Walking on Sunshine

My wife and our neighbor and I went out for a walk along the bay in Foster City today. It was a rare clear, calm day, and the sunshine took the edge off the nip in the air for the most part. We had a nice little walk out to a somewhat secluded spot where we sat and watched the birds and talked while listening to the gently lapping water along the shore.

Then, off in the distance, I could hear this odd whine that sounded like some kind of power tool off in the distance. I brushed it off, thinking maybe someone in the neighborhood was working on something in their garage. But after several minutes of this relentless high-pitched buzzing sound, I finally turned my head toward the direction of the sound, not really expecting to see anything.

I was stunned to see not one, but two electric RC model airplanes buzzing around in the sky off in the distance. I pointed them out and my wife said I should go check it out and that she would bring the car around later to get me. She's great. I set off on foot in the direction of the airplanes, leaving my wife and neighbor friend to discuss life issues on their own while I pursued my own destiny of the day.

It was a good little walk to get to this grass clearing near the road, and by the time I got there, the planes had landed, but I met up with a couple of very nice modelers who had a whole fleet of small electric airplanes lined up in the grass. They were very welcoming and friendly, and while I was talking to them, two more flyers arrived with their airplanes. Conincidentally, one guy had the exact same model that my wife got me for Christmas!

It's the Mini-Funtana - and here is mine before its first flight, sans propeller.

I flew my new airplane for the first time a couple weeks ago and managed to rip off the landing gear on the first landing. It turns out, it is not an easy plane to fly.
But maybe that goes without saying. Here's a shot of it, looking at the bottom, after the landing gear got torn from the underbelly. It peeled back the covering like a sardeen can, and poked a couple of holes in the wings. Needless to say, I was quite irritated, understandably upset, and downright angry.

And here you can see the disembodied landing gear (to the left). The gear survived just fine, but the mounts were ripped right out of the bottom of the airframe.

After meeting the guy today who had the same plane, I now know what I need to do to fix mine. I have already cut away the covering from the affected area and removed some of the damaged wood, but I have a bit more work to do. I will be reinforcing the area with a couple strips of some heavier plywood. My assessment of the aircraft when I originally examined the damage was that the landing gear mount was of an extremely poor design. This assessment was confirmed by a couple of guys today who said that everybody has that problem with this plane, and that the landing gear is "mounted wrong."

The one guy gave me some additional pointers about setting up the controls to make the plane flyable, and to make sure I move the CG (center of gravity) forward, even further than the manual indicates. It shouldn't take me long, though I'm going to have to wait another weekend before I get around to fixing it. I don't think I'm going to the robot rumble next weekend, so I'll probably work on it then. I am certainly getting the itch to fly again!

After watching the guys fly for a while, it began to get a little cold, and my wife showed up with the car, so I departed. We drove around Foster City a bit, looking for places where we might like to live, and have begun dreaming about moving there. It's such a nice community, and I would love to have a little boat that I could paddle around in...not to mention, having a place to fly with some nice people to fly with.

We also dreamed of winning the Power Ball lottery. Wish us luck! We're certainly going to need it if we don't buy a ticket...

P.S. My Computer Circus blog turned two years old this month.