Tony
Staff member
At the last moment I decided that I was going to go flying. My thoughts were to take 4 batteries and two planes plus the Tx and nothing else. YEah, that didn't pan out lol. By the time I left, I had 3 planes, 6 batteries, my DX8, a cooler with "drinks" and my tool box for the planes with all of the stuff in it.
I get to the field and I'm the only one there. So I pull everything out of the car and sit down to enjoy the day for a bit. The first plane I decided to put in the air was the Bipe. I had only flown it once and folded the landing gears. Well that is repaired and it will rip the nose off before that breaks again. So I already had a battery in it, I plugged it in, checked it out then sat it down to taxi out to the runway. Once out there, the wind decided to come out of the east. If you remember, the last time I flew with wind out of the east, I folded the landing gear on the Edge lol.
I roll and then I take off. The plane didn't seem to want to climb at first and was getting a little worried lol. I thought it was going to slam into the ground and break into a million pieces. But, she finally started going up after I flipped high rates and yanked it up there. Once in the air, I noticed the plane felt tail heavy. I did push the battery back more but this seemed too far. So what do I do to check it, that's right, flip it on it's lid. IT's still nose heavy lmao. Holy crap. How can a plane feel this bad and still be nose heavy? Oh well, lets fly.
I make a couple passes to trim it out again since I moved the battery but I notice something that none of my other planes to. It wants to turn into the slight wind we have like it's blowing 30mph. The wing is catching the tail really bad. Oh well, it has a long tail, lets deal with it. So I keep flying and this thing is just unstable as they come. I'm not sure what is going on. So after realizing my timer wasn't running I decided to land.
The wind while I was flying went from east, to south, now it's coming out of the north. Okay, whatever... I line up for a landing and I set her down. Pretty good but not my best. As I'm taxing into the pits the wind hits it and shoves it into the grass where I had to go get it. I feel the battery, great. I feel the motor, great. I feel the ESC, FRIGGIN HOT! lol. This was only after about a 2-3 minute flight. Okay so the ESC is not big enough. After thinking about it, I don't think I have enough motor either so this plane will not see the skys again until I get a new power system. I think there is just too much drag with an extra wing for this setup to handle it. Even though this is what I'm running in my small Edge and my Extra. 1 down, 2 to go...
So I sit down and decide if I want to put the Extra in the air, or my big Edge. I decide on the Extra. So I go out and stick a battery in it, and the same thing as with the Bipe and we are in the air. The wind is about the same, you never know where it's going to come from next but I fly it, some snaps, some flat spins and hammer heads and it's time for a touch-n-go. I line it up (again, wind out of the north kinda lol) and I'm coming in. Just as I'm about 3' off the runway, the air just falls dead and my plane dropped out of the sky. Okay I figure a nasty bounce and we will be back in the air and I'm already grabbing more throttle. Well just as that happens and I'm at about 1/2 throttle, I hear the plane skidding across the runway then I see the rudder flying in front of the plane. Then the Extra spins around looking right at me as if it's asking "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" lmao.
Back when I had quit flying, the plane sat for a while and I was not able to work all of the bugs otu of it. Afterall, I had only flown it once. But I took it down to get ready for this year of flying, and the right aileron broke off in my hand. I replaced the hinges that broke with some material that I had on hand and thought it was just a fluke deal. That was until today. All 3 hinges broke on the rudder on what should have been a "rougher than normal" landing, but survivable. So now this plane is grounded until I cut the hinges off the left aileron and the elevator and replace all of them. Last thing I want is for my plane to fall out of the sky because of crappy hinges. 2 down, 1 to go.
The man the field was named after showed up while I was sitting out there after putting the pieces of the Extra in my box. He is a great guy and knows his stuff. His name is Jim Shaw. Great guy. I had been looking at the radar and noticed that a line of storms had developed and there was a pretty good gust front in front of them. Well while I was sitting there with Jim, it hit. Well, that was the end of my flying for the day lol. I had actually wasted a little more time than I should have, but at this point I'm 0 for 2 and I really didn't want to destroy my big Edge. So, I just packed everything up and came home.
