Ep 188: Rain, Rain, Go Away… Little Tommy wants to Fly!

[00:00:10] Hello, everyone, and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron.

[00:00:13] I'm Tom.

[00:00:14] And I'm Dave. The three of us are back.

[00:00:16] The three of us are back.

[00:00:18] I had to miss the last one.

[00:00:19] Sorry, guys. Welcome back.

[00:00:21] Thank you. I love that slide this time.

[00:00:23] I appreciate the leniency.

[00:00:29] Complicency.

[00:00:32] That might be more accurate.

[00:00:35] Yeah, I don't even remember what we talked about last time or why you weren't here. So it doesn't matter that much then.

[00:00:43] Well, I listened to that episode, and I thought you guys did a fine job. And clearly, the podcast doesn't need me anymore. You guys did such a good job. Yeah, I don't think that's the case. Anyway.

[00:00:56] Anyway. So, first things first. Yes. We receive from time to time things from our listeners.

[00:01:03] We do.

[00:01:04] While this is generally a thankless job, every now and then something comes through, and it's more than just a kind word.

[00:01:10] Right.

[00:01:10] And I want to give out to, or give a shout out to one of our listeners named Jeff from Minnesota.

[00:01:16] Don't. Don't. Sorry. Beat Dave to it.

[00:01:20] I was waiting for him to.

[00:01:21] Like for sure, don't. Yep.

[00:01:23] But he sent us a nice note, and I'm not going to read the entire thing, but the first two lines sum up, honestly, why we do this. He says, I just want to show my appreciation for your podcast. It has gotten me pumped up to do more building and flying. Yes. That's what I love to hear. Right. So, yeah. And then he goes on to mention that one of his other hobbies is making scroll saw ornaments, and he was kind enough to make each one of us an ornament of our podcast logo.

[00:01:48] Yeah.

[00:01:48] I think it's pretty cool.

[00:01:49] Wonderful. Very, very, very nice note.

[00:01:52] Yeah. So, thank you, Jeff, for spending the time to make and send us such a cool and unique

[00:01:56] Gift. Yeah. Like, if you're going to get a gift, this is the kind of gift that I appreciate the

[00:02:02] Most.

[00:02:03] Something that somebody has made for us. Put thought into it. Yeah, exactly.

[00:02:07] Yeah. I mean, I spent hundreds of hours myself on scroll saw. I really appreciate the amount of time that goes into something like that.

[00:02:13] That is impressive. The detail.

[00:02:15] So, I'm going to be honest. When I opened the package up, I saw it, and I was like, oh, cool. Somebody did this on their laser cutter.

[00:02:21] Yeah.

[00:02:22] But you look at the back, and there's no burn. I know. That's what I was looking at. I was like, wait, hold on. And then I read the note, and it said scroll. So, I was like, oh, that took some time. Yeah. Great job, Jeff. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

[00:02:32] You look fantastic. And it will definitely go on my Christmas tree this year, and I'll take pictures of it, and hopefully Ron will upload it to the website. Because you can't do it. You can do it.

[00:02:42] I can do Facebook stuff.

[00:02:43] I just never, like, I don't get on our website often enough and modify things, I should say, to stay proficient at it.

[00:02:51] Perhaps it's time to change that. Well, sure. Anyway.

[00:02:56] Yeah, it's so easy to send an email to Ron. Here, here, put this on the… Right. Yes.

[00:03:00] Yeah. Of the three of us, Ron is the youngest, and the most hip, and the most connected to technology. Would you agree with that statement, Ron?

[00:03:10] Hip, yes. That is, that's the word I would choose to describe myself. I am with it, dude.

[00:03:17] Anyway, thanks again, Jeff. A very, very thoughtful note, and the gifts were amazing. Excellent craftsmanship.

[00:03:24] Yep.

[00:03:25] So, next. Next.

[00:03:27] Your buddy has a new plane out.

[00:03:29] He does.

[00:03:30] Yeah. You want to talk about it?

[00:03:31] I do. So, boomerang, just today, as a matter of fact.

[00:03:35] Which, by the way, if we're going to say just today, that doesn't make a lot of sense. We're recording early this week.

[00:03:40] Oh, that's right. We are.

[00:03:41] We are off a few days. So, I have reasons I cannot record later in this week, and because of that, we're doing it early. So, if anything comes out, like Thursday, from other manufacturers.

[00:03:53] We'll talk about it in two weeks. Two and a half weeks. Weeks.

[00:03:57] Yeah.

[00:03:57] Anyway. At any rate, Boomerang RC Jets. Just today. One of my favorites. Released a new version of the Sprint. They're calling it the V3. Cool new camo paint scheme or covering scheme. A new design on the tip tanks and under tanks, as you like to call them.

[00:04:22] Like underpants, but tanks. Would that be?

[00:04:24] I mean, it makes sense, right?

[00:04:25] The rest of us? Well, they're actually underwing tanks, if you want to get technical. But, yeah.

[00:04:31] Oh, yeah.

[00:04:31] There they are. Out here at the outer portion of the wings. Really snazzy looking jet.

[00:04:37] Snazzy.

[00:04:38] I really dig the camo. The tan and OD. I bet it's going to look really good in the air, especially on a sunny day.

[00:04:45] So, OD for those.

[00:04:47] Olive drabs. There you go. There you go. But, yeah. So, that is released today. And I'm not sure if they're doing pre-orders for that yet or if it's on the.

[00:04:55] So, it's in stock. Outstanding. There you go. You didn't read over that.

[00:05:00] Well, I didn't.

[00:05:01] No. I didn't. Thanks for calling me out. So much for show prep. Right? I mean, I printed so much out for you. I thought maybe you'd talk a little bit about it other than the, oh, that's cool color.

[00:05:12] I went to the last paragraph to see what was new in the V3 and I sort of skimmed over there. Let's do it.

[00:05:17] Right. So, like, what size turbine? How big are we talking here? What do you need to complete it?

[00:05:21] What is it made of? It's a 79-inch wing. So many questions. It is 73 inches long. Projected weight about 29 pounds, which is about what my Ranger weighs, believe it or not. Turbine size 80 to 120. So, King Tech 102 or something in that range would be, like, ideal for that. You have one. I do. Huge fuel tank. 125 ounces. I noticed that is large. That is. And I know from looking at the sprints before, it's almost right on the CG.

[00:05:53] So, you can fill that sucker all the way up and it won't change throughout the flight, which is, I think, part of the appeal of the airplane. It's very, very forgiving.

[00:06:02] It also says it has a, stop laughing.

[00:06:05] I don't have my glasses on, so I have to put this really close to my face. I'm sorry. Okay? So, if you're not familiar with what a sprint looks like, it's a twin boom. They've been called lots of things over the years. What, Jet Cat, I think, was one. Yeah. Something like that. But it's a twin boom center fuselage kind of a thing. Kind of set up like an OV-10. Kind of. Kind of like an Elon.

[00:06:28] Way off. And it's wet. It kind of looks like a vampire. Exactly.

[00:06:31] Yep. If you're not familiar with the vampire, just Google de Havilland vampire and you'll get the gist. Or you could just Google boomerang sprint V3 and you'll see it. Cavernous access hatch.

[00:06:45] Cavernous.

[00:06:47] It does not say tool-less assembly. So, I'm hoping maybe they've updated it with that, without the wing bolts. But even if they didn't, it still goes together in like 10 minutes. So, not a big deal. Electric retracts with brakes included. So, I'm not sure there's a price on here.

[00:07:06] There was. Well, you didn't print it then, if there is. Maybe you didn't print it. I think it was $17.49 maybe.

[00:07:16] Well, that's actually less than I paid for my Ranger. So, and I got a good deal on my Ranger. So, very fairly priced, I would say. And, nice thing about this one is it's got a clear canopy, so you can put a cockpit in it. Cool. And a pilot, which is sweet. Ron is looking up the price, so.

[00:07:34] I want to make sure.

[00:07:35] Yeah. I got a question.

[00:07:36] Regarding these big fuel tanks.

[00:07:38] Yes.

[00:07:38] So, you start burning down. Do they have baffles in them to keep the sloshing to a minimum? Or you got all that fuel just banging around in there?

[00:07:46] Mine does not. My Atom, the tank in the Atom, also does not.

[00:07:54] That's a lot of fuel to be banging around. I mean, obviously, it's burning down.

[00:07:58] Right, right. No, I see what you're saying. But, yeah, to my knowledge, there's no baffles. Yeah. And I, to be honest, well, we'll talk about this in a little bit. But, on my Ranger, I didn't notice any weirdness after, after flying for a while. But, no, there's no baffles in the tank that I know of.

[00:08:18] Looks like 1749. There you go. That's 1749.

[00:08:21] That's not a bad deal for what you get. I agree.

[00:08:23] An airplane that's. Retracks and brakes and all that.

[00:08:26] And they're decent. It's a decent set of retracts. Because that's what, I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff that's in my Ranger. And they work great. So, so great. We'll talk about it shortly. Forgot about that.

[00:08:39] So, yeah.

