evdreamer

John,

Yeah, I got your email. I am just trying to survive this week at school and work. The homework is starting to come in now that the first week of school is over.

I was invited to fly in a local club's air show on Monday to help support the Make A Wish foundation. There are going to be some sponsored airplane pilots doing some demos also. I don't know if any of them are pros or not. It is mostly a plane crowd and there will only be a couple other heli demos. I flew in the air show last year and I am hoping to step up my game this year. I have been working on two new technical moves this year. One is a piro globe. I basically do four pirouetting loops and change the angle at the bottom so it ends up looking like a sphere or a globe. Then I have been working on traveling tic tocs to form a vertical square. I am also going to throw in a cool wall of death transition. Then I will just mix up the other moves I have been doing for years. I have also been working on a four point tic toc, but that still needs a lot of practice. I want to do some flipping horizontal circles, but I still have a hard time making those look good. This year I got the day off from work, so I will get to see the airplane pilots do their demos this year.

Nick

evdreamer

I hope everyone had a good labor day. I went to the races on Sunday. I haven't seen one in a few years. I enjoyed hearing the exhaust tones and feeling the vibrations through my body. I flew in the airshow today. The crowd seemed to enjoy my first flight. I kind of tuned the crowd out, but that is what people told me. Then I did a tandem flight with another heli pilot flying a Trex 700e. We kind of did our own thing at the beginning, but I talked him into doing a loop around me while I was doing a chaos. The crowd really enjoyed that. I really liked doing a tandem flight. It would be nice if he lived closer, so we could do it more often. It rained for about a hour and the only other member from my club let me put my gear in his trailer and sit under his sun shade to wait out the rain.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Things have gotten crazy at work as they have increased the work load by acquiring another company and then one of our full timers got another job so reduced their hours to part time...so work has really become the grind and we really are trying to do more with less.

I finally finished the setup with the Beastx...what an undertaking that was. I am very nervous to do the maiden (did a run up with the blades removed to check for vibrations and everything checked out - but I was shaking just hearing the headspeed on this thing ), so now just need a day where I'm not too exhausted after work to get her airborne. All of this is so new to me and I followed the video's for setup, I'm sure you know how I'm feeling as you both have FBL birds...I just need to get over my nerves.

BTW, the storm last week wasn't all that bad...lots of rain and wind. I did feel for the folks that got flooding in the panhandle area though.

Nick,

Airplane races? Cars? Or is this with the airshow you flew in? Sounds like you had a great time and the demo's you described sounded very amazing. I think you definitely stepped up your game with a tamden chaos and loop you did with the trex 700 pilot. Wow!

JPEE,

That was a great story about the cops coming to your field after seeing your quad lighting up the night sky...great! Did you by chance get a newcomer?

Mark

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Oops, double post.

JPEE

Hello Boys,


Nick, congrats on your air show in stereo, two heli's at once! I am glad the monies raised went to Make a Wish.


Mark, man I am sorry they are breaking your back at work! It does not sound like fun...... at all. I hope your maiden comes off well, in fact........... I know it will because you are a very competent builder! !
Glad your safe from the storms too.


It is just nuts here, I am running around like a crazy man trying to keep up with things. Here are some pictures of the mountains and Lake my buddy took with my GOPRO on his quad when at the last minute before he left for vacation I built up a set of landing gear got the quad to the camera would be underneath. The Lake was at 8,300 feet. The Gravity Rock as you see teetering is at 10,000 feet. His quad which again is like mine flies 15 minutes down here but up there is was a fast 6 minutes because the air is so thin, the props race trying to keep itself aloft. Yes I know the skids show but it is what it is guys. Just today he got his new made to fit landing gear so that issue is gone now. My landing gear got lost in the mail and I am fighting with the vendor. with out them I can't do any videos.

Also we have been night flying with our quads and planes. Here is my Apprentice by Parkzone that I lit up with a 134 LED's. She is sweet!


Godda run but BOTH OF YOU check your PM boxes from me.

evdreamer

Mark,

I will have to work more soon too. The 3rd shift guy got another job and he will be leaving at the middle of the month. Our only full time evening guy will be replacing him, so another co-worker and I will have to pick up the extra hours.

When I flew with a BeastX the recommended settings worked out pretty good on the maiden. I only had to adjust the tail gain and I didn't touch any of the advanced settings. I am sure you will have a trouble free maiden.

That is good you didn't have any floods in your area.

I went to a dirt track race on Sunday. There were sprint cars, IMCA modifieds?, sport compacts, some go-karts in a mini track inside the big track, and some old monte carlo type cars.

John,

Sorry to hear about your landing gear issues.

It was cool seeing the main street by your house in the video. Quads are definitely the best platform for aerial photography.

