I went flying at Goole Model Helicopter Club with Paul.
Flight 79 I showed Paul where I'd got to with my flying.
Flight 80 After some tips from Paul my flying is really coming on and I feel I'm now getting to grips with actually flying the heli.
Setup Flight We changed the main blades from wood to FRP. Paul took the heli up and setup full pitch ranges, so it can now do full power climbs properly etc. Paul flew the heli around it was good to see it loop, roll etc.
Flight 81 My first go with a buddy box. The aim was to try nose in flying and hovering, but the wind was strong, gusty and in the wrong direction which meant I was trying it side on to the wind. I didn't have much success and we think there was a problem with the cable as at least twice no one was flying my heli!

Merry Christmas. We always have a family Christmas, everyone goes to my Mum's for Christmas dinner. After we had stuffed ourselves my Raptor took the place of the turkey on the table for a diagnosis from Paul. We pulled out the engine and found that the bolts holding the clutch to the fan had sheared off!

A lovely day at the field today, nice weather, a hot air balloon landed in the next field, and a pair of swans did a low pass by the edge of the club field.
Flight 77 I tried doing some full power climbs.
Flight 78 I tried some pirouettes, in my last two I paused for a fraction of a second at the nose in, whist not nose in hovering or flight my hands were sweating! Towards the end of the flight I heard three strange noises to I quickly landed.
After checking the heli over I could not find anything wrong so I tried to go for a fourth flight, it wouldn't start without engaging the clutch, so it was the end of a good day.

My first demonstration flight. People at work have been really interested in my new hobby so today I took in my helicopter to show it off, there are some fields near by so at lunch time I did some hovering and gentle floating around.

Another 3 weeks since I last went flying. I tried flying with a 3D pitch curve in Idle up 2, this was ok but I only tried it for a few minutes. I had to land early on my last flight as the heavens opened, but it was my best flight to date, flying a long the flight line with 180 degree turns at each end. I've been spending a lot of time on the simulator which is really paying off.

Cold and windy, but its been 3 weeks since I last flew and it was great to be flying again. Nothing new tried, its much easier on the simulator!

Another windy day at the field, five flights today, I'm now back to where I was before my crash. I now need to try to spend some time on the sim building up new skills.

I finished rebuilding my heli today and took it out for a few flights. Nervous at first but I was soon back to it. It was windy so I did not try to do any lazy eights, this is what I was trying when I crashed.

Heli still in bits :-( I've had some problems getting the main shaft out and I'm still waiting for some replacement bearings so I can finish the rebuild.

Too much happened today, got my upgrades working, started using idle up, and I crashed it, my fault. More details to come. Pictures added to the Raptor 50 Gallery.

Added a CSM Revlock and a NHP Carbon Push Rod Kit.

It's now getting dark early (19:10) so not many more flights on week days :-(

The wind was gusty at the field tonight. I've had my first down wind flights.

I got to the North Notts Fly-in today and had a great time, thanks guys for organising a great day. I got to see some of the top pilots flying.

I've had this week off work, and I'd hoped to get lots of flying in but the weather has been against me, however I got out for a good session this afternoon.

3 flights today.

Busy at the field tonight so I only got 2 flights in.

Lots happened today. I flew without my training aid. Performed left and right tail in circles. Performed left and right pirouettes. Hovering at different heights, and orientations (left side on, not so good with the right). The more advanced maneuvers need a lot of work, but I now feel I am getting somewhere. However I'm still concentrating on the basics, as these are most important, I just wanted to have a bit of fun!

Another good afternoon/evening flying. For flight 31 I changed to my new training undercarriage.

Very windy on the field today, it was scary, but I'm sure it will have helped my skills.

Flying with my brother Paul.

I've been flying in normal gyro mode for the first time.

My first flights! Rich took my heli up for a few test flights. Apart from some minor adjustment to the throttle curve it took the air perfectly, thanks Rich! These first flights were scary as I was on my own, no buddy box, while I have not spent much time on the simulator it has definitely paid off.