[00:08:40] So, yeah. Sprint V3. Excuse me. Check it out. It's cool.

[00:08:45] Next. Shall we move on to, you guys did some flying at our local club?

[00:08:52] We did. Yeah. Yeah. We did. And you watched? I watched. I offered. But you still, you won't fly my stuff.

[00:08:59] No, no, no, no. And it was one of those things where I honestly, I remember what was going on that day. It was a busy day. And I just didn't feel like doing anything other than just watching. It was humid. It was very humid. Yeah. It kind of sucked on that one. But I got to watch you guys fly and crash and whatever else. You did. Yep. Do tell me what happened. Talk to me.

[00:09:21] I let Reggie fly the McTwist. That wasn't. That was just because my glasses were fogging up. I needed somebody to fly it. My glasses unplugged. He did a great job. He did okay. Yeah. I mean, it's okay. And the McTwist can turn around and bite you in a hurry.

[00:09:34] Yes. For sure. Because it can twist.

[00:09:37] It can twist on its own. Quickly. Yes. He did a great job with that. Yeah. And my glasses unfogged.

[00:09:44] Nice. Nice.

[00:09:45] Nice. And.

[00:09:47] That's a good flying airplane. Yeah. One of these days I'll get one of those ready-made RC airplanes. But other stuff first.

[00:09:55] Anyway, what else? Flew the Shadow Seeker. Did a test flight on it with the new radio. And, of course, that was completely no issue whatsoever because that thing is wonderful flying. And for some reason or other, the trims were almost dead on perfect. Nice.

[00:10:11] That makes for a good re-maiden. Not really a re-maiden on the airframe, but a re-maiden or a maiden for a radio system.

[00:10:18] Okay. I mean, I'm guessing that.

[00:10:20] We'll go with that.

[00:10:20] I'm moving the, I'm assuming a percentage is a percentage is a percentage. So, I'm moving the percentages over from the DX9 to the FreeSky. Gotcha. X20. So, I'm assuming 20% of throw is 20% of throw across the board. I'm assuming.

[00:10:39] You would think so. It would make sense.

[00:10:41] So far, it seemed to have worked on everything I've done. So, I'm assuming it's correct.

[00:10:45] Makes the switch easy.

[00:10:46] Yeah. So, that was nice. And first time I flew with that radio at night, I don't know. I have to do some more research on it. I think it auto-dims. Or at least it seems like it did.

[00:10:58] That's a handy feature.

[00:10:59] Because I forgot to turn the brightness down.

[00:11:02] Right.

[00:11:03] And it wasn't overly bright in the dark.

[00:11:06] Good deal.

[00:11:06] So, I have to look into that, see if it's doing it, or if I just accidentally bumped.

[00:11:11] If it does, that's a nice feature.

[00:11:12] That'd be great.

[00:11:13] Yeah. I don't think my iX does that. Does yours?

[00:11:17] No. Like an auto-dims? I just turn my screen off. Yeah. With the one-click thing. Yeah.

[00:11:22] Yeah. Yeah. I've just got a knob. I can turn it all the way up or turn it all the way down. And I just kind of leave it in the center because it works. Yep. And that's the same setting I was using in bright daylight previously. And then used it in the dark. And it was not super bright. So, I don't know. There's a possibility. Or maybe I'm just.

[00:11:40] It's all in your head, Dave.

[00:11:42] It's a good possibility. Maybe. I don't know.

[00:11:44] Could be.

[00:11:44] But, boy, that'd be a nice feature if it did. Would be.

[00:11:46] Yeah. Let's see what else. Daniel was there. Yeah. Daniel was there with the two-trip stick. The two-trip stick. I love that name. I know. It's like just almost a tongue twister, but not really.

[00:12:00] And it fired up very first flip, which was kind of unusual because usually.

[00:12:05] It's minus the Bluetooth ignition now.

[00:12:06] It's minus the Bluetooth ignition.

[00:12:08] So, it's got real ignition.

[00:12:10] No muffler.

[00:12:11] Still no.

[00:12:12] Still loud. It started first flip, which is very unusual for that engine. It first start of the day is quite.

[00:12:20] And this is a US-41.

[00:12:21] US-41. Yeah. It's a bit of a workout to get it going the first time, but normally it's fine after that. But it started first flip, ran great. He took off, flew it for quite a while.

[00:12:31] You guys ran on the ground. It sounded good. I mean, loud, but good.

[00:12:34] And then he said, it's losing power. And the engine was running great. It wasn't missing. It wasn't coughing, gagging, anything. It just, he said, all of a sudden, I got it firewalled and no power. And it just slowly slowing down and slowing down and slowing down. He got it turned around because we don't want to put it out in the corn because it's all of drab.

[00:12:53] Yeah. Yeah. You would have a hard time finding that in the corn right now.

[00:12:56] Especially in the dark.

[00:12:57] Yes.

[00:12:57] It was getting close to dark.

[00:12:59] Trust me. Ask me how I know.

[00:13:00] We will. He got it turned around and was back over the field. And then it just quit flying and dropped down on its nose. Came down hard because this thing is quite heavy. It came down hard. The only thing that happened to it is it ripped the landing gear out of it. Really super easy fix. Yeah. That's just a block. And it cracked the aluminum, cast aluminum. It's like a two by six. It goes on. Yeah. It's heavy. Yeah. And it cracked, it broke the cast aluminum engine mount.

[00:13:31] Ooh.

[00:13:32] And of course, he lost the propeller.

[00:13:33] Yeah.

[00:13:34] And that's the only damage to that airplane. Don't know why it lost power.

[00:13:39] You have to do some investigating. Did you find a back plate?

[00:13:43] I found one. He's not going to buy it until he's sure that the crankshaft is not bent.

[00:13:49] Oh, okay.

[00:13:50] He don't want to spend $30 for it.

[00:13:51] Eh, can't blame him. How much is a crankshaft just in case?

[00:13:55] I have no idea. I never even bothered to look to see if we can even find one for it. Yeah. If it's bent, it's probably not bent very bad because we kind of flipped it there on the ground and it didn't wobble. Okay. So,.

[00:14:08] That's good.

[00:14:09] Did you guys check like the mounting of the servo for the throttle? I didn't check anything.

[00:14:15] We went on to other projects after we just picked it up and threw it in the trailer. But that's a good possibility. Just curious for something. It's possible. He had throttle control.

[00:14:24] Oh, so he could still.

[00:14:26] Yeah. So, that probably eliminates that. But, yeah, that's a good thought that it could have.

[00:14:29] I thought you meant he just couldn't get the RPM out of it.

[00:14:33] Yeah. It just. At wide open throttle, it just wasn't turning up. It was just slowing down.

[00:14:39] Like maybe it was lean, maybe?

[00:14:41] It almost acted like it overheated. But I don't think it did.

[00:14:46] Yeah, I would find that hard to believe because it's an open. It's not cowling. No, there's no cowling.

[00:14:52] And it's the same settings we flew it on in bright daylight, 95 degrees a couple weeks ago. So, I don't know. It remains to be seen. But luckily, very little damage to the aircraft. Good. That backplates the big issue.

[00:15:08] Well, doggone it.

[00:15:10] Doggone it. Right.

[00:15:12] But he did fly the shadow see her and he did a pretty good job of that one.

[00:15:15] Yep.

[00:15:15] And he did a big twist as well.

[00:15:17] Oh, that's right. He did. I forgot about that. Two big twist and two shadows.

[00:15:21] Nice. Mm-hmm.

[00:15:23] What else?

[00:15:23] That's all I've got. Oh. I guess it's me since Ron didn't do any flying.

[00:15:28] I did not do any flying then.

[00:15:29] So, yeah, I put my Turbo Timber Evolution in the corn on the second flight of the evening. And totally my fault. Blew the tire. Yeah, it did. It did deflate the left main tire, which I quickly aired back up thanks to Dave's pump.

[00:15:48] Thing in my bag, baby.

[00:15:52] Totally my fault. The second flight, the first flight, it was sluggish. I'm like, what? This thing is not as responsive as it normally is. And, like, I have a lot of flights on this thing. So, I know when something has changed. I'm like, what the heck? But I went ahead and flew the whole flight, the first flight, and got it back. And I realized I was on low rates or mid rates. Mid rates. The whole flight is like, oh, well, dummy. That's the problem.

[00:16:14] So, for the next flight, yeah, I put a battery in it and turned up the rates and stalled it right off the takeoff. And I kind of mushed slash spun into the corn. And it never made it to the ground. So, not a scratch on it. It got really, other than the deflated tire. Got really lucky. But, yeah, that was totally my fault. But, yeah, two more flights after that, no problems.

[00:16:39] Yeah. You got back on the horse.

[00:16:40] I did. Yeah, I'm not scared. Ain't scared. Ain't scared. Ain't scared. And then what else did I fly? What else did I have there that night?

[00:16:49] That's sad. I'm trying to remember, too.

[00:16:50] I don't think.

[00:16:51] You had another one. You had the glider.

[00:16:55] The night radian. That's right.

[00:16:57] Ah, that's it.

