What's in a name?

This blog is not meant to be negetive about the contents of the USA PATRIOT Act. I just couldn't believe when I heard on the news that the title actually stands for an acronym.

The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty
(Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism)

It just amazes me to think of the time and effort that went into coming up with that name. I wonder which came first, the name or the acronym. After a little research, I found that the "PATRIOT ACT" was a house bill introduced on October 2nd, 2001 and the "USA" act was a senate bill intoduced on October 5th, 2001. On October 25th the "USA PATRIOT ACT" was passed. It was a combination of the two original bills. I don't know if any Senators or Representatives were directly involved with coming up with the name, but I hope they were concentrating more on the meat than the title.

"Letters From War"

I really enjoy this video available for download from the Army Safety Center. I used it in one of my classes and I had to make myself watch it several times before I gave the class because everytime I watch it my eyes tear up. I can't wait to go home. That is definately what I think about when I watch this. I have so many memories that come to mind and I guess I normally try to block them out so that I can go on day after day without to much heartache. I will get to go on leave in about a month and spend a couple of weeks with my family and I am excited.

Car Maintenance

I did my first major maintenance on my car today. I had to overhaul the motor because it wasn't working for some reason. I am also having a problem with my steering arm catching on the frame of the car which is complicating steering sometimes. Once I finally got everything working properly I was jumping it over the top of one of the bunkers which worked really well. If I ever build a course it would be fun to incorporate the bunker jump into it all somehow.

Motor was a Bust

My helicopter parts came today and I got them all installed, but my tail motor burnt up already! I ordered the wrong ones (some smaller ones) and they just couldn't take the heat so I will have to order some more. Grrrrr. I raced my car around instead and was burning some rubber up in the hanger, but it just isn't the same as flying. I will probably order some more part tonight to fix up the helicopter. I hate waiting. I am an impulsive buyer so once I decide to buy something, I want it right then. I just hope when my parts do get here that they are a solution that works.

Eat My Dust

The RC truck showed up in the mail today and I had a couple of sessions tearing up the sand already. It is pretty fast....a lot faster than the Toys'r Us RC cars that you play with as a kid. I found a few hills to jump and it looks really cool flying through the air. I was also doing donuts in the sand and it would quickly kick up so much dust you couldn't see it anymore. It is surprisingly a lot more complex in construction than the helicopter and I can tell that when I have to do maintenance it will take a lot longer (lots more screws and pieces) Something else to keep me busy I guess.

Geocache

I went looking for 2 caches today and only found one. I had fun doing it, but I will have to get some more information on the one I didn't find. I plan on doing this activity with my family a lot when I get home, but I figured I would have to find and log my finds while in Iraq because most people don't get chances like that. The one I found led me to an old tail dragger. I'll have to go back and get some pictures.

Security

I've had this thought several times while walking around outside on quiet nights. I can't believe how safe I feel walking around my camp, by myself, at night, in the middle of Iraq. I can't say that nothing ever happens here, but when I think about how I would feel walking around at night, by myself, in just about anywhere in the States, it just amazes me. I think I am more afraid back home of someone mugging, murdering, harassing, etc me or my family members than having a mortar or rocket land next to me out here. I don't think about it much at home, I just stay away from situations that are hazardous, but now it is really sad that most people can't have that freedom of security anymore. It has nothing to do with terrorism, just our society. I definitely will continue to enjoy staring at the stars and walking on warm summer nights in the middle of Iraq.

Parts on the Way

I've been neglecting my blog because I haven't been able to fly. I should have new parts in 5 more days. I am concerned that I bought the wrong ones though and that it won't work for long. Bill ordered a bunch more last night because he burnt his motor up again too. I've been practicing a lot on the simulator and I will probably try forward flight when I get my parts. I am worried my crashes will only get bigger though. My car is probably about a week away too. I've been meaning to get out and explore some of the geocaches located in Iraq, but I've been putting it off.

Duratrax Evader ST

Well I got myself a RC car. This will give me something to do while I am charging batteries or waiting for parts on my helicopter. I don't know for sure the condition, but it was less than half the price for a new one with battery and charger, plus a new motor is only about 17 bucks. Should be enough to keep me entertained.

