I am a bit late in publishing this but, as promised, here is the video of the first control line flight by my son, Corey!
This flight took place during our November 16, 2013 flying session with the Cox .049 powered Li’L Wizard. As described in my earlier post about this flying session, Corey needed to fly the Li’L Wizard off of a small cardboard runway. His second attempt at takeoff was successful and resulted in this flight video.
Corey also flew the plane on 52 foot lines which resulted in a bit of an issue maintaining line tension. However, he managed to stay airborne for the entire engine run and had a successful first solo flight!
What is almost as entertaining about this video as Corey’s flight, is the ‘dance’ that he and I did during the flight, especially during the first half of it. I joined Corey at the center of the flight circle in order to coach him during the flight. My intent was to stay behind him during the flight so as to be able to coach him while staying out of his way. Due to the loose line tension, he decided to run in circles in an effort to maintain line tension. This made it almost impossible for me to maintain my position behind him. On the video, you can see what happened as I attempted to stay behind him while ducking under his flight lines and trying to keep from running into him. It is quite comical to watch but I was exhausted by the the end of the flight due to the effort! Corey did settle down during the second half of the flight as he got a feel for the plane and how to control it. This resulted in a more even and controlled flight and less of a ‘dance’ between the two of us!
His landing was as good as could be expected given the combination of tall, thick grass and very small wheels on the Wizard. The plane came thru the flight and landing unscathed. And Corey recorded his first ever control line flight!
My other son, Kyle, recorded the video. His video commentary adds a nice touch!
Update – 1/22/14: Here is a second video of Corey’s first flight. This video is from a different vantage point and with a higher resolution. The cardboard ‘carrier deck’ that served as a takeoff runway is visible in this version, however, the excellent commentary from brother Kyle is missing.
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