Sucks when you have days like this, but they happen. Something just didn't feel right and it shows. I don't think starting out the day with the Bipe was the right choice and it won't happen again. What I need to do is get my poor mcpx back in the air and use that to calm the nerves before tossing anything bigger into the air. Oh well, it is what it is...
I get to the field and I'm the only one there. So I pull everything out of the car and sit down to enjoy the day for a bit. The first plane I decided to put in the air was the Bipe. I had only flown it once and folded the landing gears. Well that is repaired and it will rip the nose off before that breaks again. So I already had a battery in it, I plugged it in, checked it out then sat it down to taxi out to the runway. Once out there, the wind decided to come out of the east. If you remember, the last time I flew with wind out of the east, I folded the landing gear on the Edge lol.
I roll and then I take off. The plane didn't seem to want to climb at first and was getting a little worried lol. I thought it was going to slam into the ground and break into a million pieces. But, she finally started going up after I flipped high rates and yanked it up there. Once in the air, I noticed the plane felt tail heavy. I did push the battery back more but this seemed too far. So what do I do to check it, that's right, flip it on it's lid. IT's still nose heavy lmao. Holy crap. How can a plane feel this bad and still be nose heavy? Oh well, lets fly.
I make a couple passes to trim it out again since I moved the battery but I notice something that none of my other planes to. It wants to turn into the slight wind we have like it's blowing 30mph. The wing is catching the tail really bad. Oh well, it has a long tail, lets deal with it. So I keep flying and this thing is just unstable as they come. I'm not sure what is going on. So after realizing my timer wasn't running I decided to land.
The wind while I was flying went from east, to south, now it's coming out of the north. Okay, whatever... I line up for a landing and I set her down. Pretty good but not my best. As I'm taxing into the pits the wind hits it and shoves it into the grass where I had to go get it. I feel the battery, great. I feel the motor, great. I feel the ESC, FRIGGIN HOT! lol. This was only after about a 2-3 minute flight. Okay so the ESC is not big enough. After thinking about it, I don't think I have enough motor either so this plane will not see the skys again until I get a new power system. I think there is just too much drag with an extra wing for this setup to handle it. Even though this is what I'm running in my small Edge and my Extra. 1 down, 2 to go...
So I sit down and decide if I want to put the Extra in the air, or my big Edge. I decide on the Extra. So I go out and stick a battery in it, and the same thing as with the Bipe and we are in the air. The wind is about the same, you never know where it's going to come from next but I fly it, some snaps, some flat spins and hammer heads and it's time for a touch-n-go. I line it up (again, wind out of the north kinda lol) and I'm coming in. Just as I'm about 3' off the runway, the air just falls dead and my plane dropped out of the sky. Okay I figure a nasty bounce and we will be back in the air and I'm already grabbing more throttle. Well just as that happens and I'm at about 1/2 throttle, I hear the plane skidding across the runway then I see the rudder flying in front of the plane. Then the Extra spins around looking right at me as if it's asking "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" lmao.
Back when I had quit flying, the plane sat for a while and I was not able to work all of the bugs otu of it. Afterall, I had only flown it once. But I took it down to get ready for this year of flying, and the right aileron broke off in my hand. I replaced the hinges that broke with some material that I had on hand and thought it was just a fluke deal. That was until today. All 3 hinges broke on the rudder on what should have been a "rougher than normal" landing, but survivable. So now this plane is grounded until I cut the hinges off the left aileron and the elevator and replace all of them. Last thing I want is for my plane to fall out of the sky because of crappy hinges. 2 down, 1 to go.
The man the field was named after showed up while I was sitting out there after putting the pieces of the Extra in my box. He is a great guy and knows his stuff. His name is Jim Shaw. Great guy. I had been looking at the radar and noticed that a line of storms had developed and there was a pretty good gust front in front of them. Well while I was sitting there with Jim, it hit. Well, that was the end of my flying for the day lol. I had actually wasted a little more time than I should have, but at this point I'm 0 for 2 and I really didn't want to destroy my big Edge. So, I just packed everything up and came home.
Sucks when you have days like this, but they happen. Something just didn't feel right and it shows. I don't think starting out the day with the Bipe was the right choice and it won't happen again. What I need to do is get my poor mcpx back in the air and use that to calm the nerves before tossing anything bigger into the air. Oh well, it is what it is...
