Me, 37 years ago after my first solo flight in KQS a Queensland Flying Services Cessna 150 (left).
Today, Tuesday 29th of April, 2008, after 37 years of diligent saving I have eventually been able to purchase my own plane, a radio controlled Cessna T206.
I still have my pilots licence somewhere and I have always been intersted in aviation, and Cessnas were always my preferred aircraft because of their visibility advantages due to the high wing. I always like to be able to see the ground so that I don't forget where I belong, but mainly because I used to be interested in aerial photography. Now the cost of private aircraft hire is so high that I don't even want to know where my pilots licence is, I couldn't afford to use it, but I will never forget the number 33237. What a joyful day it was when I got my licence!
When I first came to Indonesia in 1983 I brought my pilots licence with me. I had dreams of flying along the Java volcano belt and taking photos, and perhaps making a film. However, it never came to pass mainly because shortly after arriving I saw a film "Indonesia Indah" (Beautiful Indonesia) at the local IMax and it was far superior to anything I could hope to make, and at that time I was told that any films I made would be subject to censorship because of the military bases along the way which were still a sensitive issue in those days.
Having been fortunate enough to be able to work on a number of education projects I have since flown over most areas of Java, and many other regions in Indonesia, albeit in commercial aircraft.
For the past ten years I have spent most of my free time on the Internet working on my collection of Indonesian education websites, about 70 active sites, with about 150 domain names (became an Internet Addict). However, having done this for so long I have decided that I really need another hobby or interest, preferably something outdoors. And, as I have been interested in learning to fly R/C model aircraft for some time, here we are!
I have played with some R/C aircraft simulators and I have got to say that flying model aircraft certainly seems to be much more difficult than flying real planes. It seems so much easier to fly a plane when you are inside it, and I dip my lid to the aeromodelling community!
Model: 4ch Electric Airplane
Hobby Aeromodelling
- Wingspan: 1080mm
- Fuselage Length: 965mm
- Height: 306mm
- Wheelbase: 206mm
- Tread: 206mm
- Power: Brushless motor, 20A ESC
- Servo: 9g servo x3
- Radio: PPM radio, 4ch TX & 6ch RX
- Prop: 10*4.7
- Battery: 2 cells 1300mAh 10C li-poly
- Takeoff Weight: 610g
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- Scale appearance
- Powerful drive configuration, easy to fly
- Steerable front wheel
- Built-in navigation lights
- Landing Strut using Steel NOT Plastic
- Wing Strut provided
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"Aeromodelling", I didn't even know how to spell the word, one "l" or two? From my search on Yahoo.Com it seems to be fairly evenly divided amongst the enthusiasts, but as most of the Indonesian and American websites seem to use use two "l"s that is what I have adopted. It's interesting that many people seem to be confused about the spelling. I even asked an English teacher collegue of mine and he didn't know either (without checking), but he thought "aeromodelling" looked correct.
I haven't given the plane a name yet becuase I have very grave fears that its maiden voyage may well follow the tradition set by the Titanic, so I will wait till after the maiden flight before I give it a name.
I think I am going to be more nervous about this solo flight than I was 37 years ago in a real Cessna. At least then I had had 10 hours of dual flying practice first!
Aircraft Hangars / Hangers (31/5/2008)
Hangar or Hanger?
From Yahoo.Com I found that there were 1,130,000 listings for the words "Aircraft Hanger" and 2,220,000 listings with the words "Aircraft Hangar". Therefore there also seems to be some confusion surrounding the spelling of the place where aircraft are housed. In the photo you can see a new model hangar (not yet patented). However, I think in this case the name should definitely be Aircraft Hanger. I thought this was a good way to store the model aircraft because it doesn't take up any usable room space.
Warning: Securely restrain your model aircraft before trying the remote control unit for the first time. Needless to say I didn't .......
My Cessna's maiden flight! I turned the remote control unit on first (as per instructions) and I had already set the throttle control to "0" so I confidently connected the battery to the aircraft. As the system fired up and I reached for the remote control unit there were a couple of beeps, lights flashing and then bbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrr, suddenly the aircraft lept from the hanger and headed for the opposite wall at full acceleration. I grabbed for it and in the process crushed the fuselage but the plane still kept going with me left behind hanging onto bits of the fuselage.
The plane was still trying to cut its way through my wall until I eventually pulled the battery connection free. My original intention was just to check that the control surface servos were operational. Why did the engine fire up?
On the remote control unit there are a number of switches "REV" and "NOR". Unfortunately the Throttle setting was on NOR however it needed to be on REV, therefore with the throttle set at zero it was actually on full throttle.
After a tube of glue and a couple of hours work the plane was again ready for another try, this time facing into the hanger, so it couldn't go anywhere if things went wrong. As I had reset the remote control switch there were no subsequent disasters. I must say I am very impressed with the power (thrust) that this little aircraft delivers.
All that remained to be done was to adjust the rudder, ailerons, and elevators so that the trim adjustments were centered when all control surfaces were neutral. You can see where I replaced and glued the section back into the fuselage, just behind the right wheel.
Now, a little wiser, we are ready to go-go-go!
To be continued ........ I hope!
Phillip Rekdale
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