First maiden flight went as I pretty much expected. All over the freaking sky. Climbing rocket fast to the moon and rolling hard left. Ugh! Take off was actually pretty clean, once air borne though it was a whole different story. Uh..no... wait...ah trim, trim, trim...down trim, more down trim, uh..no...****... uh..whoa, dang it, not good.. more down, a little more right trim. Uh oh, she's on her side, no wait no her other side. Holy crap!! Easy does it Rob. Gently...gently. Ah! That's better...ok, there we go. We got it. Whew. No time for knock knees. Too busy sweating and drops falling into my eyes out from under my brand new Mustang ball cap. Lol. So I've come to the conclusion I've been flying highly aerobatic planes way too long. Control surfaces of the little Blue Nose are way too much. Lol. But not out of my skill level thankfully. I did a little flying around and decided to set her up for an approach. A little hot and so a go around was the call. Slight side runway wind so this is going to take some concentration and finesse. On final, the gear come down and she is coming in Mach 9. I pulled back on the power and she sank like a rock. Um, ever hear of flaps? Lol. No worries. 500 feet of runway and she is down. Whew. Talk about exciting.
The second flight was much more relaxed. Now that shes trimmed and I took some control out of her. Yikes. I got her down to about ten feet over the runway and did some scraffing runs. Ya know fellas? She might be small, but she sure looks good coming at you full speed and then banking away at a high rate of speed. Landing was much better. Still need a little less control.
So I didn't think anything could get the ole ticker pumping like the first flight. Uh, not so fast there. Third flight take off sucked. To put it lightly. A little too slow on the lift off and she was so close to stalled it wasn't funny. That little RCGF 20 powered her up though. Made me look like an ace when I had her actually flying. I did a high speed burn over the runway and put her in a climb to the moon. Pulled her over the top and back out to the east. Uh oh. What's this? Motor losing power! Crap... I have a little altitude but I may be out too far out. I remember the first flight. When the power was pulled back, she sank! Fast! Typical Mustang. Well I eased on the controls...tried pumping the throttle. The engine was not quite dead. But it might as well have been. Just barely turning over. I intentionally left the gear up so that I didn't bleed off too much air speed too fast. So the closer she got to the threshold I could see we had a little time. I had one chance. That was it. Fortunately she was packing some really good speed. Lower...lower...lo... what the heck? Where is my gear? Duh...switch dummy. You better make it quick. You're out of time. I hit the switch when she blew by me at about 40 and about 8 feet off the deck. I know it takes a few seconds for the gear to come down. As I have them set up to cycle like the full scale. Uh oh...we're not gonna make it. 6 feet, 5, 4 feet...3,2...at about a foot or less I could see the gear fully down. I just hoped they were locked because shes on the racing surface baby.
Yup, locked! Whew. At that moment the engine was completely dead. Hauling the mail at break neck speed she coasted to a stop all the way at the west end of the runway. Wow... I've had some decent saves and emergency landings. That was an RC career best.
So why did the motor die? Stupid me forgot to lock the choke open. I'm not using a choke rod as I am using a starter. Bet I fix that when I get home.
It's been so long since I felt this exhilarating and adrenaline pumping feeling. I just can't wait to get the H-9 Marie Mustang up. And that Behemoth Stang.... oh yeah Truly once again, Stangflyer I am!
All in all, a grrrrreeeat day of terrorising the enemy skies. Lol
Proof she lives to fight another day.
