Post by jasong911 on Mar 22, 2011 18:21:12 GMT -5
Thanks to Dracx and Bearclaw for a great Sunday of flying.
They helped me get set up for my first real hover with a CP machine. They also checked over my mechanical setup on my Gaui 425 (proud to say nothing wrong there), radio settings and added a bunch of expo (40%). I fired it up before they checked it over and popped it up in moderate wind and promptly tipped it over in the grass 5 seconds later, bending the flybar, cracking and mangling the tail fin, and popping a couple of links. Also had the Pitch bellcrank pull completely out of the frame, leaving the Phillips head screw in the frame on the other side. Stripped a lot of the head getting that screw back into the bellcrank, I will replace that screw tonight with a socket head! Straightened the flybar, re-tie-wrapped the gear, fixed the links and then asked to have them look it over. Bearclaw asked a couple of questions, checked to be sure I had my gyro setup the right way, then did a short couple of hops in the parking lot to check things out. He was seeing some tail kick and was worried that my used GP 750 had packed it in. I waited for the wind to die a little, watched the guys fly sailplanes in the gusty conditions and learned a lot just hanging out. It got calm enough for me to try it out, and I hovered for about 1.5 pulse pounding, sweaty minutes.
The elation, fear, sense of accomplishment, and just plain excitement have stayed with me for 2 days now. After my hover, the guys looked at it again and asked if I saw any tail kick. I said I didn’t notice any. Shaking the boom produced the dreaded ringing and it was deduced that I had loosened the boom during my initial wreck and that is what Bearclaw was seeing during his test hops: belt skip.
All in all, a great experience. It’s all due to the efforts of these two guys helping a new pilot. Anyone else in Denver who wants to fly could do worse than show up at Dakota ridge on Sunday and ask Bearclaw and Dracx what to do. Thanks a million, guys. Now if the wind would just die down, 60-70 mph here on the west side of town.
--Jason
They helped me get set up for my first real hover with a CP machine. They also checked over my mechanical setup on my Gaui 425 (proud to say nothing wrong there), radio settings and added a bunch of expo (40%). I fired it up before they checked it over and popped it up in moderate wind and promptly tipped it over in the grass 5 seconds later, bending the flybar, cracking and mangling the tail fin, and popping a couple of links. Also had the Pitch bellcrank pull completely out of the frame, leaving the Phillips head screw in the frame on the other side. Stripped a lot of the head getting that screw back into the bellcrank, I will replace that screw tonight with a socket head! Straightened the flybar, re-tie-wrapped the gear, fixed the links and then asked to have them look it over. Bearclaw asked a couple of questions, checked to be sure I had my gyro setup the right way, then did a short couple of hops in the parking lot to check things out. He was seeing some tail kick and was worried that my used GP 750 had packed it in. I waited for the wind to die a little, watched the guys fly sailplanes in the gusty conditions and learned a lot just hanging out. It got calm enough for me to try it out, and I hovered for about 1.5 pulse pounding, sweaty minutes.
The elation, fear, sense of accomplishment, and just plain excitement have stayed with me for 2 days now. After my hover, the guys looked at it again and asked if I saw any tail kick. I said I didn’t notice any. Shaking the boom produced the dreaded ringing and it was deduced that I had loosened the boom during my initial wreck and that is what Bearclaw was seeing during his test hops: belt skip.
All in all, a great experience. It’s all due to the efforts of these two guys helping a new pilot. Anyone else in Denver who wants to fly could do worse than show up at Dakota ridge on Sunday and ask Bearclaw and Dracx what to do. Thanks a million, guys. Now if the wind would just die down, 60-70 mph here on the west side of town.
--Jason