I really went at it with two new planes today

Well, not new, but so far only babied and flown safely. Those would be the Magnum and Yak-9. So after fixing the loose stab on the Magnum I was ready to see what the big old thing can really do... or to be more accurate, what I can do with it. Same with the Yak-9. And I had to fix the stab on it too. Yet another crack had appeared in the small filet under one side of the stabilizer, so I worked some CA into it. I think these are just Fox 35 rattle cracks, they're all over the damn thing. But it's still pretty.

The other day while Cribbs was degreasing the Magnum he found the stab to be loose. Disaster waiting to happen. Last night I cut away the Monokote and forced a bunch of epoxy into it and aligned it with the wing, something that had been askew since I got it. This morning it looked like a great fix, so I got the paint pens and touched it up.

Wayne and I got our civilian passes to the fort this morning and took to the field under heavy threatening sky and no wind except a beneficial light breeze. We tinkered with our planes until it looked like we might not get rained on and then we hit the field. I'm sure glad I bought that starter motor because we couldn't flip crank anything all day. He rigged up his Pathfinder with a big Super Tigre and a new Randy Smith NV, I set up the Magnum and the Yak. Got some new looking .018"x65' lines from the late Allen Brickhause's equipment that he left our club, so I felt much better about the Magnum. They're bronze colored. Only the Magnum's leadouts are really looking like a time bomb, and not enough slack to cut and rewrap either. Hoping they'll hang on one more day.

Every flight I've flown in the last few outings with the Yak has proven it to be a stable running solid flyer. My takeoffs have been improving a lot since I realized I was going to get beat by not getting those points. I did the best reverse wingover I have ever done, turning up right on target both times and cutting a clean slice of sky right overhead. Woo!. That actually is one of my somewhat passable maneuvers. I've grown accustomed to the Fox burp, so don't get too excited when it happens any more, though it did inspire me to kind of hit the intersections of my vertical 8 after my outside turns a little angled. I hate that. Because that really is my best most confident maneuver and I want it to be perfect. But the old Yak roared through all the stunts with its wonderful tight lines and authority. Right now, this looks like my plane for the Profile match in May. It takes a little more effort to fly inside loops while outsides are flown on autopilot, so something needs a look. It's hinging a little with UP elevator. I flew them all well enough to get the pattern points... until I realized I had forgotten the OH8s. I remembered after I had re-done a couple of triangles. They're harder for me than they look. I knew better than to do the 8s, because I had only filled it with enough fuel for the pattern... without extra triangles. and of course it cut off in the first outside, but I had plenty of momentum so flipped it and glided in for a not too bouncy landing. Pretty good Yak attack. I flew another one and Wayne flew it once too. That's how I know it's hinging. I am just not in tune like that. I spend too much of my time struggling to notice details like that.

Horns Drums 2001 theme, Enter the Magnum...
Till now 60' lines are the longest I've tried, and the Magnum was rigged with 65'. After an uncoordinated hassle we got the 46FX cranked. Learning to work with a big plane like this is worse than learning to ballroom dance. It cranked for Ron and me right side up, but insisted on being a bitch today. Finally with the electric starter and a prime through the glow plug hole, it lights off. As with the Yak, I've flown it with great reservation before and am quite ready to cut it loose. And so I did. Man what different experience it is to fly a really big plane. Takeoff is amazing, I could fly a foot off the ground if I wanted. It lifts off and climbs as slow as you want. The rules for scoring are to roll no less than 15' and gradually climb to your 5' cruising height finishing the climb over the point the wheels left the ground. Then after the obligatory 2 extra laps(flown between each stunt), fly your 2 scored level laps. And I'm off to the races. Did a terrible reverse wingover because I'm trying to turn it like a 32 ounce plane. It doesn't like that. But on through the pattern I did pretty well. Got real close to the ground once, but forget how. But my bottoms were okay. Variable. Mostly higher than 5' but not terrible, nice hourglass. And my OH8s, still my worst stunt, were more even than usual, a wiggly cloverleaf but no big corrections and it was all over. Complete pattern with no aborts. Well almost. The landing is the last stunt, and pretty much is the opposite of takeoff. In other words, once you start your descent, you better keep going down with no pause or worse, lift, and plant it with the wheels only touching down once. And as I understand it, wing mounted LG make for much smoother landings. This proved to be true. I botched it for Ron the other day, but today I iced it pretty good. The first full pattern of the Magnum is in the bag. Well hot diggitydamn! I think I've got the middle of the bottom third of the pack in Intermmediate PAMPA Stunt locked down!

It finally started sprinkling rain so we rolled them in and wiped them down. It turned out to be a great day flying. I expect a lot of people think the pursuit of the same pattern over and over again is boring and wasting time that could be spent doing something more exciting. I assure you it's not the case for me. I get great satisfaction of trying to make this machine do exactly what I want it to, no matter what mother nature throws at you to be an immense challenge. It starts in the shop, continues at the field and is intensely at work in your head. It's an extreme amount to process and execute and looks so damned easy watching someone else who's good at it do it.

I should mention we had a great time... and Wayne did fly the pathfinder. He flew good.
Rusty