He Flew!
So, I now have a key to our field, and I had his parent's sign him up with the AMA. So, this weekend we went out, and at first tried flying over grass.
That didn't go so great.... he couldn't get the coordination down to take a couple of steps back at launch to keep the line tension...
So, he says he wants to try and take off on the pavement. I said "you know how we just kept picking this up and going? that's not going to happen on the hard stuff!" But, he persisted. OK... I have a flite streak to build for him anyhow. I was planning on immediate splinters.
Not so! but, wow, he fired that thing off the ground, managed a few unintentional wing overs, a "whoopsie-loops" and about one kinda straight lap before another wing over and then greasing it in inverted. The look on his face was priceless! He thought I was kidding about a terrifying minute!
So, he wants to go up again (atta boy!) this time, when he went to lift, , he tried to slow the ascent by giving it down, which caused it to nose over, buzzing the pavement for a quarter lap, then he yanked up so hard it looped and cracked the tail off, lost a wheel, and wither bent the prop screw or bent the crank.
But, he took the disappointment well, and says he had a blast, and wants to come out again!
....more to come....