What Did You Fly Today

Foamforce

Well-known member

I built this plane late last year and on its maiden flight I lost signal and it crashed. I fixed it up, but didn’t have the nerve to try it again until today. I also wasn’t quite sure of what went wrong. It might have been a signal loss, a brownout, or even just a major stall.

Today I set it up with my new transmitter and gave it a whirl. The first flight had several momentary signal losses, which were announced by my TX16S. I landed and moved some wires around to get the power wires further away from the antennae, and in a different position. That flight went perfectly so I thought I had solved it. So then I put in some cargo to try the drop. Going up that time I got some pretty serious signal loss. Five seconds at a time. Then the biggest signal loss as it started heading into a dive. I ran toward it to try improving the signal and managed to pull it up with only a couple seconds to spare. I figure the cargo must have interfered. So I removed the cargo and flew several more times, with total success.

So first, I’m happy that I actually know what happened the first time. It was definitely a signal issue. I suspect that the receiver is bad because I’ve never had anything like that in any of my other planes. The antennae weren’t touching anything metal, even with the cargo, so it seems like it should have been fine. In my other planes I barely pay attention to antenna orientation and they work fine. So I’m going to swap receivers and see if the problem goes away.

Mostly though, I’m just really happy that I managed to fly my jinxed plane. I really had a mental block about flying that after the disastrous maiden, but now I’m past that. Good day!
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
Maiden flight of the Gee Bee R6/QED/Conquistador del Cielo this morning. Not the best conditions but the best in 2 weeks. I got rid of the under cambered wing tips in this version and almost paid the price for it at about the 1:15 point in the video.

 

voyhager3

Active member
Don’t have a picture, but crashed my racer (at least this one) for the last time. So I’m going to have to build another one because once it’s up, it’s a dream to fly
 

Tench745

Master member
I’ve crashed my racer 4 times since my last post, and frankly I’m tired of it. It almost always flys like a dream, but the launch, is just a pain. But I’ll keep fixing it.
What make the launch so problematic? Maybe the brain-trust can offer a solution you haven't tried yet. (When you rebuild; just saw your most recent post)
 

danskis

Master member
What make the launch so problematic? Maybe the brain-trust can offer a solution you haven't tried yet. (When you rebuild; just saw your most recent post)
Don’t have a picture, but crashed my racer (at least this one) for the last time. So I’m going to have to build another one because once it’s up, it’s a dream to fly
I took to bungee launching all my FT planes. My success rate on launches isn't perfect but it went up quite a bit.
 

Brian B

Elite member
It flew! First flight needed full down elevator and full down trim at high rates to get down safely. Moved CG 1/4“ forward from design recommendation, added more down elevator, much better, but will need to tune more. Sure is a weird shape, messed up my orientation numerous times. Sure got attention at the field!
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WillL84

Active member
Finally got around to a proper maiden of my Legacy V2. Went up to the local high school where my previous maiden (and crash) happened. It flew perfectly for about 3 minutes until the battery died. It felt slightly puffy but charged and tested fine. I just ordered 2 more 3S 2200mah batteries that'll be here Saturday. Man it felt GOOD to finally actually fly it around! I've been flying (kinda) in my yard the last few nights. Basically get it up for a few seconds and put it down as my yard isn't wide enough for turns with tall trees lined all around.

I also scored a UMX Turbo Timber and a UMX Sport Cub S2 for cheap. The TT had some previously repaired damage and after a few nose dives in my yard it broke again. Got new fuse and stuff on the way. Batteries and a charger for the SC are on the way as well. Those both I can actually fly in my yard which will be nice.

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L Edge

Master member
Readyiboard F-117 passes test

sid.jpg


took its short maiden flight. I have been putting it off so today, I used the parking lot of the soccer field to get enough speed to lift off(and clear the guard rail which would trash it if I hit it) and took a short cruise and landed (flared nicely with small amount of power) with no damage. Flight was 13 sec long. Roll needs to be reduced and pitch is in the ball park. Got to figure out do I try some more runs in the tree surrounding park to see how sharp turns can be or what?
 

MaxTheFliteFreak

Active member
Readyiboard F-117 passes test

View attachment 238379

took its short maiden flight. I have been putting it off so today, I used the parking lot of the soccer field to get enough speed to lift off(and clear the guard rail which would trash it if I hit it) and took a short cruise and landed (flared nicely with small amount of power) with no damage. Flight was 13 sec long. Roll needs to be reduced and pitch is in the ball park. Got to figure out do I try some more runs in the tree surrounding park to see how sharp turns can be or what?
You must be either a good pilot, a good builder or both to get such a complex (aerodynamically speaking) plane like that in the air. Great Job!
 

L Edge

Master member
Got a total of 5 flights today on my brand new designed F-117 and it is now added to my fleet. Bunch of dings and wrinkles and does it fly. Need to adjust CG, increase ailerons throws and its trimmed to do left and right turns, and pull nose up where it doesn't stall or roll over.
Took a video and will add tomorrow showing it even lifts off before the guard rail and flies around in a confined 550 square ft field. Never did wide open throttle to see what will happen. Flares nicely.

Head camera shakes due to walking to guard rail for landing.



Next project is a SR-72.
 
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luvmy40

Elite member
I got the new FT EZ power pack V2 and put it on the EZ Bronco I built a while back but never flew.

Here's the first, very short flight.


It flew like it was extremely tail heavy, so I pushed the battery as far forward as possible and tried again. It was still porpoising badly. I ended up cutting an elevator into the H Stab and gave it some down angle. This helped immensely.

First real flight.


Then the camera lady finally decided she wanted to take a stab at flying(I've been trying get her to try it for a while). She did pretty good for a while, but then she let the wind push it out to far and she couldn't tell which way was which and lost it in the trees on the far side of the field. My fault, I could have taken over any time but I thought hat she's recover as she was doing remarkably well for her first flight ever.

I don't think we will recover this one. We couldn't find it in the foliage and it looked to 60 or 70 feet up when it hit. I'll go back and look again in a few days, but I'm not holding my breath.

I have another EZ pack on order.