morning flight

 

They rise early on weekday mornings,

before the air heats up and causes too much current,

and head to the school field for a flight

On this particular morning, friends had heard about the 6 am flights

and came to watch

Michael flew the r/c plane he had most recently made from scratch,

out of foam board and hot glue and various hardware components saved up

Mark chose to fly his Reaktor,

assembled from a kit

The group of watchers grew,

friends who had seen the planes from a distance, and came for a closer look

and our friend, K, got a bit of advice and launched his own r/c plane.

This hobby has been a great one for where we live.

The guys are able to download free designs from 

Flite Test, and Michael has learned fundamental

principles of aerodynamics just by

listening to the free podcasts and videos from the same site.
(And of course through hours of building and repair.)

It's a hobby Mark and Michael have been able to share with friends,

and with a field so close to our home, they can fly almost any day of the week,

so they're getting in lots of flying time as well!  

The only real downside is that when our daughters are away from home,

the entire dinnertime conversation is sometimes conducted entirely 
in the foreign language of push-rods and FPV and lipo batteries.

But it's a small price to pay.

It is possible to fly without motors, 

but not without knowledge and skill.

-Wilbur Wright