Jet Legend L-39 Albatros

Had a little drive yesterday up to Elvington in Yorkshire to pick up my new jet and meet up with some friends.

Left home at 5.00am, got to (a very, very cold) Elvington at 9.15am then left Elvington at 3.00pm to get home at 8.15pm.

I had one flight of the model while there, although with not enough pressure in the air tanks (need 150psi and I put in 100) it was a gentle flight with the gear down. After using about 3 litres of fuel in 5 minutes(!) it was time to land......An absolutely pussy cat of a model. Large, steady, smooth and very predictable. Well worth the time and money to get it (in my view)

So, 570 miles later and a tank of diesel gone through the wife's car, the L-39 is now in my garage (just). A few things to check out and a few more flights out of Woodchurch airfield should have it ready for a flight at LMFC.

In the meantime, here's a taster.....



Above....Sitting in the sun at 2 degrees above freezing!



Above....Me trying my best to slip a disk in my back!



Above...A full frontal!



Above...I hope those ejector seats are never put to the test!



Above...I'm sure Cliff has shrunk somewhat??

Dunno why the 2nd picture has rotated....It's not like that on Photobucket???

Jim has fixed it for me!! Thanks......Whoever you are!

thats the dogs mate.

Very nice mate.

Nice one Ian..would you have the room to get it down at our patch?? looks like it needs a long approach

Its a control line jet yer eejit!!

grounded wrote:

Nice one Ian..would you have the room to get it down at our patch?? looks like it needs a long approach

Dave

Rob Davies (the bloke who use to own P-51 Big Beautifull Doll) has given me permission to fly the L-39 from his airfield to get use to the model, before I attempt to fly it at LMFC.

The plane is capable of flying from small fields, but I just need to get use to it first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBx4yPt33QM

Sorry about pictures guys. Someone keeps rotating them

Worzey wrote:

Sorry about pictures guys. Someone keeps rotating them

the only way they can rotate them is by changing them in Photo bucket, and only you can do that as I just logged in as Admin to see what I could do but had no access. So I have no idea.

At 05.45am today, they are now up the correct way????

Worzey wrote:

At 05.45am today, they are now up the correct way????

Strange.

Worzey..I'll have a pint of wot you're on !!

Now that is a plane! Are you going to fly it off the hard stuff at Lydd

Had two flights with my new L39 today.

First flight I built up lots if ground speed before rotating, just to be sure she didn't stall on take off. Completed a circuit then slowed her down to put the gear away. Unlike my short flight in Yorkshire, the gear/gear doors all operated in sequence without binding.
4 minutes of fast, slow flight with loops, rolls, reversals and point rolls all executed very smoothly. On finals, the flaps and speed brake killed the speed very quickly and despite the brisk crosswind, the plane came in very steadily.

Second flight was attempted without take off flap which prooved to be a mistake. At approx 40mph and full back stick applied, the L39 refused to take off. Throttle shut and wheel brakes applied, she stopped about 15 foot from the wire perimeter fence! Taxied back up the (muddy!) runway, selected half flap and she was clear of the ground in 50 yds! After 5 minutes another (slightly heavy) landing was carried out then the plane was shut down, cleaned and packed away.

So, a successfull day, which nearly ended in tears and the conclusion that flaps are needed to improve take off. Also going to move c of g back a bit to make elevator more responsive.

The Albatros will fly in/out of Lydd, but a little more trimming is needed.

Roll on Summer!!!!!

Glad all went well mate, look forward to seeing in at Lydd!!

Good report Ian sounded like you have it well under control looking forward to see it go out of lydd in the summer .

Well done mate, you can tell us more at the lmfccn next week!

Well done Ian,it takes guts to give it another go after a near miss like that ,i take my hat off to you.I had a late fly with the boomer as the sun was setting.It went well after i reverted back to to my original elevator/flap mix,i couldn't get the left airleron to work with the flap system.

I bet you can't wait for times

Well done mate
Look forward to seeing fly at the club, bring on summer

GBEE wrote:

Best have these handy for Tuesday night lads

[img][/img]

And what Tuesday night is that then.??