Grounded!

My tail motor seized up while flying today and now I am stuck waiting on parts plus I ordered a few upgrades that will either eliminate my need for the damper system I made out of paperclips or make it much better. I flew great last night and today. I am starting to work on 3D hovering (more difficult). Bill also helped me fix one of the broken tailrotor blades and it was working today before my motor seized. It's pretty stressful trying not to crash this thing and it can quickly grow into an expensive hobby. I found that it is common to burn up motors every so many flights and they aren't that expensive. You can spend a little more money and get better, more powerful motors. I might do that when I lose my main motor. I took my training gear off last night to and the helicopter looks so much smaller and I ended up trying to be a lot more careful so I put it back on for a little while longer.

Box Landings

Wow! Tonight was fun. I flew two batteries worth of flight and only landing a few times. I was hovering within a couple of feet of the intended point at head height. I even made some landings on top of boxes and tables. One box was only twice the length of the helicopter in size and had obstacles right in front of it so there was little room for error. It was a rush to be doing so well and I feel bad for Bill because I know he really wants to fly his but he is waiting on parts. I'm ready to set up simple skill challenges, but I have no one to challenge right now. I have heard at least one more person say they are going to buy one. It is going to be funny to see them popping up all around the camp.

What about the rest of Trumps money

I don't really know about bankrupcy but this article Trump casinos on the rocks raises a few questions for me. Trump claims that the casinos were only 2% of his net worth. That would mean that he should have enough to cover the expenses of the casinos. How can you say "I can't pay this debt" and wash your hands of the problem when you still have all this other money. I know if I had a debt on my credit card and I had the money, I would still be responsible for that debt. I wonder how many people are effected by this bankrupcy and just so Mr. Trump can doesn't have to settle the debt and stay rich. Like I said I don't understand the process.

Solution to the vibration problem

This site RC Groups Discussion showed me an idea that I was able to modify on my helicopter to make the vibration/wobble problem go away. Now I am hovering great and I can keep it in the air several minutes at a time and move the helicopter where I want it to go. I even landed to a specific point on top of a pile of wood. I broke my tail rotor now though and have to keep superglueing it back together until the repair parts get here. I used paperclips for my modification and they work great so far. I was getting so frustrated with the wobble so I am extremely glad I found a fix.

Peanut Butter

I can't get the vibrations to go away, but I am getting better at dampening them. I was hoveing well yesterday. I tried using peanut butter on the control links on the rotor head because I thought it was to loose and that is why it was vibrating, but it didn't seem to help that much. Bill's helicopter is not flying anymore until he gets some new parts, which are already in the mail. His tailrotor motor is completely broke (he got superglue on it). I'm thinking of buying a little RC car too. There is less that can go wrong so I think that would be fun.

Bad, Bad, Bad; Bad Vibrations

Bill got his helicopter in the mail today and we flew three separate times. He crashed his a lot and broke his tailrotor. He also got superglue all over his tailrotor motor and it is making it not work well so he ordered some replacement parts. Good thing is that it is still flyable. My helicopter has a strange vibration which I have almost no clue where it is coming from or what to do about it. I have something I will try tomorrow, but the few times I was able to take off without the vibrations effecting the copter, I was hovering great! I think if I could just get my vibration to go away, that I could hover for a whole battery charge (about 7 minutes). I can't wait for tomorrow to fly some more, I just hope my next idea for things to try to fix it will work.

Major Maintenance

The servo I was concerned about went haywire the other night and I had to do a complete overhaul on the servo. It appears to be working right now, but last nights flight was cut short too because my swashplate kept coming apart in flight and when that happened, the helicopter would lose all control. I ended up superglueing the swashplate together last night and now I am waiting for the wind to die down to see if I can have a successful flight finally. I have taken just about every piece of the helicopter apart now so I have a pretty good idea the way it works. I hope I can get a few problem free flights so I can get some good practice in.

