Flying in Watampone

I’ve been flying “the foamy” for the 7th times in South Celebes. My last flying was in Stadion La Patau Watampone. It was a comfortable place for flying a small scale aircraft especially for park flyer or slow flyer aircrafts. I usually flying it in early morning and in the late afternoon. The wind always blew smoothly, hence I’ve got a good chance flying it.



However, It was hard to take off from the field because of the grass covered the whole sports ground. “The foamy” could fly by hand launching then fly on the sky nicely. I really enjoyed flying it when I controlled the radio and the aircraft nearly reached me. The aircraft could turn on the left and right or up and down above the stadium easily.




On the other hand, I noticed that this ‘aircraft’ had get trouble on its electric engine three times. The first problem happened when I was flying it for the first time. The aircraft crashed landing in banana’s plant. Fortunately, the fuselage and wingspan were OK but the electric engine had gotten big trouble in its bolt position. I tried to fix it by changing the bold position. It looked work well afterward I felt satisfied after ‘the foamy’ flying again smoothly. The second problem, two bolts in the electric engine were missing when the aircraft was flying but I substitute with similar ones. Finally, the wire in electric engine was broken. I tried to fix by reconnect the broken wire again. I checked to make sure that it worked. I felt satisfied because "the foamy" could fly nicely again.

Watampone, June 23 2008

Goes to Celebes

After having fun fly in Serangan Island, Bali I think its time to go to Sengkang and Watampone, Celebes. I will spend my leisure time for two weeks in Celebes then back again to Denpasar for my duty. It seems that I will be "a single fighter" again for short time period. I will fly alone and fix "the aircraft" problems, too. This is a lonely aeromodeller consequence, it just looks like a terrible fate.

I prepared "the foamy" in the night before leaving. I wrapped it with used newspaper. It took approximately 15 minutes did it. I hoped that there nothing something wrong would happen on its journey. When I was going to the airport, I felt nervous because my plane would leave 10.55 a.m. I only had 10 minutes to reach my plane. I felt I was crazy in the airport.



Fortunately, I could fly as the latest passenger. I took "the foamy" to the baggage but it didn't fit. A stewardess sang a song in bahasa while she was looking at me and "the foamy". A children song about flying with airplane. I put "the foamy" at the back passenger chair but it should have taken risk. The stewardess suggested me to put "the foamy" in the special wardrobe near my chair. Finally, my aircraft with my "aircraft" landing in Hasanuddin International Airport Makassar. Happy flying...


Watampone, June 18 2008.

Aero for All Ages

He seemed lost something in his eldery age. However, his feeling still younger than his real age of 60's. His friends and relatives usually called him as Om Leo. He has a high spirit playing aeromodelling. Om Leo has forgotten some aero techniques and aircraft maneuvers on the air so he just saw Pak Hari flying his electric glider. Om Leo has been absent for about 15 years in aeromodelling. That's why he asked some questions about aeromodelling to Pak Hari,who has been a Bali aeromodeling creator, enthusiastically.



Aeromodeling doesn't belong to certain age but also it can be done by all level of ages. Not only children can enjoy it but also adult or even grandfather. Someone get satisfaction on this hobby when his aircraft airborned and the 'pilot' could drive his aircraft as he like. The 'pilot' can make manoeuvrings, rolls, or other aero techniques. However, it can become terrible thing when the aircraft crashed. The problem had arisen since some people justified that this hobby is still expensive. That is slightly true because some aircraft materials such as fuel, receiver, radio, servo, and engines are expensive. Moreover, these materials were imported from Japan Europe, and America. In contrast, there also inexpensive ones depend on the quality of aircraft materials. Generally, the cheapest ones were imported from China.

May be if some one who want to try this hobby it is wisely to think that the enjoyments doing aero is the most valuable rather than thinking about the price.

Denpasar, June 9, 2008

My Handmade Foamy Aircraft

This is my first handmade small scale aircraft. It made of polyfoam which has light in weight and easy to be cut. It has 100 cm wingspan long, 80 cm fuselage, and only 440 grams weight. This aircraft powered by Tower Pro Brushless motor with 2 cells battery. I also put the Electronic Speed Control 18 ampere to control propeller rapidity.

The first flying was in Serangan Island, Bali. My small scale aircraft seemed flying easily because the wind blew softly. I tried to airborne and turned it on the left and right successfully. However, I need to learn more how to roll the aircraft in order to do other maneuvers. It took approximately 15 minutes flew over the sky. I really enjoyed flying it.

My transmitter was 7 channels but I only used three cannels; throttle, elevator, and aileron. The receiver mode was only PPM so I shouldn’t have flown the aircraft far away from me. Nevertheless, I flew it about 400 meters away from me. The PPM receiver wasn’t able to receive signals from my transmitter. The aircraft lost of control and felt down into the lagoon side.

Denpasar, June 3 2008