[00:16:57] And I've complained about that thing since I got it from Dave. Which I didn't like it. But that's why you. And Dave wasn't a huge fan either. But, man, I tell you what, that night, there was no wind, right? Like, and it was dusk, which, night radian. You're flying at night or dusk. But, like, I don't, I didn't change anything. Like, I didn't change any of the programming. I didn't change the CG. I didn't change anything. And it flew great. Like, I was really happy.

[00:17:25] Like, I flew it twice. I liked it so much. Which is saying something because flights on that thing are, 10, 15 minutes or whatever. still annoys me that the lights don't do what they're supposed to do. And I'll figure that out someday. But.

[00:17:40] It's like they're overheating or something and shutting down.

[00:17:42] Yeah. It's weird. but anyway, I like that airplane now. And I'm probably going to hang on to it and redo the lights eventually and make them work the way they're supposed to. So.

[00:17:53] Yeah.

[00:17:53] I think you had mentioned it that night. Maybe it has something to do with trying to fly it in wind previously. but there was absolutely no wind. And it was a pure joy to fly that night.

[00:18:03] Yeah. They're, they're hands off.

[00:18:04] I mean, they really are. It truly was. And no matter where I was at with now wide open, it does tend to climb. But like anything other than wide open throttle, hardly any trim change.

[00:18:14] Hmm. It just flies way different than the original Radian. Because Daniel's got the original Radian. I've flown it quite a bit. And they don't fly anything alike.

[00:18:22] Oh, really? Okay. It's probably a bit heavier, obviously, because of the lights and all the extra stuff they have on that. See that. The unlit Radian is way better than my book.

[00:18:30] Okay.

[00:18:32] Well, I mean, the point for me of that type of airplane, because it's not a great glider. I mean, it really isn't. And if you want a glider, you're going to pick something different. The point of that is just the fun. Sorry, I wasn't trying to play. Are you trying to put these with you? Weirdo? No, but the point of that airplane is to be able to fly relaxing flights at night.

[00:18:52] Mission accomplished.

[00:18:53] Right.

[00:18:53] I had two very relaxing flights. Yeah.

[00:18:56] I just, I wish it would have ailerons. I think that's kind of the. I mean, I don't really need it.

[00:19:02] Yeah, I've got the rudder throw really cranked up on this one.

[00:19:05] I like having it, though. I just like having extra control.

[00:19:07] But there's something nice about the simplicity of just flying around with one hand on the transmitter. one stick.

[00:19:14] I've got the rudder on the right stick, by the way. I have it on, or I had it on both. Yeah, I had it on both as well. Oh, did you? Yeah, just because I have a tendency on, to move the rudder.

[00:19:23] Well, that's just it. I was still feeding in rudder, and I didn't want to be feeding in double the rudder. So I just didn't. That's not how it works, by the way. Oh.

[00:19:33] It picks one. Somebody's got some feedback coming through.

[00:19:35] Mine's up there, so.

[00:19:39] But no, that's fine, I believe you. Anyway, it's not like exponential. If you go 25% on both of them, it doesn't go 50%. No, either way.

[00:19:51] I have the habit. I still fly with rudder, so I just put it on the. Same. Either way.

[00:19:57] But whatevs. Yeah, I did it that way, so I could fly it one-handed. So I could just, same.

[00:20:04] Yeah. Just do-do-do with my right hand while my left hand picks my nose or whatever. I think those were the only two airplanes I took, now that I think about it, because, yeah.

[00:20:19] See, I'd have to make notes, because I don't remember. I thought there was something else there that you had, but I don't remember if you flew it. Was there one you took, but you forgot something?

[00:20:29] No, that was Reggie. He forgot the wing bolts or something. Oh, he broke off a wing bolt inside. Oh, that's right. So he had not flying any of his own, but no, I.

[00:20:39] I remember that one. I had everything there, I thought.

[00:20:42] I didn't take any of the EDFs, because I don't like flying them off the grass. Right.

[00:20:47] When I can go to Eli and fly them off the. And I had the slow ultra stick, or ultra slow stick, or whatever it is.

[00:20:52] Slow ultra stick, yeah. Mm-hmm.

[00:20:54] Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's.

[00:20:56] Yeah, anyway. Oh, no, I took the cap. That's right. Okay, see, I knew it was something else. That's right. Now, that's all coming back to me. Oh, man. Yeah, the new cap from Samson RC. I added a little bit of weight to the nose to try to get rid of the, we've talked about it before, it ratchets, when you give it the elevator. So I added quite a bit of nose weight and rechecked the CG, and now it's, balance is where the manual says to balance.

[00:21:22] I didn't get it right the first time. And now the ratchet is gone. So that's good. I think I am going to take a little bit of the weight back out of it to get it to be a little more responsive. But now it flies. It flies really, really nice now. So I flew it twice that night, and then it got dark, and there's no lights on it, obviously. But yeah, those are the three airplanes I took. Now it's all coming back to me.

[00:21:46] That feels better. Like, no, I don't feel like I'm quite as crazy as I thought I was.

[00:21:51] Yeah, yeah. I'm very happy with that airplane. I'm very happy that it's still in one piece, because it was seriously tail heavy.

[00:22:03] A handful?

[00:22:04] I mean, it wasn't really. Not really a handful. It just did that weird ratcheting thing whenever you would give it up elevator, and no matter how much or how little, it would do that. A testament to the wing design, I guess, that it didn't stall and spin. It didn't turn around and bite you. No. So that's great. So I got really, really lucky, I think. But yeah, I really like that airplane. I look forward to putting many flights on that one.

[00:22:29] We say that about so many of them. I know.

[00:22:31] I just look forward to putting many flights. Speaking of many flights, you and I added up our flights for the year, and… Oh, that's embarrassing.

[00:22:39] Stop.

[00:22:39] Okay. Well, we won't talk about it then.

[00:22:41] Well, you can. It's fine.

[00:22:42] 98. 98 flights. For both of us, which is really bizarre, because we've not been, like, syncing up for, flying times. But it's really kind of ironic that we're at 98. Where are you at, Dave?

[00:22:56] I don't know. Six? He's at more than six. Every time I go fly, it's about six. So I might be closing in on 50. Nice. Which is way off the count.

[00:23:08] Yeah. I'm definitely not where I wanted to be. Weather's killed me. Weather has sucked a lot this year. There was a period there where wind was really kind of keeping us, keeping a man down.

[00:23:19] The wind, and then all of a sudden humidity, and… Yeah. I know that you Florida folks are going, what humidity? Right.

[00:23:26] Corn sweat, man. Corn sweat. That's a thing. It is. It's like a real thing, and it's going to be bad the next two or three weeks.

[00:23:32] Well, and so, like, I flew a lot here last year, and I have not… I mean, I think I've probably only flown three or four times here this year is all…

[00:23:42] Well, you have projects going on there.

[00:23:43] I know. That sucks. I want to be able to just fly.

[00:23:46] Well, get them done. Just knock them out. I know. Yeah. Just knock them out, and then you're done, and then fly every night.

[00:23:53] Sounds great. Yeah. See how that goes.

[00:23:58] But, yeah. Yeah, we always say we're looking forward to whatever airplane it is once we get it down. And, oh, I'm looking forward to putting a lot of flights on this one. Stuff happens, or we get another airplane.

[00:24:10] Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I haven't got anything since Toledo. I don't think I have either.

[00:24:16] I have not bought very many airplanes this year, and I'm not going to, because I have other things. I'm spending money on it at this point, but… Yeah. Like, hobby stuff, but, yeah. Tommy's looking… You've got stuff that he's calculating.

[00:24:30] Joe Null.

[00:24:32] I said I haven't bought that much this year, right?

[00:24:37] You might have said that. But I think Joe Null is the last purchase I've made, airplane-wise.

[00:24:44] Same here. I got the Viper 70, the orange one. Yeah, same here.

[00:24:50] And then two extras, and…

[00:24:53] Yeah, that's all. Just all. Yeah. We've already talked about that.

[00:24:58] We don't need to talk about Joe Null again.

[00:24:59] So we're good.

[00:25:01] Although I haven't been flying, I've been getting quite a bit of shop time in, but nothing I can technically talk about. So, a lot of sanding and a lot of painting.

[00:25:09] Boo. It'll be a good… I mean, it'll be a good-looking airplane. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[00:25:14] I was hoping to have it finished by this weekend, but with all the humidity coming this week, it's… The paint's never going to dry.

[00:25:22] That makes it problematic to paint. Yeah, when the humidity is that high. Yeah. So what else?

[00:25:30] We did some flying… I was going to say, before that, though… Oh. We'll get to the Eli trip. I like to go in order. Okay. That way I can not forget things. I got a little bit more trailer work done. So I ended up buying a refrigerator-freezer combo for it. Just a little small one. Why are you laughing? I just… You make fun of me now, but when we're somewhere… You're right.

[00:25:55] And I have cold drinks and ice, and it's hot, you're going to be like, oh, I shouldn't have made fun of you. And I'm going to be like, oh, look, you can't have…

[00:26:02] No, I'll still make fun of you, because I'll just have a cooler with ice in it and drinks. It's not a big deal.

