Labor Day Flying!

Since I had the day off from work for Labor Day, I headed out to the field to get some flying in with my Trex 550. I also wanted to test out charging my 6s 5000 batteries on my iCharger 4010 Duo when it was powered by a 12V marine battery. 

I also pulled off some new tricks for me!  I've been doing them in the sim for awhile now but never performed them with the 550. I pulled off a tail slide, but the exit wasn't very smooth.  I also did a few half Cuban 8's, but the heli lost some altitude during the roll, since I didn't transition to positive collective smoothly.  At least I did these maneuvers with my real heli instead of the sim. 

I remembered to bring my quick shade this time!

iCharger powered by my battery. 

Charging 2 6s 5000 packs at 10A on each channel, pulling 47A from the battery!  I wonder if the battery can support a 3C charge rate of 15A?

Went flyin!

So, I haven't been out flying since February cuz I needed to change the thrust bearings and dampers in the rotor head of my 550.  I think I did the work sometime in April?  Since then I haven't felt much like flying. 

But, I got the bug to go fly, and went out to the field twice!  I got 2 flights each on my 450 and 550 earlier in the week. Then Sunday I got in 7 flights on the 450 and 5 on the 550, for a total of 12 flights!  I spent the entire afternoon at the field, but it was lonely since I was the only one there most of the time. 

The 450 SE V2 with DFC head and 550 V2 with KDE XT head. 

My pit area

Heli pad

Empty runway

It only took about a year :)

I finally got around to installing a new ESC and motor in my 450 after repairing it following a crash from December 2012!  I installed a Castle ICE Phoenix speed controller and Scorpion 3595kv 6 pole brushless motor. I also converted it to a Flybarless DFC head and installed the 3gx FBL controller from my 550.

I headed out to the field on Sunday for some shakedown flights to make sure everything was working. It flew great after a little tweaking of the gains for the head and tail. But, I decided to up the headspeed to 3400rpm, which means I'll need to tune the gains again during my next visit to the field. 

    New Castle Phoenix ICE50 speed controller and Scorpion motor. 

    Align 3gx with v4.0 firmware from my 550 and new Align DFC head. 

?

What to do now?

Time to try the DX8!

I decided to head out to the field to try out my DX8!  I wanted to also finish breaking in my new battery that I picked up in July and use my DFC canopy. It took about 3 flights and adjusting the expo in the radio for the cyclic before I felt comfortable.

There were also some improvements to the helipad since the last time I was out here in July. 

Poles marking the end of the parking lot. 

New helipad sign. 

Line of stones in the main flying area. Do they mark the border of the heli area?

My pit table. I was the only one there as I went in the afternoon when it's normally windy. The mornings are usually busy since the wind is calmer.

My 550 with its "long" DFC canopy which reaches behind the boom block. I think it makes the heli look sleeker with the DFC style head. It's also bigger in the air making the it easier to see. 

DX8!

So I picked up a DX8 radio from Heliproz as they were having a 12% off all orders sale the other week. I wanted the DX8 for its backlit screen, timer that stars/stops, based on the throttle stick position, and 3  position Aux2 switch (for my different Flybarless modes ony MSH Brain).

I upgraded the firmware last night and slowly started programming each of my models into the radio. My Blade mCPx had the honor of being the first model to fly using the DX8 :)

Fire!

While flying my 550 at the field last Saturday afternoon, a small fire broke out in the heli area!  I was about to fly then saw a couple of police cars and a park ranger truck on Sea World drive. The Ranger tried to smother the fire with some dirt, but it didn't work. A few minutes later a fire truck showed up and they put the fire out.  About an hour earlier some teens on bikes rode through the field n they must have dropped a cigarette, which started the fire.