In the recent thread on Pukey Profiles and ply doublers I dropped a little hint concerning seeing PW's latest fly last weekend on both Saturday and Sunday.
Uh, there's a little more to the story...
Rick Cochrun and I were setting up at an adjacent circle, Paul was flying, his Dear Wifey having launched the model. Of a sudden all was quiet, although it's not such a shock when the only noise is being made by an electric model. I mean, Rick's whining over my insistence that he remove what I saw as quite a lot of right rudder was the loudest noise on the field.
Ah, but then I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Walker were surveying damage having recently been done to the model and doing that slow little dance wherein small parts hiding in grass are being looked for.
I thought, "Hmmm, this can't be good; surely that model is to depart for Muncie and then France within the next couple weeks."
Reluctantly I headed toward what turned out to be the crash site. First sight of the model--being held quite casually by Paul I must note--was enough to make one puke.
But I held my tongue and was almost instantly glad to have not uttered what I was really thinking. Because what I was thinking was that the model was toast: Cowl hosed, split motor mounts, surely the electric motor was junk...
Oooops! Electric motor, dummy! So that area of the fuselage which was torn up did not conceal major structural damage simply because the motor is mounted at the rear, the bulkhead quite possibly not being damaged. Or in any case a relatively easy fix.
And if you think about it, the nose area in an electric is more of a fuselage extension--a cowling if you will--and it carries very little in the way of load.
"I didn't see it, what happened?"
"I flew into my own wake. No problem, it will fly again tomorrow. The bad thing is that I broke my prop."
Honest, that's what he said!! Okay, maybe not those exact words, but I am real close of that you can be assured.
Well, I wasn't quite so optimistic. The CF gear was broken and while this could have absorbed some of the Impact, it could just as easily have transferred substantial loads to not only the gear mount but the fuselage as well. I was thinking the latter to be the most likely scenario.
Well, the three of us looked for small parts. Marked the spot, while PW was back in the pit area we came back and looked for small parts. Mainly as there was little else to do and if Paul wanted to go into a woe-is-me routine I was willing to give him some space.
Nothing untoward took place, when I strolled in the inventory of equipment and tasks for the rest of the day had been pretty well completed. And Paul's attitude was unchanged: "I'll have it fixed and be out here in the morning."
He packed up and left.
While I wasn't planning on flying Sunday I did call that night to see how repairs had gone and to promise to be at the field, even if just to do launch duties. I got there a little early and so did Rick Cochrun, who had intentionally left his mower in the van. Rick whipped that sucker out and had the primary circle fully prepped well before Paul was ready to fly.
And fly he did! Some structural damage was still visible, but I loosed the thing for the first flight of the day and he hammered it through a pattern.
Impressed? I was **really impressed** and I have been around this guy for a good long time.
Alas, all was not to the 100% level. New prop for one thing and I just now realized the piece broken 24 hours previous is likely the exact same prop I was using a couple years ago--on a Saito 56!
But model speed was the real issue as no matter how that electronic speed control knob was turned, the tacho didn't show the desired results.
Not a deal-killer; all new electronics had been ordered up on Saturday, were to come in Overnight Fed-Ex. I didn't ask how big a chunk new gear took out of the credit card.
There was a funny moment where during a flight the motor would make weird noises. This first happened in a maneuver, once it happened a couple more times Paul was just flying level waiting for the flight timer to kick in. Still, it made this mild retching noise one more time and so I yelled out: "Am I going to have to turn off my cell phone?"
Truly, all seems well at this point in time. Rick called last night to say that Paul had been flying Wednesday morning, evidently to avoid predicted thunderstorms which actually did show up that night and this morning. Prior to leaving the model was pronounced as having gotten its mojo back, fully ready for competition.
Ya know, I am certain a great many of us simply don't "get it" when it comes to the demands of competing at the W/C level. Heck, I don't fully "get it" and I have seen Paul's dedication time and time again over the years that I have known him.
So what? you say? Some guys have it, some guys don't. What's the point?
Well, I'll tell ya the point: On the world stage of CL Stunt competition, we are being represented by the best. Not just Paul, of course, but the entire team, even though Paul defines the competitive nature required, the dedication which is exceedingly impressive.
I think I'll call Mr. Rush tonight. Even though I have one 2008 W/Cs T-shirt and a matching cap, I'm thinkin' it might be a good idea to buy at least one more set, the proceeds backin' up our guys who are doing so much to represent us in the best way possible.
