Mike’s Personal Blog

It broke my heart after several failed attempts but I didn’t lose spirit so I tried and tried until I was finally able to make it fly. The video below is the third time I was able to successfully fly the Dickie-Spielzeug RC Jumbo 747 with DHL markings. The first two flights I wasn’t able to video. Too bad as these first two flights took almost 2 minutes in the air - about 4 times longer than the flight shown in the video.

The video below shows the plane flying in a circle for 30 seconds. The battery was so weak after that. Sorry, if the plane looks too small in the video. I’ll try to shoot a better video next time.

Here’s a photo so you can get a better idea of how it looks.

As you can see, it is better to launch the plane from an elevated ground as it needs some room to generate enough lift to carry it. The usual tendency is that the plane dives to a point of almost crashing before finally having lift. But as soon as it gets airborne, flying it is pretty easy.

After quite some time on the net, I realized that the same product is being sold under Estes-Cox as well. All I can say is that flying RC Airplanes is so much fun I think I’m starting to get addicted to it.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to Yan-yan Cruz, my wife’s cousin, for having her first baby yesterday - January 22, 2008. It’s a pretty rare event that a mother will give birth to her daughter on her birthday.

Here are some photos to share…

After about 2 hours of labor and 9 months of waiting, Yan-yan finally gave birth to Angel Rafaela Cruz - a cute little girl but one with a fairly loud voice when crying.

Again, my family wishes to congratulate the entire Cruz family for having a new baby in their home after many years.  May Yan-yan have more birthdays to come and may Baby Angel be strong, wise and intelligent her entire life.

I emphasized the word “REAL” in the title because this air travel tragedy is not just one of my RC airplane crashes previously posted. 2 people from each plane died in the crash and their bodies fell down from the sky on car dealership parking lots.

My deepest sympathies to the loved ones of those who parted.

Here’s the full story
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4164728

After losing hope of flying my giant DHL 747, I finally got some encouragement online.  I tried searching Google and YouTube for videos of this plane flying.  After hours, I found out that it’s being sold in the US under Estes-Cox and sold in the Philippines under Dickie-Spielzeug.  FYI, this plane comes in two models - Air Force One and DHL.  I got the DHL model and the videos below are of the Air Force One model.  They’re the same except for paint job.

Video #1 - Not really that easy to get it flying.

As you can see, he had to throw it from an elevated plane to give the plane some room to build lift.  But do I really have to?  If that’s the case then I’d have to fine such a place first but more searches on YouTube showed that in can fly even on flat plains.

- and -

There you go.  I guess I’ll just have to give this plane another try when I find time.

I think I’m starting to become an RC buff. Well, I’ve been always fascinated with airplanes and rockets ever since I was a child and it is only now (I’m already 30) that I’ve actually got my hands on my own RC airplane. My first plane was a Silverlit X-Twin which already crashed thrice - the first two crashes reported here and the third crash here. It flies elegantly and is able to do loops. It’s small, about 1 foot wingspan, easy to fly and is very sturdy.

After about two months of flying my little X-Twin, I thought I’m ready to fly a bigger RC airplane so I went back to Toy Kingdom and bought myself a Boeing 747 model airplane with DHL markings. It’s huge with a wingspan of over w feet and it’s a definite beauty.

But that’s where the fun ends. Like the X-Twin, the 747 is a hand-thrown electric powered model with two engines. After fully charging its battery, I gave it a try. Me and my family and a few other relatives went to an open meadow near our house to see it in its maiden flight.

I put it on full throttle and threw it… then it crashed! No signs of flight whatsoever. It just went as far as I threw it and then gravity pulled it down. I tried three more times but to no avail. I think its too heavy or perhaps the engines are not powerful enough. Either way, it’s like a rock with wings and with DHL on its side.

Front View - Fan blades removed for cleaning

I meant to shoot a video of it flying or in this case crashing but the camera’s battery went dead. I guess the camera just didn’t want the world to see me embarrassed but embarrassed I was because aside from the family and relatives watching, there were about 20 or more people around anxiously waiting for me to get it flying. All I got was some dirt getting into the engine cowling which I still have to clean.

Now my question is, has anyone ever got this plane to fly? If so, I’d be glad to hear from you or perhaps see a video. The plane’s manufacturer is Dickies-Spielzeug and there website is www.simba-dickie.com. Is it a good product? It’s too early to judge. I’ll wait for what customer support will tell me first. If ever I get it flying, I promise to shoot a video and post it here.

Nevertheless, I’d still be flying Remote Controlled Airplanes for a very long time.

After my X-Twin’s first two crashes, it flew again then it crashed again… This time the damage was a bit more physical. The nose of the plane was broken after it had a high speed dive towards terra firma.

The outcome? This:

Looks bad with the nose separated and the receiver showing huh? But the Silverlit X-Twin surprised me again. After gluing the nose back to its receiver in place, it flew again and here’s a video of it flying again.

