First of all, I’m giving up on the Pico Stick. The main reason is that it takes forever for that plane to turn. I know I could put dihedral into the wings, but other problem with the plane is that it’s so delicate and light. It was fun flying it as a “floater” plane, but I think I’m going to put the parts into a FIK 80 which will be more durable and give better control and glide characteristics. Last weekend, when I was flying my Pico Stick at the local park, I met an older gentleman who had a wonderful electric glider. He was thermaling above the preschool and told me the design was from a free flight model from the 40s.

This morning, I flew the FIK 100 with a GWS 8×6 prop, and it’s a much faster plane than the Pico Stick with a better ability to turn. I have to remember that rudder is on the left stick and that only the elevator is on the right stick. The FIK 100 was taildragging since I was flying it with a GWS 8×4 or APC 8×3.8 since these were extra propellers from the Pico Stick, but then I realized I needed a propeller to pull the FIK 100 faster through the air so that it wouldn’t tail drag as much, and the 8×6 fit the bill. I also have APC 8×6’s, and I’ll see how those work. I do like the APC propellers since they’re a bit stiffer than the GWS’s.

On Friday, I was excited to fly my FIK 100 at Rancho San Antonio. Unfortunately, after a successful takeoff, the prop saver flew off, and the FIK 100 nosedived, and the front end broke off once again. I then tried to fly the Pico Stick, bt the prop saver flew off that plane too. I talked to another flyer, and he told me to put on blue Loctite so that the screw doesn’t vibrate loose. He also said to file a flat area on the propeller shaft for the prop saver screw to firmly hold on to.

I went to Aero Micro yesterday, and I purchased two prop savers along with 2.5 mm screws which had hex key instead of phillips heads to drive them. The hex key heads are much easier to secure without stripping the head. I also saw a Steven’s Aero Stik kit there, so I picked that up too for a future build along with 4 Futaba micro servos.

The Fik 100 flew off this morning, but for some reason, it had way too much down elevator, so it crashed (again!!! – the front end is like a boxer’s nose now with all the glue jobs I’ve performed on it). I had a successful flight with the Pico Stick, but I broke the right ring when I applied too much elevator during take-off after I tried to fly it again after my run. Fortunately, some polyurethane glue should fix both problems.

I finally had a successful take-off and short flight with the FIK 100 this morning using the baseball field at the local park as the landing field. My initial try broke the propeller since I’ve been using the right stick for rudder control, but on the FIK 100, I have to use the left stick, so when I tried to move the plane to the left, it also made the elevator push the plane down. I then trimmed the plane a bit to the left since I saw it was pulling to the right on takeoff, and it was very floaty at 1/3 throttle. The wing area on this plane really make it a nice glider when the engine is cut. After all the crashes and repairs this plane has been through, I’m so happy to finally see it in the air. One thing I noticed is this plane really wants to loop when I apply throttle. A carbon rod was inserted along the underside of the wing so that it won’t fold during stressful maneuvers.

Last Friday, after running at Rancho San Antonio, I flew a ParkZone Cessna 210 Minium at the RSA flying area. Initially, it was a little windy, and the Cessna was being taken away by the wind, but I eventually got the feel for hovering and penetrating against the wind with the use of the throttle and elevator controls.

On Sunday morning, I finally got the Pico Stick up into the air with a ROG takeoff. It looked so majestic with its slow silhouette against the morning sun. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to fly it too long because the battery on the DX6 transmitter gave out. Because of the short run time of the stock Nicad battery, I purchased a NIMH replacement from cheapbatterypacks.com. The servos were a little too far forward, pulling the elevator down and the rudder too far to the right, so I just slid the whole assembly holding the servos forward and secured it with a twist tie. The included motor from MAE is very pleasantly quiet.

I put a HobbyZone SuperCub tail wheel (only $2.99!) on the tail of the FIK 100, and it’s doing a much better job of supporting the tail for ROG. I still have to get a successful flight with that plane!

It’s interesting how much I care about the wind now that I’ve started flying RC airplanes. The early morning and evenings are calm, but the winds are high in the mid-afternoon. I’ll have to look into why this daily cycle occurs.

Ah, here’s the answer from USA Today:

Q: What causes wind and why do we feel it least during early morning and at night?

A: Wind is the result of forces in the atmosphere acting to move air around. One of the most dominant is the pressure gradient force, which shoves air around to try to balance differences in atmospheric pressure. The stronger the gradient, or change in pressure over any given distance, the stronger the force and faster the wind blows.

As air moves over rough ground, a frictional force of the air interacting with the terrain tends to slow it down. You can think of wind as a vast river of air thousands of feet thick that moves steadily over and around everything on the ground. It does this regardless of the time of day; it is more dependent on the location and strength of pressure systems. Winds most often are stronger away from the ground where the frictional force doesn’t apply.

But, as the sun comes up and heats the ground, rising warmth mixes the slower air near the ground with air moving faster that’s above. While slower-moving air is being drawn upward in the mix, faster-moving air is pushed downward, creating breezier conditions by day. After the sun goes down, as well as before it gets strong enough to warm the ground in the morning, this mixing process isn’t happening. So winds at night and in the morning usually are weakest. Of course, storms and fronts can mix the air anytime, night or day.

Learn lots more about wind by visiting USATODAY.com’s What and why of wind index.

(Answered by Chris Cappella, USATODAY.com weather team, Feb. 19, 2002)

Photos: Bat plane to spy for U.S. Army | CNET News.com

The U.S. Army wants a 6-inch spy plane that will gather data on sights, sounds, and smells in urban combat areas.It has given the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering $10 million and five years to help make “the bat” plane happen.

Researchers plan to equip the plane with tiny cameras for stereo vision, directional microphones, and devices that detect nuclear radiation and poisonous gas.

Credit: Eric Maslowski, research computer specialist, University of Michigan 3D Lab

Call me a cynic, but based on this mock up of the bat, I think the team working on the bat will spend $9,999,900 on keggers and then buy a micro rc plane 5 years from now from Target and make it look like a bat.