ForumMay 16th - A Wet Day!
The forecast wasn't great but it suggested that the day would start well and gradually deteriorate in the afternoon. An early look out of the window showed a bright day so I decided to go early in order to get some flying done before the weather closed in.
I only took two planes , the White Thing and the Ranger. I didn't take any sandwiches or the lipo charger!
When I arrived I saw Mike in the field next to the railway line waving me in! I obeyed! He told me that the main entrance to the flying field was very muddy and he thought it better to get people to use this entrance as there was a possibility that cars might get stuck in the main one!
Once in we chatted for a bit and then I assembled the White Thing and flew it.
By this time others had arrived. Gordon began to tell me that he had modified his Phoenix to take a towline. He had also brought his towline! So we collaborated on a plan to get towing with the White Thing and his Phoenix later in the day.
Gordon flew the Phoenix and then I wanted to check the towline release on the White Thing. We went down to the strip and unrolled the towline. It took longer to do than to say! We apologised to members as we seemed to be hogging a large area of ground!
I attached the towline to the White Thing and took off! Something made the White Thing veer to the right, but it recovered and took off with the towline attached.
I flew couple of circuits and tried to release the towline! It worked perfectly although it was difficult to find the green towline on the green grass! I can't imagine why!
I wanted to do another test flight to confirm that the dodgy take off was a quirk. As I was trying to attach the towline to the White Thing Gordon said that rain appeared to be on the way. No sooner had he said it, the rain came! It poured! I got drenched even though I tried to use the White Thing as an umbrella to keep the rain off as I walked back to the car.
We abandoned the plan to tow the Phoenix. In fact I abandoned the whole idea of flying for the day. Others stayed on in the hope of getting better weather, but I think they are made of sterner stuff than me! I packed up and set off for home by way of the 'dry' gate!
The towing experiment will have to wait for another time!