FAI-F1D
Free Flight Indoorist
Inspired by Flyboa's successes, I drew up a foamboard DLG earlier this week, but with a few upgrades from his airplanes. What I wanted was a full house DLG requiring only a nontapered carbon tube boom, sheathed nose, and removable wing.
And that resulted in this set of plans:
Two evenings of building resulted in this rascal.
I took it to work today and headed outside once the grass dried off...
It took two test glides to get the elevator trim where I wanted it. Everything else was fine. First full turn launch put it about 30ft up for a nice floating glide of about 20 seconds.
After that I gradually increased the power until I was giving it almost full power launches and getting it well over 50 ft up. And there was lift, and more lift , and even more. Other than one land-out, I was able to bring it back everytime, even from deep downwind.
Handling was very nice. No tip stalling or any nonsense. My only complaint is it could use a tad more elevator authority and maybe a little more roll response. A beginner wouldn't notice the difference--I'm spoiled by composite DLGs.
And then I hit the big one and got it way up there for a nice 5 minute flight.
I'll write up an article detailing it soon enough and hopefully will get some flight video later. This has turned out to be a good airplane, and I suspect we'll be seeing more of them soon. Perhaps a gaggle at Flite Fest?
And that resulted in this set of plans:
Two evenings of building resulted in this rascal.
I took it to work today and headed outside once the grass dried off...
It took two test glides to get the elevator trim where I wanted it. Everything else was fine. First full turn launch put it about 30ft up for a nice floating glide of about 20 seconds.
After that I gradually increased the power until I was giving it almost full power launches and getting it well over 50 ft up. And there was lift, and more lift , and even more. Other than one land-out, I was able to bring it back everytime, even from deep downwind.
Handling was very nice. No tip stalling or any nonsense. My only complaint is it could use a tad more elevator authority and maybe a little more roll response. A beginner wouldn't notice the difference--I'm spoiled by composite DLGs.
And then I hit the big one and got it way up there for a nice 5 minute flight.
I'll write up an article detailing it soon enough and hopefully will get some flight video later. This has turned out to be a good airplane, and I suspect we'll be seeing more of them soon. Perhaps a gaggle at Flite Fest?
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