Airdonkey

"Schnell! Schnell! Kartoffelkopf.....!"

It's been a while since I last posted and in the interim period I've had several comments from friends and "well-wishers" pointing out how much they enjoyed my first flight, the one where Airdonkey was flown into the tree.

I now work very hard on discipline and controlled flying to the extent that the chances of me repeating that crash are getting slimmer. For those who need their fix of some hapless cretin with more money than sense trashing an expensive arrangement of electronics, I've identified a similar video. The learner is flying a T-Rex 700 nitro, a large, expensive (and potentially dangerous) petrol-powered helicopter.  As is often the case with heli flying, all is going well, and then suddenly, it's not and it's all over. In this case, the German amateur pilot only has time to shout out "Nein!" before the heli hits the deck. It's obviously an upsetting affair on his part and I know how he feels.

"Schnell! Schnell! Kartoffelkopf...."  

"Quickly, quickly, potatohead...!"
Captain Blackadder to Captain Darling, Series 4, Corporal Punishment

ESky Honey Bee

My mate Andy is off to Antarctica for 6 months and he's entrusted me with his Honey Bee until he gets back.  I unpacked his flight case earlier, assembled the heli and attempted some basic hovering in my kitchen. She's along the same lines as the newly purchased mSR - it's another fixed pitch beginners helicopter, 4 channels, pretty robust, plenty of spares floating around and nicely stable in the hover.  The basic controls follow the standard layout - the main control sticks operate the servos and speed controller, allowing full forward, backward, left, right (the cyclic controls), turning about its axis (rudder/tail) and up and down movement.

First impressions were pretty good after I reversed the tail servo. She should be OK for some outdoor flights when the wind drops.  Hopefully have her doing loops by the time you get back!

Cheers mate, have a good one "down south".

Note to self....

The latest crash was horrible. It was a beautiful day and the winds were manageable, or so I thought. The sun was shining brightly and as I approached the helipad I mulled over putting on my sunglasses.  I rejected the idea, figuring that I could keep my back to the sun and avoid any mishap. Somewhat typically, the winds had picked up by the time I was ready to spin-up, and it was marginal whether I should fly or not. I favoured optimism after my latest run of good fortune so I went for it. A huge gust immediately lifted her up to about twenty five feet right over my head, forcing me to spin around, straight into the glare of the sun.  I was blinded immediately, and fearing a crash into the trees, I took evasive action.  My cyclic inputs were too heavy-handed, she pitched violently backwards and swan-dived quickly and upsettingly to the ground, landing directly on the rotor head assembly with a catastrophic explosion of parts.  The entire flight lasted about 5 seconds.

The rotor head assembly was utterly destroyed.  The flybar was so bent it was wrapped around the main hub in a complete circle. The impact was clearly very heavy because the autorotation sleeve (at the opposite end of the main shaft) was cracked down its entire length. One of the servo arms had snapped and another servo had the ball joint forced out of the servo arm. The main gear had around three cm of chewed-up teeth. I've had to replace two main blades, the feathering spindle, spacers and O-rings, flybar control arms, the main shaft, the main gear, the flybar, the centre hub, the flybar carrier, two servo arms, the autorotation sleeve and several bearings.  The motor may have a problem and may have to be replaced. Remarkably, the tail was untouched.

What did I learn?  If there's any perceived danger prior to take-off, stop, and either remove the risk, or cancel the flight. In this case sunglasses might just have saved the day.

Bell H-13 Float Heli

Managed to get 4 batteries in yesterday, without incident, in what may prove to be the last really hot day of the year.  The weather was perfect, with little wind and progress was made with circles and side-in hovering.  Having broken two sets of main blades the day before, I didn't want to push my luck with more nose-in hovering, so I had some fun.  I'm getting there and it's becoming less of an exercise in controlled panic, and more about where I want to put the heli, and how quickly. My recent simulator work is paying off.

This is me flying at Lake Douglas - the H-13 is not too frisky and is good for working on basic manouevres.

Airdonkey is back....

My spare parts arrived, late, again. The ground crew worked solidly overnight to restore her to full glory. The swash set-up is perfect. The new servo sits like a jewel in the airframe. There are no parts with any damage to them, she is quite literally pristine.  A model maker's ultimate goal achieved.

Which will make it even more upsetting the next time she gets dumped, by me.

More discipline is required. Or it really hurts.

Aggers do stop it!

Voted the greatest commentary ever, during the  5th Test, England v West Indies at The Oval on 9 August 1991. Jonathan Agnew describes Ian Botham's freak dismissal where he fell over his own stumps, with the immortal "just couldn't quite get his leg over".

The late, great Brian Johnston desperately tries to maintain control of his hysteria while attempting to sum up the day's play, while Agnew sinks further and further into helpless laughter.

It always raises a smile.