Hi
I had a good time with the airplane in the last couple of days, and I want to give you a short overview
Wingo Porter flights and adventures 25.6.2003 - 30.6.2003
Wednesday 25.6.2003
I get up in the morning and look at trees and flags
to see how the wind is - and in the office I check weather conditions
Wind and
Temperature today
I
went to a different spot today - on 2 different spots to be exact
The
first one:
( MPEG (261kB) Quicktime (6.3MB))
is nicely opened to the valley.
I took some video MPEG (8.5MB 4fps)
with decent flying
Later the wind changed and came down the hill which
caused a bit of troubles - it was very hard to gain hight in one place, so I
flew into the trees twice. Both times the plane was well within reach and I got
it down without damage.
>MPEG (1MB 12fps) start, crash into a tree
>MPEG (1.25MB 1fps 640x480) start, crash into another tree
When the conditions got worse, I was looking for a different spot, and I
found a place protected by trees (MPEG (261kB) Quicktime (4MB))
see me
setting up the plane and flying it with the cam pointing forward
But
there the wind also got worse, and after a few short flights where I was glad to
get it down undamaged ( MPEG (8.5MB 12fps) start, turbulences, landing)
I went back home.
Pictures with airplane in trees
Thursday 26.6.2003
This morning I did not have much time, so I tried to go for a flight in the afternoon. I measured the weight of my Nikon coolpix and a servo: 380g
Added weight to the plane and went to try - it was much too windy and the plane crashed after about 100m flight and broke the right half of the wing
crash pictures
have I learned not to fly the
plane in the wind?
Friday 27.6.2003
This morning I will do everything right: Flat airfield,
no wind, the right batteries for the sender and the receiver, everything will be
in place.
the
airfield (2.7MB) Quicktime (7.2MB)
is located near the most important swiss highway, the A1. Traffic jams every
morning...
onboard camera pics as video stream
onboard video (MPEG 8min 13MB)
onboard video (MPEG 1min 3.5MB)
I
had good flying time and enjoyed it a lot. I brought back the plane in perfect
condition and had some pictures taken, although I am not satisfied with the
picture quality...
In the afternoon I wanted to show the plane to my wife. She has always seen it on the kitchen table being
built and fixed, but never in the air.
There were some turbulence, and I did some acrobatic movements. The third landing was quite
hard, so we went back home to the kitchen table to glue minor cracks in the tail.
I was happy to bring it home in good condition.
have I learned not to fly the
plane in the wind??
Repair and inflight Pictures
Did I have enough after going for a flight 2 times? No. As soon as the
batteries were ready, I wanted to fly again.
Went again in the evening - 
tried to find a place with less wind -
got it off the ground -
high in the air -
too much wind
The aluminium bent in the air - uncontrollable (why does it face straight to the ground at 40mph??)
BLAM!
The
children helped to collect the pieces. The tape around the wing kept the major
pieces in place, but smaller ones were crumbling out when I lifted the plane (or
what was left of it).
I
learnt not to fly the plane in the wind!!
It took me quite some time during the weekend to fix the plane, and
Saturday morning I felt so stupid when there was no wind, perfect weather, and I
had a plane with the wing in pieces.
I added 5min epoxy string tape and carbon
tubes to fix the wing. I was pleased with the result, but see
for yourself
Monday 30.6.2003
I
went to the same place like Friday morning, just a bit close to the highway 
Perfect conditions this morning:
>airfield (430kB) Quicktime (4.3MB)
The plane was flying better than before, needed less motor to keep the
height. I probably improved the profile a bit by adding the carbon tube at the
lower front of the wing.
Pictures of repaired wingo
When the engines started to sound funny, I landed the airplane and found out
that one of the progs was loose. I glued it with the 5min epoxy and waited long
12 minutes...
Went back in the air, it was flying like a charm. I could fiddle
a lot with the AV receiver to try and tune it while the plane was in the air.
Sometimes I would look up and wonder where the plane went in the meantime, and
see it somewhere 200m away from me nicely keeping height.
The prop came loose
again, and at some point I lost it.
on this video stream
you can see some of the traffic jam. As the sun was still low, it was quite hard
for the cam to pick good pictures
No more flying with just one prop
not too bad, the weather has
changed a lot, now it is cooler and rainy after the hottest month in the history
of swiss weather data. I am expecting the new motors and props for next Tuesday.
These motors should have twice the power, so I will be ready to carry heavier
loads.
Until then I will figure out how I attach the Nikon Coolpix on the
plane to I can have it point various directions - most other pilots seem to
attach their cams to point sideways.
The nikon has a AV out, so with the
Unimog AV sender I could have the Nikon taking pics and see throught the AV what
picture will be taken. But this AV sender will bring in more weight, and it
requires 12V - how to get a light 12V power source?
June
Poll results 28 members voted in the poll - thank you.
July
Poll has 3 questions about the News Letter
Wind
Temperature
