The heli got to far away from me, I did start to bring it back but it was going to fast and I'd lost orientation. The heli crashed, going in on it's side, the damage looks bad :-(

Inverted!
Flight 184 The heli felt much better today with a good first flight.
Flight 185 Paul was here today and we set up the buddy box. I mainly tried doing forward flips by doing small loops, with Paul showing me good positioning. Doing the flips again showed up my weakness in hovering/flying when looking at the right side of the heli.
Flight 186 For the second buddy box flight Paul asked if I'd been trying inverted flight on the sim. I said yes! So we gave it a go. Paul saved me a few times but it was really good. From a stationary hover I used forward flips to enter and leave inverted hover.
Flight 187 Flight was on my own. Loops, rolls, approaches etc
Flight 188 Flight was on my own. Medium length flight as it was starting to get dark.

Not very eventful just hovering around with the odd stall turn. It just didn't feel right today.

Autorotations!
Windy at the field today, and it was quite dull to start with, but the sun came out for my last two flights which gave me extra confidence to try some new things, see below.
Flight 176 During the week I upgraded to Push-Pull on the elevator. What I didn't notice was that it changed the movement direction (Forward on the stick tilts the disc back). This made for some head scratching and interesting attempts at take off.
Flight 177 Tried a few stall turns and loops.
Flight 178 As the sun had come out, I decided to try roll for the first time in ages, these looked a lot better. Then I thought I'd give autorotations a try. I had a few goes at bringing the heli in normal mode. They went well so I flicked the throttle hold. I did it! So I tried again this time I didn't put in enough negative pitch and I could really see the blades slowing down. I switched off throttle hold and it must have done at least 3 piro's while it sorted its self out! I tried lots more some where aborted, some landings where bouncy and some went ok. I need to work on positioning.
Flight 179 I tried some more autos, and ended the days flying with a nose in landing.
I've noticed that the 30% nitro fuel is being used much quicker.

I didn't think I would get to fly this weekend, but the wind dropped late on Sunday so I was able to have two flights. A few loops and stall turns, but I was mainly hovering as the light was fading fast.

A cold and windy day at the field, but I managed 3 flights. The first flight was really bad, I think this was because my hands were too cold. I used my fingerless gloves for the next two flights and they were much better.

A full day flying at Routh. Paul came with his Synergy N9 and showed us how it should be done!
Flight 167 was quite short as the heli felt much more responsive with the changes, so I increased the cyclic exponential to 25%.
Flight 168 was a bit better but as I took the heli further away I found it difficult to see with the new colour scheme.
Flight 169 now settling in with the new changes.
Flight 170 I won 2 jugs of Cool Heli Juice 30% nitro at the Clubman 3D raffle earlier this year and with most of my Magnum gone I've switched to use it up. The idle needle needed adjustment and it seems to be running ok.

I had the highs and lows of the hobby today.
The day started well it was bright, clear and a light wind. I had some great flying all using Idle up 2 which I'm now comfortable with. In flight 165 I did a 540 degree stall turn. After flight 165 I go sick of the jump in pitch between Idle up 1 and 2 so I changed my transmitter to use 3D pitch curves in all modes.
Flight 166 was going well until I lost orientation on my heli. It ended with the heli going nose into the ground with quite a thud.
It was quite a walk over the muddy fields to collect it, and a bad end to a good day.

Four flights.
Flight 162 I tried doing multiple slow pirouettes in a row in both directions while maintaining position.
I've now completed 81 flights in 2006 which matches my total for 2005.

Inverted Hover!
Flight 156 More nose in, stall turns, loops, and rolls.
Flight 157 More flying around. I thought I'd have a go at extending the inverted section of a loop to give me a go at inverted flight. I waited until I got a good speed loop and went for it, it went well. I'm in the mind set of do everything twice. So I went for it again. However this time I lost all forward speed and ended in a inverted hover! Panic!!! As I was only in idle 1 I didn't know how much negative pitch I had so I put the collective stick to the bottom. The heli kept it's position, this was good. Next I thought what now, I decided to flip it back round the right way. I did this and recovered! I seemed to be inverted for ages but as I kept calm everything ended up ok. The biggest problem was that I was that I only had 5 degress negative pitch, I need to permanently switch to a full 3D setup.
Flight 158 After the fright of flight 157 I used idle up 2 for this flight.
My remote glow plug adaptor broke a while ago, so I've been taking the canopy off to start the engine. Well on this flight I forgot to remove the glow driver. I only noticed when preparing for flight 159 as I could not find it. I did eventually, in bits in the canopy! After cleaning and putting the driver back together it seems to work ok. The heli seems to be ok except that the glow plug coil has broken. I'll be fixing the remote glow plug adaptor for the next flight.

