I was offered a new job last week, They need to check my MVR to make sure no big violations on my record. Went for my pre-employment drug screen this morning and if, no reason it shouldn't, passes I'll have a physical next week and I'll be off and running. I'll be driving a concrete truck! I'll actually be getting a $2 hour raise compared to my last position. So right at the moment I'm in the waiting mode.

Ken

I took a day off because because I wanted to clean up some of my damage and the insurance adjuster was coming to look at my storm damage.

I received a TEXT from my former employer that I no longer have a job there. Really.... A TEXT.....

Mother Nature kicks you in the teeth.

High winds destroyed my barn and corn crib. The wind knocked the crib into the barn and took out the west wall. Just Like dominos. No insurance on the buildings. Maybe, might, have some blanket coverage for cleanup.

I've been reelected president of our club again after only a one year absence from the position. The outgoing president was doing OK but maybe the club members see something I don't??? First meeting on my new term was tonight.

In any case My vision for the club is to gain some more members, well isn't that every presidents vision and to increase participation from current members in monthly events. I think FOOD is the key as several posts in forums on RCG and others have pointed out. The concept sounds plausible at this point. Our club hasn't had what I call a traditional Fun Fly in a long time. That is an event were three or four tasks are performed with the winner being declared at the end. We have some time to sort something out before the flying season starts. We'll know a year from now if the concept works or not

Ken

I started flying RC way back in 1975. At one point I wanted to fly pattern (precision aerobatics). I built and flew for a short time a Phoenix 4 in a 40 size airframe. It had retracts, rear exhaust K&B 45 and a tuned pipe. Never got to fly it in a competition as it succumbed to a "new" radio with servo reversing. I had two aircraft on that TX. Happens the elevators were opposite each other. You know the rest of the story.

So to the point of the story, I have caught the pattern bug again. I will be building a smaller airframe again using a YS 91AC for a power plant. BUT in the mean time I will have to fly a sport plane. I have two to choose from. A Pulse XT 40 with a YS 63 and a Sig Four Star 60 with an Enya 90 4C soon to be swapped out to my YS 91. The YS will be too much power but the throttling is SO NICE I must use it.

I'm currently working on the Pulse try to optimize it for the task at hand. As soon as the engines are swapped in the 4 Star I'll start to tune it up and see which will be the better airframe to compete with.

So far on the Pulse I've checked and adjusted the incidence on both wings and ailerons to eliminate any unneeded trim. Rebalanced the CG to a more rearward position, might need to go a bit further and made a few adjustments to the elevators. It is a much different flying plane now. It tracks much better and requires much less down elevator inverted. I still need to make a few more tweaks but I'm getting there.

I've discovered my biggest challenge is breaking my "old" sport flying habits and concentrate on being much more displicened. It's a new challenge I am finding enjoyable. Now if I can only memorize the 17 maneuvers needed to fly the sportsman sequence.

Ken

One of our club members has been stricken with cancer. Five us took time this weekend to build him a wheelchair ramp so he could come home between treatments. I was unable to do much myself as I'm currently fighting a screwed up back. My role was mostly moral support so I'm unable to take any credit for the work.

We thought it aproproate to support a guy that has supported the club through out the years.

Ken

Take this for what it's worth.....

Ken




Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding model aircraft. As your senator, it is important for me to hear from you. Please accept my apology for the delay in this response.
On June 21, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finalized the first operational rules for routine commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or drones) and clarified rules for model aircraft. According to the FAA these rules open “pathways toward fully integrating UAS into the nation’s airspace. The new regulations work to harness new innovations safely, to spur job growth, advance critical scientific research and save lives.”
The new rule will not apply to model aircraft. Model aircraft operators must continue to satisfy all the criteria specified in Section 336 of Public Law 112-95, which will now be codified in Part 101, including the stipulation they be operated only for hobby or recreational purposes. However, this rule does not change the registration requirement. If your model aircraft weighs more than 250 grams, you must register it. To summarize, nothing has changed from earlier this year for hobbyists by this rule.
Congress has been working on reauthorizing our nation’s aviation laws. During consideration of the FAA reauthorization bill on the Senate floor, negotiations continued regarding drones and model aircraft. Unfortunately, these provisions were not able to be...Continue Reading

Why can't I ever seem to finish one air frame before starting a new one

Ken

Take this for what it's worth.


