Out today with the P-51 and the Bantam X-4
The wind was much more than forecast
Probably the upper range of the Mustang with it blowing crossed and not straight up the hill
It launched well ( no glove this time ) and flew well after I pulled out some down
trim
I flew it for about 20 minutes and landed , pulled a bit of lead off the tail
Went to launch again and found my left hand didn’t have enough strengths to hang on to launch
I hadn’t noticed how cold it had gotten
Just couldn’t squeeze it
I took a couple of minutes to warm it up and was able to launch it again and fly for a couple of minutes before getting thumped to the ground
Next up the X-4
I was able to summon up enough strength to launch , it flew great
A Good day on the slope !

Wow , I can’t hardly believe it’s been a full month since I last got out to the hill

I brought my P-51 and LaGG out
The forecast 15 was hanging around 20 with gusts
I launched (attempted by to launch )
The Mustang first
4 bad attempts later I popped the wing bolts ,just could not hang on to it properly to give it a shove
I normally launch at a steeper part of the hill , but with the ground flash frozen I didn’t think I would be able to stand there safely
Oh well , that’s why you bring 2 planes
The LaGG launched effortlessly and proceeded to crush whatever the changing conditions threw at us ,
Getting to be one of my favorite planes

After about a hour my thumb was getting them numb and I had developed a smudge or frozen spot on my goggles right in the center of my field of view

I called it a win and landed , packed up and gingerly made my way back down the hill

A couple of minutes of work and the Mustang will be ready to try again

A good outing for sure

I passed on getting out yesterday in the first NorEaster of the year , with gusts over 40 it would have been epic ....
Experience has shown me that the day after the storm hits ,the wrap around winds continue often with blue sky

The wind was predicted to be 13 , but once at the top I was seeing 15 to over 20. Perfect for a true test for my new mini warbird .

She launched easily with just a gentle push from my left hand ,penetrating thru the wind flat straight and level .

Lift on my hill ebbs and flows and with sun bubbles of sink pass thru , so flying the energy of the air is the order of the day.
Just a tickle of up elevator will show you
when there is lift,
The it’s important to be aware of the wind direction ,ours vectors around so I fly different areas on the hill or out in
front .
Any way -I removed most of the trim I had added on my first test throws and wound up with a flat elevator

Mini warbird is the perfect description as she rewards smooth flying and signals when she is getting too slow or sink by getting mushy. Just like my bigger 60” birds .
It penetrates well (it is pretty sleek ) and carries its energy pretty good -it’s only 11.5 oz after all

I put in a 30 minute flight and headed back down the hill ,almost on my but at one point when I slipped on the ice base

A Excellent outing with a excellent little plane

I took the opportunity to get back out on the slope today .
The forecast today was for a max of 12 mph, North /NE and temps around 19 degrees
Not a day the I normally would consider a flying day
But .....
I am just finishing my build of a 30” Magnummodels. LaGG -3 stand-off scale WW2 warbird .
I hoped to at least get some test glides to rough trim the glider

I was pleasantly suprized to get in a couple of short flights when the lift pumped ,once trimmed she flew very well while the lift was there .

With conditions so light I did not even try to put my Sizzle wing up .

This coming Monday’s forecast is predicting 15 to 20 mph straight up the hill , I am looking forward to stretching this little birds legs. 😁

I got a window of wind today to start off flying in 2022
I had hoped to be able to maiden my current build log - ww2 LaGG-3 but I was needing one more day so....

Out with the KA-8 2 meter ,always fun
And The Sizzle to warm my hands back up.

No Red Tail Hawk today but a smaller falcon or hawk made a couple of passes before heading on

A couple of hours in rough conditions today was more than enough to cure my need for a slope "fix"

I am re inspired to get back to the building bench

Well I couldn't stand it any longer ,it's been over 2 weeks since I was last able to get out on the hill to slope.
With a west wind { 30 degrees off straight up the hill } 20 to 25mph gusting over 30 mph while blowing thru the hedge row on the south side I headed out, at least it was sunny most of the time.

I brought out my Leading Edge Gliders "One Design" for this adventure, my hope was that I could launch and gain enough height to get above the hedge row/tree line into cleaner air... hey how bad could it be

As I launched the wind picked up and she would barely penetrate , I spent the first 2 minutes almost hovering sliding back and forth across the face of the hill to keep her moving.
I was able to push out in front of the hill and get out of the chop ,a couple of clicks of down trim for the gusts and I was good to go.