Dan
Uh, there's a little more to the story...
Rick Cochrun and I were setting up at an adjacent circle, Paul was flying, his Dear Wifey having launched the model. Of a sudden all was quiet, although it's not such a shock when the only noise is being made by an electric model. I mean, Rick's whining over my insistence that he remove what I saw as quite a lot of right rudder was the loudest noise on the field.
Ah, but then I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Walker were surveying damage having recently been done to the model and doing that slow little dance wherein small parts hiding in grass are being looked for.
I thought, "Hmmm, this can't be good; surely that model is to depart for Muncie and then France within the next couple weeks."
Reluctantly I headed toward what turned out to be the crash site. First sight of the model--being held quite casually by Paul I must note--was enough to make one puke.
But I held my tongue and was almost instantly glad to have not uttered what I was really thinking. Because what I was thinking was that the model was toast: Cowl hosed, split motor mounts, surely the electric motor was junk...
Oooops! Electric motor, dummy! So that area of the fuselage which was torn up did not conceal major structural damage simply because the motor is mounted at the rear, the bulkhead quite possibly not being damaged. Or in any case a relatively easy fix.
And if you think about it, the nose area in an electric is more of a fuselage extension--a cowling if you will--and it carries very little in the way of load.
"I didn't see it, what happened?"
"I flew into my own wake. No problem, it will fly again tomorrow. The bad thing is that I broke my prop."
Honest, that's what he said!! Okay, maybe not those exact words, but I am real close of that you can be assured.
Well, I wasn't quite so optimistic. The CF gear was broken and while this could have absorbed some of the Impact, it could just as easily have transferred substantial loads to not only the gear mount but the fuselage as well. I was thinking the latter to be the most likely scenario.
Well, the three of us looked for small parts. Marked the spot, while PW was back in the pit area we came back and looked for small parts. Mainly as there was little else to do and if Paul wanted to go into a woe-is-me routine I was willing to give him some space.
Nothing untoward took place, when I strolled in the inventory of equipment and tasks for the rest of the day had been pretty well completed. And Paul's attitude was unchanged: "I'll have it fixed and be out here in the morning."
He packed up and left.
While I wasn't planning on flying Sunday I did call that night to see how repairs had gone and to promise to be at the field, even if just to do launch duties. I got there a little early and so did Rick Cochrun, who had intentionally left his mower in the van. Rick whipped that sucker out and had the primary circle fully prepped well before Paul was ready to fly.
And fly he did! Some structural damage was still visible, but I loosed the thing for the first flight of the day and he hammered it through a pattern.
Impressed? I was **really impressed** and I have been around this guy for a good long time.
Alas, all was not to the 100% level. New prop for one thing and I just now realized the piece broken 24 hours previous is likely the exact same prop I was using a couple years ago--on a Saito 56!
But model speed was the real issue as no matter how that electronic speed control knob was turned, the tacho didn't show the desired results.
Not a deal-killer; all new electronics had been ordered up on Saturday, were to come in Overnight Fed-Ex. I didn't ask how big a chunk new gear took out of the credit card.
There was a funny moment where during a flight the motor would make weird noises. This first happened in a maneuver, once it happened a couple more times Paul was just flying level waiting for the flight timer to kick in. Still, it made this mild retching noise one more time and so I yelled out: "Am I going to have to turn off my cell phone?"
Truly, all seems well at this point in time. Rick called last night to say that Paul had been flying Wednesday morning, evidently to avoid predicted thunderstorms which actually did show up that night and this morning. Prior to leaving the model was pronounced as having gotten its mojo back, fully ready for competition.
Ya know, I am certain a great many of us simply don't "get it" when it comes to the demands of competing at the W/C level. Heck, I don't fully "get it" and I have seen Paul's dedication time and time again over the years that I have known him.
So what? you say? Some guys have it, some guys don't. What's the point?
Well, I'll tell ya the point: On the world stage of CL Stunt competition, we are being represented by the best. Not just Paul, of course, but the entire team, even though Paul defines the competitive nature required, the dedication which is exceedingly impressive.
I think I'll call Mr. Rush tonight. Even though I have one 2008 W/Cs T-shirt and a matching cap, I'm thinkin' it might be a good idea to buy at least one more set, the proceeds backin' up our guys who are doing so much to represent us in the best way possible.
Dan
'
