Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Not to mention, fly too quick JK 😂 😂
Officially Starting my Journey...again after 30 years!
- Thread starter ithink2020
- Start date
Mr Man
Mr SPEED!
Never, I don’t fly quick enough
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
🤣🤣🤣
ithink2020
Active member
For anyone new to this hobby who comes across this.
I was listening to The Aviation RC Noob Podcast by @FoamyDM (the other day, I started with Episode 1). This morning, I was listening to Episode 6 on ESCs. They were going over the sounds ESCs make when powering up. For example, the sounds that are made during boot up, and what sounds might indicate an issue. Like when the ESC might not have the min and max throttle set correctly, and you only hear one beep after the initial three beeps.
One thing mentioned was that different brands of ECS make different tones when booting up. So that got me thinking. I looked up the latest build video on Flite Test Tech on the Super Scout. I found the part in the video where Josh plugs in the battery, and the ESC makes the same sounds as mine do! So, it gives me comfort knowing the startup sounds are the same.
On a side note, I made it to my local hobby shop and picked up wire and wheel collars, and got the landing gear installed this afternoon.
Now just watching the weather...
ithink2020
Active member
We have liftoff!
I was able to make it out to the field this evening. Although it was hot and muggy, there was little to no wind. I ended up with 3 successful flights!
After work, I started charging the two batteries I have and collecting things I might need. After dinner, we drove out to the field.
The entire drive, I was nervous. I know I have spent around 3-4 hours on the sim the past few weeks. Over 10 hrs, if you ask my son, "You've been on that a LOT!", he told me. Still, I know the real thing is not like the Sim.
When we arrived, Randy, another local member, introduced himself. We chatted a little and told him my story. He asked about my plane and if I had built it from plans. I said that I had and told him about it. He then asked if Keith was coming out to "help me out". I told him no, that I was just going to give it a go. I'm not sure what he thought, but I could feel some skepticism.
After I had the plane ready, I shook off the nerves and tried to tell myself to RELAX. Once I had my plane ready, I asked if I could go ahead and fly. He told me I could and stood in the pit area watching.
I set the Scout on the runway, checked the throws for the 100th time, and walked to the pilot area. I gently throttled up, let it roll down the runway, and it lifted off pretty smoothly. After getting some altitude, I started a pattern. First, I had to trim the alerons. After getting it to stop rolling to the left, I flew a couple more circles trying to determine what else it needed.
Next thing I know, I hear Randy (who is now standing off my right shoulder) say, "Maybe a little left rudder." I put in a couple of clicks, and the Scout was flying nice and level.
"Is this the first time this plane has flown?" "Yes, sir," was my reply. Then he complimented me on how well I did building it.
I did a few more circles and a couple of low passes. After about 2-3 minutes into the flight, I attempted a loop. It was just like the sim.
However, coming out of the loop, the battery alarm started beeping. I new the flight time would be short, but that seemed to be REALLY short. I circled, came in low, then cut the throttle for a nice-ish landing. The plane rolled for a foot or so, then went up on it's nose. You can see this in the maiden video below.
As I touched down, I heard Randy say, "I think you're lying to me." I took it as a good sign that I'm already getting razzed by another member!
I walked back to my pit area and took out the battery, then watched Randy take up his AreoScout. After a few minutes, I used the battery checker and noticed I was still at 4.01 volts per cell... Randy thought the sudden full throttle into the loop may have trigger a cell to read a low.
The club president, Keith, arrived around that time, and we chatted while Randy flew. I decided to put the battery back in the Scout and take it up once again. As Randy was coming off and I was walking out to the runway, I heard Randy joke with Kieth about me lying. It made me smile.
I took off and had another nice flight that seemed to last several minutes. Did patterns, loops, barrel rolls, nose overs, and a flat spin. It was great!
After Kieth flew again, I put my second battery in and went up for the 3rd flight. The 3rd takeoff was a little squirrelly, but once I was airborne, it was much of the same.
The only thing was, I felt I had to re-trim things during each flight. I was probably overthinking things!
However, it didn't matter; it was still FUN!!!
My wife joined me and took some videos. Here is the last minute of the maiden flight:
And here are the first few minutes of the 3rd flight:
I was able to make it out to the field this evening. Although it was hot and muggy, there was little to no wind. I ended up with 3 successful flights!
After work, I started charging the two batteries I have and collecting things I might need. After dinner, we drove out to the field.
The entire drive, I was nervous. I know I have spent around 3-4 hours on the sim the past few weeks. Over 10 hrs, if you ask my son, "You've been on that a LOT!", he told me. Still, I know the real thing is not like the Sim.
When we arrived, Randy, another local member, introduced himself. We chatted a little and told him my story. He asked about my plane and if I had built it from plans. I said that I had and told him about it. He then asked if Keith was coming out to "help me out". I told him no, that I was just going to give it a go. I'm not sure what he thought, but I could feel some skepticism.
