rod2_hi
Posts: 76
Joined: 9/19/2003
From: Fort Davis, TX, USA
Status: offline
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Well, I finally got the guts to get Rachael out and maiden flight her this weekend. What a great 5 minutes, probably the best 5 minutes I have had in the 3 years that I have been back in the hobby. But, first a little background on my progress since 2002 to build the suspense.
Most of the information on my set-up starts on page 10 of this thread. I did get my CG back to 9.5” by adding ‘Rachael’ as a pilot sitting near the back of the cockpit. I also had to add 2 oz. of lead to the left wing tip for balance. I have gone through 9 planes getting my skills up to where I thought I could handle something this big. All of them are or were 40 sized from a Kadet to a 4 star. 4 of them are still flying, and 5 of them are toast including a coroplast, but each one of the 5 that I lost taught me a valuable lesson, like ‘don’t listen to your flying buddy when he tells you “Go inverted! You’re ready!!!”, you’re pushing the sticks and you’re ready when you know you’re ready!! Antenna OUT!!!! Don’t fly when the engine really isn’t runnin’ right, it doesn’t get better in the air. And several more that don’t need mentioned. It seems that just about the time I would think I was ready to get the Giles out, I would burn one in for some reason or other and my confidence would fly out the window. I have only burned through about 4 gallons of fuel in the past 2 years, most of the time I get a couple good days in per month so I really haven’t got that much stick time, but I do have Real Flight G2 with Add-on 3 and my Giles 202 in it, which has gotten a lot of stick time.
Ok, so much for background Saturday was a beautiful morning, just a whisper of a breaze, clear and warm, we fly at the Alpine City Airport off of a taxi way. A few guys flew and I flew a ramrod a couple of flights to get my thumbs relaxed. Most of the guys there left early, but 2 stayed around to confirm that I actually got a flight in, if I got back on the ground clean. Hee Hee. I put the Giles(Rachael) together and the excitement started. My knees were a little week when the Moki 180 fired up, deep and solid, a whole lot different than the 45’s and even the 60 4 stroke I have. Taxied out and made the turn down the runway, then let her sit there idling for a few seconds while I stretched and built up my nerve. Throttled up smooth and easy, the tail raised in less than 10’ straight down the middle with just a little right rudder. At less than 50’ I started feeding in a little elevator and she broke smoothly from the ground. Now my knee knocking has extended to my shoulders. A little right aileron and banked smoothly around 180, still climbing to about 100’. I made a couple of circuits and found that one click of left trim on the ailerons made her fly straight and true at about ¾ throttle. When I started thinking of doing a couple of maneuvers the shakes increased through my arms all the way to my thumbs. ¼ up elevator and I was into a smooth climb making a nice 50’ loop. Adrenaline started pumping and on my next pass I tried a roll, ½ right aileron a little too much down stick inverted so I made a big hump in the middle, but that wasn’t too bad. A couple split S’s and immelmans and I was ready to get her down. One low and slow(1/2 throttle at about 20’) circuit to see if I could line up with the runway then on the second base leg, I throttled back to ¼ and she settled, 2’ high over the threshold, throttle back to idle, a little up elevator and she settled softly to the tarmac about 10’ after passing my position. Taxied back to the pit and my timer went off, 5 minutes from pit to pit. I was elated, I have not had more fun with any of my other planes in a single flight. My 4 star can go over 20 minutes per flight. I sat down, had a smoke and calmed down slightly, the shakes took awhile to clear but I felt great. WHAT A PLANE ! ! ! ! !
Post flight- I gave one of my 'witnesses' my camera to catch a few pictures. (No Joy. All the care and attention I give to my planes' batteries and I didn't check the camera's they were dead, what a fool!) I used about ½ of my fuel so an 8 minute flight will be about right in the future, but this might get a little longer when I get the Moki broke in and lean her out a little. A recharge of the battery showed that I used 145 mhr. So a full flight would be pushing 300 and a second flight would require a little field charging to be safe since I’m using a stock 600 mhr pack. I will be getting a higher mhr pack as soon as I can. I’m just a fun flier, but with a plane this solid there is a lot more fun in the flying.
Rod
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> ARF or RTF >> RE: OS 1.60 run-in procedure 
RE: OS 1.60 run-in procedure - 
RE: OS 1.60 run-in procedure - 
