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Crashes Happen

If you're flying RC aircraft then eventually you will crash.  It's not a matter of if you will crash it's when.  The sooner you realize this the easier it will be to deal with it.  I recently lost one of my favorite daily flyers.  My 3D Hobby Shop 47" Yak 54 went in after hundreds of flights over 3-4 years.  While it's sad to loose a plane I had become so used to flying and was very comfortable with I'm also okay with it because of two things.  The plane gave me many hours of fun, and I learned quite a bit about aerobatics on this plane.  But secondly I'm okay with it because I know why it crashed and I can learn from that.  In this case it was the RX had reset in air due to low voltage supply.  I had just taken off and started my routine roll to the left when it happened.  The plane had no hope as failsafe set in with idle power and neutral controls.  It simply stayed in knife edge with no power and fell to the ground.  While I could be very frustrated with the radio failure and say it's not my fault I'd rather deal with the loss and learn from it.  I checked the battery after the wreckage was picked up and it looked okay but I want to test the pack under load.  I have had a few cases of early cut off due to weak cells in lipo packs.   The take away here is we all need to do some preventative maintenance on our planes.  Check wires, and screws to make sure things have not come loose.  Check glue joints to make sure there are no stress cracks.  Tighten up the covering before it flies off in a big chunk right after that impressive snap roll or blender.  Doing that preventative maintenance can prevent you from loosing that favorite airplane and keep your enjoyment of this hobby going strong.

E-Flite Gee Bee R2 Ultra Micro UMX

The Gee Bee R2 racer is one of those planes most everyone loves but hates to fly.  With the big round body meant to house a large radial engine and just enough wing area to keep it in the air it can be a handful to fly.  Enter E-flite and their new AS3X technology to tame down the beast and make it in a micro fly anywhere size.

The release date is late December of 2011 so we might not see it under the christmas tree but hopefully by new years we'll be tearing up the ball parks and indoor arenas with this new micro plane from E-flite.  Check back for my take on this plane once it's released.

Below are the specs from E-flite.  See the product page here:  http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLU4580

UMX Gee Bee R2 BNF

Overview

Gee Bees competed in all the popular airplane races of the Golden Era of aviation. These highly engineered, teardrop-shaped, super planes required a skillful hand and perfect circumstances, but with the right pilot, they ruled the speed course. The UMX Gee Bee R2 is yours to groove through the skies just about anywhere because it features specially tuned handling more in common with a Sunday sport model than a short-coupled engine with wings. The awe-inspiring UMX Gee Bee R2 replica offers handling so remarkably smooth, you’ll want to fly this authentically scaled model every day. Its built-in, specially tuned, AS3X System invisibly helps you enjoy the kind of silky handling and outstanding control you always wanted from a conveniently sized RC model, but never thought possible before now. And you get all the benefits without having to spend a lot of setup time. No special programming is required. Just charge the included Li-Po battery, bind to a basic DSM2™/DSMX® airplane transmitter setup and the UMX Gee Bee R2, enhanced with the AS3X System, will instantly offer you the best flight experience possible.

Product Specifications

Wingspan:	20.1 in (510mm)
Overall Length:	13.9 in (352mm)
Wing Area:	72.5 sq. in. (4.7 sq. dm.)
Flying Weight:	3.60 oz (102 g)
Motor Size:	180-size 3000Kv brushless outrunner
Radio:	4 channel minimum transmitter
Servos:	(4) 2.3 g Performance Linear Long Throw Servo
Trim Scheme Colors:	Red and White
Prop Size:	5.25 x 3.5 Electric Propeller
Recommended Battery:	2S 200 mAh 25C Li-Po Battery (included)
Approx. Flying Duration:	4 minutes
Charger:	DC powered 2S LiPo charger (included)
Minimum Age Recommendation:	14 years
Experience Level:	Intermediate
Recommended Environment:	Outdoor
Is Assembly Required:	No

Needed to Complete

Any 4+ channel DSM2- or DSMX-compatible Transmitter

Forsberg Field Dedication - North Mankato MN

On May 21st the City of North Mankato and the North Mankato Quiet Flyers held a dedication ceremony for the newly constructed Forsberg Field city park.  This is a RC flying park for use by the public with electric powered RC aircraft.

