Follow The Traveling Engine!

Well, Mother Nature has been messing with just about everything around here so, when I got myself a relatively calm Sunday morning, I figured to use the opportunity to get the Traveling Engine some flying time so it could be on it's way to Phil !

Once again, my 14 year-old 2-Meter "Bird of Time" Sailplane stepped up, with an engine pod modified to take a Tee Dee Tank/Mount.  I didn't need to use any of the accessories that came with the engine, so YOU guys get to use them!!!  I DID flip the needle valve assy to match the tank's fuel pick-up, but flipped it back as I packed up the engine.

I did this at my computer table as the shop warmed up from it's initial 19 degrees !  A pot of coffee later, the B.O.T. was hauled from beneath it's cover, and everything was charged and checked.  The GoPro was once again rubber-banded to it's servo/wing mount and checked.  I did a couple engine runs in the shop, using some of my last Glow-Plug-Boy Fuel, and the Tee Dee fired up just fine after I managed to flood it a few times.

Nothing to do now but to launch the thing, and the temp was clear up into the balmy 20's !  Our "Ice Fog" was coming and going, but mostly, I had at least a half-mile visibility...with no idea of the ceiling height.  I made a mental note to trim the B.O.T. nose down once it was up and sorted out.  On my scale, the 6 foot plane is alarmingly fast in level flight with a healthy Tee Dee hauling it, and with all the junk I put on these poor planes, each initial launch can be an adventure anyway...so I certainly didn't need the sailplane punching into a low cloud and disappearing.

The Tee Dee cranked up nicely, and everything was working, so I chucked the mighty beast into the frozen sky.  Airplanes, once they're going, LOVE cold air, and I was shortly nudging the elevator trim forward as the B.O.T. made climbing laps above the snow-drifted Skunk Works.  I half-expected it to punch in and out of some mist, but it stayed pretty clear the whole time.

The smaller tank ran the Tee Dee for a shorter time than I'm used to, but I had plenty of planning height when the engine quit.  The wind was from the North, so I set up the landing from over the vacated cattle lot next to my yard.  The approach was good, and I'd somehow pictured the Bird sliding to a graceful stop in the snow.  Instead, it made like a diving porpoise, pretty much disappearing except for it's tail and The Traveling Engine!

I'd intended to put in several flights, but even my transmitter had a thin layer of frost forming on it's case, so I decided just to deice the B.O.T. and shut down for the day.

That's it, and thanks again to Jacob and Jason for putting this together!

The Traveling Engine is now on it's way to Mr. Phil...insured, tracked, and blessed with Good Mojo from my favorite Postal Chick !!!!















Please note how the B.O.T. sacrificed itself in order to keep the Traveling Engine from becoming snow-packed !!!