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aaron2874 -> Tower Voyager 40 ARF (6/8/2003 7:27:14 PM)
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I bought the Tower Voyager after I totaled my Thunder Tiger Sport 40. They are pretty much alike. Low wing trainer with trike gear. And since I'm on a budget, the price is right at $90.
When I first unpacked the plane, my first impression was, "What a piece of ****!" The whole thing looked nice, and was packed well, but just looked cheap. I felt it necessary to go over everything I could with thin and thick ca. There was even one structural piece that just fell off. Right off the bat I didn't like this plane very much.
Anyway, putting it together is pretty much just like any other trainer type plane. If you have done one before there are no suprises here so no real need to go into detail. Just inspect everything and reenforce if needed. The instructions were very good though. Easy to understand and had good pictures. Building was very quick.
The cowl was a bit of a problem. Holes are precut to allow for your exhaust. They weren't even close to my engine (OS 46 LA) so I had to widen them. I would prefer a cowl to have no holes so I can custom fit whatever engine I use. This would make for a much nicer finished product.
The engine is mounted upside down. This is a problem because the fuel tank inside the plane was mounted too high. It made a great siphon! I ditched the cowl and flipped the engine and mount right side up with no problems. I didn't want to refit the fuel tank. This only took me a few minutes to do and everything lined up just right. Any comments on this would be appreciated as I have never had an inverted engine before. It was a real mess!
To the field! I didn't have high hopes because I was already irritated with this plane. I could have crashed it and not cared. However, I found this plane to fly very well! Now, I don't have a lot of flying experience. I have never had an instructor, but have managed ok. I did have a great time flying this plane though.
Take off was no problem. It was easy to steer and lifted off in about 50 feet. I thought, "Well, at least something is going right". I didn't like the recommended low rates. The plane felt sluggish. I switched to high rates and found response to be much crisper. I may even increase the rates a little more. The Voyager is a very easy flier. I didn't have to make any trim adjustments. I chalk that up to blind luck though. Rolls were ok but not very tight. Loops were nice and inverted flight was very easy. I would not try it at a low altitude though. It flew nice simple patterns and is very easy to control just like a trainer should be.
Now for the hard part... landing. I have not mastered this yet and I was very nervous. Usually I just set my planes down anywhere in a field. Today, I wanted to learn to line up to and land on a paved two lane street. The Voyager responded very well at low speeds and I FINALLY had some really nice landings. I was feeling pretty good so I tried several touch and goes. I had never done this before, but the plane handled so well at low speeds and steered on the ground so easy, I was quite successful. In all, I flew five times and did about 10 touch and goes.
Then it happened... On my last landing, I nosed it in on the street a little hard. The fire wall broke around the gear mount and the nose gear buckled underneath. True this is pilot error, however, I don't think I hit that hard. The firewall seems thin so I am going to cut it out and use a heavier ply. That should take care of that (along with keeping the nose up).
BTW The Voyager comes with large foam wheels and has long gear so it sits kind of high. I could see on landings how well the wheels took the shock of touch down while the plane itself looked very smooth. Tower get a plus for that. Other planes I have came with dinky little wheels and short landing gear.
This plane does have a few structural issues, but they are easy to fix. I believe it is a good low wing trainer. Despite some of its' shortcomings, I really did enjoy flying and landing this plane. In fact, I just had my most enjoyable flying session to date so I really kind of like this plane now.
If you have any specific questions, please post them, and I will answer promptly.
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