I did mainly close in work as the light was really bad, I did some more looping on the first flight. A few times when starting a loop I thought I'd actually try a stall turn, these all ended in disaster as I was not committed and concentrating on what I was doing.

Looking back September has been my best month of flying so far :-) I've flow the most times this month (28 flights beating 25 in August 2005) and feel I have really made progress. Now we are in October I guess the amount of flying is going to dramatically reduce :-(

I tried some aerobatics again. My stall turns are improving and I was doing them consecutively. My loops are looking much rounder now. However all my rolls kept diving into the ground.
After landing I went to check the tighness of my muffler bolts and stripped the thread. An early trip home.

Quite windy today but I when for it. I tried one loop which had a much better shape, however as I came back in to the wind at the end it went a bit wrong. I tried circles tail in and nose following direction (both ways), the speed was consisted, but height and width wasn't. A few times today I got quite badly out of shape but recovered each time, this is giving me a confidence boost as I'm sure a few months ago I would have crashed may times.

It's getting dark too early on a night now :-( I managed 4 flights tonight but kept the heli close due to the lack of light, so I didn't try any more aerobatics. I tried using idle up 2 again. On my last flight I did two nose in landings and takeoffs.

Aerobatics!
Flights 142-144 Lots of flying around, nose in hovering, and nose in approaches. I tried changing height during hose in hovering, but have not done much moving around, when I think about it to much I can use wrong input.
Flight 145 I knew this flight was going to be my last of the day as I didn't have enough fuel to refill the tank, so I though go for it!
First was stall turns. I tried a few going left to right and right to left, making sure I the 180 degree turn was done both ways. The main problem was the exit not following the same direction as entry. However I felt they went well and gave me the confidence to go on.
So feeling brave I tried loops left to right and right to left. The worked ok but mainly turned out like on the simulator ending in flips.
At this point my hands were shaking a bit on the sticks but I pushed on to rolls! I was probably a bit mad but again I tried them in both directions and rolling both ways.
I should have stopped there but I kept going I was on a roll! (excuse the pun) I thought I've basically done part of a flip with the end of the loops. So I got a good high hover and tried left, right, forward and backwards stationary flips.
All of these where: do the manoeuvre and then correct afterwards, but I guess that where you start from.
At the end of it all I was really shaking but it was an event :-) and I landed ok.

Flight 138 I increased my head speed from 1680 rpm to 1800 rpm. I did not notice that much difference.
Flight 139 I moved the ball link to the outer hole on the flybar control lever. I felt the difference with this change.
Flight 140 Increased the cyclic exponential from 12% to 15%. This softened up the controls in the hover but still gives me the extra throw.
Flight 141 More practice with the new settings.

Flight 135 After mainly hovering around at the North Notts Flyin it was good to have a good fly around, lots of figure 8's etc.
Flight 136 I used idle up 2 for the whole of this flight which has a 3D pitch curve. My thumb really ached at the end of the flight.
Flight 137 Hovering at each of the 8 45 degree angles, with a good side wind.

Four flights at the North Notts flyin. Lots of hovering as it was a bit intimidating with all the other helis flying so close.

Two flights at the North Notts flyin. On the second flight Paul had a fly to check out my model setup. He suggested a few changes that I'll make when I'm back on my own at Routh.

I went flying tonight and I crashed on my first flight! :(
It was all my fault and the clues where there, a bit of over confidence I think.
I was flyin with a strong wind hitting my back, perfect for practicing nose in and some approaches. I was doing some remote circles and I noticed a few times when I turned into the wind I gained a lot of height. I should have known then to keep the heli close and practice hovering, however I tried some circuits. On my third one I turned back into the wind to bring the heli back to me, it ballooned again and as it was to far away I lost orientation and it crashed. Raptor 50 Gallery for pictures.

Carrie came flying today and she filmed my last flight of the night. See My Models/Raptor 50/Gallery for the video. Lots more nose in work I'm really getting confident at nose in hovering but I still have to try nose in hovering T's. I also tried remote circles and circuits for the first time.

Another good afternoons flying with 4 flights. I did some more nose in work including flying and hovering. On the sim I now need to practice turning towards myself as I've not done much of this (for figure 8's the other way around and circuits).

Flight 119 was flying around.
Flight 120 was hovering. This included landing and taking off at 45 and 90 degree angles. It also included my first proper nose in hovers!

