Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
Sloping Off - our newsletter

DIARY OF A FLIER—THE LAST EPISODE

B Leonard Wise has failed his B test because it was too windy to do the flying properly. He has returned for another go.

Here I am limping a bit from my knee which has been replaced and from which I have recovered much more quickly than I thought I  would.

I failed the B test last time because the wind was too strong and my plane   could not deal with it well. So I have succumbed to a foam plane. I have considered these to be toys and not of sufficient standard for a person  of my ability but I did try the Extra 300 which Walter had reluctantly bought and it flies like dream. It is powerful and can do any aerobatics I can do. I have been practicing with it and even in a decent wind it pulls through the loops and does a decent oblong. I can even nearly always do a figure of eight and keep it right.

Firstly there is an examination. I have read all the required literature and feel that I can acquit myself well. The first question was where should I not fly if I was giving a public exhibition. There is not much likelihood of that I thought but said not towards or over the crowd. Which seemed to please them. There were several others. One about propellers was so obvious that it seemed to me to be daft. I nearly pointed that out, but after remembering my last attempt I did not want to antagonise the examiners. I thought that as I had beaten them in the court of enquiry they would be extra hard on me. Sidney my Solicitor said that they would be scared of me now and treat me well.

There was about 10 miles an hour of gusty wind and whilst the Extra 300 flies well it  is not as stable as the large pattern ships. They seem to ignore the wind altogether. I did what few safety checks the electric planes needed and proceeded to the flight line. I had to do the A test flying first.  When I did the figure of eight the gust came as I was flying into the wind so I gave it a bit more throttle and when I came down wind it was calmer

I was just trying the stall turnwhen someone took off with a noisy glow plug plane. I thought no flying was allowed during the B test.  So it should have been but this clown either did not know or did not care. He took off came zooming over the runway flat out then shouted that his throttle had jammed open. The plane zoomed around the sky barely under control. As I came out of the stall tum it flew violently under me. I took my plane up high for the spin to be greeting by it flying close and fast almost out of control. Wherever I went and whatever I did the thing was there noisy and fast.

However I am well known for being firm  and brave under pressure.I persevered some of the manoeuvres were not quite perfect and on one occasion he came so close that the slipstream flicked my plane upside down. Eventually the chairman ran out took control of his transmitter. He put the plane up to the right and took it round in circles until the fuel would run out. With it out of the way I asked the examiners if they wanted me to repeat any of the test. They asked for the rolls to be done again and a loop a loop that was all . With the extra flying my battery was running low the alarm went off on the transmitter. Time to land said the examiner then the engine cut out. I knew I had about a minute of steering left. I shouted Dead Stick  Itis such a nice plane that it went down wind and cross wind easily. I made sure that I did not have to glide into the wind very far, so the cross wind leg ended just before the end of the runway. I put it down in the centre of the runway and of course it did not roll far.

I could not taxi it back to the pilots line so went out to pick it up. I thought that I had done well. If I failed this time I would not try again. The examiner came forward to shake my hand and told me I had passed. I thought back to the start of my flying career when I had tried and failed to fly a Spitfire. Now I had flown most of the planes I wanted to including the Spitfire. I have passed my A and B certificates but more than that I had made many friends and got myself into a fascinating hobby which I expect that I shall stay with until something happens to stop  me.

I felt very pleased with myself as I took the plane back to the flight line and was congratulated by Walter. My son Crispin was not there he spends a great deal of time at the house of his Girlfriend and does not get much flying at the moment. I think his carefree days are over.  I shall retire in a few years so my carefree days will soon  begin and I shall enjoy flying all sorts of planes - even foamies.