Today was our first snowfall since last winter, so as I'm sitting inside, with nothing to do (I'm going to work on the Trivial Pursuit after dinner), I thought I would take a look back on 2010.
My low point of the year was when I watched my Oriental Plus fly into the ground on flight number 10. After the pains of thinking the plane was overweight, and making it my best looking airplane to date, I lost it. But after a few weeks of repairing and refinishing the airplane, I got it flying again, and it flew better than it did before the crash. It was after a week of trying to figure out why the motor wouldn't run right, I sent it to Randy Smith to have him give it a once over, which resulted in him discovering there was a bent crankshaft. I only got the motor back 2 days before we left for Brodak, and it still wouldn't run right. After a day of stress, and finding a leak in the pipe, it still wouldn't run right, until we put the old prop back on, and only then did the motor perform well, oh and fixing the air leaks.
During Brodak, I had a GREAT week, I learned how to judge with Windy and grandpa, flew Joe Adamukso's Bucks 550, which had me look for even more corner in the Oriental when we got back. During Brodak, I took 5th in advanced in classic with the Ares in a stiff breeze, 2nd in OTS advanced flying grandpa's Big Job. This was the first time I had flown his plane since March when it wasn't even trimmed out yet, and I say I did pretty good with no practice with it. And then I took 2nd in PAMPA advanced with the Oriental Plus, beating out Tim Stagg for the 2nd year in a row by 2 points.
When we got back from Brodaks, we spent much of the time just practicing, and me looking for more corner. We fully sealed the hingelines, and I had more corner, and it was during a windy practice day did I realize my handle wasn't working worth a darn, because I almost lost the plane in vertical 8s, and I came 3 inches from the ground on my Horizontal 8s. I had grandpa go back and get one of Windy's no bar handles for more power steering in the wind. The result was an immediate improvement in my flying in both the wind, and in calm weather, it was much easier to fly the plane well, and I could corner the plane to my heart's desire. It was towards the Lee contest did I begin to think if I should still be in advanced or move up to expert.
On the Saturday before the Lee contest, I spent a lot of time talking with Bill Hummel, and helping Steve Teerlink trim his Cardinal. During then I took a practice flight and after that flight I asked Bill if I should be in expert, and he said yes. That night I decided to make the move up. Sunday dawned with rain showers and we spent a lot of time underneath the tents. We did manage to fly one round, and for the conditions, and this being my first flight ever in the rain, I think I did well. I caught a thermal in my square 8, and stalled on the last corner of the hourglass but that flight landed me 3rd place in expert, about 18 points behind Dick Carville, who took 1st. The next day, we flew again, and I had a flight I thought was at least 15 points better than the rain flight. If I had to choose 1 flight to remember the plane by, I would pick the flight in the rain in my first expert contest
The next 2 months had at least 4 days of rain a week, so that really hampered our flying time. Since Lee, we only flew about 4 or 5 times. The last day we flew, brought us one flight in heavy winds, and the Oriental Plus got through alright, and during the next flight and last flight of the year did I notice that I was having a major fuel leak coming from the tank, but we couldn't figure out where. I decided not to worry about it because it could've been our last flight of the year, so I just flew, and it didn't affect the motor run any. I got through the pattern, this time in stunt heaven air, and it was a decent flight, but no where near my best because I just hadn't practiced much. Now thanks to that fuel leak, all the paint around the nose started crinkling, so now the motor is out of the plane, and we're refinishing the nose, and put back about 1/10th of an ounce less nose weight looking for that little extra corner, and making it just that much lighter.
Now I'm constructing next year's airplane, the Trivial Pursuit, and powering with a RO-Jett 76, and hoping it will be just that much better a flyer than the Oriental Plus. And from now on, all the handles I will use will be Windy's style with NO bars out front, it's much easier to fly, and gives you power steering.
I just hope 2011 will be just as successful as this year, with 1 less crash, no fuel leaks, and hopefully (fingers crossed) my first NATS attendance!!
Topic: A look back on 2010 (Read 2798 times)