I just found out Align came out with an 800 a few days ago. Is it 3D capable or for photography only? I know MiniCopter has an 800 and they say that size can't do 3D, but Kyle Dahl does 3D with his Mikado Xtreme.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Well guys, I put my nerves into a wimp lock box and did my maiden this morning...and no issues at all. A total success! Sorry no video as I wanted to concentrate on just the heli so I left the camera at home. But now that I have that behind me I can take some video next time out, plus it may be a bit more interesting then just hovering around, which is exactly what i did this morning.

I have to say it was interesting...not touching the cyclic at all on liftoff. And the stability, wow. I have been so used to making all kinds of minor adjustments to keep my old flybar heli's in one place but this was really nice...no constant adjustments needed. The unit performed beautifully.

Nick,

Sorry to hear your going to be having more work also.

There was a thread on HF a few weeks ago about Align's new 800...I think the concenses was to wait until more people had it to see what its capabilities were.

JPEE,

I can't believe you have an 800 at your field already...wow, talk about being on the cutting edge!

With some of those pictures your could make your own calendar for next year...they are crystal clear and the video is something you see in professional commercials. Very nicely done. Isn't the next step to try out the video goggles your wear so you can see your vehicle flying as if your sitting in the cockpit? FPV or something like that?

Your plane is extremely bright...night flying equipment has come a long way since the earlier attempts with miniture rope lighting that you would plug into an empty slot on the receiver to power it or the hillbilly style of taping flourescent glowsticks to the underside of the wings to sort of see the plane...usually would allow one flight and one very bumpy landing or crash.

Just wanted to share the news of my maiden with you all,

Mark

rotarydoc

Hey guys,


Wow, it's been awhile since I checked in, sorry about that!

Hope everyone is doing well...I'm fine here, just waiting/hoping this really hot summer is almost over, I'm ready for fall!!

Mark,

Congrats on your maiden, and the FBL sounds nice...a little bit different take off technique, I'm sure...I would have to adjust to that, for sure. With the MCPX, I just kinda "pop" in up in the air pretty quickly, seems to work well.

JPEE,

Sounds like you are keeping very busy lately, and the night flying sounds pretty cool....hope you are having fun, and that it's not too hectic!

Nick,

Sounds like you have a busy schedule now with school, and more hours at work...hope you still have some leisure time left over...

That dirt track sounds cool, when I was a kid, dad and I used to go to a small 1/4 mile dirt oval, where they raced "late model" stock cars....and they had a "figure 8" also, with the cars using some of the oval, then going into an "X" intersection in the middle of the track...it got real interesting at times! Acually, pretty dangerous too....a few guys had bad accidents and got hurt...

That track is long gone, it got gobbled up by a new industrial area years ago, but it was fun back in the day...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Glenn

evdreamer

Mark,

That is great you had a successful maiden.

Glenn,

There has been some nice days/mornings here recently. It has been in the 60's-70's in the morning then jumps up to the 90's by the afternoon. Hopefully some of this cool weather will make it your way in a few days.

Sorry you lost your dirt track.

Nick

JPEE

Mark,

Congratulations on your maiden flight, I knew you could do it!

Light sticks tied to plane, I LMAO when I read that. I don't see goggles or any type of FPV video in my to early future. I am good with with line of site for now. I mounted my gopro to my 450 quad today because FINALLY my landing gear arrived. I did a test hover and was not to bad. I was up about 200 feet is all over the house. I stopped halfway up and did a slow, very slow 360 trying not to blur the images and then did the same from on-high. I still need to do some vibration work, I just need some free time. Once again I glad your new heli is airborne and your having some fun. I only made like two adjustments on my VBAR after the first few flights and now more than 100 flights later she it still in perfect trim and performs like the first day.


Nick,

Yes I am having fun with all of the night flying, I went out both Friday and Saturday nights. Now this week it is get to down chores[] Sorry you have to cover for others, don't let the school work slide there mister!!

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hey guys,

It's been awhile since I posted any video's so here's one from the weekend...my second flight. [link=http://vimeo.com/49085369]Video[/link]

I found an under-construction subdivision that looks promising for a liitle while...don't know how long before it gets filled with houses so I might as well enjoy it while I can.

I got a few more flights also and have to say I'm loving the BeastX. My flips, rolls, and hovering is just so darn stable...I was so used to adding all kinds of little corrections with the flybar that this is really great. This heli feels like it has more power then the original ESP...it'll zoom like a 450 does but is nice when you slow it down for some low slow passes.

One experience I took from the 550 was the unintentional auto I had (when the solder joint broke on the BEC)...I have been doing baby auto's on landings, even practiced a bunch over and over with the end of one battery...it was really fun playing around with the collective to see what I can do. Much different then on the sim, actually easier. And its easier to land then landing under power, kinda just floats down gently.