[00:26:07] But anyway, so, yeah. And then I ended up buying a lithium battery, a 12-volt, 300-amp-hour lithium battery for it. So I've got some of that wired up.

[00:26:17] But I'm not to make fun of you, because I will probably have to use that someday.

[00:26:22] For what? To charge batteries. Right.

[00:26:24] At our field.

[00:26:25] Yeah. So with that, so I had an inverter at home. I'll probably end up buying a different one sometime, but I had a 1,000-watt inverter. So I wanted to see how long I can run just the refrigerator and lights, because I had lights on off while I was working it and all that kind of stuff, off of that battery. It turns out, well, I shouldn't say it yet.

[00:26:48] So I was trying to dial in the temperature on the refrigerator, because I actually wasn't sure if, like, 1 was cold and 9 was not as cold, or, vice versa, is 9 the coldest. But anyway, so it turns out, the higher the number, the colder it is. I found out 2 was not very cold just by feeling in there and stuff, and so I turned it to 8. So I ended up going out with a thermometer and checked it.

[00:27:13] The refrigerator was at 30 degrees, which is negative 1 Celsius for our everybody else friends. And the freezer was negative 29 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh, my gosh. Now, that's in a 90, I think it was 88 degrees in the trailer, according to the thermometer I have in there, which, by the way, that's 24 degrees below zero Celsius, for anybody else that needs to know. And so at that setting, I can run with that battery and that whole setup about two and a half days.

[00:27:52] Oh, that's impressive. I was hoping for longer, to be honest. Two and a half days running a compressor that compresses.

[00:28:02] Those refrigerators are not the most efficient ones in the face of the earth. Yeah.

[00:28:06] Well, and so that, okay, so that's the other thing that I figured out. So most of the time when it was on, it was pulling about a little over 5 amps. But one full amp of that was just the inverter. So no matter what, it's always pulling. It was like between 0.97 and 1.03 amps just with the converter.

[00:28:28] There's got to be a more efficient inverter out there. And that's, or inverter, not converter, sorry.

[00:28:32] But yeah, so that's kind of one reason I want to get a new one because the one I have now is, I mean, it's probably 20 years old. So hopefully newer ones would be a little bit more efficient and not kill so much. Yeah. Well, what is it about an, well, I guess the fact that it changes from voltages and stuff. It's magic, I don't know how it works.

[00:28:53] Yeah. But it pulls about an amp just by itself. Apparently, yeah. That's not insignificant.

[00:28:59] Right. Well, so a 300 amp hour battery would take 300 hours to run it down just on that. But yeah. Yeah, it just seems excessive.

[00:29:09] That's kind of what I thought. Let me know what you find because I don't even have an inverter in my trailer.

[00:29:14] They're kind of handy, I found.

[00:29:16] I mean, I'm just, I run, if it's plugged in, it's got AC. If it's not, it's running on DC.

[00:29:21] Well, and so that's the, that's the other reason I went with a battery like this because I'm planning on, so I bought the, what's it called, the portable air conditioner that I wanted to try out in there. It's useless. It, it actually makes it hotter in there than, it's weird. Like, I guess you're not supposed to use the single hose for enclosed spaces like that because it creates a suction and just pulls hot air in more than it can cool and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:29:48] So anyway, my plan is to get a rooftop 12 volt air conditioner. I found one that's like a 10,000 BTU, which should be plenty for in there. And it's only like a grand. So only a grand. I mean, for, I think that's pretty good for something like that, honestly. Yeah.

[00:30:08] Oh, this is the one you, you measured to make sure you could get it in the shop and all that kind of stuff. Okay.

[00:30:12] Yeah. So it's low profile. Yeah. And I'll have like three or four inches of, of play. So I should be fine. You put a 14 by 14 hole in the roof. I do. And that's okay. Cause I, I have room between the, the, bracing and stuff. so I think with that, I'll be able to run that off of the 12 volt thing and then hopefully have enough power, like maybe the last hour of the drive or whatever, where I'm going half hour, use the remote control to turn that on.

[00:30:40] So it's cooled down by the time I get wherever I am. but anyway, so that's the next step obviously would be the air conditioner and that will be hopefully this year. Like I would like to have that done before the jet meet because I am really not a big fan of heat. And then the, the plan probably in the spring, I would like to do the, the solar panels and then it would be completely off grid. That would be nice.

[00:31:06] Get a cassette toilet put in there and he's good to go. So I was thinking that, but anyway, I wasn't going to talk about it.

[00:31:11] The shower in the corner. Eh, I can use baby wipes. That's true. You could rough it. Yeah.

[00:31:17] So yeah, I mean that, that's what I've been doing. I've spent more time on that than I like to admit. I actually had to buy a, so I was looking at chargers too, cause you have to charge the battery. And what I actually found they make, I don't know what they're called, but I think it's like an RV power supply that will power, like it will power the air conditioner on its own.

[00:31:39] Just being plugged into the wall, it converts it down obviously to 12 volts for that while charging the battery at the same time. So it's a kind of a two in one, like a hundred amp power supply. So with that, I'll be able to charge and run the air conditioner and do everything I need while I'm plugged in. And then when I unplug, just go back over to the, using the battery for power.

[00:32:03] Is that something you'll have to manually switch over when you unplug or what?

[00:32:07] Not if I leave it plugged into the, inverter. If I leave the, like the only thing in there right now that's 110 volts is the, refrigerator. And so if I leave that just plugged into the inverter, then it'll just charge the battery and stuff and power it that way.

[00:32:21] Cool. Yeah. Neat. That'll be nice. That'll be nice. yeah.

[00:32:27] The plan would then be able to go without having to buy a camper or, hotel room. Right. Go to a certain fly-ins that are not too far away or something like that. And just throw a cot in there and stay in there for the night. Maybe if you go with me, we can cuddle.

[00:32:45] Only if it's cold. Mm. Cause you don't like the heat.

[00:32:48] Well, I can make it cold. That's the plan, right? Anyway. Yeah.

[00:32:53] So that's what you've been working on mostly. Mm-hmm. Cool. Yeah.

[00:32:58] Now. I like it. Now we can talk about what you really want to talk about. You want to talk about last weekend?

[00:33:04] Yeah.

[00:33:05] So last weekend I went to Eli and I found like, I know you're excited about your stuff, but what I'm excited about too, I found the jet fits in the car.

[00:33:13] Yeah. That's actually surprising.

[00:33:15] With, and actually I can fit the jet in the car. And all the jet stuff. And all the jet stuff, which is five gallon thing of fuel. Which is not small. Which is my transmitter case that is not small. No, it is not. Which is the fuselage, the wings, the rear stab, the fire extinguisher, all the stuff I need fits in the car without using the frunk, by the way, charger, batteries, all that without using the frunk. And if I really tried, I can fit two other people in there too.

[00:33:51] And your stand. Did you say that?

[00:33:53] Oh, and my stand. I forgot about that. But yeah, I brought the stand too.

[00:33:55] Which is not small either. Mm-mm.

[00:33:57] It folds up nicely. It does. But the top little arm thing is pretty good size. Yeah. Yeah. All that fits in the car.

[00:34:04] That's actually, it's awesome. I know. It's impressive. It's got a pastor trunk on that, right?

[00:34:10] Mm-hmm. Yeah. Otherwise it wouldn't work. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. But I would, like I said, if I packed a little differently, I'd have room for Piper and Crystal to come with me too. That's awesome. And we would be all set for the day.

[00:34:22] Yeah. And that would be getting to what we always talk about. Just take one airplane, fly for the day, and get good at flying that airplane. that sort of plays into that.

[00:34:33] You're right. But I did bring two airplanes. I forgot. I brought the DLG, which it's an airplane. I mean, it doesn't come apart or anything. It's boring.

[00:34:42] It's not, well, okay, it was.

[00:34:45] But I would, I always make the mistake of trying that when it's not hot. Like, honestly, Sunday was not hot. No, it wasn't hot. Nope. So I wasn't able to actually try it with thermals and all that kind of stuff. And the one thing that I regret when I took it, you have to unplug the batteries. It has those little PS125 or whatever those little white connectors are.

[00:35:08] Yeah. I don't remember what they're called. I don't know what they're called.

[00:35:10] But I freaking pulled one of them out. And I, instead of pulling the actual connector out, my finger slipped off and grabbed the wire and pulled one of the wires out.

[00:35:18] Dang it.

[00:35:19] So I have to buy new batteries now. They're cheap. That's fine. But it still sucks.

[00:35:23] Kind of not fun.

[00:35:25] Yeah.

[00:35:25] I'm sorry you did that.

[00:35:26] I am too. Thank you for your condolences. I appreciate that. So, yeah, I got a flight in on the jet. And I got a couple of flights in on that. It was rainy. It was waiting out a lot. But I am now finished talking. And I'm handing it over to you.

[00:35:44] Well, the cat's kind of already out of the bag because I put it all over Facebook.

[00:35:47] Yeah. There's only like three people that follow us.

