200 FLIGHTS!

Well, it wasn't dignified or graceful, and with her pilot showing the sort of confidence you would expect after smashing two models in the last two weeks the Zero today tentatively flew her 198, 199 and 200th sortie.

The wind was blowing with some nasty gusts, but with more than a week since I had been at the controls I knew it was time to get back on the horse. So we pushed on and remaidened the Zero despite the wind and concerns about her elevator trim.

By and large she flew quite well, although her pilot mucked up every landing, noseing her over at best, landing her in the ditch on one occasion. However, it is clear that her powerplant has been badly damaged by the last crash, and so I've ordered another $15 motor from Taiwa.

In the end it was a low key affair - her 200th flight. I had thought about some extreme things like a little banner she could pull behind her, but in the end she limped through the last 3 flights, and I'm happy to take the runs however they were achieved.

Despite the high wind I also gave my heli a fly. Was a bit silly really and the results are reasonably predictable. However, despite the wind I did manage to keep her airborne for a minute or so on each occasion, running into trouble only when the heli got too far down wind from me (this was a big problem - I couldn't get her to come back from down wind). As she turned away from me and headed downwind I flipped into plane mode mentally and turned her back in a fairly stock aileron/elevator type manuveur. However, in the wind she made it quite clear she didn't have enough authority to come back, turned away and headed away. On both occasions I ditched knowing that I couldn't retrieve the heli in the air.

No damage on the first in. Snapped some undercarriage and damaged the battery tray on the second. Nothing serious really. Am ordering some "Super-skids" from the US - they will take a while to reach here unfortuantely.

Now, as for me..., the two crashes last week seem to have had much more effect on me than I had realised. The Zero, although not quite herself due to the engine issues, was certainly flyable this morning and yet I felt tentative and unsure, my landing approaches were terrible, and the landing that followed was about what you would expect given the build up. There really is something to making sure you stay current with your models and don't let them sit too long, and it is great to always have a plane you can go back to so you can find your way back to the confidence level you had.

I think I had two planes for that purpose - the RV4 and the Zero, and I lost them both on the same day. No matter - I'm confident the way back can be found.