Small Setback

I know I was planning to work on landing accuracy today, but I succumbed to peer pressure from Bill and changed the controls on my radio to make more sense so in reality I had to learn it all over again. I had my radio all torn apart and all the wires disconnected. I was kind of worried I wouldn't get it put back together right or break something. I picked up the new controls a lot quicker though and I was really rough on the copter. I'm still not as good as I was with the old controls, but I am close. A couple of more flights and I think I will be ready to start landing accuracy training again. I might be running into some problems with one of my servos though so I will have to keep my eye on that.

Bus ride and a hair cut

I got a haircut today and because of the bus ride, it took almost 4 hours to eat lunch and get my haircut. I flew my copter tonight even though the wind was a little on the strong side. I was hovering at head height and only crashed a couple of times (which I will blame on the wind). I found a board and tomorrow I will work on my accuracy by trying to land on it. After I get good at that, I will elevate the board to make things more interesting.

Best Flight Yet!

Today's flight was great. Last night I went out with a flashlight to find the piece I lost. It was a bearing the size of a pea and the whole area is scattered with rocks about the size of a pea. After saying a prayer and diligently looking I found it about 40 feet from the crash site. I went out with a full charge and hovered for over a minute at a time and didn't crash once. I was able to run out the whole battery without a significant negative event. Just as I was getting brave and was ready to hover a little higher, the battery power was getting low and I didn't have the power left to get any significant altitude. I'm able to keep it consistantly in a 10 ft square now and will start working on accurate landings soon.

New and Used

by Jonathan Vance

When I peeled away the plastic,
The cover was smooth and clean.
The pages were crisp, like an apple,
And the gilded edges gleamed.
The binding crackled as
I opened the pages;
The first breath of a babe,
Waking up from the ages.
The magnificent tome was unblemished.
And wouldn’t be useful till tarnished.
Years later,
The cover was battered,
And within it,
The pages were tattered.
Any one leaf
Would meet your gaze
With a flood of colors
Like the map to a maze.
Each little nugget
I’d found in my quest,
Had been marked and noted,
Then put to the test.
This book had a price, years ago.
Its value now? You cannot know.


A. Jonathan Vance, “New and Used,” New Era, Aug. 1996, 24

BOOM!

The helicopter is still in one piece but it went out of control today. I was doing great and all of a sudden the little guy went down hard. The tail rotor came flying off and I lost a little bearing that is required to stabilize the shaft that the tailrotor spins on. I couldn't find it anywhere, but I will look again tomorrow and then will try to fabricate something if I can't find it. I will probably order some spares. Hopefully I'll get it flying again soon.

Kerry's 1st Purple Heart

I found this article and entire site pretty interesting. I'm not really for or against the guy at this point. I am trying to keep an open mind and wait to see the debates before I make any final decision. The site has to do with the Officer's that served with him in Vietnam and for the most part, they just don't like him because of the things he said about the war and the activities of the unit (which they claim are not true and the picture here shows attitudes contrary to the pictures Kerry described.) and they also claim that he didn't follow orders very well. I am trying not to fault the guy for leaving Vietnam the way he did because if I had a chance to come home to my family (especially a chance given because I was wounded 3 times already) I would probably take it, but I am not planning on getting into politics either. I don't know that I would want a Commander in Chief that gets out when the going gets tough and not see a job through.

Wind is the Enemy

Flight five didn't go well. I learned another lesson today.

The helicopter is very sensitive to wind

I was doing great for about 3 minutes and had the helicopter up to 10 feet on accident. Then I had a big crash, caused by the wind, and the tailrotor came flying off and I had to find several very small pieces. I was able to find them all with Bill's help and fixed it on the spot. I actually tried once more before finally deciding it was to windy and would have to wait on account of weather.

Near Disaster

Flight number three almost ended in disaster. Halfway through the battery life, one of the major input control pieces came loose which caused the helicopter to do its own thing. I didn't realize it happened though and I kept trying anyways. Finally after several rough landings I looked a little closer and noticed the loose piece. After a repair involving a small ziptie and having to adjust control rods to level out the rotor head, the problem was solved and flight four started. Flight four went great, but was ended early because of lack of light. I was hovering for over 30 seconds at a time and had the helicopter as high as my head a few times. I am somewhat concerned that the piece that came loose today was slightly damaged or at least made weak. I hope I can keep it flying quite a bit longer before needing major repairs.