After I had the plane ready, I shook off the nerves and tried to tell myself to RELAX. Once I had my plane ready, I asked if I could go ahead and fly. He told me I could and stood in the pit area watching.
I set the Scout on the runway, checked the throws for the 100th time, and walked to the pilot area. I gently throttled up, let it roll down the runway, and it lifted off pretty smoothly. After getting some altitude, I started a pattern. First, I had to trim the alerons. After getting it to stop rolling to the left, I flew a couple more circles trying to determine what else it needed.
Next thing I know, I hear Randy (who is now standing off my right shoulder) say, "Maybe a little left rudder." I put in a couple of clicks, and the Scout was flying nice and level.
"Is this the first time this plane has flown?" "Yes, sir," was my reply. Then he complimented me on how well I did building it.
I did a few more circles and a couple of low passes. After about 2-3 minutes into the flight, I attempted a loop. It was just like the sim.
However, coming out of the loop, the battery alarm started beeping. I new the flight time would be short, but that seemed to be REALLY short. I circled, came in low, then cut the throttle for a nice-ish landing. The plane rolled for a foot or so, then went up on it's nose. You can see this in the maiden video below.
As I touched down, I heard Randy say, "I think you're lying to me." I took it as a good sign that I'm already getting razzed by another member!
I walked back to my pit area and took out the battery, then watched Randy take up his AreoScout. After a few minutes, I used the battery checker and noticed I was still at 4.01 volts per cell... Randy thought the sudden full throttle into the loop may have trigger a cell to read a low.
The club president, Keith, arrived around that time, and we chatted while Randy flew. I decided to put the battery back in the Scout and take it up once again. As Randy was coming off and I was walking out to the runway, I heard Randy joke with Kieth about me lying. It made me smile.
I took off and had another nice flight that seemed to last several minutes. Did patterns, loops, barrel rolls, nose overs, and a flat spin. It was great!
After Kieth flew again, I put my second battery in and went up for the 3rd flight. The 3rd takeoff was a little squirrelly, but once I was airborne, it was much of the same.
The only thing was, I felt I had to re-trim things during each flight. I was probably overthinking things!
However, it didn't matter; it was still FUN!!!
My wife joined me and took some videos. Here is the last minute of the maiden flight:
And here are the first few minutes of the 3rd flight:
Last edited:
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Congratulations! Yeah, when I saw that build it looked like it was going to fly great! But man! the stress of having someone watch while you maiden for the first time in 30 years! 😂 😂
ithink2020
Active member
Thank you!
I need to do a full inspection before the next flight. The last flight she kept wanted to pull to the left. After the flight, I realized the paper had torn up some on the side of the plane. I thought it was on the right side. However, I'm wondering now if it is on the left and was acting like a mini rudder or something. I'll check things out and see what's what.
Yeah, I felt the anxiety of having additional spectators there! I told my kids before dinner that I was nervous and didn't want too many people watching. However, at the last minute, my wife told me our son was going to come with us. He plays Pokémon on his phone and needed to go out for a special event. Then, when we arrived at the field, Randy was there unlocking the gate. I had mixed emotions about that. I was glad I was going to be able to meet another member; however, I'd never met him before, and was hoping no one else would be there. LOL So, I went from one person to an audience of three.
Randy was very nice, but I did get a feeling that he had his doubts about how the flight would go. Again, this could have just been my mind playing tricks on me with all the nerves.
The good news is, the first flights are done! Now I can go out, enjoy flying around, and think about what I'm going to build next!
ithink2020
Active member
I took the Scout out again last night. I had some issues, but no crashes, and still had some fun.
First, the ironic thing is that after listening to The Aviation RC Noob's episode on Field boxes and what to take to the field, I forgot a small box that had my battery alarms! I had no idea how much time to set a timer for, so I decided 5 minutes seemed about right. This was based on the flights from the day before. So, I set a timer on my watch, took off, and began the first flight. Oh my wind...
The forecast called for 5 mph wind, then decreasing to about 2-3 mph. Once I arrived at the field, it seemed there was a little breeze, but not bad. That was until I got up into the air. A gust hit the plane as I was climbing out of the takeoff. I practice with the wind set to 5mph in Phoenix, so I was able to handle it. However, this seemed worse than what I was used to in the sim. So, the first few minutes of the flight were stressful.
There were some clouds behind me, but they seemed to be moving away. I even thought I heard some thunder in the distance. I'm assuming a small cell near the area was causing the higher gusts.
