Goodbye Hawk Sky

Conditions were not ideal yesterday but I tried flying the old Hawk Sky. I gave it the usual hand launch and plenty of up elevator but it simply nosed in, flying much like a thrown brick! I checked it out, saw no damage, and tried it again with the same result. That time the fuselage split and the motor came off the mount. That was it for me. I took it home and stripped out all the parts-- servos, esc, motor, receiver, etc. I kept the wings and discarded the rest of the foam components. I could use the wings in a scratch build. I used the Hawk Sky with a good transmitter and receiver and since the receiver was already bound to the transmitter, I exchanged that receiver/transmitter combo with the FMS Easy Trainer's. The Dynam transmitter and receiver combo from the FMS will go into the EZ Hawk. I guess I have room now for yet another plane, but I'll hold off on that. This spring I want to finish, at last, the Goldberg Sophisticated Lady. THAT should give me my next plane! 

Here are some pics I took as a norther rolled in last week:

That gray line, looking like a contrail, stretched from horizon to horizon, and seemed to be a bit lower than the cloud deck. What was it? What caused that? It dissipated slowly after I took these pics but at no time was there any evidence of wind shear. It stayed straight as it slowly faded. Odd.