Left the Fokker at home today, and dusted off the Elder.

Despite there being eight flying days in a ten day period over the
holiday, I didn't manage to get any flying done, and was anxious to stir
the sticks today. Blue sky, sun, light, steady winds, and off I went with Dotty.

The Elder hadn't been run for several weeks, so I put it on charge. After only a couple of minutes the charger reported the battery pack peaked. At
the field, I noticed a bit of glitchyness in the rudder, and put the
aircraft on to charge a second time. Again, after only a minute or so,
the charger told me it was peaked. So I took it up for a spin, and had no trouble doing some nice loops, with a little momentary inverted 'hang' at
the top, some low passes, and some sharp turns and even a near-hammerhead
or two. The flight ended with a deadstick with the aircraft low and slow
near the upwind end of the strip. I turned her back, and with the nose
down to prevent a stall made a downwind landing.

After a while, I went aloft again, and i was surprised to notice how the aircradft jerked around quite a bit. I had to be "on the ball" the whole
time to keep it flying straight! It was quite calm at ground level, but I assumed that some gusts had blown up aloft.

After a while, I made a low'n'slow pass, and at the end of the strip I put
on the power and lifted the nose. She started to climb out strongly,
going away at a modest pace, when...

She began to roll left. I fed in full right rudder and right aileron to
try and hold it but it had no effect at all. By the time she was fully inverted, I had full down-elevator (to make the inverted aircraft go up)
but that had no effect either. Nor did cutting the throttle. As the
manoever continued, she went on past fully inverted, but by then she was
down in the bush, and I was making the walk. I think if it had been
higher, it would have just continued into a corkscrew, and gone straignt
in.

Landing inverted in the bush, I thought the *least* damage I could expect would be to the details. This aircraft has pilot, gun, kingpost and
rigging on the top as seen here:

http://www.anjo.com/rc/aircraft/elder/elder.pilot1.jpg

and I figured that even if by some fluke the damage to the airframe was minimal, these details would be completely gone. I spotted the tail-
feathers sticking out of a clump of bush, inverted as expected. And when
I had carefully parted the bushes, there was the Elder, *completely* undamaged!

When I got it back to the club-house, an examination showed that the
ailerons were set into a hard left roll. Switching on the system showed
that it was completely oblivious to all transmitter commands.

Well, it *could* be the transmitter suddenly gone dead. And I'll check
this before flying anything else. But I suspect that the aircraft has a faulty flight battery, which must be repaired or (probably better)
replaced. What I took for gusts aloft was probably the servos operating jerkily prior to the system going completely dead.

Since I'd not flown it for a while, the radio system had been properly range-checked just prior to the first takeoff, and there was no indication
of any problem at that time. It just goes to show that when flying model aircraft, you can never know for certain what will happen next! :-)

---
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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Sun Jan 08 2006 12:59 am

Since I'd not flown it for a while, the radio system had been properly range-checked just prior to the first takeoff, and there was no indication of any problem at that time. It just goes to show that when flying model aircraft, you can never know for certain what will happen next! :-)

All's well that ends well. :-)

My brother got me a new (supposedly much better) RC flight simulator for my Birthday (or was it Christmas? I forget...), so once I feel confident (again) with the heli sim I'll be taking the honey bee up again (further than a few feet this time I hope). Got lots of room in the back "yard" now. :-)

digital man

Snapple "Real Fact" #78:
Alaska is the most eastern and western state in the US.
Norco, CA WX: 50.7øF, 72% humidity, 0 mph NNE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Sun Jan 08 2006 00:14:00

Since I'd not flown it for a while, the radio system had been properly range-checked just prior to the first takeoff, and there was no indicatio of any problem at that time. It just goes to show that when flying model aircraft, you can never know for certain what will happen next! :-)

All's well that ends well. :-)

Yep. Nasty couple minutes there, as I went looking for what I thought
would be a nasty pile of wreckage. Actually, the nasty feeling begins the moment you realise your controls are not responding. It happened to me
once before, when flying my old Kadet.

My brother got me a new (supposedly much better) RC flight simulator for my Birthday (or was it Christmas? I forget...),

Oh great. can you remember which one it was?

so once I feel confident (again with the heli sim I'll be taking the
honey bee up again (further than a few feet this time I hope).

<sigh>

Flying helis. You are a great disappointment to me sometimes, Rob! :)

Got lots of room in the back "yard" now. :-)

Lucky dog.

