[Video] Saturday flying - A beautiful day to fly

I'm finally back in action. If the weather is anything like this, I should have a bunch of good Saturdays ahead of me. Hopefully Matt and his crew can come sometimes Me and the stooge and three planes went out this morning. I had made up a 40' line set on my Sig handle and was ready to give the Baby Flite Streak a try on longer lines. It was a seriously wild ride on 35' the last time I took it out. I also took the old Stuntman and the Blackhawk Kom-Bat, on which I had my high perf red headed Black Widow. I hadn't flown it since I originally had the Medallion on it, which turned out to be a bad fit for that plane.

I did a walk around to scope out the oak trees, and sure enough, my usual spot would put the planes right into the overhanging limbs. I found a spot about 20' closer to the road, but not too close to the big brick church sign. I'd rather hit a tree than a brick wall. I figured I should tune up with the old beater and see if I really did clear the trees, so I hooked up the Chopper.

On its first flight the Tee Dee wasn't quite needled right so it was a bit slow. I managed to do a couple of loops and some inverted laps. The plane had been having recent problems going slack, so before I took it out today, I moved the leadouts back an inch or so and it helped a lot. Even with the under performing engine it kept tight enough, barely. And I didn't hit any oak trees or brick walls. On the next flight the engine was running much better. This one doesn't like to be launched rich for some reason. It seems to have low compression, I don't know if that has anything to do with that or not. I was also using a 5" prop instead of the 5.5, because I figured I needed more speed with the longer lines. Next time I'm going to put a 5x4 on it... or either fly on the 35' handle. This time I was flying along nicely doing my usual thing and the engine just up and cut off. Of course I was inverted, so I had to do a rudder skid landing. Hell with that, I had another plane that would be happy to take its place.

Time to try the BF Streak which hadn't flown since Traveling Prop day and Matt's dad videoed it. So I hooked her up and the .051 did not disappoint. I really need to see what's up with the .049, it ain't even cutt'n the mustard compared to this one. It jumped right up and flew tight and pretty. What a plane. I might have to build another one so I can get it even perfecter. The 40' lines made a world of difference. Not frantic at all. It's time to put a faster prop on it now, so next time I'll take a couple of different ones and try them out. It went everywhere I pointed it... and I obviously pointed it into a thicket of oak. I was flying an inverted lap and WHAP, leaves flew and it twisted and coughed and kept on going. Damn! I had apparently wandered away from my marker by about ten feet while I was standing there doing some figure 8s. So I worked my way back to it and continued flying until it ran dry. This plane's ability to glide still amazes me, but I flipped it over when the wheel touched down. I should complain that they didn't mow early this morning. The only evidence of the oak collision was a leaf stuck in the unused fuel tank mounting wire.
Now I can imagine the Norvel .061 on this plane. I was skeptical before, but an extra 5' of line made it much more manageable.

After a couple of flights with the BFS I thought about hooking up the Kom-Bat, but the breeze was starting to kick up pretty good and my body was running out of fuel too. So I decided to pack out and go have a beer. If I'd had a cigar, I would have fired it up. But sitting under the maple tree having a cold one, re-flying and no doubt embellishing my morning excursion was good.

I did get a flight on video, so I'll make a movie and post it to the Tube later today.