Don't test fly on a windy day, you may live to regret it!

Bonzofly

Active member
Had a couple of test flights of my latest foamboard creation the other day, RM1 supersonic fighter, an easy build from online plans. CoG was spot on and the glide was superb, I was confident it was going to fly very well. The test flights did not go well. 😭.
1st day it was almost uncontrollable, which I put down to CoG, though I did have suspicions of a rx issue. Broken prop. 2nd day, CoG, more nose weight (though by all accounts it was set according to the plans.) Got to the field, a bit windy, but I thought what the hell and went for it. MISTAKE! Barely controllable and in between prop hanging and then diving, was blowing away as wind was higher aloft, plus it was not responding to my tx inputs. Fail safe was set and I always test it's working when I set up.
Anyway, watch the video.
DON'T TEST FLY ON A BREEZY DAY!
I've been back 4 times, even searched with a drone, studied the video and have a 75% good feel for where it came down. Almost lost the drone when searching as it decided to auto RTH and was above power lines! The drone is worth several times more than the foamboard thing! Foamie had a model finder bleeper too.
I should have reduced the throws a bit after day one, but even setting up at home the elevons were twitching, which I put down to being close to the tx. I have flown a few bad ones but always managed to keep control, I blame the RX? And my stupid decision to try it on a breezy day. 1st model loss in 15 years. 😏 You live and learn.
 
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