Uh Oh!

Well, I went out the other day to fly my trusty 'ol X-Spec and unfortunately I didn't get to fly too much. No no, it wasn't a part failure or anything like that. Plain and simple: I dumb-thumbed it! I was fortunate enough to at least get the heli pretty level and to hit throttle hold. The crash wasn't too bad. After assessing the damage it looks like only a main shaft, flybar, feathering spindle, boom brace mount and boom. Oh yeah, and blades. But I really don't count those in the crash repair cost because I was getting ready to buy a new set anyway.

You know, I learned a while back that if you're not crashing you're not learning. I agree with that 100%. What did I learn from this crash? That even though I've flown quite a few times since being out of it for so long, I'm still not back to where I was when I left the hobby. Before I left the hobby I was very comfortable in any and all orientations that I could put the helicopter in. Not anymore! I went to do a tail-slide and pulled when I really wanted to push. Now seeing the helicopter in a different orientation than I was expecting through me off and I was uncomfortable. Plain and simple: I wasn't prepared for the series of events that happened next.

Since crashing the heli, I haven't had the chance to get it up and running again due to my soon-to-be move. Once I get settled into my new place with my new heli room/basement then I will be getting the heli back up and running again. If anyone wants to make any donations to the repair costs, feel free to email me and we can talk!

Thanks, for listening.

IRCHA Jamboree

Well, we went to the IRCHA Jamboree for the 2008 year. MAN! That's a lot of helicopters in one place. This was the first time in about 4 years that I've attended this incredible event and it has changed so much. With the 2.4 gHz systems in play in most of the helicopters that made it much easier to get flight time. I went to this event knowing that I wanted to do a little flying but more to see the incredible pilots and the machines they were flying.

Having been out of the hobby for so long, I felt like I had never seen that type of flying before. There was some really incredible flying during the noon time demos. It's very hard to believe the last time I was there I was actually flying during the demos. I hope to be flying like those great guys very soon.

I got to hang out with my Dad and Step-mom while I was in Indianapolis also. We met a few of our old friends from Texas and from the hobby itself. Todd Bennet, Ron Lund, Will Campbell, Curtis Youngblood. All these are great guys who really like helping out. I really appreciate all your help guys.

I unfortunately didn't take any photos while I was there. I had my camera with me and my video camera with me also but for some reason I kept forgetting to take it out of the car and record anything. Hopefully that won't happen next time.

A look back in time.

Well, I was looking on a website about the IRCHA Jamboree coming up and I stumbled upon some old photos of the past events. Now these photos are at least 4 years old but still show the same 'ol Freya X-Spec. Man I was really young looking back then. I'm kinda embarassed to show these few pics but also kind of proud of where I was at at the time these were taken. In a one of the photos is myself and Jeff Green. Jeff is a really good guy that worked for MRC/Altech at the time who was sponsoring me. I have recently become back in contact with Jeff and hopefully we will be able to get together and fly sometime real soon. Oh man, what was I thinking with the blue hair. Glad I got over that phase in a hurry. LOL!

Also for an update on current events! I'm chasing a problem with the heli right now that is keeping it grounded. I'm thinking (along with some guidance from my all-knowing dad) that the problem lies in the fuel line being old and could be deteriorating. Also I need to completely start over on the tuning of the engine to make sure I'm getting optimum power. Hopefully I will be able to get these problems fixed in the next week or so and get back in the air.

I flipped the bird!!!!

After a grueling long day at work, I decided to call my friend Bruce to go fly and fortunately he was anxious to fly also. We met at his house and drove to a private lot owned by his friend and we let loose with the birds and just really enjoyed ourselves. It was a little breezy and being that Bruce in pretty new to the hobby he made me fly first. Also, my heli is a 90-size so it handles the wind a little better. Anyway.....I took the helicopter pretty high in the air and just had some fun with it, I flipped, rolled, did some tornadoes, and some piro-flips. Granted none of these maneuvers were done with the finesse that I would like; but they were done. I know it's going to take a lot of practice and patience (but mainly "stick time") to get back to where I was and where I would like to be; but I'm a pretty patient guy.

So after my flight, I told Bruce it was his time to fly. He took his Sceadu up and flew it around quite well. He was working on some maneuvers that have been giving him some trouble. As his flight was going on I could see that he really was picking up on where he was going wrong. Toward the end of his flight we was started to get a little flustered, so he decided to just do the things that he's comfortable with. (Good idea Bruce)!

Bruce also wanted to fly his T-rex 450 a little bit, so he jumped on the flight line and took off with it. Having never seen one of these machines fly in person I was very impressed with its responsiveness. He wanted me to fly it and get a feel for how it handled so I took over and hovered it around, then did some figure-8's and flew in a normal flight pattern a little bit. This machine really flies good. I'm not trading my 90 in for one just yet though. Nothing beats the big-block for me!

I flew once more after all of Bruce's excitement and during this flight I worked on some more of the 3D maneuvers and also worked on my autos some. I need to figure out why I am having some problems with my autos but it might just be that I haven't done them in so long. I'm sure it will come back to me very soon. Hopefully.

Once we were done flying we were chatting with the nice gentleman who lets us use his land to fly on and he told us that he has a Jet Ranger II in his shed. So, being the helicopter enthusiast that I am, I had to have a look. WOW! That was impressive! Talk about your ultimate transportation machine. I'll be posting pics soon.

Anyway.....next time I go out and fly I'm gonna get some videos and post them for the world to see. Now I just have to figure out how to record video and fly 3D at the same time!!!!

Thanks for taking me out to the field Bruce. We'll have to do it more often.

See you at the field!

~Steve

Got the heli in the air!!!!!

Well.....I got my X-Spec helicopter unpacked today and found some time between all the rain to hover it around. For having not been flown in almost 2 years it handled really well. I will be taking it back out later this week and hopefully will get back into my old routine of freestyle and learn some more. I also met some more people who are into the hobby so I can have someone to push me and also to just get me out to the field and meet more and more people. Hopefully this will lead to my giving lessons again. See you at the field!

Hello All!

So I just created this account so I could meet new people in the area who are into model airplanes and helicopters. You can also reach me at www.myspace.com/rchelidood. If anyone is ever interested in r/c helicopter flight lessons please feel free to email me with your questions and where your located. I'll be adding some more photos and videos of my flying up here very soon.

I look forward to hearing from you very soon. I'll try to keep the blogs coming! ;)