There would be windows of lift with the wind coming straight up the hill where I could fly the face of the hill and do some racing turns ,other times just push out and elevator up into cleaner air .
My flying buddy The Red Tail hawk was no where to be seen today.

It was great to get some fresh air and exercise and know that I can get some air time in "less than favorable "conditions

After a great start to fall/winter slope flying [4 outings in 2 weeks } the wind has gone south .
A chance to finish some summer projects so that I can clean off my bench and get back to some slope projects .

Below is a Sea Dancer float plane that found it's way to my bench this past year,
it was about to be trash canned by it's owner after a Very unsuccessful maiden....
It has such pretty lines I couldn't let it be stepped on so back to my house - aka The Island of broken toys

Thanksgiving week here in the north east and for the second week in a row I was able to "double dip " and get in 2 flying sessions in one week

Tuesday started with a couple of inches of fresh snow and a forecast of 15 mph winds and 36 degrees - Perfect to get a old flying buddy who had moved down south and was back in town for the holidays out for some fresh air....and get some stick time on a good combat wing {His current slope plane is a Goldberg Electra }.
I downloaded the Knife Edge model from my radio to his and out we went,I knew it would be a good day,my buddy the red tail hawk circled us as we walked up the hill .
The wind at the top was less than predicted and vectoring ,not the greatest conditions especially for a newbie ...
I launched and trimmed the wing , flew around scouting the lift and showing him how to search and cruise.
These Knife Edge wings are very efficient , if allowed to run they will slice thru sink and climb in even the lightest choppy lift that we often have on our hill as the wind vectors around.
I handed him the transmitter and coached him for a bit,after a couple of minutes he was doing well by himself so I asked if he was good with me putting my plane in the air,he said yes so I jogged back to our gear and grabbed my plane hoping he would still be in the air when I launched .
No problem - he was doing fine and enjoyed the game of hide and seek as the lift ebbed and flowed around and out in front of the hill .
After about...Continue Reading

I got out on the slope again this week - Yea !
Once again as I walked up I had nice sunshine and temps in the 40's.
I started with The "SALLY " and was enjoying the sun as she scooted around the sky,not long into the flight the sky turned dark as a line of snow squalls moved in with gusts over 30 mph and Grovel {ice pellets } unlike the snow this past Tuesday these stung .
After a couple of minute of survival flying and turning sideways to the wind to protect my face,the weather brightened back up and I flew for around a hour ,landing a couple of times to change/fine tune some settings on my radio and shift the cg a bit .
My buddy the big red tailed hawk even made a appearance and we cruised around together up high above the hill for a couple of minutes before he flew back behind the hill .

By now the breeze was pretty stead coming up the hill so I put the "Sizzle" up.
I had not flown her since last spring ,it still amazes me how a 12oz wing can fly so well in 20 +plus wind ,like her bigger sister The Knife Edge you just add down trim as the wind picks up and she goes faster and faster
I was planning to fly her the rest of the afternoon but after 20 minutes or so my left elevon started to flip out/glitch.
I was lucky to get her back on the ground without having to retrieve her from the thick nasty stuff ,by the time I got to her the control surface was continually oscillating up and down ,will trouble shoot that later.

It was too nice a day to stop with just 2 planes flown {and too long a summer with out getting out on the slope } so up went my trusty Knife Edge wing ,my first 48"combat wing , she has been flown hard ,crashed and redone a couple of times,is still a great flyer.
After another 1/2 hr or so I had my fill {and was ready for a cup of coffee that I knew my wife would have ready}.
A Good outing,I will sleep well tonight

I finally got some wind from the north west to get back out on the slope in.
I have not sloped since this past May at {The North Coast Glider Games } in Cleveland Ohio ,good thing the flying was great then with 4 days of excellent wind .
The forecast called for14mph ,It was sunny when I walked up the hill with 12 to 15
After a couple of minutes with the B4 up I could see the squalls coming in...hopefully with higher wind
I flew all 3 planes ,first the B4 then I put up the Knife Edge and flew it till the wind started to taper off at which point I brought out the Zulu which is more suited to 10 to 15mph .
Of course as soon as I put her up another squall line started moving through with much higher gusts and vectoring directions....warmed my fingers back up
All in all a good 2 1/2 hours on the hill

