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It is one week – or even less – until this year’s Aeropower Indoor Challenge event, which takes place, as usual, in the Concordia sports hall in the nice village of Chiajna, near Bucharest. Given that Milady has bought me an indoor flying model – Malibu F3P – as a Christmas present (on the condition that I go there to fly, and given that my indoor flying time was absolute nil, zero, nada, I decided to take the opportunity and join my friend Allen in a trip to Buzau, 120 km off Bucharest to the NE, for an indoor air models contest to be held there. So we loaded everything up around 06:40 this morning and we left for Buzau. The trip was more than ok, despite the -23 degrees Celsius on the road, and though the news reported the evening before that the road was closed due to snowstorms we found that the tarmac was dry as in hot summer. The only difference was in the snow on the roadside – and on the plains along the way…
We got there a bit earlier, 15 minutes before 9, even if Allen didn’t even hit the gas too hard. All preparations made and 6 wires cut, soldered and insulated later I was ready for my first indoor flight. Almost as usual, Florin did the maiden flight to trim the plane, and a minute later I was flying it doing long lines. Several lines later – and not completely accustomed to making the turns using the rudder exclusively – I thought I should try at least a couple of the contest figures, so I went for several hammerheads, a loop, a cuban 8 – hmmm, maybe I did that on the second flight after all… – and I managed to land the plane without any incident. And boy was I about to wreck it a few times, both in this flight and in the following ones. It surprised the entire audience, but not as much as it surprised me, how I got the “bird” out of some almost obvious and unavoidable “nose downs”. And there were some planes that did take a bite from the hall’s floor today. Fortunately all managed to fly again, save one.
Despite today being both my first day of indoor flying and my first indoor contest at the same time (with only two practice sessions) I managed to only hit the ground once while testing an alternate propeller (APC slow fly against the GWS I initially used). I ran some level flights along the hall width – pretty uncomfortable – and I managed to pull out rather low and at low engine RPM, which resulted in a small crack in the front wooden structure. Lucky me, I saved several grams out of the existing 167 – rather heavy for an indoor model, which resulted in a quite high safe level speed, as well as a high speed for rolls and tight turns. In the end I managed to do almost all the required figures, more or less correctly.
The trip was pretty nice overall. I also saw something that left me quite a bitter taste. During the event starting festivity the presenter played “Hai sa dam mana cu mana”, the anthem of the United Principalities after the Union of January 24th, 1859. Apart from us competitors, standing up in the cener of the hall, there were a handful of local spectators (7 or  and, if I remember correctly, 4 guys that came with us from Bucharest. When they started the anthem, ALL the local folks stood up and one who was wearing a cap instantly took it off, for the entire duration of the song. On the other hand, all the other guys from Bucharest who were still in the stands cared absolutely nothing, continuing to sit down and talk irrespective of what was going on around them. Well, maybe I wouldn’t have jumped up at the first note, but I sure would have followed the example set forth by the locals. Well, but that’s just me and I’m overreacting as usual.
Unfortunately this post has no pictures attached, since I forgot my camera bag in Allen’s car (it was dark in here, the bag is black and the bag was in a shadow. I’ll get them tomorrow, and it looks like I’m going to have quite a few shots made by Allen himself, since we swapped the cameras a few times because of the lens – I use a longer focal length range than the lens he brought with him (18-200 mm against a 17-55 mm). Hopefully I’ll make some time tomorrow to add some spectacular shots from this otherwise nice event. And I definitely hope they’ll do it again next year and I can get there too.
I like taking pictures. It’s already stated in my profile, if I remember correctly. And so far I managed to take quite a bunch (over 20k) with my old Canon EOS 300D (Digital Rebel) – and boy, are they some nice memories! Still, the camera’s early technology was annoying me by the day, and despite the fact that I bought an extra battery (the original one, now around 6 years old, would give up rather soon especially when I would make heavy use of the Tamron 80-210 mm “gun”, let alone several flash fires) it was still annoying me when it came to downloading the pictures to the computer over the snail USB1.1 link. I had to replace the battery a couple of times in order to “persuade” it to download all 880 photos shot by Milady at the maiden flight of my new Extra 300S.
