Day 1

Well, day one of the 2010 US Nats is in the books.


The morning started out very overcast with a low ceiling, and a significant delay. A number of test flights were made to check the cloud base before it was decided around 9-9:30 to start the first round and even then some of the planes would almost vanish in the low clouds. The morning remained quite overcast for the rest of the morning.


The winds were light out of the west as usual in Muncie and quite straight down the runway, with little to no crosswind that I was able to determine. There was quite a mix of models in our grouping, CARF Valiant's, Integrals, Ventura, Euphoria, Axial, Xigris, Envision, Axiome, Visa, and Passports just to name a few. Some models had swept wings, and Mark Leseberg flew a biplane and was the only pilot on our line to fly with a bipe.


There were a number of very good flights put up in our group. The styles varied a little bit with some pilots electing to fly a little further out and large and others flying tighter smaller presentation. The 2-1/4 spins seemed to keep people on their toes getting the reversals correct, its a difficult maneuver to see correctly.




After the flights were over for FAI we went on a tour over to site 1 to see what was going on. Seems like electric is catching on with everyone, here are two charger setups I found working hard for a couple of Masters pilots.

After that we decided to go eat something, Nedim and I have been driving past this place for a couple of years and never had the guts (literaly) to try it out. Well finally we just had to, I think it will be the last time we visit, even though it was actually pretty good! LOL



Finally the scores for FAI after day 1's flights.


Chad

At the Nats

Well, we did finally make it lol. After about 3000km and two very long days of driving we got into Muncie about 10pm local time on Thursday.

Today we slept in, which was nice for me since its the first time in a long time I have not been awoken in the middle of the night by an 8 month old! I almost forgot what is was like to get a good sleep lol.

We spent the day getting the planes put together and a few flights adjusting to the drop from 3500' asl down to the altitude here in Muncie. Also the heat and humidity takes a little getting used to, so we put the ez-up to good use.

Tomorrow will be more of the same, more people are arriving to the site all the time and I expect to see a few friends from Ontario make the trip and arrive tomorrow night.

Unfortunately Nedim and I didn't bring any gear to get pictures off the camera, so we need to make a trip to the store to pick up a cable or card reader so that we can get some pics posted.

Chad

Sent from my iPad

Testing

Testing out how the iPad will work to post to the blog while at the Nats.

Chad
Sent from my iPad

What's New

Well its been a long time since I last posted anything to the blog (actually since the Worlds). I can’t believe that it has been around 6 months since the Worlds came to an end! The biggest thing that has happened since was that we had our second boy. Thomas was born on November 2, 2009, so is now about 4 months old. He is doing well despite Matthew’s (now 3.5 years) daily assaults!

I have a few new projects on the go for 2010. First is a 30% PAU Sukhoi that I have electrified. I had a 40 sized Midwest Sukhoi that looked very similar to this when I was a kid so that is what prompted the choice. For power I have the Plettenberg Terminator 30-8 motor, which is mounted in the spinner. The ESC is a new Schulze 40-160-xl, which has a lot of new features over the previous future series such as voltcontrol and data logging capabilities. For batteries I will be using the Thunder Power 45C 12s 5000 packs. With the RASA 24x12 prop I expect to see around 5.5 kW with the setup. With a weight of about 18.5 lbs I should be nearly 300 W/lb.



Also on the plate is a small 70mm electric ducted fan of the BAE Hawk, this is a ways off being completed though. I hope to have it ready at some point through the summer. Since its a composite fuse model it requires some painting which I will tackle when it warms up a bit.

On the F3A front, probably not much different. My setup from 2009 served me very well, so I expect to continue to use the Xigris models that I used last year. Rumor has it that Plettenberg and Schulze will have some new F3A products in time for this season. If that is true there is always the possibility of giving those a test run :-)

Chad