Here we are in the middle of July and I have not had any conditions/opportunity to get back on the slope since
Cleveland's - North Coast Glider Games ( I am thankful that I got 5 day's of awesome conditions and flying with Don and the crew then...
and Joe C and Larry B }
I just got back from a couple of weeks in the Adirondack mountains,during my visit I flew a FunCub ,a Icon A-5 and a scratch built foam "Drongo " of the water in front of my camp .
On the second to last day of my stay the wind /water conditions were favorable for another sortie.
First out was the Icon,flying ,fast or slow,long touch and goes she is a steady flyer .
After that I put up my "Drongo ",a point and shoot type of plane with something like a 3 to 1 thrust ratio and a roll rate like a drill .
This past winter I spent some time working with the cg moving it back a little at a time.
Now at the sweet spot she can putt around and land at walking speed {which is nice after a couple of split S's to screaming bonzi low passes}

Finally I decided to finish the flying session with some Fun Cub flying ,I had originally only brought out the 2 planes and left the Fun Cub in the camp as the motor was making a noise and I figured I had a bearing going bad,but The lake conditions were so nice I thought I would be a shame not to put one more flight in,just putting around with the flaps down with the floats just skimming the water .

I went into the camp and brought out the Fun...Continue Reading

Here we are again ,
A classic north Easter roars through to our south giving us a couple of inches of wet heavy snow and 2 days of favorable wind
I passed on the first day of flying,by this time in the year I am ready for some warmer temps and sun while flying also the forecast called for higher wind and temps on the second day.
Out we go ,good wind {20 to 30 +mph} and sunshine as we walked up the hill .......
Oh Ya that's right- This is New York in April ...

3 Hours on the hill ,7 planes flown and trimmed, Lot's of fresh air and flying
7 day's to the Glider Games

I didnt mention that after the nice long flight on the F-1 I continued to fly putting out my new G.E.M.S. Knife Edge wing .
I t was such a great day to be out on the slope,in the sunshine so I flew the wing for another 40 minutes.
I had forgotten to bring my backpack with all my gear so I had no goggles or wind Gage , but I think the wind was actually picking up as my eye's were watering pretty bad .
I was getting ready to end my flight head back down the hill and I thought"why not try a DS circuit on the back side to finish a great outing..........
Pictures tell a 1000 words - see below

This is my second day out on the hill this week ,with Sunshine no less .
This time out another maiden - a 60" G.E.M.S F-1 Racer
With a all up weight of 56 oz I had been hoping for a bigger wind day but the forecast was only for 14 to 15mph ,at least I should be able to check out the balance and trim with a test glide to the valley floor.
Once on top I estimated the wind to be between 15 and 20 ,I had forgotten my back pack with all my gear and wind Gage {not too exited }
A left handed launch and she was off ,2 clicks of up and she was not losing any height,I found her very nimble and able fly figure 8's across the top of my hill which is only about 75' wide.
She showed no sign of tip stall ,when the lift ebbed you could feel her get a little sluggish and would drop the nose if you got too aggressive with the controls.
Even with the marginal wind she did some nice pumps and carried her energy well .
I flew her about 45 minutes,near the end of the flight a pair of Red Tail hawks joined me for all most 2 minutes ,all of us crisscrossing each other and the slope.
My flight ended when I got caught low on the hill as a thermal moved through .
I am looking forward to flying her on a bigger hill with some room to "turn and burn "
I have some trim and details to finish on the fuse..and a canopy .
A very good day

After a couple of weeks on no flyable wind , my flying the powered treasures from the past has succeeded in making the wind jealous sending a nice 20 to 30 mph from the NW
My DAW P-51 has been ready with a extra ounce of lead in the nose and more expo on the elevator.....
It was worth the wait, she launched with no drama and a couple of clicks of up was zooming around hands off ,handling the gusts and vectoring wind changes
effortlessly .
After around 15 minute I brought her down and taped a bit of lead to the tail behind the wing and relaunched... I took a couple of clicks of up back out and she was perfect , what a blast to fly !
Fast or slow she is so comfortable to fly, She was doing some nice pumps and rolling inverted into a split "S" she accelerates like rocket.
I am looking forward to flying on some bigger hills where I can let her run,3 weeks to The Glider Games in Cleveland .
My only complaint would be that the chrome finish {currently without any markings } was shooting lightning bolts at me in the full sun we had today
The AUW is 33.4 oz

While the original DAW kits are pretty hard to find , Magunrcmodels has reintroduced them {with permission from the original creator DAW}
One of these should be in every body's hanger, They build fast ,look super cool and fly Great not to mention that they take abuse very well {originaly the guys on the west coast did full contact combat with them}
Remember there are only 2 kinds of aircraft in the air....Fighter's and Targets - I fly Fighter's

