First Fight Report

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
I got out and put my FT Mini Trainer up into the air. Pictures in my Ready to Maden Post.

First Toss - didn't go far, hit the ground fairly soft. off Don't think I had the engine running hot enough before releasing.

Second Toss - got it up in the air, had to keep holding (or more taping, it was very sensitive) back on the elevator to keep nose up, got a ways away, got it up in a turn, then as it was coming toward me, went to make another turn and some how got nose down and couldn't recover and nose planted rather hard. Unfortunately I forgot a wrench and couldn't get the broken prop off to do a third launch. Total damage was a broken prop and a small cut on the wing leading each were it looks like the rubber bands cut into the edge, I just put some tape over it to reinforce it back up.

I wish I had a video of what happened when it went down, because it went so fast that I can't recall exactly what happened when it went down (to figure out what incorrect control inputs I entered).

It was during my second turn, while flying directly at me, My kids were standing behind me to my left, so I wanted to get a turn to my right, so that the plane didn't fly over us. I do believe I got it started turning to my right (left for the plane) right before it nosed down.

I was running at 60% or so throttle with a Power Pack A kit, 2 cell Lipo but was still nosing down. My elevator was very sensitive (or I was moving my thumb much more then I thought I was).
 

CustomRCMods

Elite member
Good to hear you had relative success on your maiden, at the very least good experience gained. Thankfully the damage was light, as expected with the lighter weight smaller planes like the TT. I would definitely reccomend expo, dual rates, and sub trim (where needed) on all surfaces if it is touchy, should use all of your stick throws to keep it nice and precise, before you learn smaller movements and handling touchier planes. You also may consider upgrading to a 3s pack, as a beginner it is helpful to have that extra power at your disposal in case you get in a pickle.

If you are having elevator response issues, you may be too nose heavy. It is a common mistake for beginners to set up their plane too nose heavy in an attempt to play the CG safe, however it will put more load on the elevator, it will have to lift more weight.

Good luck on your next flights, success will come, but crashes will happen. Don't expect to be an excellent pilot immediately, you will get there!
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
I already have it set with 30% expo, dual rates setup with the angles at max throw based on the guide in the plans (and using the low rates). I can try pushing the CG back a touch more.
 

Bricks

Master member
What may have been happening is flying it to slow it is hard as a beginner to keep up some speed where the plane will actually fly better. Being new I would imagine the build is a little on the heavy side to begin with which requires a bit more throttle.

Congrats on getting it in the air on your first try.
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
@Bricks, it was 235g auw when I took it out to the field with a ~37" wingspan, I hope that it wasn't on the heavy side for the wing. Going too slow is a possibility that I considered.
 

TDL

Active member
Next time when your plane is up, try to fly up to "three mistake height" and trim the plane to be able fly straight at 50% throttle without inputs from elevator and rudder. Your case sounds like misalignment on the elevator or wrong CG, and the plane was tip-stall during a turn. Try to see if you can adjust the length of the sticks on your Dx6 to the longest, this will work like a mechanical expo. How do you place your finger on the sticks? Pinch style would give a beginner more feedback on the stick movement than thumb style does.
Enjoy!
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
Got out today for a second flight, I think I was still a touch tail heavy, would have been nice if it was a touch slower, only have a few seconds of straight flight between maneuvers.

Video of first flight here ->

looking forward to getting my motor mount rebuilt and getting out to fly some more and getting more stable hands. You can definitely see a few times were the plane went out of control, but was high enough to respond and recover.
PostFlight2.jpg

One thing that was unexpected was that I had to use the rudder to level the plane back out - at least if I got mostly sideways, the dihedral did less leveling coming out of turns then I expected.
 

TDL

Active member
That‘s a great job for second flight! Next time try to increase your speed during turns, the more air flows through the wing, the faster it level out. Dihedral won‘t do much when you roll over 45 degree at slow speed.