When it comes to that initial "maiden" flight of an airframe, I often take the approach of "throw it in the air and see if it comes back in one piece". Probably not the most effective way to learn, especially with a scratch built or kit built.
So my intention with this thread is to start some thoughts on what are good objectives - things we want to learn - from a maiden flight, and ideas on how to test them in ways we can learn from more quickly and less painfully than a "fly, crash, apply hot glue until I want to give up" approach. :black_eyed:
And as an output, I want to write a recommended maiden flight plan that is flexible enough to account for multiple airframe types (3 channel, 4 channel, bank and yank, etc). And then I want to print out this maiden flight plan and stick it in my flight box so I can review it before I take off, and hopefully learn more quickly and less painfully in the future.
So with considerable thought, both over the past few months and especially after my most recent maiden flight involved bringing home a plane in a trash bag, here are the things I would like to learn from a maiden flight. [Edits adding ideas from the group here...]
Learning Objectives of a Maiden Flight
So, what other things do you test for on a maiden flight? And what kind of procedures / steps / best practices do you use to test these things?
So my intention with this thread is to start some thoughts on what are good objectives - things we want to learn - from a maiden flight, and ideas on how to test them in ways we can learn from more quickly and less painfully than a "fly, crash, apply hot glue until I want to give up" approach. :black_eyed:
And as an output, I want to write a recommended maiden flight plan that is flexible enough to account for multiple airframe types (3 channel, 4 channel, bank and yank, etc). And then I want to print out this maiden flight plan and stick it in my flight box so I can review it before I take off, and hopefully learn more quickly and less painfully in the future.
So with considerable thought, both over the past few months and especially after my most recent maiden flight involved bringing home a plane in a trash bag, here are the things I would like to learn from a maiden flight. [Edits adding ideas from the group here...]
Learning Objectives of a Maiden Flight
All- Range Check - does receiver/antenna placement have any dangerous dead spots?
- Control Check - does everything move the direction it should based on stick input? Very important do this first!!
- Video Check - ensure video is recording and lens cap is off
Fixed Wing - Maiden Launch - Ground handling - if applicable, does it taxi straight? how does it handle field conditions - bouncy or stable?
- Takeoff from ground - does it track straight on takeoff?
- Takeoff by hand launch - with a straight throw, how quickly does it gather airspeed to get to controllable flight?
- COG / Balance validation - is it flyable or do all control inputs result in erratic behavior (tail heavy)?
Trimming
1) Get two mistakes high and at a comfortable speed and on mid-rates
2) Try for straight and level passes both up and down field
3) Trim elevator till it holds pitch hands off
4) Trim ailerons till it goes straight hands off
5) Go vertical with the back of the plane facing you to check for yaw struggles
6) Trim rudder
7) If the plane will do inverted, try rolls to both right and left. If they are not similar in speed/circumference land and look for geometry differences in the control surface movements
Flight Experience Testing - Yaw authority - how effective is the rudder (if one exists) at performing a flat turn without aileron input?
- Thrust line - Does it gain altitude or yaw with more or less throttle?
- Stall speeds - at what throttle/speed levels does it lose lift?
- Stall behavior - what happens in a level stall? does it fall cleanly into a dive? what happens in a stall in a bank?
- Flap behavior - how effective are the flaps at changing the stall behavior?
- Speed behavior - are control surfaces stable (i.e. no flutter) at max speed?
- Deadstick behavior - how does the airframe react with all motor power cut?
- Landing behavior - how will the airframe deal with landing approach? quickly sinking or floats forever?
Gliders - Glider launch tests - start gentle glide launches, step up to DLG peg or high start with increasing power
- Other specific flap features - CROW / Flaperons / Spoilerons
Multi-rotors - Defaults maiden - starting with all default PIDs & rates
- PID tuning - separate flight after initial control to tune PIDs
- Rate tuning - separate flight after PIDs are happy to push rate performance
- FPV - start LOS (Line of Sight) first before putting on the goggles
So, what other things do you test for on a maiden flight? And what kind of procedures / steps / best practices do you use to test these things?
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