Aftermath.

The contest went very well. The weather was great and a lot of contestants came to fly. We would have broken records but 4 club members did volunteer work and didn't fly. The raffle went well with one of our club members taking home a lot of stuff. Our vice president told the park owners (BREC) that the trailer should be removed and it has bees. He took some park workers out to show them and got stung yet again. I've been flying at South Park driving around the field's edge to get to my spot. The park manager gave me permission to do that. The park has put in a nature walk, that closed the access road, some "pickel ball" courts and a disc golf course. Those things has more than tripled the people using the park. El Dorado contest this weekend. The weather looks good so far. I haven't been able to fly as much as I would like in preparation. I wrecked the first "Wild Thing" and I'm in the process of repairing it.

The Sting.

On Thursday I went to the contest field to get a start on the set up. We store tables and other stuff in an old trailer left there by the park people years ago. I got out some tables and rods and caution tape. I put them in my truck and got attacked by a yellow jacket. It stung my on my upper lip before I could thrash him soundly. I told the former club president about it and he went to check it out. He only got stung on his arm. The next day he was showing some park workers what was happening and he got stung on the arm again. He notified the park people that the trailer should be removed and they agreed. When that will happen in anyones guess. The weather on Sat. and sun. was close to perfect for flying. I didn't compete as I didn't get in enough practice before hand and it just doesn't look right for the contest director to take trophys from others. My feelings anyway. The lunch out club president cooked at the field attracted about 60 people total with spectaters. On Sunday we had 12 contestants going at it for the top three spots. There was some real good flying by several of the expert class flyers. I managed to hand out the awards and get the place cleaned up and get home before 1300 hours. The raffle we have to make money for the club had a lot of stuff. Then one of the members wifes donated some pictures made using a technique called "quilling" for a raffle for the ladies. This has never happened before the raffle is always for the flyers/men. On Sunday more items were donated for the "ladies raffle" and those tickets were out selling the mens raffle. We were trying to end in the "made money" column this year. I think we did but I haven't heard for sure. Today I went flying at the local park with two planes I plan to take to El Dorado in two weeks. One had a vibration during the second flight and after landing I found all the engine hold down bolts were loose and one had broken and one missing. I fixed that at home and put some medium lock tight on them this time. The other plane has a smaller engine and runs different than I'm used to. It took 3 flights before I got it close. The weather for the next 7 days is good flying weather so I plane to get in as much as possible.

Even more good news.

I was getting settled into my new flying spot when the park manager stopped by and told me I could drive around to the old flying spot as long as I stayed on the perimeter and it was dry. I started flying at my old spot and the grass had grown over my launch spot. I've been looking for it with no luck I'm surprised that the grass took over so fast as the ground was bare from exhaust oil. The center where I stand to fly is still bare. The grass has softened up and didn't grab the wheels and tip the plane over on landing. I got a call from the club vice president saying I should fly at the contest this weekend as everything is covered and I have only made one contest so far this season. Now I'm scrambling to come up with planes I have flown recently. I did find that the Pathfinder profile is Nostalgia 30 legal and legal for the profile event and for the main event on Sunday. I could use the same plane for three events but I'll fly my Pixie Bob 2 on Sunday instead.

Some good news.

I found a new spot to fly in the center of the field at the park. The grass has been thick and giving me trouble with taildragger planes so I've been flying tricycle gear planes. They are resistant to nosing over on takeoff and landing. Today as I was packing up to leave the park manager stopped by and told me I could drive on the field to get to my old flying spot as long as it was dry. Tomorrow I'll give that a try. The contest is in two weeks and me and the club president have been preparing for the raffle. We hit the hobby shop for a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff and I have put together a bunch of stuff to sell and what doesn't sell goes into the raffle. Plus I'll give the PT-19 to the youngest member of the club. We have had two cold fronts that deflected two hurricanes away from us in the past two weeks. Florida has been the recipient of both storms. Big mess.

Big changes at the park.

The grass situation has made me make up a mower to cut the grass shorter. The grass stalls the engine. I was going to talk to the guy in charge about cutting my spot lower and today I tried to see him. I pulled into the park and at the turn I take to get to my spot there is now two posts in the road way. No way to drive to my spot. no sense talking ot him now. I can walk to the spot if I want, about 500 feet. We had checked out the North Park site and found some soft ball fields that would be as perfect as I can get and a parking lot that has possibilities. On the way home today I stopped at the park to measure the parking lot. The grounds crew was mowing the ball fields when I got there. The parking lot is 125 feet across and that is a few feet short of what I need to fly a small plane. I got out the Nomad 6 and two batteries when I got home and will charge them for an outing tomorrow. These soft ball fields have a smooth clay infield and grass outfields so taking off is as good as it can get.

Running in the high grass.

The first time I heard that saying I was in the Rhode Island Air National Guard. It refers to someone being sneaky around home. In other words staying out of sight while doing bad deeds. "On the front lawn" is the opposite. But here it means that the grass at the park is high and giving me problems taking off and landing. The only way I can defeat it is to use one of the Pathfinders that has a nose wheel. The PT-19 is flying as good as I can get it. The Evo .36 engine is running well and has a bunch of power. I ended up with 61 foot lines and the Evolution propeller that came with the kit. It's sitting ready for use. The weather turned around and it's been raining for the last 3 days. So far in my yard I've got over 8 inches of rain. It's tapering off though. I fixed a lawn mower that will cut much lower than the park is cutting and is light enough for me to put in the truck.It may be dry enough to mow a bit tomorrow. The club has settled on a contest director for the October contest. It was me but a newly minted director took over. Now I can fly. I did win the Publishers Clearing House 5 million dollars for the 5th time today.

The PT-19 lives.

I got to the park early again to beat the heat. I had changed lines back to the 59 footers that was on it. The Evo .36 starteed quickly and I richened it a coupld of clicks on the needle valve. That got me about 9200 rpm. I got to the handle and pulled the release line and the plane had a bit of trouble with the high grass as usual but got off the ground smartly. i had put real 2 degree offset wedges under the engine as the others were 1 degree even though they had 2 on the wedge. That alone cured the tendency to track a bit into the circle. I managed to do the whole beginner pattern with it even though the down elevator was not equal to the up elevator. The engine ran steady through the flight which was nice. I got in a couple more flights and the engine performed well. At home I heated the solder on the pushrod clevis and adusted it so I could even out the up and down elevator movement. That should make it even better. All in all I'm really happy with how it flys and how the engine is running. I may have to install a different elevator horn if I need a bit more elevator travel.