More hovering at different angles (at 45 and 90 degrees). I also tried my first circles, they were not very good but its another thing to practice. I timed Flight 118 it was 12 minutes 50 seconds.

I fixed my heli using 8mm bolts instead of 10mm bolts to hold the clutch to the fan, as I read this may be a problem on RunRyder. The heli is now flying much better. It was windy today, I tried approaches and hovering T's at different angles.

Flight 112 Not a good start as the heli was abit all over the place.
Flight 113 After starting the flight the enginee made a funny sound and I seemed to loose power so I landed it quickly. Next time I tried to start it up the starter was not turning over the enginee. So time to go home.
When I pulled out the engine at home I found that the bolts holding the clutch to the fan had sheared off, this is the second time this has happened

Wow one of the few times at the field with no wind! However I think I left my brain at home and did the most stupid things before flight 110:
    1 - Starting the engine without power to the receiver.
    2 - Spooling up with the transmitter aerial down.
Both of these could have been really dangerous but luckily they where not. I've learnt and will not be doing them again.

Tonight I went to fix my broken Tail Pulley Guide. I thought that I would do a proper job cleaning up the mess by taking out the fuel tank. First thing I noticed was the carbon fibre base plate had a crack in it, I thought this can't be good. As I was cleaning the frames I saw a crack. So I will not be flying while I replace it :-(

On my second flight I had a bit of a hard landing. When I fished my flight I noticed a strange noise, upon investigation I found the left hand side Tail Pulley Guide had broken.

More lazy eights, I'm doing them too fast, I need to slow them down to gain more control.

My first flight was on 03/07/2005, so my first year of flying is now complete, and this was my best set ever! My first flight was settle in with my changes. After trimming it out it just seemed to fly the best it ever has, so I went for it and I was doing lazy eights. I even brought the heli round so the nose was towards me. In flight 102 I thought I'd managed to flip in and was sure I was going to crash, however I saved it, it wasn't the wrong way up. In flight 103 I came round to far and I did my first NOSE IN flying! It was not planned and when I realised what I was doing I panicked a bit, but I brought the tail around and everything was ok.

While cleaning my heli after my last flight I noticed that the cover was ripped on the bottom of one of my blades so I took the opportunity tonight to upgrade my heli. Most of these things I've had for a while but as I'd not been flying much I've not added them:
    K&S 600mm Symmetrical FRP Main Rotor Blades - To replace my damaged woodies
    JR 811 Digital Servo - To go with my CSM Revlock
    Sanyo RC 2400mAh rx pack 4.8v Sub C cells - My old rx pack did not fully charge
While I was checking the installation of the new servo I noticed that the deflector on my muffler was vibrating. On investigation it was loose so I removed it.

This was the first time I've managed to get to club night at Routh this year (Tuesdays). Three flights and I finally killed off my first gallon of 2006. Also my next flight will be my 100th!

Six months exactly! It's taken six months to use my seventh gallon of fuel, the eighth is not going to take as long!

I took my heli up for two flights, after failing to get my Zagi working.

Very windy today but I thought I would give it a try. At first the engine would not start and I had to change my first glow plug. When I got my heli in the air it was all over the place. I managed to land it, I packed up and went home.

Windy at the field (as it always seems to be :-), and overcast so silhouetting was a bit of a problem today. So I mainly kept it nose into the wind just to build up some stick time. I tried some tail in circles for the first time in ages ant they where a lot better than I remember so I must be learning something!

Well I finally got to the field again already to have a good session flying. I started filling up with my brand new fuel pump and half way through the first tank it locked up and I stripped some teeth from the gears! :-( Well I got it in the air and at first it felt like I needed to put the training undercarriage back on, but it soon came back to me.

I had two flights with my Raptor. It was really windy and the wind was coming from the setting sun so this made flying difficult. Both flights were short just hovering around.

Hardly any wind at the field today which gave me the confidence to get back to where I've been before, performing pirouettes and lazy eights. It was quite funny as my wife was watching me fly and when I started pirouetting she thought I'd lost control. Added a video and a picture in My Models/Raptor 50/Gallery

It's been nearly six weeks since my crash and today I've finally got flying again. It was windy and cold (Only me at the field), but as I took off for the first flight the sun came out. I didn't do much, mainly hovering around to get myself back into it.

The heli is now fixed. I bought a spare Raptor kit at the end of last year, this has really helped as I had all the parts I need to hand. I've just got to replace them before the next one!

Not a good start to my heli year, 30 seconds in to my first flight and I crash, details to follow...

Added a Zimmerman Muffler