Russell's Diary

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	Diary.....

27th December 2004

Well, its been a long time coming.... but I have a diary update at last..

We have all had a very good flying summer, with plenty of long sunny Sundays (and Wednesday evenings) up the field, although the summer seems so long ago now:>(

The good news for me is that I seem to have finally cracked the circuits and figure 8s :>). After Andy B buddying me for a few sessions it dropped into (some sort) of shape. I would not say that they are pretty, but at least the heli seems to stay out of the dirt! Thanks again Andy and Daren for your patience in teaching me not only to keep the heli in the air, but also in the black art of setting the thing up!. I have also now moved onto to mild aerobatics, and I am currently practicing stall turns, loops and rolls, with my next venture being into the dreaded autos. I need to practice these as soon as possible, as I am yet to have a mid air flameout, but it surely must only be a matter of time.

I have had a bit of a change on the heli fleet as well. I decided to retire the old trusty Raptor 30, as it had suffered a fair battering throughout the year, but it has not traveled far to its new owner, as Andy B has caught the '50 bug He is upgrading it to a '50, and will no doubt be subjecting it to a severe thrashing in 2005. I meanwhile have got myself a spanking new Raptor 50. Everyone on Runryder raves about the Raptor 50, so I decided to see for myself. All I can say is I am WELL impressed, it flies so well and I don't have the same worry about crashing it as I do with the 60. The 60 is flying well, and is still a joy to fly, it's more stable than the 30, and somehow more graceful in the air. It is overdue for some attention, so the first flying session of 2005 will see me spending some time tweaking the curves to make it a bit more responsive (Cheers Daren in advance)

Thanks for taking the time to read my diary, and please feel free to drop me an e-mail with any comments or questions. Check back soon, as my new years resolution is to update my diary a bit more often!!

11th June 2004

Thought it was about time I updated my diary, I have been so busy crashing and repairing that I haven't had time to do an update...... That's right, you DID read correctly, I have been going through a crashing phase, having bit the dust no less than SIX times this year!!! Anyone who says that hovering is the hardest part of learning to fly helicopters is fibbing! Whilst I was learning to hover I only had one small mishap, since I have moved onto forward flight and figure 8's its all gone pear shaped! I think that Andy B noticed that I was getting despondent with it (or he got sick of my whinging and moaning!) and has kindly offered to 'buddy box' me on some figure 8's (thanks Andy, that's yet ANOTHER beer I owe you). Since Andy has been buddying me, I have managed to take the heli home in one piece! Mind you, poor Andy is concentrating so hard on my heli when I'm flying (in case he has to take control to make a save) he needs a lie down afterwards.

I suppose one bit of good news is that all of the crashing has been with my trusty Raptor 30, my new Raptor 60 is finished and flying like a dream! its so much more stable and responsive than the 30, and also so much easier to see in the air (not that I let it get too far away from me!) I am still running it in, and trying to get my head round tuning the TT70 (thanks again Andy B & Daren, where would I be without you!) I much prefer flying the 60, but until I get through this crashing phase I won't be getting too adventurous with it.

Paul (Happyhover) is no longer competition for me, as all the while I have been crashing, he's been improving. His flying is in a different league to mine now. Good on you Paul, you've worked hard to get to the standard your at now, but I'm gonna try to close the gap to you ;>)

That's all for now, check back soon and I'll tell you about my first rolls & loops! (in my dreams!)


	15th February 2004 Well I've not been flying today, so I thought I'd spend some time updating my diary. You know I said in my biography that I'd update you with my first crash, well I have one to tell you about!. It happened just after Christmas, it was windy and I was practicing my hovering (a challenge in the wind to say the least!) well I touched the ground a bit hard and took off again, next second the heli just exploded in the air! I think one of the doublelinks broke, and I suffered a boom strike. Worse thing was that when it hit the ground the battery shorted out and burnt through some servo wiring :>(.

		Other news is that I am (slowly) moving into circuits, they don't look to good, but I am improving. Since Paul turned up at the club, I've got some competition! I have also bought myself a brand spanking Raptor 60 with all digi servos. It looks so good I'm scared to fly it! Perhaps I'll put the training gear on for the first couple of flights. Check out my page in the near future and I'll tell you about the 60's first flight

7th December

Had a nice day up the field, although it was cold! Andy R, Daren, & Andy B were all testing their new helis. You can tell that they are there pride and joys, cos they are still flying them carefully! I just can't understand why they didn't offer me a test flight!!!

I am still more than happy with my Raptor 30 (well as I'm only hovering at the moment, anything else would be a waste!). Big news for me today was that I have finally ditched the training gear!!! Had a lot of encouragement from the lads (can't really make my mind up if they thought I was ready or they just wanted to see me crash to help warm themselves up!!) I managed about 6 takeoffs and landings without tipping over, so the sky is the limit for me. I have also started to practice forward/backward & side to side flight, but will keep practicing the hovering.

5th November

The training continues! I am still having trouble keeping the heli low, and I s'pose now I come to think of it, the heli goes wherever it wants, and I just run around the field after it! I also had my first mishap, where the heli managed to get side on; I panicked, shut the throttle, and managed to dig the tail blades into the ground and broke them. I wouldn't have minded, but they were carbon fibre ones. Never mind, I did have two sets of stock plastic ones safely stored in my flightbox!

26th October

Today was my first ever flight on my Raptor. After arriving at the field and introducing myself to the chaps, Daren & Andy checked my heli over, and before I knew it, a set of training gear appeared, a transmitter was thrust into my hands (a 9ZAP no less!) and I was making my first attempts to hover. I had difficulty in keeping the heli low, and must have got up to 15 feet at one time (I'm sure that's when I heard Daren say 'that's broke'). At the end of the day after two tanks, I drove home with a grin on my face like a teenager who has just had his first snog !

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Created 23-8-03