I guess I’ll be flying this plane a lot more in the future. Nice toy!

I bought an remote controlled battery powered airplane about two months ago and I’ve longed to blog about it ever since. Too bad, I was either too busy or too lazy to do so. But after it crashed badly for two times, I think I wouldn’t want to let this opportunity pass again.

I bought the Silverlit X-Twin at Toy Kingdom SM Makati but you can actually buy it anywhere. They have different models and they have helicopters too. The one I decided to buy cost me P3,100 in total - P2,500 for the airplane itself, P300 for the rechargeable batteries, and P300 for the battery charger. It’s worth the cost as me and my family enjoyed flying it. Added satisfaction is provided by the oohhs and ahhs by people who happen to see it flying.

X-Twin Charging

X-Twin Parked

Now, on to the air crash investigation…

Crash No. 1. It was about 5:30 in the afternoon (can’t remember the exact date). We were flying the plane at an open space in Bulacan. Kei (9 years old) asked me if she could try flying it and so I did. She was flying it well when a sudden gust of wind passed by. The plane, being made only of styrofoam, was blown away towards a grassy and thorny bush. The grass was taller than I am and the thorns were all over. Me and my brother-in-law searched for it until evening to no avail. We decided to look for it again the next day and we did. The plane was caught hanging between a group of tall grass and thorns. I got lots of scratches and geez they were itchy. Two things made me smile that day - one was seeing the plane and the other was seeing a family of owls in their nest nearby. The owls probably got scared of me so they flew away. Quite a nice view. Bad thing was I lost the landing gears. As of the plane, it flew again - hand thrown.

Crash No. 2. This time, I was flying the plane alone in a park in Makati City. T’was a sunny morning but the wind is pretty strong. Despite manufacturer warnings telling me not to fly it on windy days, I still decided to give it a go. After about 5 take offs and landing - take off being hand-throwing it and landing being catching it - it flew off course. It was about 10 meters high when the wind blew it away and out of control. It fell on the room of a small building near the park. Sad thing was the building was practically desolated and there’s no way of going to its rooftop except from using a ladder - a tall one. Heart-broken, I left it there - watching it from the terrace of my rented condo unit in Makati. It was December and the weather is quite erratic - sunny and rainy. The plane suffered the heat of the sun and was soaked in strong rain at times.

Today, I finally was able to borrow a tall ladder. Actually, I was able to borrow an entire truck with a basket lift - the kind used by electric companies when fixing overhead electric lines. After politely asking them to help, they obliged. They picked up the plane and gave it to me. I gave them P100 for the trouble. I also tried giving another P100 to the person guarding the building but he wouldn’t accept it.

What building? What company owned the truck? Who’s the guard? Sorry, I can’t mention those. I learned that the building is totally restricted to outsiders so mentioning their names or the building or the company owning the truck here might end up in one of the people who helped me losing their jobs. Thanks to you guys - if you happen to read this.

This time, the plane is quite damaged. The plane’s built-in battery got soaked in rain and I doubt if it’ll still work. I guess I need to buy a replacement. As for the electronics, I don’t know yet. It might need a few repairs. Here are some aftermath photos.

X-Twin Paint Job Damaged

Bottom side looks fine… or is it?

As you can see the paint job of the plane was damaged - probably due to the elements - but that’s the least of my concerns. A quick look at its bottom side appears to be fine but a closer inspection reveals otherwise.

X-Twin Battery and Receiver Assembly

Close-up of Battery and Receiver Assembly

A close look at the battery’s charger pins show some green stuff - dunno what it is - but it’s the same thing I see on damaged batteries. I guess this battery is dead but I’ll give it a try.

Well oh well… now that I have it, my only hope is that it would fly again. Wish me luck!

I don’t know if its my good looks, my jolly attitude or my good voice that make people invite me either to be the master of ceremonies of and/or to sing in an event. I guess it’s all three.

I was asked by my wife’s aunt (Tita Marissa) to be the emcee on her wedding day last Saturday. Not only that, she also wanted me to sing and so I sang one song - “Ngayon at Kailanman (Now and Forever)” by Basil Valdez. I sang so well that I couldn’t help but admire myself. Of course the audience also loved it and I had more than 10 “You sang great” handshakes afterwards.

See how I looked like:

Congratulations to Jon-jon and Tita Marissa. May you have lots and lots and lots of kids in the years to come!

I’ll try go get a copy of the video of me singing and post it here when I get it.

This is a very very very very delayed post.  I should have done this two months ago but I was just too busy and too tired to blog.  Anyway, here it goes…

Celebrating someone’s first birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime event and I believe that it must be memorable. Last November 24, my first baby boy celebrated his first 365 days on earth and it was a blast. Lots of people came to the party and Jae wasn’t just Jae that day but SuperJae as we dressed him up as Superman. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

To Jae, may you have more birthdays to come!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!