Countryboy

My Feedback: (25)

I agree, sound is crap. Congratulations Keith... thought you were going to nail the landing there for a second.

FenderBean

yeah it was going great to the last 5 feet, I just got nervous when the end of the runway popped in my view, and it was still a little hot and ballooned on me a little.

I'm uploading it again, the one im uploading from sounds fine. Something went wrong with uploading process or something.

FalconWings

My Feedback: (57)

Fender, wings flat during approach = hot approach, told you that earlier. You kept a + angle for most of the approach, but as soon as you let the nose drop you gained speed.

Practice keeping that nose high, if it seems you will not hit the rwy where you want it to, go around and try again. Flaring 5 ft from the ground on this bird will not work, it will balloon on you like it did.

Youll get it next time.

FenderBean

well the problem was the throttle curve, the linear was causing me issues because I would slow down to start coming down and getting the good approach angle but to maintain it I had to add a little power. The linear curve i was using like I said made one click go from not enough to way to much, in the video with good sound you can hear the turbine spin up a bit on final. I changed it back to default which stretches out the bottom part. Plus I think I will add a touch of exp to the elevator this time. Anyway no worries next time I will grease one on I was kinda worried about fuel and after I landed we checked, the main was full and the saddles were only down half

Trust me everyone has said the same thing I had that in the brain from the get go.

vega406

My Feedback: (73)

good advice Falcon i have been told that by many many pilots about the F-16

blackcat

g'day fender, have been watching this thread and hoping all would go ok for your test flight. i wrote the thread S/M F16 in my hot little hands. i still have this model and still love it as much as tor (icepilot) loves his, maybe more . its had the odd bingle, even after 300 + flights over 5 years , i can get the nerves, land hot or land 1 foot wide or land slow. try not to pay too much attention to the throttle position, just the model speed. my f16 has no flapperon so slow to 60-70 mph, drop the gear and present those big main doors to the air flow with a bit of alpha and a fair bit of power, i'd say it might be 5 degrees nose up and hanging on the elevator,if it climbs, its too fast, you would have maybe 1/4 elevator and 1/2 throttle(not climbing, descending or speeding up), and just drive it through the circuit, maybe a little more throttle downwind if its a windy day, just back off throttle a smidge going to base and let it descend, the roll to the turn does most of the work for the turn and the descent replaces some power (NOT ALL), by that i mean you should still be on the elevator 1/4 , stay on the power, but keep the nose UP , roll to final and you should be still at 1/4 elevator and AT LEAST 1/3 throttle and descending. at this point, if you feel long or short, a flip of power will stop it sinking, just don"t pull the elevator , it will just slow down, just drive it out on power. a real confidence booster i have found on early flights is to drop the gear after 2 or 3 minutes, and then start driving it around the circuit at height with alpha and power, just getting used to the nose high look, to land nicely it touches down with lots 1/3? power and maybe 3/4 elevator to flair . i personally don't like expo, you can suddenly have a surge of movement, but to each their own. i know this has been a little long winded but with a bit of technique it lands like a trainer at maybe 35 to 45 mph depending on wind, 50-60 mph in the circuit. good luck mate

FenderBean

Yeah I understand, the problem was having the jet flatten out with one click above idle since it was to much power. I will get it next time. I deleted the video so I can try uploading again to improve the sound.

lenhard2007

My Feedback: (6)

i have watched this from the very begining, and want to say congrats on the maiden. i love when people want you to fail and when you dont it just shuts all the nay sayers up. building my first jet on the tornado sport jet forum, so like you im gonna be nervous as hell next week when i fly it. but great looking plane!!!!!!!!

Wap4life

My Feedback: (3)

Fender i need the video!

FenderBean

I will upload again when I get home, the last video had sound problems from the upload. [:'(]

dubd

Congrats on the maiden! Nice to see another arctic scheme F-16 in the air.

How was the visibility of the plane for you? Depending on lighting conditions, telling top from bottom can be a bit tricky for me. I'm thinking about adding drop tanks to address that.

