1,213 total views, 2 views today
I haven’t seen this plane for a while, maybe a month , and Andrew has been busy getting it ready , added paint, servos, connectors etc, and getting it setup for flight. Wonderful job
We last weighed this and found it to weigh in at 65 oz, and it still needed paint
We filed the openings for the wing servo connectors in the fuselage and added the wings.
The weather was overcast, and rain was threatening, and who knew where this experiment would take us..
Maybe a hand toss:) We didn’t speak about that, we just tidied up things and worked towards getting it flight ready.
I was excited, and I often checked with Andrew If he still was.
There was a lot of lead in the nose which we dug out , I believe over 200 G, and I was hoping to reduce that.
Added some tape to the underside of the wings, and marked CG at 3 3/4″ back edge of wing rod, and another at 4 inch.
The tow hook wasn’t in place yet , I reckon though it won’t be needed.
Lead sheet and stick on weights as well as the LiFe battery were placed.
Some time was spent with setup of the ailerons and flaps, and getting those down to what I thought was reasonable, ie 1/4 ” up and 1/2″ down, with the flaps following.
The stab looked a little off as well, and with 4 well trained eyes we decided on a position that was fair.
Straight and level and forward movement is preferred on first toss, no outside loops, besides I can’t throw it hard enough to complete the loop and that would spell disaster.
Now, the time had come , we had it all together, done our research, dotted our eyes, and crossed or tees, and felt we were ready for a toss.
We drove out to the field with the EZgo, radio and plane in hand. The light breeze was out of the south, so we parked on the bluff at the north end of the field, from here I can toss and count on 800 ft or so before I meet the tree line
The sky was still overcast, and the grass was wet but we were determined at this point.
Andrew had the plane, and radio I got the plane from him, and made a couple runs, and released the plane overhead it seemed stable, no strange tendencies, and ready for a toss.
Off it went straight across the field , nose down, flying level and graceful.
Wow, nice we spent the next 1/2 hr tossing and removing lead until we got to a CG which felt comfortable.
This will give us opportunity to add the tow hook later.
We then added the tow hook, as it turns out into the hole that was already drilled into the fuse.
We got out a high start, and ran it out from the south end of the field.
Stretched it out to 14 lbs and sent it up the line.
Wonderful straight up, no pop off and I was on my way. The flight likely lasted for 3 minutes, and I did notice Andrew out of the corner off my eye switch his hat to Camera Operator. I considered this, and planned my landing accordingly, even deploying flaps on final. What a great ending to a 1st run up the line , I thought, and it’s on Tape, well whatever you call it now:)
We set up for the next flight, I walked the Fish Scale back, and fetched the chute and brought it back to the new launch point.
It started to rain, to bad
I hope Andrew didn’t mind that I tossed it and sent it up the Hi Start for the 1st time.
Andrews Condensed Version Here
PS Andrew, what happened to the Video. LoL
I had a blast, nothing like a first flight of a new plane on the 1st Day of November