Yes JPEE,

We used to use velcro to attach the light sticks to the underside of the wing and fuse so you could at least make out the plane's orientation. It really was fun back then. But what you guys are doing is taking it many steps further...major congrats to you all! I love that your 'little woman' is fine with her man going out in the middle of the night to go flying...I think my wife would look at me a little strange if I told her that!

Nick,

I am looking forward to fall weather coming...right now we also have 90's during the day but in the mornings its upper 70's with lots of humidity...almost like its going to rain but no clouds in sight. Still better to fly in that then in the heat of the afternoon.

I know the job will be requiring much of your time but as JPEE said...its not worth sacrificing your school for. Jobs come and go (esp at this stage) but your education is for life.

I left the Beastx on sport settings and set the tail to 70% and like it where it is. Don't think I really need to mess with anything...the servo's react with stick input to my liking and the expo feels just fine. These units really are amazing with everything they take away from the pilot so you can concentrate on flying and not constantly correcting.

Hi Glenn,

You sound like you grew up in the Maryland area when it was just developing...I can't imagine a dirt track for car racing existing anywhere in the jumbled metropolitain network. Maybe far out in parts of rural Delaware...I did a few years in the AF at Dover back in '92, but anything west of the Bay bridge was all built up from what I remember.

Hope things cool down for you too, summer needs to end and take its heat with it.

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

That looks like a great place to fly. That is good you are enjoying the 550 and doing some autos. I experimented with some aerobatic auto's last week at the airshow. They weren't high like the pro's do. I did a little piro flip starting inverted and going in to hold during the flip.

I like my current job. I am working with my boss to try and get Tuesday's and Thursday's off, so I can catch up on HW. When work is slow I can watch TV and work on HW, so I have it pretty good. I am just taking the minimum credit hours, so it will take me four more years to finish my bachelors degree. So far I am keeping up with my HW and my grades are pretty good.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Nick,

Glad your liking where your working...flexibility with hours is a major concern when juggling school and work. What are minimum credit hours - 6 or 12? The one thing I remember that I hated was those classes that started a sequence and if you couldn't get in them (full or conflict with another class time) you had to wait a year before they were offered again. We have a guy that's been working as an assistant for 2 years who finished his degree this summer and just passed his accreditation test so he'll be leaving soon to start in his career field - he's actually thinking of relocating to PA...hope he likes snow.

Your aerobatic auto's sound very cool...I think I'll just settle for a controlled auto from up high for now, like Bert in those video's was demonstrating where you take it up high, turn it around, TH, and auto towards you to land.

I've been increasing my flight times since I was only using 65% at 4 minutes...trying to get close to 5 w/o going over 80%. Also been working more on my basics (ovals and figure 8's in both directions) and my inverted hovering. It's coming back to me slowly.

Mark

JPEE

Hope his came through. Been having trouble getting on for two days now. I'll write more after (if) this shows.

John

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHFSiEvUwek&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

evdreamer

Mark,

I am taking 12 Credit Hours for insurance reasons. I would have to take 17-18 Credit hours to finish the whole program in 4 years.

That is good you can increase your flight times. It is good to practice the basics. It makes everything easier over time.

John,

Are those paintball guns?

Nick

JPEE

Hi Nick and Mark,

I think they are "Air Soft Guns" that shoot those soft to hard BB's about the size of a pea.

Yesterday we climbed a dirt road to get to the Griffith Park Observatory to see the Shuttle come in to Los Angeles to it's new home, our Museum. There were thousands and thousands of people there. That forced us to take a dirt path for a mile hike "up hill of course" to gain a position to see everything. Three of us took pics and vids and those will come later but for now here is some of what we got. They blow up very well too. I shot in 14 MP

evdreamer

John,

That would have been a very cool experience watching the shuttle fly by. That is cool a fighter jet is flying next to the huge jet.

Nick

JPEE

Nick,

Thanks, it was breath taking! Everyone was cheering, yelling USA! Most had tears in their eyes too.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

JPEE,

Congragulations on your new 'arrival'...Endeavour will continue to bring awe for future generations on your side of the coast. I am so glad that they were able to fly low for you to see...I got a small glimpse as they flew over Disney here, was a sight though! You got some great pictures.

An extra tidbit of info...they had to postpone the flight for 2 days because the storms in the gulf were too extreme to fly to Texas...I thought they just postponed rocket flights, but I guess the shuttle needed one last postponed mission.

Also, SpaceX is doing their second resupply flight to the ISS on October 6 - 0834EST launch time. Still unmanned for now but who knows in a year or so...

