Tangerine Field - February 18, 2010

I was at Tangerine Field, the Radio Control Association of Central Florida's model airport on Friday February 18, 2010. I got some great flights on my Hangar 9 Ultra Stick 60. The day before, there were some tough crosswinds but the wind was great this day! The Ultra Stick really got blown around by the crosswind and I really had to "fly the rudder" to keep the nose straight down the runway on landing. Thursday was different! There was almost no wind and I made some beautiful landings. The low wing loading on the Ultra Stick makes for some really slow landings. I haven't used the "crow" setup yet but I understand that the airplane will fly in the "Harrier" position at walking speed. Once I get a little more comfortable with the way the plane flies, I'll do a little more with it. 

I have been flying model airplanes for almost 40 years and I've never seen a real turbine powered RC plane fly! I've seen ducted fans but not jets. There was fellow there that was trying to fix a fuel leak on his $24,000 jet and he told me that Bob Violett was coming out. I have read about Bob Violett for years. He makes some of the finest RC jets that are available. Click Here to go to his website. Bob and his entourage showed up but I finally had to leave before I got to see any of his jets fly. I am really looking forward to seeing them go!

As I turned into my subdivision, I saw one of our retention ponds and it was as smooth as glass. I decided to take my float plane over to Float Plane Lake #3 for a couple of flights. I hooked up my fast charger and let it peak the batteries on the plane and the transmitter on the five minute drive to the lake. In no time at all, I was in the air. The engine was running a little rich so I landed and leaned the engine out and went back up. Just as I got about twenty feet in the air, the engine sputtered and died. I was able to get the plane back on the water in the northeastern corner of the lake. I tried to taxi it to the shore but it was about 10 feet away. I really didn't want to go swimming so I decided to wait for some wind to blow the plane to the shore. Well, after at least an hour and a half, the plane finally floated to the southwestern shore of the lake. It is always a good idea when flying a float plane with a glow engine to make sure there is a little wind and that your lake/pond is not too big unless you have a boat or are willing to swim!