a personal best. I think I figured out that I've been using too much elevator on the back side and causing the plane to skid and stall. I guess combat throws do not equal DS throws. Now it's time for the JW. Hopefully next week.

Chris' van was in the lot when I got down but somehow I missed him on the trail. It was so icy I went around and bushwacked up the back on the way up, maybe he did the same.

Drove up to the hill to hike up and lo and behold the gate was open.

John was flying his Moth and Jerry his M-60 when I got there.

I flew the partially ballasted Fun-1. Conditions were ballistic . I could have used all the ballast.

John left soon after I got there and Jerry a half hour later. I flew until my hands were numbing up, probably 90 min total. What a fun afternoon.

When I got down to the gate it was locked Ha Ha. Very Funny.

Flew the Renny today. The first flight went fine with a nice climbout and smooth sailing around looking for lift and a smooth landing right at my feet. Checked all controls, throttled up and away she went again.

After about 10 sec she rolled over and power dived at the ground. I got control and climbed a bit more, then killed the motor and tried to glide in to land. She was all over the sky, dropping first one wing then the other. It was all I could do to keep her level, much less turn back. I tried to power up when she got close to the trees but no response from the motor. She then dropped out of the sky and crashed.

I think this is what happened last time too. I thought it was a low battery then as it was after 4 or 5 climbouts but this happened on the second flight on a full battery. I guess it was a radio problem, probably with the Berg receiver.

Damage is heavy but may be fixable. The tail feathers came loose and one of the mounting holes in the fuse is cracked. The tip came off the left wing. The servo broke loose from the right wing. There is some rib damage at the trailing edge of the left wing. It needs a careful inspection but I think the spars are ok. I don't know about the motor and mount yet.

I spent the tail end of last week in Billings. I talked with Andre at Art Hobby which he runs from Billings and he pointed me at what is called Sacrifice Cliffs in Google Earth. The signs on site call it the Four Dances Natural Area. The long shadow on Google Earth is a cell tower. I flew just south of it. The edge of the cliff is about a 10 min walk from the parking lot.

When I first arrived the wind seemed kind of iffy even though it was blowing all the flags straight out down in town. A bird, I think it was a Flicker, then dived out over the edge. About 15 feet out it got blown about 50' straight up and tumbled over inverted. I knew I was going to have some fun.

The lift was great. I had to dial in a bunch of down trim on my Predator Bee and Fun-1 to keep them well behaved. The lift was consistent as far up and down the cliff as I dared fly, probably 150-200 yards. The spot I stood was at the top of a small bowl in the edge of the cliff. Recovery was possible if you crashed in close, impossible in most other places.

The top was rocky and there was alot of prickly pear everywhere but landings were no problem with sturdy models. The back of the slope was even better with tall grass and sage. The iffy wind I mentioned earlier must have been the rotor, pay attention while landing.

I tried to DS the shallow backside but my DS skills are lacking so no comment on that except I wouldn't recommend going there just to DS.

I flew the next day too. It was fun but it is always more fun for me to fly with other people.

There is a gate on the road to Glen Eagle. It was fun while it lasted.

Flew with Jerry today in winter conditions. Had to quit after an hour because my hand was numb.

The cf rods in the tail of the Expresso are broken. Hopefully CA will do the trick as they were glued in and can't be replaced easily.

The LEG Jart progresses.

Wow what a day. My favorite kind with big puffy clouds, a cobalt blue sky and smooth and steady winds in the 20s straight out of the west. I flew everything but mostly flew the hell out of the Expresso.

Flew the Renny at the Equestrian Park.

On the last flight I got too low too far away and didn't have enough battery left to climb out. It nosed in hard from 10-15 feet up. On the walk to the pieces I was thinking about what plane to replace it with and had just about decided on a Cularis when I got to the wreck. What do you know, there wasn't a scratch on it. I guess it's tougher than it looks.

My Labor Day weekend trip to Eagle was pretty much a bust as far as flying went. The wind at Eagle was gently blowing up the back of the slope so no lift at all. The road was ok though.

I spent an afternoon on top of Kiona Butte. The front side looks like the moon since the fire. Winds were light and variable. I had the best luck with my Weasel, specking it out while it was blowing and drifting it down while it was slack. It was fun but I'm glad I didn't drive all the way there just to fly. I'm bummed I paid to join AMA just so I could fly Eagle.

Guess I'll have to go back before the membership runs out.

Flew today with Jerry, Ronnie, Larry and John plus spectators Don and Larry's neighbor. The wind was, for the most part, strong and steady at 25-30. For a bit it was steady at 40 with gusts to 50. The 40+oz JW handled like a combat wing in that. Speaking of combat wings those Pred Bees are a blast.

When it calmed down later I successfully and uneventfully remaidened the Fun-1 with its new wing. It seemed tame after the Expresso. Time to ballast her up .

I'm doing the PURT thing on the LEG Jart wing. The PU is drying now. So far so good.

Bee and JW tonight. The XR has a stripped servo. Susan and Lily and Rif and Don came too. We flew kites also. Jerry showed up on his bike.

On the first flight with the LEDs lit a nighthawk swooped in and shadowed the plane. We swooped at each other for a few minutes like they do together.

Picked up a roll of yellow covering from Chris.

The PURT experiment progresses.

Flew alone tonight after a two week drought. The wind was steady at 20 with frequent gusts to 30. I found it quite turbulent and not as "lifty" as usual. Flew the JW and the Bee. It was a bit much for me to fly the Expresso, I need more stick time in lesser air before I ballast her up.

The Jart progresses. It needs more sanding than I'd really like to do but most of it is done now.

The new wing for the Fun-1 is coming along too. I did the ca hinges, something new for me. It would be covered but I ran out of purple.