Mark

evdreamer

Guys,

I was able to get all of my home work done before today and I had today off from work, so I decided to go flying! The weather was perfect and there was hardly anyone out at the field. I was out there for about 4 hours and got 6 or 7 flights in. I worked on four point tic tocs and rolling circles. I finally was able to get the rolling circles to look decent. I finally decided to do a high auto with the Whiplash. It was a nail biter the whole way down. The HS really drops off when the motor is being dragged around. I decided to change the throttle setting for my hold, so it would barely keep the motor spinning. Then I added a throttle cut to act like a normal throttle hold. That made autos a lot easier and more fun. I decided to do some high aerobatic autos after changing the throttle hold. I started off by doing an inverted auto then flipping up right into a normal auto. Then I did some piro flip autos. I will be doing a lot more of those because they are a lot of fun after the first terrifying auto. With my new throttle hold settings I can do what Bobby Watts does by flipping into hold while doing a move then flipping back out of it, since I won't have to worry about the soft start.

I also met a cool heli pilot from Wisconsin. He is in town for business and got a temporary membership to our club. He brought a Trex 600 Nitro and the smaller version of the mcpx. He is also friends with a guy who flys in the 3D masters.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Nick,

What a nice day you had, not only having great flying weather but with doing the auto's...aerobatic one's too. But as you said, once you got past the first one the rest weren't too bad. Didn't you say your field had electricity for charging your packs? That makes life simple! Congrats on the new moves.

This weekend was alright, though I did wind up putting my 500 in.

I was getting brave and confident having just finished doing some nice large loops (haven't tried them since that original crash last year with my old 500), so decided to mess around with back and forth inverted to upright which transitioned to a rainbow. I got a couple of them in...a bit sloppy but definitely recognizable. My last one was too low and wound up at a wierd angle coming out of the inverted stage...and in it went.

Post crash isn't too bad: mains, OWB, main gear, and TT gears. Think I'll practice a new move on the sim first next time.

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

Yeah, my club has electricity. There are outlets in the two sun shelters and in the club house.

Sorry your 500 is wrecked. I would recommend if you haven't learned all the inverted orientations yet to master those first before doing anything else. It helps out A LOT in situations like that.

Nick

JPEE

Hey Guys,

Well Nick it appears your having fun with autos and tricks in the way down, cool!


Gee Mark I am sorry to hear your has a mishap[] It is never fun to go in is it. Glad the repairs won't be to bad for you.


We went a flew last Friday afternoon and night. First thing out of the gates my good friend Jason took up his 700e. He came in with an auto from very high and he had full neg on the way down so he would not overshoot the runway in his glide. Well by the time he realized what he was doing he pulled up with positive and about stalled the blades, then she came in real hard and got tips and he lost ALL blades but noting else. But listen to this, after that a guy was flying a nitro 700 stretched to 800. He ran out of gas far off from the runway and did not want to tray and bring it home when it was coming down so he autoed it down until we couldn't see it anymore as it went behind the trees. He goes out to fetch it and comes back and we are all expecting to see it totaled after either hitting a tree or the bolder's there in the river bed. Holy cow, he got back there and she was sitting upright! Yes upright just like he landed it there!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His damage, a broken landing gear on side....................... can you believe it???? Some guys have a guardian angel I tell ya.

My Bixler arrived from HK and and I am waiting on my motor and ESC. I am stripping my T-28 for servos so I am good. But I will build when I got the Arizona in November. We rented a slot next to FastPhil who we met last year for the entire month of November. We will take our new Polaris RZR 800 too of course. Then every 5 days or so we will come home to check on Judy's sister in the Alzheimer home. Then stay here for a few days and then go back. We will be flying, shooting, and hitting the old gold mine trails again. It should be fun and some other noobs are coming down from OR and NY to join in on the fun!!

Still tinkering with my 450 quad. I want to get somewhere that is worth videoing. Here are some snapshots I took out of a video from the GOPRO. It got a blurry because I had to blow it up 200% after I changed from format that RCU wont accept and made it a JPEG. Picture 2 I blew only to 150% to see if that will be a bit more clear for you.

rotarydoc

Hey guys,


I'm still alive over here on the east coast...just dropped in to say hi....

JPEE,

Cool to see your quad is coming along great for ya...definitely something different!

Mark,

Sorry about your crash, I know what you mean about trying stuff on the sim beforehand...hope you can get it all back together and enjoy the fall weather that's (hopefully) coming soon...

Nick,

Sounds like you had a great time last time out, keep up the good work, sounds like you are improving all the time!

Nothing new to report here, haven't really been doing anything with the helis...maybe when it gets a little cooler (we're supposed to have some 80+ days ahead!)...

Take care you guys, and see ya next time!

Glenn

JPEE

Good morning Glenn, nice to see you out and about. I too am still saddled with these hundred degree days I believe they said on television this is the hottest summer in like 20 years. I do believe them, take care.
JPEE