Youngest Son Got to Fly his Bixler

[RC Dad]

Went out yesterday. High of about 36 degrees. In MN this time of year, this is great flying weather. No snow and flew on a freshly mowed field.

My youngest son and I took out his brand new Bixler for it's Maiden Flight. Neither he or I have much experience so we asked an experienced pilot we a while back to give it the once over and take it up and trim it out. He was a big help and even replaced a control horn I lost en route to his field...

By the time we actually got to flying, the wind picked up a little, but we had a blast. I tell you, the Bixler is so much better in the wind than our Super Cub. We had two flights between 14 and 20 minutes long as we were able to catch the wind and let it fly at low or no throttle. Gave up on trying to film it. It was really bright and I could not follow it well enough to make it worth while.

The young boy had a blast and he did very well. Much thanks to this and other forums for all the info on how to set this plane up for success. We made many of the known mod's for it and the plane flew very well. We are excited to get it out again. Today would be great as we are going to be near 50 degrees, but alas, the schedule does not allow for it.

Now we have to get the EOT Rare Bear built and in the air...pass the glue...

Happy Flying!

 

[Fishbonez]

Sweeeet

 

[colorex]

Was that a 1300mAh or a 2200mAh?

 

[Vintauri]

Nice! It's great that you can share this hobby with your son. I started flying with my dad and I cherish those days. He is in Arizona now and so I rarely get to see him anymore and when we do we rarely get to fly.

The Bixler design and others like it are very good with the wind since they are designed more like a glider then a powered plane. I have an Easy Star and it's the same. You should try getting a small camera and attaching it to the plane. It's fun to see the video afterwards.

I posted a review on my website about a cheap one from Hobby Partz. It's only about $15 and the image quality is pretty decent for that price.

Let us know how it goes on future flights. I'm sure it'll be great when you get to the point where you are both flying at the same time.

Steve
www.vintauri.com

 

[RC Dad]

Was that a 1300mAh or a 2200mAh?

It was the 2200. Balanced the plane very well (assuming you take out the weights). If your fuse arrives in two pieces, it is very easy to get them out. You might also want to run tape on the inside of the fuse too. I saw a tip to do this on another forum. We did it with the Extreme tape - hope we never have to test if it helps

While I only timed the second flight, I figured out that we could fly for 21 minutes and stop with the battery 80% depleted. Easily more time when we are better at gliding and finding the thermals...

You are going to love it.

 

[RC Dad]

I posted a review on my website about a cheap one from Hobby Partz. It's only about $15 and the image quality is pretty decent for that price.

Let us know how it goes on future flights. I'm sure it'll be great when you get to the point where you are both flying at the same time.

Steve
www.vintauri.com

Thanks Steve! Great blog by the way. I read your post on a good second plane. I will definitely check out your camera post. We do intend to make the Bixler our video platform as everything I have read/heard indicates it is well suited for it.

Definitely anxious to get me and both boys proficient at flying. We have combat contests high on our radar (bad pun intended). They are 10 and 12 and both do very well. The oldest one did the flying on our Funbat video (which I think you saw) I posted here and another forum. I would hope we would all be fair enough to not hurt anyone should we be able to make your Owatonna event in July.

 

[colorex]

You are going to love it.

I am sure it will be so.

For shipping weight and price reasons, I only chose the 1300mAh, but I plan to get a bunch of 2200mAh's in the future, for the Bixler, and for a possible future tricopter.

 

[Vintauri]

Thanks Steve! Great blog by the way. I read your post on a good second plane. I will definitely check out your camera post. We do intend to make the Bixler our video platform as everything I have read/heard indicates it is well suited for it.

Definitely anxious to get me and both boys proficient at flying. We have combat contests high on our radar (bad pun intended). They are 10 and 12 and both do very well. The oldest one did the flying on our Funbat video (which I think you saw) I posted here and another forum. I would hope we would all be fair enough to not hurt anyone should we be able to make your Owatonna event in July.

Thanks for checking out the site. I have so much I like to share that I figured I'd put my domain to use and put it all out there.

Yeah combat is a thrill. We do at least one combat session at WATTS every year. It would be great to have you come down. We have this event so all types and skill levels of pilots can come have fun. Plus there are plenty of people around to help.

I've only been nearly hit once each year so I'm used to the occasional surprise

Steve
www.vintauri.com