OBTW - After about a hours of flying I landed,checked the elevator trim {which was now level } I looked up and watched as Bald Eagle made 2 passes over the hill .
A very Good day for sure

I had so much fun with the Skylane I pulled down another treasure from my garage for the next day's project / fun
A Bill Evan's design,this one just needed to have the radio gear and a motor installed
Once again Enya 45 and Futaba gear
With no landing gear this was a hand launch plane to add a little extra potential for excitement

Once again with the Enya purring away ,a gentle push and she was away ...
Another nice flyer,loops,rolls , nothing not to like

After the outing on the 16th the wind turned off and even acted like early summer...
What to do ...first off I am not complaining about 60 to 70 degrees in the middle of March
Needing a challenge, and something different to put some effort into - I remembered a couple of planes that had found their way to my garage many years ago
Possibly last flown in the 60's or 70's , the Carl Goldburg Skylane is a classic and great flyer....might a hint of that greatness still be found under the dirt and old duck tape ?
Here in the north east some of the hot rod guy's are building their cars and then distressing the paint so it looks like it has been sitting in a junk yard for the last 50 years ,they are referred to as "Rat Rods" ...How about a Rat Plane ...especially since vermin have spent some time in this old girl

The idea here was to do the bare minimum of work to get her back into the air and still be safe
So standard Futaba servos were installed for control {3 chan }
A Enya 45 was mounted for power {it probably last flew with a .19 to .35 }
The old duck tape was removed {the old wind screen } and replaced with clear packing tape
The covering that was falling off the stab was removed and replaced wit 1.7 laminating film {I cover most all of my slope planes with it and wondered how it would do on a powered Balsa plane }

It took me a day from start to finish to have her ready,once cleaned up a bit the plane actually displayed quite a bit of craftsmanship-...Continue Reading

I was able to get out on the slope on the 16th to maiden a New Knife Edge combat wing and also a New 48 " Daw P-51
The wind was over 20 and gusting- vectoring west/north west temps in the mid 20's but at least I had sunshine .
I have to admit by this time in the winter I am having a hard time getting myself reved up to fly in the cold ...California sure looks nice

The P-51 maiden did not go so well ,I misplaced the instructions {C/G measurement } seems like they called for 1/4 in front of the spar but I couldn't exactly find it {a little to good of covering job } so I took a shot at it hoping to adjust on the hill
When I launched she Zoomed up,then down then up...I saved it 3 times but pancaked it on the 4th which would have been ok but the wind got underneath the tip so she cartwheeled a bit popping off a aileron -Tail heavy next time out with a bit more nose weight

The Knife Edge maiden was without drama ,spent the rest of my time on the hill blasting around with her,a Great flying wing
I even had a Bald Eagle fly past the front of the hill , a good day !

Its been a while {couple of weeks at least } since my last trip to the hill -
Fast forward most of the snow has melted,the temps are dropping back down below freezing and finally North West wind 17 mph predicted
I brought out my trusty Knife Edge , a Dan's Extreme Mini Machine and a 48" Bantam X-4 - a maiden

I launched the Bantam first ,with winds around 20 she flew out of my hand with no problem ,a click or 2 of trim and she was good to go .
At one point I got caught out in front of the hill in a lull/sink and was probably just 20' above the ground...I let her run making gentle turns into {I hoped } the vectoring gusts ..up she came
She does have more drag with the full fuse so you need to fly the energy.
At the end of the afternoon when squalls were starting to move in and the wind was ramping up above 30 i put her back up , she really came alive in the bigger air with big pumps and speed, a keeper for sure

The mini Machine continued to impress me , after its repairs it was as if I had never been dinged ,still a razor in the wind.

Lastly I put up my old trustie Knife Edge , I flew her for almost a hour in the changing conditions as the wind ramped up and vectored back and forth between NW and W .
It's amazing how the "sweet spot " on the hill moves with conditions ,my favorite is the "magic air " when the wind noise drops to almost nothing yet the plane is fly's like it is supercharged ...

Finally the snow was starting to come down as grovel,and I was getting cold so I packed up my planes and headed down the hill with 2 hours of stick time under my belt .

PS - I am sorry about the whiteness of the picture's ,not sure why

Now that we have snow on the ground I have been flying my water planes .
I added floats to my trusty Fun Cub ,a great combination with flaps
The EP Sea Wind ,a excellent flyer off the snow ,I just added flaps to it also
My Drongo aka "Pink Blaster",for when you need to get your heart rate up