Rj-TailSpin
Posts: 172
Joined: 12/3/2002
From: Appleton, WI, USA
Status: offline
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The Avistar is a great flying plane. We have one too. My son, David, crashed it severely after doing a loop and piling it straight into the ground instead of pulling out. Since then, he flies, but he don't land. Do you blame me-grin? The fuse was flat up against the wing and the tank and engine were packed deep into the CG. I rebuilt it in one day! Couldn't stand to see the young bird looking at me that way!
My son and I joined an RC club in 2002 after attending a Ground School and another club's Annual Show and Auction. I, being new to RC flying believed a show should include a flight demonstration. We went to the show to see a flight demo. We were so disappointed that no planes flew, only static displays! Nevertheless, I remembered this and I decided I would fly a demo at the next year's event. My son and I learned to fly very fast and did so on every opportunity. On March 9th of this year, our club had it's Annual Show and Auction. I had hoped to fly my video equipped electric glider, but the weather wasn't cooperating!
The plan was to fly with the video equipped plane over an adjacent frozen lake and pump the video into the Auction hall to a few large TVs for all the attendees. With the weather forecast looking very bad... everyone told me! "don't do it!" . I contact the AMA and send them detailed pictures of the flight box and the buildings/parking lots. They agreed the plan was sound and safe to perform. However, I did not have the support from my club, which I am quiting this year. I decided to install the video equipment in the Avistar because there would be no way to fly the electric in the predicted 40mph gusts
A few days before the show, I had been out testing on the lake and discovered a serious problem with the video link. When the engine was WOT, the video would be gone. I am a wireless guy, but this symptom had me thinking. I tried everything to fix it... nothing worked. I eliminated all the possibilities, proximity, engine EMF noise, induction, battery issues, connectors, equipment failure etc... etc... etc... I was ready to cancel when I made a discovery. I started the Avistar 40 in my garage without the radio on and with the video equipment being powered with a isolated solid voltage source with the antenna attenuated by 40db... I witnessed the interference for the first time on the ground. I still drew a blank to what was causing the video problems. After about a half of tank of glow... I reached over and placed my finger, ever so lightly, on the video board and BAM! The interference was gone! It turned out to be a problem caused by glow fuel entering the pot. used to regulate the video in to the transmitter. The vibrations from the prop caused an AM signal to be superimposed onto the video in signal which would destroy the video reception. It was a really tough one to figure out! The more practice flights I did, the worst the signal got. I cleaned the pots the best I could and I isolated the video board from the glow fuel and everything worked fine then. Not perfect, but goodenough...
The day of the event, the winds were 19mph and 38mph gusts!!! Never say Never! I flew for over 3 minutes and pumped the video into the auction hall. My buddy had to hand start the 40 because I blew a fuse in my truck using the starter while I had other equipment running... ie dummy. My buddy got it started... amazing, good man! But, then he hand launched the Avistar (no wheels... another story but it flies great without them) straight up and I had to do some quick flying to recover. It made for some wild video. I guest the moans in the auction hall were pretty entertaining. My son said, "they all cheered when you pulled her out" Just like a model day Barn Stormer! I couldn't hear the crowd being outside and a quarter mile away on a frozen lake-grin Into the wind the plane barely moved, but with the wind... about 10 seconds and turn! Things myths of made of-grin. The landing was quite interesting as the engine quit going down wind and I turn her around, but she kept on going backwards and landed near a bunch of snowmobilers. They are a wild bunch of people... they say, "That was cool". No damage to the plane... I just wish I could have flown longer. My fingers were completely frozen... I couldn't hardly feel the sticks, but there was no way I was't going to deliver on a promise to perform the demo.
Why this story? Because I think the Avistar is a great plane. It has taken a beating, yet I am able to keep it flying. I recovered it this Summer. Without the wheels and with the new coverings... she's almost too fast! I really love that Avistar! I would highly recommend this plane to any beginning pilot.
Rob
< Message edited by Rj-TailSpin -- 12/16/2003 3:48:28 PM >
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