FenderBean

Thanks, I had no problem seeing it even way up, I think the only time it may be an issue is when evening time and the sun is setting. I never fly that late anyway, there is the typical crosswind to final turn that can be crazy if you get lazy on tracking your jet at the point.
I have already decided that I will fly it with wing stores on it at some point. Probably way down the road but I like scale and the f-16, f-15, f-18 all looked even better with stores on. I may have detail4scale build me a set of ordinance since I have a credit for a set of speed brakes I bought and couldnt use on mine, he said he can build a set that weighs less than my FEJ set. Which I would probably just remove my batteries for the burner ring and scale lights when the stores are on it. The problem is it adds all the weight aft when you put stores on and my batteries are already in the nose. I was going to put the tip missiles on but since I dont have the cockpit finished to add weight I couldnt for balance reason. I wish mine had the nose cone that comes off I could move all batteries there and be a perfect balance.

sskianpour

My Feedback: (2)

Always nice to get a maiden out of the way, my biggest worry is always CG, I am mortified that the plane will take off and stand on its tail. Is this flight with a Rhino or a Mammoth and any idea as to all up weight with fuel?

Shaz

FenderBean

Well its 36 lbs dry, I have a rhino in it and it holds just under 6lbs of fuel. minus take off i was around half throttle the entire flight.

FenderBean

i really think companies should give correct CG it should not be something you have to guess or estimate on. I went with the recommended CG and its close enough for me. I had more than the recommended throws but after my landing I will deff be returning to those It flew very gentle not snappy like a tail heavy would make it, when I slowed it down the butt doesn't sag unless you make it with elevator. It rotated pretty quick because I was very slow on pushing it to full throttle, and in the video I was not full throttle till just over half way before rotation. It didn't jump up either like some things that stick to the ground and jump, very smooth rotation. I just wish I had a better landing to see how the slower speeds handle. I think the throttle curve I put back in will help with that.

Okay I loaded it again and still the audio is crap, I will go back to the orig video and re-edit and tr again so here is the video with crappy sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqOD0bNK3l0

Wap4life

My Feedback: (3)

Video was great!  Great flying! 

icepilot

Come on, blackcat - you know nobody loves the F-16 like I do!!!!
Congratulations, Fender, nice flight, and next time no big adjustments on final, just let it land itself. I tend to land a little
fast, especially in a cross wind, but it's a gentle giant and will fly nice when you get to know her well!

And to your cameraman - and I have said this here many times, but it deserves repeating: Point the camera at the
horizon before the flight, let the autofocus focus in nice and sharp - and while holding the camera steady: Turn off the
autofocus! That way, you will get nice, clear pictures even if you loose the plane and point to the gray skies. Even
at 2-3 yards, it will still be sharp and nice!

Good luck with the next flight - you will love this plane!
Tor

GCA-NavAids

Yes the sound on your vid was bad and until it's replaced this is a vid that B1-Bob just put up of the JL 1/6 scale F-16. The cameraman is quite shaky but the landing tells the story.
You have made a good case for Down and Locked retracts with that maiden landing of yours. And yes the aggressor paint job does look good. Looking forward to some stills of the finished build.
(copy and paste or highlight and open in a new tab)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=LPjw7ySjKg4

Dave.

GCA-NavAids

A small suggestion for your uploads. I had a MPG file that was too large so I converted it to AVI and it still wasn't good enough. It was a 14 minute file. I converted it to MP4 and it uploaded to YouTube in 9 minutes. I will be converting everything to MP4 before I upload again. Just a thought.
Dave.

FenderBean

mine are not to large it just seems something is wrong when it uploads, they run fine on my computer and I have never had this issue before. I used the same camera as in my build videos for the maiden. Oh well just mute and watch I guess.

reeseman9

My Feedback: (4)

CONGRATS FB. Great looking plane.

FenderBean

Man if I would have just held that till touch down [:-] Thanks for the pic! The next flight will much more of a photo flight, maybe I can enjoy it more LOL Everything is ready to go again but I am out going out of town this weekend so I want have another chance to fly it till the Saturday of the club meeting. I think everyone there was more nervous than me LOL

I like the aggressor colors so much my next jet is going to have it! HEHE

2_Subway

Hey Keith, it was nice to meet ya out there. I still can't believe i got to see it fly considering i was in Germany the day prior and i made it out to the field just in time for take off! You did great and you're right.......i was nervous.
Take care!
Henry

KC36330

a viper jet in aggressor paint..........that'll be different

Henry, glad you made it out and my how you have grown since the days of flying at Hatch.

FenderBean

It was nice ro meet you as well, wish you luck I hope everything is going well