Here is a collection of aerial panoramas. Each panorama is carefully stitched and assembled from multiple images (8 – 35) photographed from a model aircraft flying between 1,000 and 3,000 feet altitude.

The locations contained within this collection include:-

• Kelsall Village
• Runcorn Model Aircraft Club flying site
• Sandy Lane and River Dee (Chester)
• The Groves and River Dee (Chester)
• Backford Country Estate
• Christleton Village (added 5th Oct 2007)
• Tarvin Village (added 5th Oct 2007)
• Ashton Hayes Village (added 5th Oct 2007)

More panoramas will be added when weather and flying locations permit.

This is Derek. Today is Derek’s first flying lesson. Derek bought a model plane. Derek has never flown a model plane before. Derek bought a model plane flight simulator a few weeks ago as well.

Derek did very well. Derek had five flights today. Derek still took his plane home in one piece. Derek was so good at flying that I had to invent problems just to have a go. Derek spoilt my flying fun by being so good.

Here’s what Derek flew.
Parkzone Stryker ‘C’ brushless aircraft
Spektrum DX7 2.4 Ghz radio set inclusing AR7000 RX
Flight Power 2100 Mah light battery

The 2.4 Ghz radio was a breeze to set up. It looks weird with the transmitter antenna being so short. The Ar7000 twin receiver fitted into the Stryker without issue. It’s a fast hot plane that also slows down to a pussycat’s pace.

Click his image and see how we did today.

For the last few weeks I was privileged to follow the progress of a pair of nesting Spotted Flycatchers. I first observed the birds fleeting into and out of an old hanging basket that with the exception of a small conifer was pretty much dead.

After a few days, the penny dropped and I pulled up a chair to have a look inside. nestled within was a small nest containing five speckled eggs.

The Spotted Flycatcher is on the red list which means that it is not recovering from a historical decline or is globally threatened. Further details on the habitat and lifestyle of the Spotted Flycatcher may be found here.

I was able to track the nesting pair from egg laying to hatching and fledging though these are very flighty and will not tolerate any disturbance in the garden. After a few days I was attuned to the adult call. When the hen was sitting on the eggs, anyone leaving the house would cause the cock to emit an alarm call from the branch where he was overseeing his nest and this would cause the hen to also fly off.

I’m surprised they survived with the frequency of comings and goings at hour house, but all five chicks fledged.

The photography probably won’t win any prizes for picturesque imagery, however it does illustrate what can go on around us. I’m really happy that I managed this one for my photographic records. Hope you enjoy.

New project added to site: The Airborne Camera.

Follow along as I attempt to add video and still images to my model aircraft.

For this project ill be adding a new air frame, fitting telemetry and finally adding the camera…. then the fun begins.

You can find the project listed on the right of this web page under the projects banner, or if you’re idle, click here or the image accompanying this article.

Sunday Photo Collection: Taken on Sunday, these images are split into four separate groups. Mark once again dominated the photo shoot and managed his own section with the Puppeteer (then again his beer bribes were greatest).

Sport Models. This is the everything else section and features sport models. Sport models are fun to fly but not scale like in appearance. Sport models tend to offer the wildest aerobatics, maddest antics and are just damn good fun to fly. It’s also reassuring to know that in the event of a ‘ding’ there’s usually less to repair.

Turbine Boomerang. These are images of the turbine powered boomerang jet. It’s powered by a single stage compression model turbine engine. Usually running on Jet-A1 fuel or Kerosene with turbine oil mixed in for good measure. With turbines it’s all about the adrenaline rush, the awesome sound and the speed. None of this is conveyed by these still images.

Scale models. These birds are scale representations of actual aircraft. Fantastic in appearance and smooth flying characteristics.




Marks Puppeteer. Looks nice, sounds nice, flies nice. This delightful biplane just looks and sounds the part in the air. It’s powered by a four stroke engine that pup-putt’s nicely when flying.



Next week, weather permitting, ill post up on board video taken from flying aircraft.

Ok, so I went flying and took my camera with me, so shoot me. As I stated last week in the entry below, going to the flying site for the first time in 18 months with a stack of aircraft models was going to cost me. It’s just a little glider, but at 2.6M wingspan it sure flies nice.

If you like any of the photos (or don't), then leave a comment below.

Here’s Marks Pitts. It has a reputation for chewing up other models and spitting them out, so the bulldog was painted on the sides. Hence the term Pitts Bulldog.



Here’s another one of Marks, the superb Spitfire. It looks good and flies great. Very realistic.




A selection of the rest of the planes on the day. Errm, well actually not, just a few that I happened to take (well I was flying most of the time).

Well it finally happened. After a break of some 18 months I visited my old model aircraft flying club on Frodsham Marshes. It was good to see so many familiar faces and be welcomed so warmly after such a long time.

I took with me three electric models as a gentle re introduction to the sport of model aviation. A modified Parkzone Stryker, an “Eff Sumthin” and a highly modified Multiplex Micro jet which has had the tail sawn off and a ducted fan shoe horned in.
Runcorn Model Aircraft Club runs a web site here .

I’d recommend going along, it’s worth a look.

The Blog
You’ll be seeing the regular slots in the blog with a Regular Friday Rant and Wednesday Shameless Plug. I’m also looking at introducing other themed slots, watch this space for updates.

Comments invited
Under each article or blog entry you can now create and view comments. Please comment as you see fit on any articles presented. Maybe I made a mistake, or you would like something else added? Let us know through the "add comment" link or get directly in touch with me using the "Contact Me" link in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Site traffic
Thanks to the many visitors we've been receiving from 35 countries. The hit visit rates have escalated following Google' s and Yahoo's rescanning of the web site. I've updated the page counters, they now only count site traffic as a whole, and at the rate of one visitor visit per hour. That means each new viewing session only counts for one irrespective of the number of pages viewed.

Thanks for visiting
Dave

The village of Kelsall comes alive with visitors camping here for the three day bank holiday weekend.

Street dancing outside the Oak
Featured performances from Chester City Morris Men, White Hart Morris Men, Bradshaw Mummers and the Britannia Coconut Dancers.