What a wonderful weekend in Stunt Heaven Portland Oregon. All weekend 70 plus and light breeze and about 30 flights. Mark Scarborough from Pullman Washington joined the three amigos Bill Veselik, Leo Mehl and myself. Pullman is about a 6 hour driving to Portland. Mark has been snow bound from flying this winter, and made the drive to thaw out. Mark brought several planes from the deep freeze; however, one plane did all of the duty. Randy Powell’s “Freelancer”. On Saturday Marks first flight of the season soon became a hand full. The plane was completely out of trim. Upon landing Mark had a skip, bounce, nose dive, and then loose parts. After a few moments of HEY it’s called landing not paint removal…lol. We picked up the pieces and moved the plane back to my home for inspection and a fast fix. They’re where a few crack in the nose nothing to be too concerned of just a little CA. However, after some hands-on we found that the plane needed about 2 oz of nose weight. We made a hub out of brass that fit his spinner and props.
Back out to the field on Sunday morning and some serious flying. Marks first flight was another eye opener. He needed tip weight the outboard wing was showing it’s self. Back on the ground we found that there was no tip weight. SOOO we added 1.5 oz to start with and back out to the circle. WOW just in three flights the plane began to present itself. Now the plane groves, turns, and has a corner. By the sixth flight Mark was flying the plane in the high 480’s. He tried several props, & rpm settings on his stock Magnum 53.
The Magnum has lots of potential for Mark. Helping Mark this weekend was so much fun. We all learned from the “Freelancer”. Approaching the trimming process one step at a time you can make very positive changes to a plane if the pilot has an open mind to the changes. Paul Walkers trim chart is a very useful tool. Mark took the instruction and went with it. I was glad to help. It all comes down to, IF you want help to be a better flyer, ASK FOR HELP!
Back out to the field on Sunday morning and some serious flying. Marks first flight was another eye opener. He needed tip weight the outboard wing was showing it’s self. Back on the ground we found that there was no tip weight. SOOO we added 1.5 oz to start with and back out to the circle. WOW just in three flights the plane began to present itself. Now the plane groves, turns, and has a corner. By the sixth flight Mark was flying the plane in the high 480’s. He tried several props, & rpm settings on his stock Magnum 53.
The Magnum has lots of potential for Mark. Helping Mark this weekend was so much fun. We all learned from the “Freelancer”. Approaching the trimming process one step at a time you can make very positive changes to a plane if the pilot has an open mind to the changes. Paul Walkers trim chart is a very useful tool. Mark took the instruction and went with it. I was glad to help. It all comes down to, IF you want help to be a better flyer, ASK FOR HELP!