No More Flying at the Hoyt North Field :(

Construction started on the Hoyt Park north field back in May 2020!  This was the best field to fly from on Sunday mornings!  It was also the most open, with no tree line on the far side.  I should probably renew my membership at the Sea World field, as it may become the only place I can fly?  I would join Palomar, but the membership is so expensive!  I would need to fly there every weekend to justify the cost.  

V22 Crashed!

I was finally able to get out and fly as the weather was really nice this past weekend!  My friend and I both wore face masks and stayed more than 6 ft apart due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak.  But, at least I was able to get some flying in!

My Blade 230s in daylight flight mode

My friend flying his Logo 480 and my V22 Osprey

Cracked wing after my crash trying out expert mode :(  I guess I'm not an expert plane pilot!

Broken tail section just hanging on!

Thankfully I was able to repair the wing and tail section with some super glue :)

2020 Update!

I haven't flown at all this year!  Mainly due to no time to do so on Sundays combined with bad weather on the only day of the week I could fly.  I also haven't renewed my club or AMA memberships, due to the fact that I barely flew at the club last year.  At this rate I probably won't renew for this year.

Luckily daylight savings time returns next weekend, so maybe I can sneak in a few flights in the evening?  If I get home from work early enough I think I can charge a few packs and be at the field to fly about 6 pm.  If it doesn't rain that is!

V22 Osprey Maiden

It was time for the maiden flight of my new V22 Osprey VTOL airplane!  I received it Friday morning and spent the afternoon setting it up and applying decals to it after lunch.  Since I bought the PNP version I also need to install a serial receiver into it.

For the maiden flight I just hovered around making sure all the controls responded correctly and that self-leveling was active.  All went as planned!

For the next flight I would transition to airplane mode for the 1st time.  I've heard that if the motor nacelles are not parallel, the plane will turn during the transition.  But, I checked the alignment on my plane several times, and all looked good!  I forgot to center the sticks during the automatic transition though, and still had the elevator forward from flying as a multi-rotor.  When the transition completed the plane dove for the ground!  Luckily I was up high enough to save it from crashing into the ground on the 2nd flight!

The last 2 flights went smoothly, now that I centered the right stick before transitioning to airplane mode.  I only flew around in self-level mode, and the Osprey flew great!  I was flying around pretty fast, for this size of plane anyway.  I was having a great time! 

Side view of the decals I've applied so far.

Three-quarter view.

Now that I've gotten the maiden flight session out of the way and confirmed the plane is working correctly, I went ahead and removed the stock JST connector and replaced it with a Mini-T style connector, which is what I have on my 3S 800mah size batteries.

Replacing the stock JST connector with a Mini-T style connector.

Black Friday Deals!

I picked up the E-Flite V-22 Osprey VTOL PNP for $100!  The normal price is $210!  That's a savings of $110 or 53% off!

I've wanted one since it came out, but I've been waiting for the price to be right, and now it is!  I had to add a serial receiver for $25, which is still cheaper than the BNF version for $229.  I still save $104 over that version.  What a deal!  It also uses the same 3S 800mah batteries as my Trex 250 and Blade 230S.

Went out flying Sunday

My flying buddy called me out to get some flights in Sunday morning.  I charged up my Goblin 380 packs and headed out to the Hoyt field.  I had fun flying around, but I really need to fly more often so I don't need so many warm-up flights! LOL!  Oh.  I also need to reconfigure my Blade 230 back to daytime flying, as it currently has night blades on it.  With these on, there's noticeably less power available for maneuvering.  Once I switch it back over I can use it for daytime practice again.

700 Stretch Kit!

I went ahead and ordered the 700 stretch kit for my Goblin 650 heli.  This kit will allow the use of 690-710 mm main blades, converting my 650 into a true 700 size heli!  This was my plan from the start for this heli, as I chose the motor, ESC, and batteries for 700 class main blades.

I've been watching the product page for the kit for awhile now, but last night it went from "In Stock" to "Low Stock"!  I figured I should order it now before it's out of stock.  I don't plan to install it right away, as I still need the main and tail blades.  Besides, I just got this heli flying about 2 months ago and don't feel like taking it apart again.  LOL!