Skyray 32 

Stooging at Walkersville's Heritage Farm Park

Last week when I filled up my pickup's gas tank on the way back from the SLOW Club field, the bill was forty dollars! OOPS! Maybe it is time to do more C/L flying locally.
Today we had great weather here in Walkersville. Sixty degrees, light winds, a few wispy clouds. Six flights logged on my Skyray. Lots of fun. No problems.
And I only put 3.5 miles on my ride instead of 125 miles.
But I do miss the guys.
File photo to follow.

Circulator and Nipper 

Yankee Nipper Survives! 

John's Skyraider 

Chuck's Folgore 

John's Japanese Navy Bomber 

Circulator 

S.L.O.W. Club Wednesday Flying Session

Chuck, John, Glenn, Kenny and I all made it out to the field today.
Another Spring flying day featuring wind challenges. Updrafts and downdrafts. Variable wind direction. Shear winds. But it was warm and sunny. A nice day to be out at the field.
Chuck brought his Folgore.He managed several pretty good flights with it. The Folgore seems to be able to handle the winds at the field pretty well.
John brought a couple of carrier planes. His Skyraider and one of his Japanese Navy semi-scale bombers. I got to the field too late to see the Skyraider fly. But the Japanese Navy bomber flew well once the engine run settled down.
Glenn and Kenny did not bring any planes to fly.
I managed to get in about six flights on my Circulator. It took me three flights to get the needle valve set right. But the last three flights were good ones. On the last flight I even managed to get in a couple of overhead eights.
Last, but not least, I finally took my Yankee Nipper out to the field. On the first attempt to start the engine (Leo 37), the prop came off. But we found the prop, the prop washer, and the prop nut. On the second start, the engine ran for two minutes, but seemed a little lean. So I opened the needle another turn. On the next run, the needle fell out. John found it in the grass. On the next run, the glow plug almost fell out. The engine lost so much compression because the glowplug was coming out, that it stopped running. By this time I was beginning to feel a little jinxed. On the next run it ran fine for three minutes.
So Chuck told me to fly the plane because he wanted to see it fly before leaving the field. So I agreed.
The takeoff was a bit squirrely, but I did manage to get airborne. Lord that sucker is fast! I was terrified. Chuck claims he timed it at three seconds per lap. Fast enough for me! Anyway, about two thirds of the way through the flight I felt confident enough to climb and dive the plane a little. Once it ran out of fuel, it glided pretty well. Of course I nosed it over on landing.
But the bottom line is I flew the Nipper and it is still flyable! And I did not fly it again today because I can only stand so much excitement in one day.
After the fact Chuck said he thought he would get to see me rack up a spectacular crash. But he must have been kidding me.
Pictures to follow. Unfortunately, the pictures were taken with my old digital camera. The family had other plans for the good one today. So the pictures are not as good as I would like. Maybe next time.

Skyray Lives! 

Skyray Survives! 

Spring Flying-Stooging Locally

Went flying with my trusty stooge today. Haven't been flying for a couple of weeks. Really getting antsy. Convinced myself that today would be a good one to go flying at the local Heritage Farm Park here in Walkersville. Noticed a few strong wind gusts on the way to the field although the Weatherbug reported 9 m.p.h. at Walkersville H.S.
So I took my Skyray. Engine started well. Good takeoff. I started to really enjoy the flight. I knew it was a little windy, but I figured the Skyray and I could handle it. Managed to do one inside loop and one lazy eight. Then the wind really started to blow. I began to worry the Skyray would get blown out of the air. It almost did a couple of times. When the engine ran out of fuel of course I glided into a downdraft that forced a wicked hard landing. Lucky to still have a Skyray.
Pictures to follow.