She Flies Again

There is something quite satisfying about re-maidening a damaged plane. Such is what I did this morning with my GWS TigerMoth 400. After an almost career ending crash I always planned to get the Moth back in the air but never knew whether it would actually happen.

One of the big problems was replacing the cowling. I was planning to use a coke bottle top, but attrition on another TigerMoth a couple of weeks ago left its former owner asking if anyone wanted spares. I jumped in and grabbed the cowling, and another mate's brushless upgrade on his TM meant a gearbox with correct ratio came my way.

So, two flights with the TM today from the hardtop at Kambah - both flights went well enough, although my TM is such a twisted horrid monstrosity of foam, hot glue and epoxy that it was kind of hard to trim. Two landings with no snappy undercarriage - certainly the bitumen helped there I imagine.

Must admit the TM was a bit boring to fly, but there was a sense of satisfaction with how easily I flew her. Oh well, maybe I can chase DJ's next time.

Some touch and goes with the Zero and RV4 as well today, and met a new potential park flyer. Am getting the bitumen approach about right on the Zero now, although I undershot slightly on one, the wheels clipping the grass verge about 2 feet from the asphalt, leading to the inevitable nose over (but the only nose over of the day).

The weather yesterday put a dampner on my 6 days in a row flying, but apart from fog (that I almost lost all planes in this morning) it was still and beautifully calm.