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The crooked path... I often practice flying model aircraft (helicopters and drones) in a schoolyard a few blocks from my house. Next to it are four basketball courts that gather to play in the afternoon and leave in the evening as there are no lights in this part of the school. All week, it's been crazy windy 15-20mph wind gusts day and night. Too windy for me to fly, I've been practicing on a computer simulator, but it's not fun like standing in a field controlling a model to buzz around at 30-40mph. The wind dropped out yesterday, but I was busy working. This morning I had an early appointment but got back home with time to charge batteries and head to the field. Winds were less than 5mph, nearly utopia for me. So, I got in some flight time... 5 charged batteries getting 7-10 minutes each depending on the condition of the battery. Less time if I fly aggressively. There is a worn out path that runs across the field. Although the ground is flat, whoever walks this way decided not to take a direct path between the north & south gate. For me, I take a 45 degree direction as I want to be in the middle of the field away from the path so someone walking across the field doesn't travel in my practice area. I dropped a 2' x 2' piece of carpet on a spot that I take off and land from as they don't always mow the lawn and the weeds can get 2 feet high. This keeps a clear area so the blades don't hit the grass. One model helicopter has a safety device that reduces the motor speed about 30 seconds before the critical low voltage shutdown. I was a little too far away coming in on approach and had to do a forced landing in the closest spot. Unfortunately, my touch down was in tall grass that wrapped around the tail rotor blades and shredded them. Replacement blades are only $2 so it wasn't a big deal. I can say that all my travels from my car to the same spot where the carpet is hasn't worn the grass one bit. Not sure when the city will return to cut grass in the area, I'm tempted to bring my mower and cut a direct path from the gate to my landing zone. . |