[00:35:49] Well, that's true. So, but yeah, I was able to get my turbine waiver flight accomplished.

[00:35:55] Where is that? It's on here somewhere.

[00:35:57] Nope.

[00:35:58] Well, that, but when it wasn't that.

[00:36:01] Whatever. I quit.

[00:36:02] You need to label those.

[00:36:04] But I can change them. I change them often. So.

[00:36:06] Yeah. But you don't remember what you change yourself a diagram.

[00:36:09] Yeah. Anyway. Anyway.

[00:36:14] I guess I don't have that anymore.

[00:36:16] Okay. But yeah. I accomplished my waiver application flight.

[00:36:22] Thanks to Ron and Miguel.

[00:36:24] They assisted me in getting that done in between rain showers.

[00:36:30] Actually, I don't even know if I would call that in between.

[00:36:33] What do you mean?

[00:36:34] It was kind of sprinkling while you were flying.

[00:36:37] It was more like a drizzle. Okay. It was sprinkling. Yeah. But it's done. Yeah. Miguel said I did fine. So he was comfortable signing the waiver and you were comfortable signing the waiver also. And I appreciate that. And it's, yeah, the paperwork is sent in and the fee has been paid. And I am now a wavered turbine.

[00:37:00] Yay. So you did very good on your flight. Thank you. You landed a little fast. I did. Which I don't blame you. Right. It is. It's hard to judge speed and all that kind of stuff.

[00:37:11] That was my second landing with a jet, period. Yeah. So.

[00:37:16] And you did fine.

[00:37:17] Yeah. Like I said, you did great. I did keep a little bit of throttle in because the last thing I wanted to do on my turbine waiver flight was crash the dang thing. Yeah. At the end of the flight, what I mean? Because that would have been a for sure fail.

[00:37:28] Right. Well, I got to get the next one. So what you need to do now that you don't have to wait for, well, you still have to have five flights.

[00:37:35] Yes, I need five supervised flights.

[00:37:37] Next time when we go over, I'm sure we'll get that knocked out. Yep. but just spend time flying it, go up high, practice stalls, see what it looks like. that was one thing that really made me more comfortable with, with my jet because one flight was just simply take off, go all the way up, stall, stall, stall, stall, stall, different angles. See how it acts, see what it does. Yeah.

[00:37:59] And the nice thing about the MB339 is no matter what angle you're at, when it stalls, it stalls even. Like if you're 45 degrees and you stall it, it just comes right back to, to horizontal or horizontal. Yeah.

[00:38:12] Yep. One thing you'll need to learn.

[00:38:14] Yeah. Obviously. That's the plan. Yeah. And also getting an idea of how fast the stall is on that one.

[00:38:21] But, but yeah, that's, that's certainly, certainly the plan. and the, along with flying the snot out of it, cause I, I did enjoy it. Like, even though I was nervous and there was some shaking going on. Yeah. I saw that. I still had fun. I mean, I still really, really enjoyed flying it. I mean, even though it was, it was kind of a, a structured flight, I couldn't just go up there and kind of do whatever I wanted. Cause I, you're limited on time.

[00:38:49] There's only so much fuel, even though that tank is huge. there's, there's certain things you have to accomplish during that flight. So I couldn't just go up and do whatever I wanted. Right. even though I couldn't do what I wanted, I still had fun. I still really, really enjoyed flying it. So that was a good sign to me. I wasn't so nervous that I didn't enjoy flying the airplane.

[00:39:09] And it makes that, that weird ranger sound with the, oh yeah.

[00:39:15] The humming. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:39:17] I don't know if that's length of pipe or resonance of something or whatever it is, but it seems

[00:39:21] Like they, all the ones I've seen fly, they do it, which I think is, it sounds cool.

[00:39:26] Yeah. At first I thought it was like a turbine imbalance or something like that, but that's definitely not just how they are.

[00:39:32] Yeah. it's not, like I did, like after the flight was over and we, went over the, the post-flight interview.

[00:39:40] Yeah. Checklist. Just a conversation to make sure you understood everything.

[00:39:43] I did put the airplane on the stand and I went every, over every nut and bolt. And so that noise is, I don't think it's flutter.

[00:39:52] No, no, no, absolutely not.

[00:39:53] It's a unique sound.

[00:39:54] All the other rangers I've heard fly have that same sound to it.

[00:39:58] So I think it sounds cool. Mm-hmm. And man, it looks so much, so I put the wingtip tanks on it because I thought maybe that would help with orientation because I remember on the maiden, now granted I flew the maiden as if, sorry, Reggie, as if Reggie was flying it, like I was way far away, but first time I'd ever flown a jet period and it was a maiden.

[00:40:18] Not that I had trouble with orientation, but like I could see how I could potentially get into trouble in certain attitudes. so I put the tip tanks on and man, that helped like no doubt whatsoever what orientation the airplane is in. It's just that weird little thing up on the end of the wingtips that just makes it really kind of stand out in the, in the background. So yeah, yeah, I'm super happy.

[00:40:47] Can't wait to get over there to fly it some more, which I'm going to have to wait

[00:40:51] Because you're going to be out of town and yeah, maybe a couple of weeks.

[00:40:54] We'll have to make a day of it.

[00:40:56] Yeah. Yeah. So, so what, how, how did you feel? Like, were you nervous? Were you, I know you were a little bit nervous, but like for sure, what on a scale of one to 10, how, how calm did you feel? How prepared did you feel? How nervous did you feel? How, I mean, just like, cause it, I mean, honestly, it took me several flights to get more comfortable. Yeah. I would not. And I think, honestly, I think we kind of rushed with your turbine waiver. Absolutely.

[00:41:23] Because of weather and all that kind of time too. Yeah. Right. whereas I, I wasn't as rushed as that. Yeah. I had the, the ability to get several flights on it with somebody else and all that kind of stuff, walking me through everything. Right.

[00:41:37] So what did you, I feel like, so when it comes to preparedness, I felt like I was pretty well prepared because I watched you go through the whole process. Now, granted I wasn't there for your waiver flight, but I've seen you fly the jet and I saw you with, Ali, working on the jet and, I think I saw him do the maiden. I think I was there for that.

[00:42:00] But anyway, at any rate, I, I felt like I was fairly well prepared because I, like I said, I've watched you go through the process. I read all the stuff on the AMA's website more than once. Yeah. so I felt fairly confident in the, in the, checklist part of it, the, the, the discussion part of it.

[00:42:21] And right up until I taxied out, I wasn't nervous, like at all, like the startup that, going over the startup procedure and what I would do if there was a fire and all that kind of stuff. I really didn't feel like I was nervous until I was taxiing out for the takeoff. And then that's when, that's when the nerves started hitting me and I was like, oh gosh, I guess I am really nervous, but again, that was the second time I'd ever flown a jet.

[00:42:48] Well, I guess you did let me fly yours a little bit for like a couple minutes, but that's only the second time I've ever flown this airplane and I did the maiden. So like, this is only the first flight post maiden. So I think that sort of made me a little more nervous just because, oh my gosh, this is only the second flight on this airplane and it's all me because there was no buddy box. That's the other thing.

[00:43:10] You can't do a buddy box on that.

[00:43:12] Your, your waiver qualification flight has to be solo, no buddy box. So, yeah, I, that, that part of it sort of made me nervous. Just the fact that it was so new. Now, if I had 10 flights on it, on a buddy box prior to that, I can't say if I would have been as nervous, but I don't think I would have been.

[00:43:31] Well, and so I will also say that you, you have a lot of experience with fast airplanes. You have a lot of experience with EDFs and all that kind of stuff. So while it's, I think uncommon for a second flight to be your actual check flight, you were practicing, you knew the, the basics of it with other airplanes. Right. And honestly, once you get going with the jet and you get over the, for me, it's the, the mental, what's what I'm looking for?

[00:44:02] The, the mental, block or meant whatever of a hurdle of this is expensive airplane. If something happens, it's going to be a embarrassing, B financially terrible and C, I don't want to have to walk out, a thousand feet to go pick up a flaming ball of garbage. so you have a lot of that stuff that kind of, in my mind is, is kind of going through as I'm flying and all that kind of stuff. And then you're, you're thinking about setting up for landing.

[00:44:36] You're thinking about all that kind of stuff too. And now I get in my head a lot with, okay, slow down, but don't go too slow. Oh, speed up. Am I too high? Am I too low? If, if I can just get to the point where I don't think about it, it's a, it's a lot better.

[00:44:52] Right.

[00:44:52] But like I said, for you, for your second flight and stuff, I think I got a little off topic. You had experience with other airplanes. This really doesn't fly that differently than other airplanes. Not really. Physically. Right. and I would venture to say. I haven't flown years, obviously, so I don't know how it flies characteristic wise, but my MB339 is easier to fly than the Viper 90.

[00:45:18] I would concur with that assessment and having flown yours and mine, yours flies easier, better. I don't know if I would say better because they fly different.

[00:45:31] Yeah.

[00:45:32] But it's certain, yours is certainly easier and probably I'll find out eventually, that it's probably more forgiving too. Mine?

