Three more flights today on the P-51 today. I think they were number 10-12 on this bird. She flies well with adequate power from the DA-50 and with full flaps the landings are getting to be smoother all the time. No appreciable bounces today and 2 landings that were totally greased in. I may have to start saving to modify the retracts to electric power and consider installing them if I keep this up! The Top Flite is a really nice flying model. Once you get the flaps dialed in with a little up elevator mix on deployment it isn’t too bad to land.
On the skydiver front, George had a bad day. After a successful early jump, the next two were ugly. First, the release mechanism didn’t and he stayed firmly attached and then on the next attempt he did a “hanger” and simply drug along behind all tangled up and just to add injury to insult his arm busted off when I landed… 🙁
He has already been repaired and is ready for the next attempt. Also had a scare with misplacing his “static line” that attaches to the plane and allows his parachute to open upon his exiting the airplane. I eventually found it but it has inspired me to build a second one as a spare. If I can find a little cheap metal spring hook I think I will be in business. The rest is easy… just a release pin in the middle and small patch of hook and loop on the end and I’m in business.