Back in early 2010 the club was flying off of the local middle school soccer fields.  However whenever they were in use by the soccer clubs, football teams, marching band or other groups the RC flyers would wait till the fields were clear to fly.  One day a soccer coach stopped to talk to a couple members about flying and how the fields are often busy.  They met again and did some flying together.  Well this coach got the club in touch with the city administrator and talks about a place for the RC flyers to fly without disruption ensued.  A year later the park has been setup in an industrial area where the planes have room to fly without obstruction and without bothering any neighbors.  There is a 120 x 70 foot paved runway area with grass overruns on all sides.

The dedication ceremony went well even with some rain early on.  The club put on a display of various aircraft including trainers, jets, warbirds, gliders, helicopters and more.  Many people enquired about learning to fly and the instructors were busy handing out information and setting up contacts.

This is a great partnership with the city and a bunch of local RC flyers to help grow the hobby and introduce more people to aviation and the RC hobby.

GWS FW-190 Maiden

A few years ago I picked up a GWS FW-190 kit when they first came out.  The FW-190 is one of my favorite planes and I had to have it.  I could not leave it stock and just have fun.  I had to modify it.  I went about adding mechanical retracts, split flaps, filled and glassed the airframe, changed the cowl to be closer to scale and added some detail to the cockpit.  Well time got away from me and I jumped on and off the project over the past few years.  I finally decided I had been putting it off long enough and sat down to finish it.  It came in at a portly 37 ounces and was on the edge of being tail heavy.

My friend Mike and I decided we were going to go maiden a couple planes and set aside an afternoon that looked like it would be decent.  We loaded everything up and headed to the field.  We figured that we'd get things setup and charge a few packs and mid evening the wind would calm down to a calm 5mph.  Well it did calm down but not much.  It was still close to 10mph but it was down the runway.  The sun was setting and I was not going home to wait longer.  So I let her roll down the runway and off she went.  It flew well but needed some aileron trim.  I did a number of circuits, tested the roll rate and then started getting ready to see how she would land.  I tested the flaps and they were very effective but made the plane balloon quite a bit.  I had dialed in some elevator with the flaps but not enough.  I dropped the gear and started in a landing pattern.  It started to settle in nice but around 5-7 feet from the ground it would get very pitch sensitive.  I made about 10 passes working in the flaps and some down trim.  Each time it would get close but either start to stall early or ballon on me.  I finally got the timing down and got her on the ground with no damage.

I'm going to re-check the CG as I feel it is still a little tail heavy.  I'll give her another go on a calmer day and see how the landings go.  But I was happy with how it went even with the crazy landing attempts.

My first try at Discus Launch Gliders

So I can across a deal posted by a friend on RCgroups.  A few of us had been looking at a new inexpensive DLG (Discus Launched Glider) and one of the distributors ran a 50% off sale around Easter.  So a few of us jumped on the deal and waited.  The planes started arriving and we debated the gear we'd put in them.  I finally pt mine together last night.  The build was quite simple for anyone that has put a few airplanes together.  However there were no instructions included and what I gleamed from the web helped but there were still gaps in the instructions that left me to think it out.  Well it didn't take too long as I was able to finish it in an evening with multiple interruptions.

This morning I took it out to a soccer field before work and gave it a few tosses.  It was fairly tame and once I got the launch method down it was not too bad.  I was able to keep it in the air for about 30 seconds at most but it was a cool morning with no wind so lift was not to be found.

I'll give it some more flights and report back on my thoughts about this entry level DLG.

Here is the video of my flights:

The Cyclone DLG video on Youtube.

Futaba Releases a new radio with all the bells and whistles.... even a camera!

Futaba announced the release of a new 18 channel radio today.  It's a first of it's kind with 18 true channels and a new version of the FASST 2.4 technology called FASSTest.  It also features an SD slot for system updates, model memory and more.  

Check it out online at: http://www.futaba-rc.com/systems/18mz.html