[00:45:39] Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's the, that's the point. It's supposed to be a trainer jet. Right. So you kind of skipped the, the Ranger really isn't what I would consider like a first trainer type jet.

[00:45:48] It's definitely not a trainer. Right. It's a good first jet because it's not terribly expensive, but it's definitely not a good first jet.

[00:45:57] Right.

[00:45:58] Or, or, or, or a good first high performance airplane if you want to generalize it that

[00:46:03] Way. That's probably a better way of putting it.

[00:46:04] But, but yeah, the, I, for sure was nervous. but I did feel like I was prepared, like I said, cause I got to watch you through the whole process and, I wasn't nervous about flying it until I was taxing out. And I will say, even though I was nervous, I wasn't knee shaking nervous like I was when I flew that stupid Viper on floats.

[00:46:29] That's like, I don't, I can't explain why there's that difference, but maybe it was the shame that would accompany crashing the Viper on floats that, then the, maybe not shame so much as pity that would follow if I had crashed my jet. what I mean?

[00:46:45] Yeah.

[00:46:45] But yeah, once, oh, the landing, we can talk about the landing. That was fun.

[00:46:50] Well, let's talk about the, the takeoff first. Oh, not the takeoff, but I, so the touch and go, no, no, no, you're, you're taxiing out. Like I knew you were on your, on your check flight and this was your thing. So I was watching, I was trying to be quiet and just let you do what you were going to do until it got time to call out the moves you had to do and stuff. Right. So you're taxiing out.

[00:47:17] And in my mind, I'm just sitting there thinking, okay, he's going to throttle up here a little bit to taxi a little farther. And you never did. You had to have been doing two miles an hour.

[00:47:26] It was slow.

[00:47:26] The whole, I mean, it was the slowest taxi I have ever seen.

[00:47:30] Again.

[00:47:30] It's a long runway when you're watching that.

[00:47:32] It is.

[00:47:33] I'm like, oh, look, it's time for dinner now.

[00:47:34] And here, and here's why. So when I flew it on the maiden, Miguel, was gracious enough to let me do the maiden and we buddy boxed and we use the pilot link buddy box system with the, there's three options.

[00:47:51] All you had control of was.

[00:47:53] All I had were the four basic channels, like, rudder, elevator, aileron and throttle. That's all you get with that. He had the brakes, he had the trim, he had the flaps, he had the gear, he had all the other controls, that I didn't have. So like on the maiden, when I did the takeoff, he did the taxiing because he had the brakes. I didn't have any brakes. Okay. and then when I landed, he did the brakes and the taxi back.

[00:48:22] So I have never taxied even this airplane until my qualification flight. So I was, I was still trying to get a feel for the brakes. I was trying to figure out where the modulation, between really stopping the thing and just kind of, because at idle, it moves like it, it will move not fast, but.

[00:48:41] Well, yeah. With, with the brakes off.

[00:48:42] With the brakes off. Yeah. It moves. And I didn't know how fast it would go at idle. So I'm trying to modulate. So that's why it took so long to taxi out for the takeoff. yeah, it, it was an extended taxi.

[00:48:55] I had time to go get a drink, take a nap. And went and ate dinner.

[00:48:58] And I'm sure Miguel was probably thinking the same thing, but I don't care. Like it was, it was my qualification flight to.

[00:49:06] Absolutely.

[00:49:07] To, accomplish however I saw fit. And yeah, it was taxing from this point on will not, will not take that long.

[00:49:16] I get it. I just, I just had to make fun of you for that a little bit though. Cause it was, it was funny.

[00:49:20] Yeah.

[00:49:21] You had to stop fuel halfway down.

[00:49:22] I know. Well, Ron actually said he was like concerned because the run-up was kind of long. Cause we went through some explanation while we were running it. And I was trying to get all the air bubbles out of the thing. And yeah, there was, it wasn't a, we ran the engine a long time before the takeoff, but that's a 96 ounce tank.

[00:49:37] No, you're right.

[00:49:38] In the airplane with a six minute timer. So we, we had plenty of fuel. And yeah, when I landed, it was almost still, it was just under half a tank. Yeah. So, and that was with actually more than six minutes out flying. Well, not really. Wait, did you reset your timer or not? I did not. So it was probably four ish, maybe, maybe it was six minutes. Cause we did go past the timer by a couple minutes. So, yeah. But the landing, well, hold on.

[00:50:03] Let me, let me talk about the qualification flight.

[00:50:05] I was going to say, do you want to go start to finish pretty much what you.

[00:50:07] Well, it was all, it's all a blur now.

[00:50:09] Same, same.

[00:50:10] But, but yeah, I remember, so the takeoff was non-event. Nope. It just went straight down the runway with no input for me. Like I didn't need it.

[00:50:19] Why though?

[00:50:20] Oh, I know why.

[00:50:21] Okay.

[00:50:21] But like, it's amazing with the synapse, with the nose wheel, steering gyro, how perfect it is. Like no input for me on the rudder, on the takeoff whatsoever.

[00:50:35] Yeah.

[00:50:35] Anyway, got it airborne, raised the gear and the flaps, which was the first time I had done that in flight also. and I think I, I think, Miguel had said something like, okay, well, let's start with, something. And I'm like, well, hold on. I'm going to fly it here for maybe a couple of laps first, just to kind of, which, easier, again, ease my kind of nerves and try to, I've never stalled the thing. I've never tried flying it slow.

[00:51:04] I've not, I mean, other than the landing on the, on the maiden. And so I think I did two, maybe three. I don't recall exactly. Just kind of circuits around the field just to sort of get my bearing and try to get comfortable. And then, yeah, we started, we started right in it. And I think the first maneuver was a horizontal figure eight, which is basically just a figure eight trying to maintain the same altitude.

[00:51:29] Do your left turn, come back to you, do a right turn, come back to you.

[00:51:31] And then within 50 feet.

[00:51:33] Yeah. So that was the first maneuver. We did that. And that was good. And then I think the second maneuver, he wanted to do a, a roll. So I did that. And then he wanted to do a loop, which I did a loop and added a roll at the top and then, finished the loop. And then he said, that's cool, but let's do a, a combined looping rolling maneuver.

[00:51:56] So I did basically a vertical S, vertical Cuban eight. I think that's what it's called.

[00:52:01] So you basically, you're, straight and level, you pull up to a half loop, roll it to another half loop, roll it. And then that's the maneuver. he was satisfied with that. So, next up was a go around. So this is kind of funny. the first attempt at the go around was a little high and a little hot.

[00:52:21] There was a little mis or miscommunication, I think.

[00:52:23] Yeah.

[00:52:24] And this, yeah.

[00:52:24] So the second one, I got it all lined up, got her slowed down, got it down low. And I'm waiting for him to say, okay, go around. Okay. Go around. Like I thought he was going to call. He was going to like, as if, oh, Hey, there's somebody on the runway go around, kind of like surprise me with it. So I'm waiting, I'm waiting and I'm set up for landing. I'm waiting, I'm waiting. And the thing touches down and I'm like, okay, well, I guess I'll go around.

[00:52:49] And so I added throttle and off I go. He's like, oh yeah, that was a cool touch and go, but let's go ahead and do a go around. And I'm like, okay. So then I'm, I'm lined back up and I'm like, okay, I'm waiting on you to tell me when to go around. Cause that's what I thought we were going to do.

[00:53:02] Right. Oh, okay. I think that might've been my fault because I told you that's how it happened on mine. Like I was not expecting the go around call. and everybody does it differently. Right. And I think Miguel was just like, okay, do a practice, a missed approach, which really is all you're supposed to do. Right. and so I think because I said that beforehand, you had in your mind that I'm waiting, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. Nobody's telling me anything. That could be.

[00:53:27] So, so anyway, yeah, we did, I, I did, I did the touch and go successfully. and then I went ahead and went back around and set up for another landing. And then I just, I don't think I waited for him to say it. I said, okay, I'm going to go around. And I just fed the throttle in and went around and then, and then, yeah, came back in and he said, okay, well, let's, let's do the landing and call this, call this good. So lined it up again.

[00:53:51] I, I was hot. Like I knew, I knew I was fast, but that I wanted, I didn't want to slow the thing down and stall it and crash it on my turbine qualification flight. So it did land a little hot. but it was a good landing, I thought. and then I applied wet runway, by the way. So we're fighting the rain all day and it was drizzling, for this flight, but the runway was wet regardless.

[00:54:19] So yeah, yeah, I landed and I let it roll a little bit and then I applied the brakes. I went full brakes cause I, needed to slow down, needed to slow down. and then, yeah, it started skidding and drifting and I'm counter steering. And actually that was kind of a lot of fun actually. but I, yeah, I had it kind of sideways on the runway and I got it straightened out and I got it sideways again.

[00:54:40] And then it got straightened out and finally slowed down and, taxied back, taxied back a lot faster than I taxied out.

[00:54:46] You did. Yeah. Right.

