For many people, April’s warmer temperatures bring with it the appearance of bright daffodils, cute bunnies, and the delightfully sweet chirping sound of turning on our transmitters for the first time since the cold winter months set in.
Well, not that we didn’t turn on our transmitters at home during those months, but several of us certainly didn’t do it outside because snow or other bad weather made the drive to the field or even to an indoor venue challenging. Two words: polar vortex.
For most of us who do not live where the climate is a pleasant 70° all year long, flying comprises two seasons: the building season and the flying season. There’s clearly overlap, but the weather often dictates what gets more attention and for what duration.
In the winter, we build more. These past few months have been about ordering wheel pants and batteries, searching for lost parts (why must they always blend in with our flooring?) and maybe changing our heli’s color scheme.
In between New Year’s celebrations, snow plowing, and hoisting up our wool socks, this is what we do. We plan the year ahead. Yet each step of the way, with each icicle that formed and salt truck that careened past our house, we’ve been itching to fly—big time.
April Is a Welcome Month for Modelers
This is the time of year when the majority of us who have been itching to fly outside but couldn’t, finally can.
While many of our friends may talk about April as a time to finally clean out that refrigerator or tidy up that junk drawer (aka spring cleaning), when we modelers flip the calendar, this month is about one thing only: the final, get-it-together mad dash now that the flying season is upon us. For me, it’s about thinking of Warbirds Over Delaware in July and even preparing for September’s annual Rhinebeck Jamboree, both longtime favorites.
April sets us in motion more than the previous months, but mostly I’m excited to be able to get out and fly locally. Many of us haven’t torn into a snap roll or seen how tall that darn tree has grown at the field for ages.
It’s time to enjoy the din of conversation along the flightline, the whirring of fuel through tubing, the gentle hum of electrics. Short of doing cartwheels like a 5 year old, we’re bursting with excitement. April is here in all its glory and it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty.
My “Winter” Projects
So, what am I itching to fly now that April has arrived? During the winter season, I worked on two projects.
Winter project number one was stripping my Sig Kadet—the first airplane I ever flew—and getting new covering. After waiting 10 years, I started the project.
The process sent me down memory lane, remembering how I treated it with kid gloves when it was new. I cleaned every inch before putting it in the car. I cringed if someone walked too close, hovering over its delicate wings.
Then, like a couple, the more we were together, the more comfortable we became. There weren’t worries about newly formed wrinkles, mishaps, or embarrassments. Heck, it flew great and that’s why we were together.
However, during this past winter season, “what have I been thinking?” thoughts kicked in. How could I have never tended to the bubbling sections of covering and ignored all that peeled lettering? No longer able to chalk it up to an airplane with character (a word that sometimes means its owner—ahem—has gotten lazy in the fix-it department), I stripped it to its bare bones. Finally, this airplane is on its way to looking spiffy once again.
Winter project number two was converting the Eindecker to electric power. I purchased an Eindecker from someone who was selling it at the Rhinebeck Jamboree in September 2013. Completely bare on the inside and even minus a propeller, the choice was up for grabs: glow or electric?
My boyfriend, who is also an RC pilot, suggested electric. We spent many winter evenings turning it into an airplane with a quiet, clean hum, carefully running it up in the airplane, er, living room.
And now April is upon us. The Eindecker is ready to fly, but am I? I’ll step out on the local flying field, and after discussions about the New Year with members I haven’t seen since the first snowfall, it’ll have its test flight. As always, I’m sure I’ll blame my trembling hands on my love of coffee.
The anticipation, the adrenaline, the triple checks that nothing was reversed, the fleeting negative thoughts (ugh … during flight … the worst!) of that airplane whose wings folded midflight last summer and littered the field with splinters, will quickly be replaced by better memories.
I’ll remember my quick save on the foamie when it was about to head straight into the ground. I’ll recall my Kadet, with only a couple of oddball landings in 10 years, and of course, my first time successfully flying a club member’s airplane, knowing nothing of its behavior.
First-flight nervousness never goes away for any pilot, I’m sure of it. It’s wow and whew at the same time and it’s wonderful.
April lets us show off and fly what we worked on in the building season. It’s time to get out there and play with what’s kept us busy all winter. April nudges us from our workbenches, filling us with excitement for the season ahead.
That refrigerator and junk drawer will have to wait.
Happy spring and happy flying! Tell me, what projects have you worked on during the winter months that you’re excited to fly?
Send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.
