Ohohia - The Pacific-Crossing Attempt

I have returned to my current home in Northern California - a place I would like to leave someday for good.

I flew my Eagle II while in Bakersfield and once again there were problems. This airplane has had problems from day 1. If I could find my flight log, I would list some of the problems discovered on its maiden flight (which, by the way, took place at night!).

This time, the generator problem that I hoped was fixed was not fixed. Something about the generator itself is interfering with the radio signal. We suspect improper filtering. I may one day add some capacitors to see if the problem goes away, but what I did instead as an immediate solution was I mounted the O.S. 26 4-stroke diesel (with generator) on the Eagle. I have a 2-stroke O.S. 25 that I will put on the plane that the 26 came off of, since the bolt pattern is the same (though I think the throttle linkage is on the other side).

There was also a problem in the wiring to the wing lights. They frayed and shorted out. We fixed that on site (at least temporarily) as best as we could. Also, since the generator was problematic, we decided to disconnect it and fly it on battery, alone. So, I got one good night flight in. Hopefully, now, the plane is ready to go up without any problems (for the first time!) with the replacement engine and generator.

Now I just need to get the BasicX-24 module to talk to RC4 and I can run a test flight to record and play back a simple maneuver (most likely a simple turn). I want to eventually get something onboard with a flash memory device that will collect information about R/C signals for the duration of a flight, complete with SMPTE time code that I could synchronize with a video recording of the flight. That will enable me to analyze the flight data to correlate control movements with respect to aircraft behavior. At least enough to give me an idea of what goes on during a flight. I could conceivably convert the data into an input stream to drive a flight simulator (like FMS) so I can tweak a simulated model of my Eagle to behave very closely like the real thing so I can do some initial development work within a simulated environment.

There are great benefits to using a simulator before testing something in an actual airplane, and I need to take advantage of that as much as possible, since I have such a limited budget.

My old employer called on me, so I might be working again for a while. Blah! At least that will bring in some money (at the expense of time). Time IS money, as I have come to fully appreciate in my middle age years. I still don't know if this project will ever be completed (especially now that progress has been significantly reduced).

I got a note from someone who is writing a book about model airplanes and wants to include some of my night flying information. I will probably write to him today. I don't know if it would be an appropriate avenue, but I am going to look into the possibility of contributing something to the book about this Ohohia project in an effort to drum up support (at least round up the expertise I need to make this happen).

We'll see.