[00:54:48] And then, yeah, we went through the shutdown process and, I didn't forget to shut the fuel valve off. so yeah. And then, after the flight was over and, had everything kind of put to bed, we, we did our post flight checklist and he- While it was raining. Yeah. No kidding. We, yeah, it was just in time. I had just enough time to shut the fuel valve off, put the canopy back on it and drag it back under the, the shelter and it started raining like in earnest.

[00:55:15] Yeah.

[00:55:16] But yeah, he, Miguel was happy. And like I said, he put his, he put his John Henry on there and, or John Hancock on there and you put your John Hancock on there and off we go.

[00:55:26] Yeah. So we were watching pretty much the whole day, the, the weather coming in. Yeah. and luckily enough, there was probably about a 20 minute break where. We really didn't have anything pouring and it stopped raining. So that was when we were able to squeeze that in just barely. Yeah.

[00:55:45] And honestly. Yeah. And thanks to you, Ron. Reggie was there also with his jet. which Miguel did the maiden on Reggie's jet. Everything was fine. He's got a few little things to do with the fuel system, fuel line, stuff. but yeah, in between, like, so there was that short 20 minute window and, and Reggie and Miguel are kind of over there talking about Reggie's jet and I'm just kind of hanging out, just kind of waiting.

[00:56:13] And, Ron, you go over there and you're like, you clapped, you actually clapped your hands and looking at Reggie. You're like, Hey, let's get this, let's get this over with. You can ask your questions when it's raining. Tom's waiting on his, on his phone. Did I really? Oh yeah. I don't remember doing that.

[00:56:26] Oh yeah. I thought I was very respectful and went, excuse me.

[00:56:29] No, no. Oh, it was, you were like, Hey, Reggie, you can ask your questions when it's raining. Tom needs to get his flight in here while it's not raining.

[00:56:37] Well, I'm sorry. Like I heard what they were talking about and it was not specific to the goal of the day. Right. Which, yeah, that's the kind of stuff that let's push that back because 20 minutes you're going to have a downpour. Right. So yeah. Oh, I hope I didn't come off rude. If so, I apologize. But when it's time to do something, it's time to do something.

[00:56:55] I thought it was pretty funny. Like I actually giggled.

[00:56:57] Well, yeah. Cause I wasn't doing it to you. I hope I, oh boy. Oh well.

[00:57:01] But yeah, thanks. Thanks for doing that because I would have just, I've just waited and let them talk and, and then if I had waited any longer, I would have been landing in the full on rain. So thank you for moving things along.

[00:57:14] Yeah, honestly, five minutes later, we would not have been able to complete the flight. Right.

[00:57:17] So, although, when, when things were done, you, you would packed up and left and I packed up shortly after you did. And as we were leaving, I mentioned to, cause Reggie was still putting his stuff away too. I was, I mentioned to Reggie, I was like, watch when we leave, the weather's going to be perfect and we should have just stayed and fly. And he's like, yeah, you're probably right. So Reggie stayed and I left and he flew some more after I left.

[00:57:41] Yeah. By the time I got home, it was sunny.

[00:57:43] Yeah.

[00:57:44] But I mean, it was late. It was what? Five, six o'clock by the time I got home and I had things I still had to do. So I didn't have the, the option of staying all night that time, but there will be other days.

[00:57:58] Oh yeah, for sure. There will be many.

[00:58:01] Right. There will be full five gallon days. I hope so. Gosh.

[00:58:06] There will be. So anyway, that, that is my turbine qualification flight saga. the coordination, just getting all the pieces in place to get it done was the, was the challenge because everybody's so busy, like in the summertime, like especially the guys who can sign you off on these turbine flights, there's jet meets that they're all going to. Right.

[00:58:28] If you're like, Dan was, he really wanted to help me out with this, but he's, he's a boomerang guy there at every jet meet.

[00:58:35] It seems like every weekend they're just over Kentucky right now.

[00:58:38] Yeah. As a matter of fact. So, and before that it was the Winnemack and then before that was in Indiana and like

[00:58:45] Winnemack is Indiana, but yeah.

[00:58:48] Oh, that's right. but anyway, yeah, just getting all the pieces in place to make it happen was the, was the challenge. And I'm glad that it's, that it's finally done and I can now not have to ask somebody to, Hey, can you, I can just go fly. Yeah. Well, five more flights for the, like I said, that's one day supervision.

[00:59:08] That's no big deal. Yeah. I was, I don't know why, but that was kind of stressing me out too. Like I just wanted that done that way. We didn't have to worry about it. So we could just go over and fly and enjoy the day.

[00:59:17] Yeah.

[00:59:17] So, yep.

[00:59:18] Well, I'm really, really, really looking forward to getting back over there and just spending, like you said, just, just going up, practice some stalls, see what it actually is going to do in a stall and just burn some, burn some diesel.

[00:59:32] Yep. Can't wait. Luckily we can refill less than a mile away.

[00:59:36] I know. That's awesome. Just make sure we don't forget to take a jug of oil just in case.

[00:59:40] Yes. Yeah. I had one with me last time planning on knowing that I would be out. So.

[00:59:46] Sweet. Yeah. But yeah, that's the, that's the, I'm, I'm a qualifier, wavered turbine pilot model, turbine pilot.

[00:59:57] Yeah. Yes. You still have the five to be completely official, but the hard part's over.

[01:00:04] Yes. And I don't know what, it's like a, I call that a check ride, like on the, on the full size aviation side, that's good. That would be called a check ride before you get your endorsement. Whatever that is. And they always made me nervous whenever I was flying back in college. I don't know. It's just, I don't know. Having somebody standing there and like, not so much critiquing you, but like judging you, pass fail. That's the point. Right.

[01:00:31] It's just, it just always makes me, this always makes me nervous. So it'll be so much better to fly without having to worry so much about somebody holding the power of my turbine airplane future.

[01:00:44] So let me, let me ask you this then, since you just went through it, any tips for somebody getting ready to go through it and any tips for anybody that is watching it happen?

[01:01:00] Yeah. Yeah. So like you, you had touched on it. It's atypical for your second jet flight to be your qualification flight. Like looking back, I wish, obviously I wish I had flown it more often on the buddy box with somebody.

[01:01:20] In my situation, it just, it didn't work out that way, but if you can make it work out that way, do that, be really, really comfortable with the airplane before you, before you do your qualification flight, that'll just make it go that much easier because you won't have nerves to have to fight with. Right. and what was the, any tips for, oh, people watching, every, like everybody's different. Right.

[01:01:44] So like, and I've talked to you about this before, like, I'm the kind of guy, like, don't, instruct me unless I'm really, really messing something up. Like, okay, it's fine after, after a flight to tell me, Hey, you could have done this differently or, but like, while I'm flying, I'm concentrating on flying and I want to do a good job. It's not, I don't do a bad job because I want to do a bad job.

[01:02:07] I do a bad job either because I'm not experienced or whatever, but like if I'm five miles an hour too fast on the landing, but I'm still within the safe range, just keep that information to yourself. Like while I'm flying, like, don't really give me any instruction unless I'm really doing something wrong. Like I'm going to crash the airplane or I'm going to, interfere with somebody else in the pattern or, what I'm saying?

[01:02:32] Other people are more receptive to that. And that's just who I am. So know your, know yourself and then communicate that to whoever's going to do the flight with you. If that makes sense.

[01:02:46] Yeah, not quite what I was asking, but yeah.

[01:02:47] Oh, okay. Well, what are you asking? So when you said watching, I assumed you were talking about the person doing your qualification.

[01:02:55] Okay. I meant, how do I say this politely? So let's just say you're there because you're watching somebody else do their qualification flight. What should you do? You're not part of it.

[01:03:12] Oh, stay out of it. Thank you. Like let the, let the, yep. Yeah.

[01:03:18] Don't talk to anybody. Well, don't interject yourself into anything.

[01:03:23] Well, right. Yeah. Like once, once the, once the process has started for the, for the qualification. Yeah. Just let the instructor and the, I'm going to call them instructors, let the instructors, the two of them and the pilot do what they got to do without any input from you. Like let them do their thing because they're trying to concentrate and they're trying to accomplish something that's, in my opinion, kind of important.

[01:03:46] Once it's all done, yeah, then, smoke and joke all you want, but like while the, while the process is happening, let the process happen. And, if you see, obviously if you see something unsafe, say something, but like, if you're just going to say, Hey, how are you doing your fuel system? Like just that can wait until after they're done with their flight. Agreed. Yeah. So I thought you were going a different direction with that.

[01:04:14] No, no, no. Just don't interject when you're not needed.

[01:04:17] Okay. Yeah. I would agree with that. So, no, I don't think that's rude. What? Well, you said you don't know how to, how to ask that. I don't think that's.

[01:04:27] I, yeah. The person I'm talking about, I don't want them to get offended.

[01:04:31] Oh, I don't know who you're talking about. Oh, good then. Oh, well, cause I don't know like how many other turbine waiver flights you've witnessed. I've only witnessed, well, mine and yours now. So, okay. So you may have witnessed other ones. I don't know.

[01:04:45] I don't know who you're talking about.

[01:04:48] So anyway, I'm glad that's, I'm glad. Yeah. I'm glad it's behind me. And now we need to work on someone else.

