The re-maiden today went well. For the first battery...
We got an early start and there was still plenty of dew on the morning grass. I warmed up the thumbs with the Pietenpol, and then prepped the 'Cuda for another attempt at flight. Armed with a 3S 2200 I aimed it into the wind and gave it a strong toss. It was better than the first throw last weekend, but still wasn't successful, as the plane came to rest quickly on the wet grass. No harm, just not enough UP elevons to get it aimed in the right direction quickly enough.
I took stock in what Laine said about very small throws, and then realized something quite important.
Those small throws are most important once the plane is actually flying! So I changed my approach and switched to medium rates, and also dialed in quite a bit of UP trim. Again aiming into the wind, the plane was thrown and it took off quite nicely! It had a bad tendency to climb with throttle due to the extra trim, but dropping trim back down to 0 had it flying nicely. I did need a little aileron trim to level it out, but quite soon it was flying along very well. Winds were choppy, and that was evident by the way the plane was bobbling at times. The plane was also ultra responsive, then I remembered to drop the rates back to LOW and that was much better as well. The rates could have even been lower than I had them set for good high-speed cruising, and it also needed a little more expo to make me happy. The only real issue I had was orientation, as only the small vertical stab is there for a visual clue.
So I blasted around for 5 minutes before bringing it in for a nice smooth (and wet from the grass) landing. The 3S was nice, but the 'cuda was screaming for 4S, so that's what I gave it.
I set the pack farther back due to the extra weight of the pack and sent it into the sky very easily. I did a high-speed pass and was trimming it a bit when I lost orientation and the plane did it's impression of a lawn-dart. Let's just say that the results weren't pretty...
Both wings were separated from the fuselage, and all four CF spars were broken. The fuselage actually had less damage than I expected, although the nose is pretty well flattened, but the wings took the bulk of the damage and would require very extensive surgery. Since the plane hit the grass runway I had a good shot of the explosion of balsa which I haven't seen in a while! Bits of wings were all around the impact zone.
Oh well, the electronics will be harvested and will find new homes. This was still a fun project and maybe I'll pick up another 'cuda some day and try it again.