502 Titan

Another Good One. 

There was a 3 mph wind from the SSW and the clouds were thick to the East.

 The humidity was  high,  it had rained most of the evening, making the surface slippery and the hay wet. Since the air was saturated the runout was long, but the field had been freshly mowed and was smooth as a babys butt, so I stayed off the brakes and let the wing decide when it was time to fly.  The air was mixing over the field but as soon as I turned toward Chatfield Res. it smoothed out like butter.  I leveled off at 500 feet and cruised over to the marina.  There was absolutely no one around, none of the staff not even a fisherman so I dropped down to 100 feet and enjoyed the " low and slow". 

An hour later people started stirring at the campground,  I did a flyby and was surprised that about half of the people I saw didn't didn't even notice me.  It speaks well of the Falcon and the quiet Generac 4 stroke.   There was one person at the RC Park, he wasn't flying so I took the opportunity to make a close pass at the runway.  I have always wanted to land or do a touch-n-go, and today would have been perfect but rather than ruffle feathers, I waved and decided to stop in on my way home to see what the reception would be.  Over by the south inlet I saw that there were several pools in full algae bloom, vivid, almost neon green.  It was nice to go over there without a down slope breeze from the canyon bouncing me around.  I wasn't weaving through the trees but it was one of the lowest continuous flights in this machine and  for sure at this location. 

After landing, while I was unhooking the wing I was startled to notice that my lines has dozens of cuts in the sheath.  I couldn't imagine what would have damaged them so badly and was thinking it was the end of the Powerplay until I got close and was engulfed by thousands of tiny "no-see-ums".  They had come together near the motor and were landing on everything.  What looked like cuts were really just little pilots taking a break.  It reminded me of a time in Utah when my sailboat had been encrusted by the tiny things and I couldn't see light through the portholes.

Thousands of tiny fliers



At the RC Park I met John Lipe who invited me to fly on Sept 17th for a BBQ and to possibly do a demo flight.  He is going to see if he can clear it with the Rangers.

It was one of the best flights of the season. I listened to a mix of movie classics and tooled around for a good 90 minutes. The rain must have scared everybody off, there were no balloons and only one or two boats on the lake. I felt like I had the whole park to myself. A very peaceful and mellow flight.