[01:04:56] I know. So I was going to say there's one, two, and then the quiet dude over there.

[01:05:02] No, I have zero interest. Okay. Okay. That's what we said too.

[01:05:09] Actually, no, I don't think we ever said zero interest. I think I did.

[01:05:13] Like I, I for sure did. Like I was exactly where Dave is at right now a few years ago. I was like, and mostly that, that was me basically understanding that I can't afford one of these. So I'm just going to say I have no interest because I can't afford it. If I'm being honest.

[01:05:28] Yeah.

[01:05:29] I was there. But I, yeah, it just, yeah.

[01:05:34] It's too much like work. I would not enjoy it. It's just too.

[01:05:39] Are you talking about the, the qualification process?

[01:05:41] No, just jet in general. I mean, everything you got to go through and.

[01:05:46] Like what? Oh, yeah. I was going to say, I don't, there's, once you get used to the setup and stuff, there's nothing different than a gasser. One thing different.

[01:05:53] Yeah. It's just, you having to mix your fuel and oil and you got to take in your every 25 hours, you got to send the thing in and you got to, all the air traps and all the other stuff that goes along with that. And then you got to deal with gyros and you got to deal with, you don't have to, you don't

[01:06:09] Have to do a gyros. Like actually for my maiden and my qualification flight, I had the gyro off, except for the nose wheel one.

[01:06:16] And it's just, I don't know. It just seems like way too much work and not enjoyable. And the money.

[01:06:22] See, I will say if anything, a turbine is simpler than a big gasser. Definitely safer. You're not starting a big engine.

[01:06:35] It's all electronic startup. You don't have a 24 inch propeller spinning around.

[01:06:39] I'm not sure. I would say it's simpler, like the, the airframe and all the stuff that's inside it, I would not say it's simpler than a gasser. All the subsystems and, but it's simpler to operate.

[01:06:50] I think you're, I think that's my, or might've been what I was trying to go through, but I think Dave, in your, in your head, you're making it a lot more difficult. I was the same way thinking that, oh my God, there's so much to learn, but they're really, once you get the gist of it, it's not difficult. Yes, it's different. And yes, there's a couple extra things like the air trap. You don't have to have one if you use a tank bladder.

[01:07:12] GSU.

[01:07:12] Yeah.

[01:07:13] But not the GSU, but the ECU.

[01:07:15] Right.

[01:07:15] I mean, there's more gear controllers.

[01:07:17] There is more to it, but like I said, it's not why you have gear controllers on other airplanes that have retracts too. You don't have the brakes, but you still have your gear controller.

[01:07:26] I don't have any gear controllers in, I mean, they're just plugged into the retract channel on all my other. Some of the bigger ones though aren't.

[01:07:33] I've dealt with a retract, with my big T-28, the factory FMS ones were garbage.

[01:07:41] There's more stuff in the airplane that you have to understand how it works. But once you, it's not hard to learn.

[01:07:47] No, it's all stuff I understand and I can do is just like, but I want to. I want to grab my $50 airplane that's got six parts and don't throw it around. True. That's fair.

[01:08:00] I don't know. So what you're saying is one day.

[01:08:04] One day you guys quit talking to me about it.

[01:08:06] I didn't, I didn't get that at all.

[01:08:08] That's not what you got out of it? No.

[01:08:10] What I got out of that was guys shut up about the jets.

[01:08:13] That's what I got.

[01:08:14] Have fun with it on your own.

[01:08:16] That's good. I just, you wouldn't want to come to and bring stuff to fly and maybe get some stick time on one. I've had some stick time on one.

[01:08:24] It flies like a really nice flying high performance airplane. But as far as wanting to own one.

[01:08:33] No. My Ranger reminds me of a, of a, of a fast pattern plane.

[01:08:39] Yeah.

[01:08:40] Those were your point.

[01:08:41] Yeah.

[01:08:41] That's what the one I flew.

[01:08:42] Yeah.

[01:08:43] Like a nice pattern plane.

[01:08:44] Yeah. There's just something about the sound. I'm not going to lie.

[01:08:49] I'd rather have a multi-cylinder radial. I mean, I want one of those.

[01:08:53] I got one of those.

[01:08:54] I'm talking like. Multi, multi.

[01:08:56] Five or nine.

[01:08:56] Five or seven. Yeah.

[01:08:58] Three's multi.

[01:08:59] Multi. It's also like tiny.

[01:09:03] It's small. Yes. But it's three. Small but mighty. It's three. Well, I wouldn't even say mighty, but.

[01:09:08] No, I would like to say the same amount of money or more for a big radial though.

[01:09:13] No, you're talking about more. Yeah. Like I said, the Mokies and stuff, you're getting the, what, five grand? Are they that much?

[01:09:20] I thought they were like 3,500 or so for the 400.

[01:09:23] Is that all? That's what I thought.

[01:09:25] That's still more than I paid. I could be wrong. Still more than I paid for the turbine by nearly twice. I think the turbine was. 18 something. Yeah. I was going to say 18 or 19. So. Yeah. And then it's just back to the money again. Right.

[01:09:38] It's just. I get it. I get it. I'll shut up about it.

[01:09:41] No, it's okay. I won't.

[01:09:42] Yeah. Just have a good time, guys. Well, we're not going to like stop inviting you or letting what we're doing. I didn't. We didn't tell anybody that we were doing that. Well, of course, I didn't. Doing what? Like a lot of. I figured you guys were going over there on Sunday. But,. I'm planning. Speaking of.

[01:10:01] Well, since we're talking about flying, I'm planning, weather permitting, on flying the Cub and the big telemaster this weekend, since he's going to be out of town and he has no interest in anything propeller.

[01:10:13] Trash can or 12 foot? The trash can.

[01:10:15] I mean, the 12 foot's ready, but Ron hasn't made it yet, so I don't want to fly it until he's made it.

[01:10:21] You can take it if you want. Nope. I don't care.

[01:10:22] But I'll fly the trash can.

[01:10:24] So that's my plan for this weekend. Okay.

[01:10:27] At our field, not Eli.

[01:10:29] Yeah. Still got transportation issues. My PCM's on its way to New York today.

[01:10:34] Eli is our field, by the way. Our home field.

[01:10:38] You're not even a member of this. It's on its way back to New York? Because they can't program their computer, so they want my old one so they can clone it. So, yeah, it's been two months now.

[01:10:50] You sure you don't want to?

[01:10:51] Yeah.

[01:10:52] Like, you're more than welcome.

[01:10:53] I got the wife's high on day. It's okay. So you don't have transportation issues, then? Well. It hauls airplanes. It hauls airplanes, yeah.

[01:11:01] So anyway, this weekend I would like to, Saturday or Sunday, depending on the weather. I might fly some Friday, too, since I'm off, but I know you gotta work.

[01:11:09] It's supposed to be so hot and sticky.

[01:11:11] I know, but like… And rainy. Oh, is it gonna rain this weekend?

[01:11:15] Yeah. Of course it is. Of course it is. Anyway, back on track, guys.

[01:11:20] Okay. So I don't know if it's right or not, because this is just a quick search. So a Moki 400, the only one I could find for sale was new in England. If I do the conversion, Moki 400 is $6,698.

[01:11:35] Okay. Those are considerably more than I thought.

[01:11:36] That could be wrong, like I said, in…

[01:11:41] That's for the 400?

[01:11:43] Yeah.

[01:11:45] I mean, it is a 400cc engine, so…

[01:11:48] It's amazing how hard it is to find the actual pricing of these.

[01:11:53] Yeah. But they sound so good. Probably because if you can afford one of those, you're not… You don't care how much they are. You just order it. Right. All right. So what else?

[01:12:04] I think I'm about done. I'm out of stuff.

[01:12:08] I'm done. Oh, no. Here's…

[01:12:09] Oh, here's Carf.

[01:12:10] I'm still talking.

[01:12:11] Carf has… Oh, that's an Moki S250 five-cylinder. It is $4830. American? $4,830 American.

[01:12:22] So see, they're a lot more expensive than my turbine. Yeah, but they sound so nice.

[01:12:27] They do.

[01:12:27] That's one day. Especially at, like, Idol.

[01:12:30] Oh, Idol's where they need… I've just learned Idol all the time. Yeah. I never run it up. Right.

[01:12:33] It didn't even have to be on an airplane, to be honest. No, I'm just honest to him. Just… That would be my sleep sound. Music to my ears. Just have that off in the distance. On repeat. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Are we done? I'm done. We're rambling.

[01:12:46] Yep. We're good.

[01:12:47] Okay.

[01:12:48] Thanks for listening to us ramble. You go, girl.

[01:12:51] You take us out.

[01:12:53] Thanks for listening. I'm Tom. I'm Ron. And I'm Dave. Good night. Good night. Good night.

[01:13:04] Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, it's not working.

[01:13:13] Do, do, do.

[01:13:14] It's flashing.

[01:13:15] It is, but it's not working. I don't know what to do.

[01:13:19] Let's do the intro again.

[01:13:34] Bye. Bye.