Now, my old Tamron, bought in 2001 during a trip to the Netherlands (just a mere months before the lift of the visa requirement for Romanian citizens traveling to the Schengen area) is a decent lens for its price tag, and I bought it together with my first SLR camera, a Canon EOS 3000 (film camera) since I always dreamed about such a camera paired with some reasonable telephoto lens. Until yesterday this lens did its job, although it’s possible that it got some dust specks within (they may be on the sensor as well, but I dare not get my hands on the sensor neither have I the knowledge and tools required to disassemble the “gun”) and the shots against the sky tend to emphasize them. Continue reading More – and better – photos
Mai mult carat de doamna (care e cu masinutele, eu sunt ala cu avioanele) am zis ca “hai, dom’le, sa mergem la Renault Roadshow, ca la cat tam-tam i-au facut poate chiar o fi ceva de vazut”. Ok, intrucat ieri la 11 noaptea eram chiaun de somn, azi ne-am trezit pe la 11 si intr-un final apoteotic pe la 12:30 eram spre Piata Constitutiei, o picatura din suvoiul enorm care se bulucea prin preajma zonei de spectacol, ca sa zic asa.
De vazut, ce sa zic… am cam avut ce vedea. In apropierea zonei centrale – unde practic incepe acel enorm semicerc ce descrie Piata Constitutiei – am avut o deschidere destul de buna, si in ciuda faptului ca nu vedeam capatul dinspre Piata Cosbuc, de unde veniseram, am avut o perspectiva interesanta asupra zonei centrale, unde am putut urmari niste evolutii incantatoare. Continue reading Renault Roadshow Bucuresti
Dupa o destul de indelungata absenta, am revenit la lucru. Pe de o parte m-am apucat de Extra (in continuare…) iar pe de alta parte am decis sa iesim azi putin din casa deoarece unu la mana am dat peste o mica problema la Extra, iar a doua la mana tot voiam sa mergem la expozitia de machete de la Muzeul Militar National. Mai mult, la Baneasa, in parcarea mall-ului, este si un eveniment de tuning si drifting auto – asa ca de ce sa nu vedem si ceva de pe-acolo? Apai, sa purcedem la drum!
Desi am plecat relativ tarziu (pe la 12) ne-am indreptat spre Muzeul Militar, o destinatie relativ cunoscuta noua in urma celor cateva vizite facute pe-acolo. Din fericire am reusit sa gasim un loc de parcare chiar in fata muzeului, drept pentru care am profitat de posibilitatea de-a parcurge o distanta extrem de redusa pe jos (maxim 30 m) din masina pana la interior. Continue reading Machete si drift
Dupa cum spuneam alaltaieri, am avut ocazia sa ma dau cu un dirijabil. Model, desigur. Oportunitatea a venit cand amicul meu Mircea mi-a solicitat ajutorul intrucat el urma sa evolueze cu acest aparat la o reuniune desfasurata la Targu Mures. (Un oras frumos, in care mi-ar placea sa revin cateva zile pur si simplu pentru a-l vizita. Dar asta e subiect separat.)
Continue reading Prima experienta cu dirijabile
După o pauză destul de lungă, cauzată de o penurie acută de timp, m-am hotarât să mai scriu și eu ceva. Nu de alta, dar s-au adunat destule și risc să nu vă descriu niște experiențe potențial interesante…
Nu o să mă apuc să mă desfășor în ordine cronologică, mi-ar lua destul timp. Vă voi povesti pe viitor despre Palatul voievodal Mogoșoaia, o adevărată oază de liniște și verdeață. Acum o să mă ocup de subiectul cel mai recent, și anume pregatiri pentru o evoluție aeromodelistică, zic eu, interesantă. Continue reading Pregatiri pe ultimii metri
Deoarece stau pe bara de peste o saptamana, am zis ca de data asta merita sa mai arunc si eu cu o pasare pe sus. Nu de alta, dar dupa aia imi ies din mana. Si intrucat amicu’ Porumbeu isi exprimase dorinta de a bifa si el prezenta in cazul in care ajung p-acolo, am zis sa-i dau o mana d eajutor drept pentru care l-am teleportat si pe el.
Ca prima nota / remarca: daca va manca undeva sa aveti treaba in afara bucurestiului sambata – si, poate, si duminica – dimineata, NU iesiti din oras direct via Colentina / Afumati / DN2. Alegeti alta varianta, iesiti prin Pantelimon si luati-o pe centura – va scuteste de multi nervi si multa inghesuiala (ca sa nu vorbim de marlanii care “fac” coloana ca “ei e jmekeri”).
Revenind la oile – pardon, planoarele – noastre, am ajuns intr-un final apoteotic la “3 drumuri” unde ne-am dat in stamba. Ma rog… dat in stamba e un fel de-a spune, deoarece vantul destul de puternic – aparent prognoza de 18 km/h s-a adeverit, cam prin toata Campia Romana – nu a permis decat zbor cu planoarele, incercarile de a folosi un avion de mici dimensiuni soldandu-se cu pagube, din fericire usor reparabile. Continue reading Zi de camp – si nu prea
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