A Good Morning’s Flying at Itford Hill 5th Feb 2022

An early start this morning which again necessitated me to de-ice the car. Whilst waiting for the windscreen to clear I noticed that the promised 20-25 mph wind was lacking. Fortunately, I had charged up my Dream Flight Ahi just for this reason, if needed. After a 40-minute drive. I met Kevin M in the lay-by, and we ascended the hill. 

My Wildthing and Ahi

On the top of the slope, only a very slight breeze could be felt. We spent a few minutes having a catch up and we now think that Kevin may have solved his Wildthing trimming issues. In the past he has been adding weight but recently he weighed his model and found it was a lot heavier than it should be, so he has recovered it making it now 50 grams lighter.

Kevin M's Models

Flying commenced and Kevin’s Wildthing flew much better today, I continued to practice my landings with varying levels of success.

Robin S arrived with his Phase 5 but during assembly of it he noticed a fault with the wing joiner system and decided not to fly it and packed up his model. He seemed happy as he could go home to watch the 6 Nations rugby.

With the wind now picking up, Mike G arrived on the slope, recently back from abroad displaying his newly built Middle Phase, which has taken some 2 years to complete but getting ready to launch it, the wind took it out of his hand and the rudder assembly was damaged. It was nice to have him, his son and his grandson on the slope making it a 3-generation day out for them. Being prepared they had a spare Middle Phase in the car which was collected and brought up to the launch point. This second model was Mike's sons.

Mike with his Middle Phase

Mike with Grandson

3 Generations 

Robin A arrived with his Phase 6 but by this time the wind was so strong, and he decided not to risk the model but to fly his scratch-built wing instead.

Robin A's Phase 6

And his Scratch Built Wing

Without doubt the highlight of the day was poor old Kevin M who, whilst concentrating on flying his Wildthing was interrupted by a rather naughty Border Collie exploring his nether regions which made him loose control of his model. Oh, how we all laughed. Kevin thought that he had made a furry new friend.

By this time, I had experienced a very hard landing. Which resulted in a broken servo arm, a bent push rod and the fuselage had become detached from the wing. As it was now getting a bit busy with walkers, runners, cyclists and even more model flyers turning up, I considered it was time to go home for a sausage sandwich and spend the afternoon fixing my Wildthing.