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Thermal Duration 2008 Pictures
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- July 5, 2008 - Kurt & Jessica Zimmerman go flying...
Well I listened to the weather report Friday evening and heard something like
this... "thunder showers for Saturday for most of the day.... chance of
rain 80%...) Well I knew it was time to get the planes ready for a great
day of flying...
Sure enough Saturday morning rolls around, although cloudy, no rain in site...
just as the weather man predicted.
I load up the Condor-diction, Lovesong & Aquila. Batteries are charged
and I'm ready to go. I head out at 8:00 am sharp to pick up Jessica.
9:15 am I have Jess in the car breakfast and coffee and I head to the field.
I see patches of blue sky, a bit humid but no rain.
First plane that gets assembled is my Condor-diction. This time I had done
my homework and had checked and double checked everything. The only issue
I had to deal with is finding the correct CG. I knew I was too far back
the last time it went out (1 yr ago which caused the fuse to snap in half).
This year I added about 2 oz of lead in the nose. I range check the plane,
mark the location of the CG and I'm ready to hand toss. After about 2
tosses I had corrected the elevator bringing it to it's new location. Two
more hand tosses and I was more than 1/2 way across the field (no exaggeration).
I was ready to put the Condor-diction on my heavy-duty hi-start. Up it
goes.... first trim flight required dialing in the elevator but all else looks
good. Second trim flight I checked the CG with the dive test and inverted
flight. Only thing that needed final adjusting was elevator compensation w/
flaps. I know I'm close with the CG. Now time to see what
this ship can do. I wanted to see what kind of speed I can get out of the
MH32... so I pushed the nose over... WOW!!! this sucker really moves out.. .but
yet... I can slow it up while in a thermal.... I think to myself KEWL!!!
This is REALLY FLYING NICE!!! Keep in mind I wasn't interested in times at
this point, just handling.... By about the 4 flight I can see this plane handles
quite nicely...
Next up is the 30 year old Aquila... Wanted to give Jessica some stick time.
After routine range test and hand tosses I'm ready to launch. I flew the
first flight out just to make sure all was ok. Up we go again and I hand
the controls over to Jessica.... Like a duck takes to water Jessica is working
some light lift.... first flight 4 min 40 sec... not bad considering not much
going on with lift today.
After about 3 flights seeing the air is quite buoyant, I decided to get the 'ole
Lovesong a try. I check and recheck the CG making sure it is somewhere
close to the joiner rod. I check and recheck all throws and then finally
the range check. All checks out ok... Now for the first hand toss...
Nothing to write home about ... just kind of mushes into the grown... humm I
say... more humph in that toss... Next toss I give it a good push and off it
goes... some elevator trim and toss again. This one was MUCH better... I
got several hundred feet out of the launch...
My intention today was just to make sure the Lovesong is ready to go... but I
said to myself... I'm going to put it up on the hi-start... Living by an old
adage from a near and dear friend of mine.. Edward A... "it either flies or
dies..."
I add a bunch more paces on the hi-start.. now pulling at least 25 or more
lbs... I hook the Lovesong to it ... last minute wiggle of the sticks... then I
release... The Lovesong heads for the heavens like a homesick angle... It is
steady as a rock... I get a few hundred feet on the first launch..... Ahhh yes..
the Lovesong.. wow what a nice flying plane!!! Next thing I realize is I'm
hooked into a light thermal and going up.. and up.. and up... I horse around
with it just to become "aquainted" with the Lovesong.. I land only to
find I had clocked 5 minutes... without trying!!!
Back to the Aquila.. Jessica gets a few more flights and does ok... I'm still
going through basics with Jessica but it is amazing how quickly she picks things
up.
I ended the day with 2 more flights on the Lovesong... Each flight about 7-10
min. By this time I was getting overly hot... the sun was out and humidity
was way up. By about 2:30 pm I'm ready to call it quits.
After packing up.. and driving out.. I'm leaving the field in triumph.. and a
lesson learned... "don't trust those weather-men..."
It was a great day... sorry for those who "listened" to the
weather-men and stayed home.
That's all for now....
Kurt
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