Flying

It sure is nice out these days...



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Another Friday evening, flying home from work:

Flying the c402 home from NJ to MA for the weekend.



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Finally got the motor back on the plane after tearing it down and putting it back together. It's much happier now...



Vimeo link: here.

A video look around the flight home from my private pilot checkride in RI.

Launching my Gemini 134 from the west site in Ellenville:

The poor thing sounds like a weedwacker, but sure is fun...

The hang glider is fun, but I really wanted to fly something I could GO places with. I bought a Fischer Flying Products FP-202 ultralight on Craigslist for $2000. It was hilarious.



The plane had sat for a number of years in a barn. It wouldn't start without copius amounts of ether, some wood was cracked, there were some holes in the fabric. But it was mine. By spring, I had replaced the main jet in the carb as well as de-gunking everything, patched the holes, and taxied around a bit.



I lined up on the runway at 8B5, applied full power, and off I went:



I did two patterns and landed splendidly. It was epic!



I really miss that plane... I ended up selling it for $4100 to fund my private pilot's license. I'd really love to buy another one some day and drop an electric motor in it...

Chris and I decided we needed to build a propane powered jet engine using a turbo from a car. Given my previous successes with hovercrafts, of course we needed to step the game up.



Our combustion chamber takes air from the compressor, swirls it around with liquid propane, then burns it, creating a huge expansion of the inputs. The gases then pass out into the turbine section of the turbo, spinning the compressor faster, and so on. The brass nozzle you see is the propane connection. The sparkplug is to start the combustion, but the flame is self-sustaining once it's running.



We rigged the combustion chamber to the output of the shop vac, connected the spark coils, and let a little gas flow. Much to our surprise, a significant roar was produced! We were even more pleased when the roar continued after we switched off the sparkplug. Below, Eric inspects the turbo.



When we put it all together, the unit was spinning at upwards of 120 krpm, and blasting the rhododendrons around across the yard. We also used it for snow clearing.

While we still had it running (ie before it was scavenged for parts), two exciting things happened. Once, when we drilled out the propane fittings to get more gas through. This made the engine run at a higher compression of course. Right as Ken reached across the motor to poke a gauge, the cold air manifold from the compressor separated from the combustion chamber, and the resulting gas instantly melted all the hair off Ken's arm. However perhaps more amusing was the time the bearing's oil seal failed during a full-thrust run. 60psi hot, thin motor oil sprayed into the turbine housing and instantly turned to smoke. The sheer amount of black death coming out the back of that jet engine is an image I won't soon forget. epic.

While fun, the hang glider I built wasn't exactly the best-flying device in the world. But it just so happened that the local hang glider pilots were amused enough at me for it that they found me a used "real" hang glider to buy for $300!



My Gemini 134 and I have flown quite a few interesting places since then, including actual hang glider launches, ski hills, beaches, and flat grass fields with a winch. I'd really like to put an electric motor on the back of the harness some day, if I can find the time...

Here's a pic of me at the practice hill in Cooperstown on a student glider:

After the hang glider adventures, I still wanted to fly different things, but didn't yet have enough money for any sort of "real" aircraft. So I did what anyone in my position ought to: bought an old paraglider and harness on eBay for $700!

There aren't any great flying sites in central MA, but I did get some sweet local flights in down hills and with a winch I built before selling it. Certainly an enjoyable piece of fabric.

This picture doesn’t show it well due to the long grass, but I am in fact flying.



(I stalled right after this picture was taken, but that’s beside the point!) This isn’t even with good wind – when the wind was favorable, I flew near half way down the hill. Despite the police, high-tension power lines inducing current in the glider frame, and fussy wind, I left the ground!

Tried really hard today, but never made it off the ground.



Today I did a lot of math regarding the lift of a non-airfoil wing. From the math and review of the videos, my best bet is that we aren’t properly maintaining the right angle of attack during takeoff. The leading edges aren’t near strong enough either, but that’s something I can’t fix (if anyone knows where to get thin wall aluminium tubes I would love to purchase two…)



In any case, I will be in NJ at the end of this week. I have a couple ideas as to increasing the angle of attack. I’ll be sure to post pics, and with any luck video of some flight!

Three years ago, my parents bought me a Dynaflight Piece 'O Cake RC plane kit. Basically, it comes as a box of small balsa sticks and a large printed drawing sheet. I'd spend two weeks working feverishly after school on it, then get distraught that it wasn't ready yet, not work on it for a few months, then come back to it.

When it was nearing the end, I decided to use a geared electric motor instead of the uncontrollable 0.049cc glow motor it was designed for. Looking back perhaps I should have built it to plans, as it would have been a very slow flying craft to learn on. With the weight of the battery and the much higher thrust of the motor system, it flew much faster than originally anticipated - so much so that it was uncontrollable at full throttle. However, it flew fine in the lower throttle ranges and would last a rather long time.

In any event, I took it to my friend Mike's house where there's a large field. Here are the pics:



And a few movies: good flight, landing, plane coming out of the tree.