Dear Mr. Hanawalt,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about S.Amdt.3596, an amendment that was filed to H.R. 636, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act on April 11, 2016. It is important for me to hear from folks in Iowa on policy matters such as this.
As you know, during consideration of H.R. 636, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) filed S.Amdt.3596, an amendment to improve FAA reauthorization provisions applicable to model aircraft. If adopted, this amendment would have made several changes to the legislation with the intent of mitigating any potential negative impacts to the model aircraft community. For example, H.R. 636—as written—prohibits the FAA from applying any new model aircraft rule or regulation to an operator who has passed an aeronautical knowledge and safety test administered online by FAA. S.Amdt.3596, would have tasked the model aircraft community with developing and administering the test—not the FAA.
This amendment would also have excluded model aircraft—as defined by and operating under the “special rules for model aircraft”—from the airworthiness standards to be developed by FAA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. As you may know, this amendment was not voted on during the Senate’s consideration of H.R. 636.
I understand that many Iowans who enjoy flying model aircraft are concerned that some provisions of H.R. 636 may place burdens on the model aircraft community. With this in mind, I will continue to monitor this issue in the event that it is considered by the Senate.
Please know that I will keep your views in mind as the Senate continues to work on this issue. Feel free to contact my office with any further information, as I always enjoy hearing from Iowans.

Sincerely,

Joni K. Ernst
United States Senator

I was looking for a special charge cord I made up so I could balance charge a LiFe battery in the plane. It has to be used through a switch with the charge port built in. Anyway I looked in my vehicles, in both my toolboxes out in the garage, in my parts bins in my model shop, under benches and sheets of ply. In other words I looked "everywhere". I called a friend that borrowed my charger thinking the cord was in the box and fell out. NOPE he didn't have it either.

Well... I finally found it. It was hanging just above eye level where I do all my charging. I put it there so I could find it

It just proves that "Everything is someplace". It's just figuring out whrer that someplace is!

Ken

For getting hung up in trees and loosing their airplanes, quads etc. Not any more. This happened today at my home. I own the trees so a chainsaw was pressed into duty. Actually two saws as one was pinched in the cut as the branch took a funny roll, and then hung up on another trees branch.

The plane is a Precision Aerobatics Mini Katana. I broke the fuse in half a year ago and hand built a new fuse harvesting the rear turtle deck, front hatch/canopy, tail feathers and landing gear. Had three good flights on it.......

I own the trees and they are crappy wild growth nearing the end of their lifespan so the decision to cut was easy.

I made my annual journey up to the Twin Cities in Minnesota for the auction that TCRC puts on every year. Other than being cold it was a good trip. I ohly bought an old beat up 40 size trainer to use as a float plane. It will get some old cheap Futaba 3003 servos and an old engine. I've never flown off water before so in case I have an "incident" I won't be out much.

Engines didn't sell very good. I watched a Saito 150 sell for $125 and a Super Tiger 4500 bring a whopping price of $40 or $45. I should have bid on the Saito but was busy gabbing If nothing else at least I would have run the price up a bit

Planes ran the gambit of price. I paid $20 for my trainer airframe only and a nice 80+ inch plane went for $400 RTF except for RX and battery.

The auction started 9AM and was finished by 3PM. There were several giveaways and all you needed was your bidding number and be present to win.

I was back home by 6pm

Ken

With much fussing and mussing I completed registering myself as a drone. Tomorrow I will go to the local tattoo shop to get my number tattooed on my backside. I then will be able to show the FAA what I truley think of there actions if they ask....

Loaded up my Pulse XT40 this morning to take it flying with it's new YS 63 on the nose bought here on RCG. PRISTINE engine that I would rate a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Jumped in the pickup and went to our field about 10 miles away. When I got there the tailgate had come open (I have a tonnue cover) and the fuse was gone with the new engine I hauled a** back home watching the road along the way and no plane to be found. Max time was no more than 15 minutes from the time I left home. Drove the road three more times looking..... I can only assume somebody picked it up.

Maybe that person will be nice and turn it in to the cops or something????? I did notify our local County Sheriff of the loss like it will make a difference.

In the meantime I'll watch Facebook, Craig's List and E bay for the plane as is or bits and pieces. OH, the wing stayed in the bed nice and cozy

Dang it I never even got to run that engine.:ma d:

I could give a crap about the fuse, I just want my engine and RX back

"How do you know" you ask? Well all summer long when I mow, the barn swallows in my barn buzz me every time I mow gathering bugs I stirr up with the mower. Sometimes they come within inches of me causing me to need a change of underwear

I mowed this afternoon and no swallows came to eat bugs. They have gone south for the winter. YUP I said the "W" word We have a bit of time yet before the snow flies so make the best of that time.

