Wednesday 17th September

The day looked dull all day, in fact it rained during the afternoon, but it soon dried up by 16:00hrs. Arrived at the airfield where fellow members Jim, Paul and Bob had already been flying. My first flight was with the yellow Sunbeam with Super Tigre 40. Having some problems with engine surging at full throttle and richening the mixture cured it although after closing the throttle and opening it again, it went so rich it wouldn't be able to take off. More tweaking improved the problem and I managed a flight.

Next up was the Pico Jet, and Jim said he'd join in with his PJ. So we launched together. I was well chuffed when I beat Jim on top speed and duration. These Li-Po batteries are the bees knees, I can fly my PJ for around 20 minutes and the top speed is phenomenal thanks to a 1700kv out runner motor. Towards the end of the flight I encountered seemingly a minor problem, when I accelerate the motor to full revs the plane drops its nose a lot and after I'd landed I found out why. The motor mount had come unglued and was hanging loose. I couldn't believe the PJ was still in one piece. Lucky!

Back to the Sunbeam Trainer and a bit more tweaking, and some more flying. Its still not right so I'm going to dismantle the carburettor and place it in an ultrasonic bath with some ethanol. Watch this space...