Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
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There's no fool like an old fool

by Brian Wiseman

You will recall that I have had an unsatisfactory love affair with an Extra 300. The last time it came down was because of radio failure, so I cannot blame the plane. I have a friend at Beaulieu who so liked my plane that he bought one. He has had a problem with motor burn out .He got so fed up that he was going to throw it away. He has thrown it at me. The Fuselage and wings are in better shape than mine, so I have just swapped the wheels,(they are bigger) the Motor and ESC. So it is the same plane, or not. Anyway I flew it and it went alright except the motor kept making strange noises, and it would not go as fast as I had expected.

The next time I flew it the noise got worse and the motor stopped. I did a very good dead stick landing, and we tested the motor on the ground. It would taxi back alright but when we held it and gave it a bit of throttle it died with a terrible noise. Bearings, was the verdict of the court of enquiry. It has come down a few times and of course the spinner hits the ground which must give the shaft a nasty jar and the effect of these shocks must have done for it. I have fitted a new motor and flown it in Fawcett’s field. It went beautifully. I am now expecting a long and pleasurable relationship. As I said there is no fool like an old fool.

You may remember that  in the Autumn I flew my Catalina into the top of a tree at Fawcett’s Field in Barton . It was up there for a wet and windy day and a night before a kind young man helped me to get it down. The damage was one motor, prop and cowling wiped off. I bought a replacement put it together and last Wednesday went to Beaulieu to try it out. The new motor was not exactly like the original one so I expected it to pull to one side. It had always been difficult to fly, so I asked Ian Hammond to test it for me. He did not want me to throw it off so Graham did it and up it went.  It was nearly impossible to steer. It has always wanted to put its nose down drop a wing and go into a spiral dive. Turning it  had always been hard.

This time it did not want to tum but when we gave it a lot of aileron it suddenly dropped a wing and went into a spiral dive as usual, Ian rescued  it.   He trimmed it out. Ian gave it to me to fly but it was difficult so he took it back and landed it. There was the usual court of enquiry. Because of my Radio troubles I had to throw away my Futaba T7 (cost £195) transmitter and I replace it with the cheaper (£99) 6 memory one. I only miss the clock. The court of enquiry decided that  we needed to mix the rudder with the ailerons.. After much discussion 90% rudder was mixed in and Ian tried again. If you keep the speed up with the rudder working with the ailerons it does steer much better. Ian trimmed it out again and gave it to me to fly which I did. It is still a handful  for me but I got on well, it has that touch of magic when both engines sounding good it flies past in the blue sky I handed  it  back to Ian to land because he is a lucky lander.

In this hobby  there is never  a dull moment.

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