OH..... You guys from the south.... Just go about your usual business

Ken

This past weekend was the first airshow at the Mason City Municipal Airport in 20 or more years. What a great show it was. On top of that it was a two day show. On Saturday the show didn't start until 4 PM and went into the night with a couple of performances of flying at night with the planes all lit up with lights all over the airframe. Sparklers included There was a pretty good band to fill in the time after the flying and until the night show started. The Sunday show started at Noon and was wrapped up by 3PM. Rumors were a crowd of 3000 was expected and on Saturday Afternoon there were 4000 cars parked anyplace they could find a place to park. Cars were back up nearly a mile in each direction waiting to enter the airport. I think the 3000 showed up on Sunday . Can't name all the performers off the top of my head ( I'll have to grab a program and take a look see) but the highlight in my mind were members of CAF stopped by on their way from Oshkosh. We had a B25, 3 Mustangs, 2 P40's, a Corsair, an Avenger and a REAL Zero. The Zero did have a P&W under the hood though. From what I understand a real engine for a real Zero is even more rare that the airframe itself. There was a demonstration of the nimbleness of the Zero compared to the P40 and how the Corsair dominated the Zero with speed and power. All of the war birds did a flyby low and slow or fast as the case may be. OH the sound of 10,000 horsepower all at once gave me goosebumps. One of the...Continue Reading

When I started to work for my former employer there was a Stihl chainsaw in a case setting in the corner. Didn't think much of it until six months later it was still setting there. I asked the boss about it. He knew nothing and asked about a work order on it. I hadn't found anything and a search of the serial number on Stihls website turned up nothing. Fast forward to a six weeks before we closed. Still nothing on the saw. I asked the boss what we should do with it. He said to throw it in the dumpster if nobody claimed it. Well in anticipation of the dumpster I checked it out. GOOD spark, decent compression and gas to the carb, but it wouldn't run. A shot of brake cleaner in the cylinder had a few pops so I knew I had a motor.... I thought.... I pulled the carb and when cranked over I could hear air blowing back out of the crankcase. Closer examination found a severely scored cylinder. OK we have the smoking gun. So I threw the saw in the dumpster. Two seconds later I went dumpster diving for a Stihl 290 chainsaw and case. If nothing else I wanted the case. I finished tearing down the saw and both the piston and cylinder were toast. A new replacement cylinder from Stihl was just north of $250 That is why the saw was abandoned. It wasn't worth the money to repair. I also snagged a couple of chains that must have been for that saw. Fast forward another six months and I was at the other Stihl dealer and was telling them about my score. The counter guys...Continue Reading

Well we were finally was able to have a club meeting with enough members for a quorum. Club elections were to be held in November, but lack of members at the meetings pushed the elections back to January. Long story short the same officers are still in place. It's not that they are doing a bad job, its just I feel it is good to change the guard to keep the club fresh. We'll solder on and it won't be an issue. Our club is very laid back, maybe a bit to much????

So I'm still the prez and still trying to figure out how to do the job in an effective manner.



Ken

My spouse of 35 years says to me this fall "You need to clean the garage". I says "Ya I know...."

So I start a couple weeks later and get all the big stuff organized and the garage looks pretty good. I was given six bolt bins from the local hardware store several years ago. Each bin has six drawers. I had filled all 36 drawers with "stuff" I knew I needed to sort as several of the bins had the same stuff in them. So away we go. When I got done throwing away, yes I said throwing away, and sorting I had emptied half of the drawers!

This gets me thinking I might do the same with my RC collection. I had one parts drawer that had my entire collection of screws and bolts all mixed together. I vowed to sort them at least into their respective sizes. Before this could happen I had to make a bunch of parts drawers empty. So off to the races again. I took my newly emptied bolt bins and started sorting stuff into them. I wound up purchasing a three deep drawer unit for larger stuff like engines, chargers and the like. Two, two shallow drawer units take care of sandpaper, battery shrink wrap, pack making supplies and the smaller stuff. I had four of the smaller drawer units used for all my small parts. I emptied two of those after throwing, yes I said throwing again, more stuff away. Of course some of the room came from consolidating several drawers into one. I hung up everything that is still in a package for easy viewing. I'm at...Continue Reading

I just heard this song again. Haven't heard it in a long time. We all should do a little more of this.

Rare Earth - I Just Want To Celebrate 1971Remastered + Lyrics. (3 min 34 sec)

I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life
I put my faith in the people
But the people let me down
So I turned the other way
And I carry on, anyhow
That's why I'm telling you

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living,
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Had my hand on the dollar bill
And the dollar bill blew away
But the sun is shining down on me
And it's here to stay
That's why I'm telling you

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of living
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Don't let it all get you down,
Don't let it turn you around and around
And around and around

Well, I can't be bothered with sorrow
And I can't be bothered with hate, no, no
I'm using up my time by feeling fine, every day
That's why I'm telling you I just want to celebrate
Aw, yeah
I just want to celebrate yeah yeah
Another day of living, yeah yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of livin', yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Don't let it all get you down, no, no
Don't let it turn you around and around,
And around and around, and around
Around round round
'round and around round round round
don't go 'round