No 35
May 19, 2001
Hi
friends,
There's a
predominance of material from the UK this issue - not deliberately so, but it's
just the way things go! Over the last month, there was quite a bit coming in
from Australia - so much so that one UK visitor, Gary, thought ModelFlight
was an
Australian site. Some time back, for similar reasons, someone else thought we
were USA-based. As Gary said, it all just shows how 'virtual' the site is - we're
cyberspace-based!
We have
had quite a bit of material from Canada in the past, but things have been very
quiet in that direction lately, so here's a special request for Canadian news,
pictures, personal profiles, URL's of clubs, distributors, model shops and
personal websites that could be featured here on ModelFlight.
It would be nice to catch up with you!
Geoff
Graham is a retired professional meteorologist and has prepared a nice article
to help us understand wind forecasts; read it on air
space and enjoy having a go - it's great! Also, there are two slightly
unusual sites featured on this issue - one is on personal
profiles and the other on site seeing ; I hope
you find them interesting!
It must be
true that pride goes before a fall! After telling you all about the multiple
disasters at our flying field recently and (proudly) slipping in the fact that no such
fate had befallen me, the following weekend brought me down to earth with a bump
- literally!
 After
taking off into a fairly strong wind which proved rather lively aloft, I flew
downwind and was turning my Kite back into wind when suddenly she took a
dive and lost height very quickly. Justin was at my shoulder and was telling me
to pull up, but I honestly don't know whether I even pulled on the correct stick
before she hit the ground nose first and with one wing down. Neil thought I was
flying too slowly. As you see from the
picture, the engine mount brackets broke off so that the engine and cowl came
away, the undercarriage parted company with the fuselage and there was what
looked like a bit of superficial damage to the wing where the back of the tank
cover had driven into it. The fuselage appeared to be the
biggest challenge to repair, so when I got home I started on that and was
encouraged how well the repair went. When I turned to the wing, however, I
discovered that under the Solartex covering, the foam wing had actually broken
across the full width of the wing in the chord-wise direction. I was very
uncertain about the possibility of repairing the wing, but helped by a few hints
and tips from the lads at the field, she's ready to fly again.
In the meantime, the loss of my trainer (and a decent bit of weather) presented
an ideal opportunity to dust off the Easy Pigeon and experience my first try at
flying a glider - marvellous! It's an ill wind . . . (again, literally!).
Regards to all,
 | The background
image on the opening screen is of Lindsay Dickie's
superb jet-powered model Hunter. Click the mini-pic
on the left to return to the title screen or the
thumbnail on the right to see a large view of this
magnificent model. The picture is reproduced by kind permission
of the UK Jet Modellers Association and is taken
from the Gallery page of their web site. Go to photo
gallery for more model jets. |
 |
 |
If you are not already receiving a reminder
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ModelFlight
Reg Heath
·
60 South View
Gardens ·
Andover ·
Hants ·
SP10 2AQ ·
UK
|
