Oktoberflug Free Flight Contest

At the last minute I decided to make the drive to North Branch Minnesota for the final outdoor free flight contest of the year. It was chilly as witnessed by frost in the grass when I arrived but the wind was darn near still.  This gave me a good chance to test fly my Pearl e202 electric free flight, it flew really well but it is not adjusted how it should be for this type of model.

Pearl e202 e36 in Flight

Frosty at the Start

Next I got out my NJAPF P30 rubber powered model which was an event I entered along with HLG and CLG. Setting up the stooge still takes me awhile and then I was winding with the Gizmo Geezer propeller system for the first time. I apparently didn’t get the parts connected properly and the rubber part pulled back into the fuselage at a high speed.  Luckily it didn’t break the fuselage but ripped some holes and I made more before getting the rubber pulled out. More careful after that, the model flew well with the new propeller but the wind was coming up.

Ripped some Holes When Rubber Retracted

P30 Flying

On my final P30 flight I put in a few more turns, the viscous DT was set for hopefully 2 minutes. I started running towards it right after launch but it was drifting downwind too fast for me to keep up with it. The last I saw of it the plane was still going up.  I got to the irrigation ditch which was full of tall grass, someone warned me about trying to jump over it but I got wet anyway. No sign of my plane but I walked the soybeans for a time and gave up figuring the plane was lost. Someone returned it later but before that someone on a motorcycle had picked it up and broke the wing in the wind, I was just happy to get it back.

P30 Returned

My DLG Drifting Fast

My last flights were CLG and HLG gliders, I was almost happy when I had a short flight after so much walking. My last flight of my Dynomite DLG with a flight that was on the edge of visibility the time was only 45 seconds. That is probably where I set the DT but any longer and it would have been in the soybeans.

Young Lady at Contest

Large Rubber Model

Between the Nats week long contest and two times to the North Branch contest I am really getting excited to fly free flight models and have started building for next year. It can be harder than it looks to get some types of models flying well and to be competitive at contests really takes the effort.  Super group of people at the contests that will help you anyway they can.



Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com

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