Norco, CA WX: 50.7øF, 72% humidity, 0 mph NNE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

Tell me about this! ^^^^^

---
Playing: "Peace sign" by "War" from the "Peace sign" album
þ Synchronet þ Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Sun Jan 08 2006 11:33 am

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Sun Jan 08 2006 00:14:00

Since I'd not flown it for a while, the radio system had been properly range-checked just prior to the first takeoff, and there was no indica of any problem at that time. It just goes to show that when flying mo aircraft, you can never know for certain what will happen next! :-)

All's well that ends well. :-)

Yep. Nasty couple minutes there, as I went looking for what I thought
would be a nasty pile of wreckage. Actually, the nasty feeling begins the moment you realise your controls are not responding. It happened to me
once before, when flying my old Kadet.

It's happened to me too (of course). The most memorable time was with the Zagi-400X, when it landed in the pond/lake at the park and I had to wait for the wind to blow the smoking wreckage ashore.

My brother got me a new (supposedly much better) RC flight simulator for Birthday (or was it Christmas? I forget...),

Oh great. can you remember which one it was?

http://realflight.com/products/g3_main.html

It's pretty good. I need to figure out how to make my POV chase the plane. :-) I particularly enjoy the cliff/gilder sim parts (like "real life"). I don't have a "supported" video card, so I'm missing some of the graphics features or details.

so once I feel confident (again with the heli sim I'll be taking the honey bee up again (further than a few feet this time I hope).

<sigh>

Flying helis. You are a great disappointment to me sometimes, Rob! :)

It was a gift! :-)

Got lots of room in the back "yard" now. :-)

Lucky dog.

I need to put up a wind sock or two. :-)

Norco, CA WX: 50.7øF, 72% humidity, 0 mph NNE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hr

Tell me about this! ^^^^^

My wife got me a weather station (http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/twc/ws_2310twc.html) for my birthday.... actually I got it myself since she was too busy being pregnant and all. :-)

Anyway, the PC software is pretty shitty, but at least it creates/updates an .ini file which I parse in a timed-event to update my .sig and data/finger/wx (finger ?wx@vert.synchro.net to query).

I plan to do more with it in the web interface (charts, graphs and such). There's some (Windows based, of course) web publishing software for this thing too, but I haven't checked it out yet. The wind can be really crazy here, so I'm looking forward to the next really windy day. We've hit 21mph already, but that ain't nothing.

I'm registered at the weather underground too: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KCANORCO2

Fun stuff. :-)

digital man

Snapple "Real Fact" #14:
Camel's milk does not curdle.
Norco, CA WX: 76.2øF, 21% humidity, 0 mph WSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

---
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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Mon Jan 09 2006 15:21:00

Yep. Nasty couple minutes there, as I went looking for what I thought would be a nasty pile of wreckage. Actually, the nasty feeling begins th moment you realise your controls are not responding. It happened to me once before, when flying my old Kadet.

It's happened to me too (of course). The most memorable time was with the Zagi-400X, when it landed in the pond/lake at the park and I had to wait for the wind to blow the smoking wreckage ashore.

:-/ I've not had to fish anything out of the drink yet.

My brother got me a new (supposedly much better) RC flight simulator f Birthday (or was it Christmas? I forget...),

Oh great. can you remember which one it was?

http://realflight.com/products/g3_main.html

Oh wow! Realflight G3 is a top flight sim! Well done, that man!

It's pretty good. I need to figure out how to make my POV chase the plane. :

You don't want to do that if you want to practice R/C. Remain standing on
the ground.

Got lots of room in the back "yard" now. :-)

Lucky dog.

I need to put up a wind sock or two. :-)

Ribbon on a stick! :-)

Norco, CA WX: 50.7øF, 72% humidity, 0 mph NNE wind, 0.00 inches rain/2

Tell me about this! ^^^^^

My wife got me a weather station (http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/twc/ws_2310twc.html) for my birthday.... actually I got it myself since she was too busy being pregnant all. :-)

I thought it was prolly something like that.

Anyway, the PC software is pretty shitty, but at least it creates/updates an .ini file which I parse in a timed-event to update my .sig and data/finger/w (finger ?wx@vert.synchro.net to query).

Cool!