After a bit, I glanced down at my watch to check the timer, and the watch had gone back to the home screen. This happens with my watch, and it is frustrating. After blindly trying to access the timer while flying and losing sight of the plane as it drifted away in another gust of wind, I found it had reset and was not running. I decided to fly a few low passes and came in for a landing. After touchdown and rolling a couple of feet, it tipped onto its nose. I need to work on that.
The second flight was better and didn't have any gusts. But still felt windy. This time, before walking out to the runway, I decided to use the timer on my phone. However, like an idiot, I forgot to start the timer. Sigh... So, I just decided to fly and have some fun, and try to feel when enough time had passed. Towards the end, I did some more low passes. Then practice a few landings. The second landing was like the first. The next two were much nicer. The 3rd landing, I landed on the narrow runway, rolled about 15 feet (thought it was going to stick the landing), but drifted off to the grass and tipped up as it hit the grass. The 4th landing was just as good as the 3rd, but landed just off the runway. It rolled for several feet, but tipped up as it hit a dip in the grass. SO CLOSE!
I happened to look up the wind speed as I was waiting for the motor and battery to cool down. At that time, the previous wind was recorded at 6.9 mph.
Lessons learned this evening. However, still came home with the plane intact! The best part was when I checked the cells, they were all within the Storage Charge range! Next time, I will not forget the Battery Alarms!
First, the ironic thing is that after listening to The Aviation RC Noob's episode on Field boxes and what to take to the field, I forgot a small box that had my battery alarms! I had no idea how much time to set a timer for, so I decided 5 minutes seemed about right. This was based on the flights from the day before. So, I set a timer on my watch, took off, and began the first flight. Oh my wind...
The forecast called for 5 mph wind, then decreasing to about 2-3 mph. Once I arrived at the field, it seemed there was a little breeze, but not bad. That was until I got up into the air. A gust hit the plane as I was climbing out of the takeoff. I practice with the wind set to 5mph in Phoenix, so I was able to handle it. However, this seemed worse than what I was used to in the sim. So, the first few minutes of the flight were stressful.
There were some clouds behind me, but they seemed to be moving away. I even thought I heard some thunder in the distance. I'm assuming a small cell near the area was causing the higher gusts.
After a bit, I glanced down at my watch to check the timer, and the watch had gone back to the home screen. This happens with my watch, and it is frustrating. After blindly trying to access the timer while flying and losing sight of the plane as it drifted away in another gust of wind, I found it had reset and was not running. I decided to fly a few low passes and came in for a landing. After touchdown and rolling a couple of feet, it tipped onto its nose. I need to work on that.
The second flight was better and didn't have any gusts. But still felt windy. This time, before walking out to the runway, I decided to use the timer on my phone. However, like an idiot, I forgot to start the timer. Sigh... So, I just decided to fly and have some fun, and try to feel when enough time had passed. Towards the end, I did some more low passes. Then practice a few landings. The second landing was like the first. The next two were much nicer. The 3rd landing, I landed on the narrow runway, rolled about 15 feet (thought it was going to stick the landing), but drifted off to the grass and tipped up as it hit the grass. The 4th landing was just as good as the 3rd, but landed just off the runway. It rolled for several feet, but tipped up as it hit a dip in the grass. SO CLOSE!
I happened to look up the wind speed as I was waiting for the motor and battery to cool down. At that time, the previous wind was recorded at 6.9 mph.
Lessons learned this evening. However, still came home with the plane intact! The best part was when I checked the cells, they were all within the Storage Charge range! Next time, I will not forget the Battery Alarms!
Last edited:
Mr Man
Mr SPEED!
Great! Practice will always do the trick 👍
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Nice! Yeah I have a hard time not tipping up with my planes...But then I land on grass so maybe that makes it harder...
Piotrsko
Legendary member
If the plane goes home with only a discharged pack and no damage of any sort, YOU WEREN'T FLYING FAST ENOUGH.
You do seem to fly fast enough.
Mr Man
Mr SPEED!
Never fast enough. 😂
ithink2020
Active member
Thank you for sharing that video! I might circle back to it at a later date, as I have looked into flashing the firmware.
I'm going to stick with flying with the battery alarm. I was watching the video that RC Saylors put out on Battery Alarms. They make a good point that each time you fly, you might fly differently. One day/flight might be a lazy cruising around type flight, while another flight might be full of loops, touch and goes, or what have you. I have 5 of them, so I'm going to put one in my Battery Box and the flight bag I'm putting together.
Most if the ESCs use the same beep profile during startup. But… there are always exceptions.
Heck if you get creative, some will play music!
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
My drone does! 😂 😂 (Star War's Cantina song)
Piotrsko
Legendary member
Last I saw, battery life is a function of servo/subsystem current draw. A slow flight floater doing trim style circles will have longer battery life than full stop to stop areobatics, even with a smaller sized one. Not sure everything going on with a BEC motor controller, but figure a couple of hours life on the powered glider after the motor stops
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