Fun stuff. :-)

Embrace the geek! :-)

---
þ Synchronet þ Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Mon Jan 09 2006 11:37 pm

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Mon Jan 09 2006 15:21:00

Yep. Nasty couple minutes there, as I went looking for what I thought would be a nasty pile of wreckage. Actually, the nasty feeling begins moment you realise your controls are not responding. It happened to m once before, when flying my old Kadet.

It's happened to me too (of course). The most memorable time was with the Zagi-400X, when it landed in the pond/lake at the park and I had to wait the wind to blow the smoking wreckage ashore.

:-/ I've not had to fish anything out of the drink yet.

My brother got me a new (supposedly much better) RC flight simulato Birthday (or was it Christmas? I forget...),

Oh great. can you remember which one it was?

http://realflight.com/products/g3_main.html

Oh wow! Realflight G3 is a top flight sim! Well done, that man!

It came with a Futaba InterLink USB controller, so it's real seemless and easy to use. The Heli came with a controller with a serial port link to use with the sim, but it was real flakey and still required 50 million AA batteries in the unit.

It's pretty good. I need to figure out how to make my POV chase the plane

You don't want to do that if you want to practice R/C. Remain standing on the ground.

Yeah, that's not really what I meant. When the plane gets further away, I'd like to "walk" (or, okay, "run") closer to it. In the Tru-Flite 3D sim that came with the Heli, there was a way to move closer to the aircraft, iirc.
There is a POV toggle in Realflight G3, but it's just a switch between ground, pilot, one other. I'd like to stay on the ground, but just get a bit closer to the craft sometimes. :-)

Got lots of room in the back "yard" now. :-)

Lucky dog.

I need to put up a wind sock or two. :-)

Ribbon on a stick! :-)

Norco, CA WX: 50.7øF, 72% humidity, 0 mph NNE wind, 0.00 inches rai

Tell me about this! ^^^^^

My wife got me a weather station (http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/twc/ws_2310twc.html) for my birthday.... actually I got it myself since she was too busy being pregna all. :-)

I thought it was prolly something like that.

Anyway, the PC software is pretty shitty, but at least it creates/updates .ini file which I parse in a timed-event to update my .sig and data/finge (finger ?wx@vert.synchro.net to query).

Cool!

Fun stuff. :-)

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

digital man

Snapple "Real Fact" #98:
When the moon is directly over you, you weigh less.
Norco, CA WX: 57.3øF, 28% humidity, 5 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

---
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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Mon Jan 09 2006 21:57:00

http://realflight.com/products/g3_main.html

Oh wow! Realflight G3 is a top flight sim! Well done, that man!

It came with a Futaba InterLink USB controller, so it's real seemless and ea to use. The Heli came with a controller with a serial port link to use with sim, but it was real flakey and still required 50 million AA batteries in th unit.

I've flown various aircraft under G2 at a friend's house, and everyione is wanting G3. Guys who have flown certain Great Planes (a.k.a. RealFlight) models for real and on the sim, say that the sim is very realistic. There
is a Great Planes Fokker on one of the upgrade/add-on disks, but nobody
has that particular disk.

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

---
Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
þ Synchronet þ Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Angus McLeod wrote to Digital Man <=-

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

---
Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
= Synchronet = Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

And you say this while your system is putting in what song your listening
to... Geez! :)




Sniper
Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org
Home of the Unofficial SynchroNet Support Network.
download the info pack at any of the below sites: http://www.chcomputer.net/USSNET.ZIP or http://www.ussnet.org

... To communicate is the beginning of understanding. -- AT&T
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.46
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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Wed Jan 11 2006 12:27 am

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Mon Jan 09 2006 21:57:00

http://realflight.com/products/g3_main.html

Oh wow! Realflight G3 is a top flight sim! Well done, that man!

It came with a Futaba InterLink USB controller, so it's real seemless and to use. The Heli came with a controller with a serial port link to use wi sim, but it was real flakey and still required 50 million AA batteries in unit.

I've flown various aircraft under G2 at a friend's house, and everyione is wanting G3. Guys who have flown certain Great Planes (a.k.a. RealFlight) models for real and on the sim, say that the sim is very realistic. There is a Great Planes Fokker on one of the upgrade/add-on disks, but nobody
has that particular disk.

I seem to do pretty well with the sim. The fact that it's always *looking* at the aircraft provides a good hint as to where it is in the sky, when in "real life" I'm prety sure I would've lost it. :-)

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

<checks his stripes... yup, they're still there... shrugs>

digital man

Snapple "Real Fact" #138:
Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows coffee.
Norco, CA WX: 79.5øF, 24% humidity, 0 mph SSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

---
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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Sniper to Angus McLeod on Wed Jan 11 2006 03:02 pm

Angus McLeod wrote to Digital Man <=-

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

---
Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
= Synchronet = Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

And you say this while your system is putting in what song your listening to... Geez! :)

And what a song it was!

digital man

Snapple "Real Fact" #55:
A human brain weighs about 3lbs.
Norco, CA WX: 79.5øF, 24% humidity, 0 mph SSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ telnet://vert.synchro.net

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Sniper to Angus McLeod on Wed Jan 11 2006 15:02:00

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

---
Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
= Synchronet = Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

And you say this while your system is putting in what song your listening to... Geez! :)

My point exactly! Why would anyone *not* embrace all that techno lovin'?

---
Playing: "Stir it up" by "Bob Marley & The Wailers"
from the "Legend" album
þ Synchronet þ Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Digital Man to Sniper on Wed Jan 11 2006 13:43:00

Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
= Synchronet = Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

And you say this while your system is putting in what song your listening to... Geez! :)

And what a song it was!

I mostly let the system select albums randomly, these days.

---
Playing: "Stir it up" by "Bob Marley & The Wailers"
from the "Legend" album
þ Synchronet þ Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Digital Man wrote to Sniper <=-

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Sniper to Angus McLeod on Wed Jan 11 2006 03:02 pm

Angus McLeod wrote to Digital Man <=-

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

---
Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
= Synchronet = Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

And you say this while your system is putting in what song your listening to... Geez! :)

And what a song it was!

Sorry, I just never got past her "True Colors" song. :)



Sniper
Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org
Home of the Unofficial SynchroNet Support Network.
download the info pack at any of the below sites: http://www.chcomputer.net/USSNET.ZIP or http://www.ussnet.org

... It's not addictive! I eat it every day and I haven't had a problem yet.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.46
þ Synchronet þ Killed In Action - telnet://kiabbs.org

Angus McLeod wrote to Sniper <=-

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Sniper to Angus McLeod on Wed Jan 11 2006 15:02:00

Embrace the geek! :-)

Yeah, sometimes I get excited about some pretty geeky stuff.

And why wouldn't you?

---
Playing: "The faraway nearby" by "Cyndi Lauper"
from the "True Colors" album
= Synchronet = Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

And you say this while your system is putting in what song your listening to... Geez! :)

My point exactly! Why would anyone *not* embrace all that techno
lovin'?

I've got too much Polish in my, I can't read and post messages and listen
to music at the same time.

Could be that when I listen to music, I can't help but pick up the Guitar
and start jammin', which leads to my reading/posting to be placed on the
back burner. :)



Sniper
Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org
Home of the Unofficial SynchroNet Support Network.
download the info pack at any of the below sites: http://www.chcomputer.net/USSNET.ZIP or http://www.ussnet.org

... If this were an actual tagline, it _might_ be funny.
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Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Sniper to Angus McLeod on Sat Jan 14 2006 12:56:00

Could be that when I listen to music, I can't help but pick up the Guitar and start jammin'....

See, I don't play the guitar. But I bang on the keyboard instead. Can't
you tell?

---
Playing: "Life in the fast lane" by "Eagles"
from the "Hotel California" album

---
þ Synchronet þ Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Angus McLeod wrote to Sniper <=-

Re: Elder/Ground Interface!
By: Sniper to Angus McLeod on Sat Jan 14 2006 12:56:00

Could be that when I listen to music, I can't help but pick up the Guitar and start jammin'....

See, I don't play the guitar. But I bang on the keyboard instead.
Can't you tell?

Gotta be carefull of your terminology... Musical keyboard or computer keyboard? :) I know, computer, but, it was fun tweakin' ya a bit. :)

I happen to play both. :)

I took piano lessons when I was 3-12 years old. Started playing Guitar
when i was 8. Father was a Classical Guitarist, Mother was a Classical Pianist. Go figure!



Sniper
Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org
Home of the Unofficial SynchroNet Support Network.
download the info pack at any of the below sites: http://www.chcomputer.net/USSNET.ZIP or http://www.ussnet.org

... Before you start anything, make sure you can finish it!
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