Fej sports jet
04-26-2014, 01:55 AM
#227
Thread Starter
The Test Flight.
After slicing my thumb down to the bone this morning and forgetting the battery charge leads in the workshop, all the signs were there to not test fly this jet. But with the aid of fellow club members who had leads to borrow and some reassurance that they would fend off the chicken sh1t taunts because of a scratched up thumb, I decided to proceed with the test flight.
For a big jet rolling down the runway it sits fairly high but doesn't look out of place. The 170 gives it plenty of power to allow a 70m rotation off grass and lift into a gentle peel away. Once at a safe height, a few clicks of trim here and there had it flying hands off. The 250mm CofG is perfect, Elevator travel at 40mm is probably a bit too much but with -45% Futaba Expo, it is no issue. The Aileron travel at 25mm is a bit slow for my liking but this too had fairly high expo which will be reduced. Rudder at 25mm is ok, and pretty powerful. Take off and landing flap needed little to no elevator mixing. She tracks really well right side up and just a touch of down stick compensation for inverted.
Once setup for landing, even with a fairly steep decent and no headwind it slows down nicely, a bit surprising as the max flap deflection was only 45mm. Landing was simply a none event with the struts barely compressing on the most gentle of touchdowns
I only got one flight in as one of my main door rams developed an air leak, and with a falling sun, by the time I pulled the offending ram and removed a slither of metal from the piston o ring, then put it back together, it was getting uncomfortably dark.
The resultant Aileron trim showed slight flap misalignment and easily fixed, the elevator however ended up with a needed 2-3mm of up trim, its very liveable and not real noticeable. Nowhere near loosing sleep over.
To sum it up, and with those that saw its performance would agree, that this is great flying jet, with a heap of potential. There was a few sarcastic comments regarding the validity of some of the early comments quoted from this thread, that "this jet was dropped from Skymaster because it didn't fly well", but apart from that, all the praise belonged to this jet alone.
Next flight I will try and get some video but honestly even if this flight was recorded it would show you a flight almost identical to the FEJ test flight already posted on youtube.
The plan for this airframe was to build it for the release of our 220N engine but having flown it now, at this stage I think that the 170 might just be a really good match leaving an opening for another 200+ size jet.
After slicing my thumb down to the bone this morning and forgetting the battery charge leads in the workshop, all the signs were there to not test fly this jet. But with the aid of fellow club members who had leads to borrow and some reassurance that they would fend off the chicken sh1t taunts because of a scratched up thumb, I decided to proceed with the test flight.
For a big jet rolling down the runway it sits fairly high but doesn't look out of place. The 170 gives it plenty of power to allow a 70m rotation off grass and lift into a gentle peel away. Once at a safe height, a few clicks of trim here and there had it flying hands off. The 250mm CofG is perfect, Elevator travel at 40mm is probably a bit too much but with -45% Futaba Expo, it is no issue. The Aileron travel at 25mm is a bit slow for my liking but this too had fairly high expo which will be reduced. Rudder at 25mm is ok, and pretty powerful. Take off and landing flap needed little to no elevator mixing. She tracks really well right side up and just a touch of down stick compensation for inverted.
Once setup for landing, even with a fairly steep decent and no headwind it slows down nicely, a bit surprising as the max flap deflection was only 45mm. Landing was simply a none event with the struts barely compressing on the most gentle of touchdowns
I only got one flight in as one of my main door rams developed an air leak, and with a falling sun, by the time I pulled the offending ram and removed a slither of metal from the piston o ring, then put it back together, it was getting uncomfortably dark.
The resultant Aileron trim showed slight flap misalignment and easily fixed, the elevator however ended up with a needed 2-3mm of up trim, its very liveable and not real noticeable. Nowhere near loosing sleep over.
To sum it up, and with those that saw its performance would agree, that this is great flying jet, with a heap of potential. There was a few sarcastic comments regarding the validity of some of the early comments quoted from this thread, that "this jet was dropped from Skymaster because it didn't fly well", but apart from that, all the praise belonged to this jet alone.
Next flight I will try and get some video but honestly even if this flight was recorded it would show you a flight almost identical to the FEJ test flight already posted on youtube.
The plan for this airframe was to build it for the release of our 220N engine but having flown it now, at this stage I think that the 170 might just be a really good match leaving an opening for another 200+ size jet.
04-26-2014, 03:20 AM
#230
Thread Starter
I have an Avanti to build on my next break. Don't think I will post a build thread on that one.......
04-26-2014, 05:21 PM
#234
05-09-2014, 10:08 PM
#236
Okay so I finally got to see this beast in the flesh today and have a look at his plane 
I have to say I was quite impressed and it flies really well. I spent quite a bit of time going over the plane as this is my first fly eagle model I've had the chance to examine. The honey comb skin is interesting to look at, like a big matrix in a way but nice and solid. Ply formers, stiff elevators and vertical stab. Wings are nice and solid and the lg is very robust.
Flight wise it is an absolute *****cat in the air, very smooth and predicable. Phil was putting it through its paces today and the K170 was pushing it along nicely. It certainly stands out in the sky and as the day got more overcast, his colour scheme was eay to see against the clouds.
What impressed me most was how slow it lands. On one of the flights the wind had picked up and was coming across the main runway so Phil used our much shorter cross strip and it handled it with ease. It's a gentle giant but flies great.
so now for the conspiratory theories....I forgot my video camera, I was going to try and get some more video of my Gryphon EVO today but I left in the living room at home, but never fear there is plenty more flyingt to be had and when Phil is back in Sydney again on his next rdo's and I'll make sure I have both my video camera and on board camera with me to get some footage.
Cheers
Jez.
I have to say I was quite impressed and it flies really well. I spent quite a bit of time going over the plane as this is my first fly eagle model I've had the chance to examine. The honey comb skin is interesting to look at, like a big matrix in a way but nice and solid. Ply formers, stiff elevators and vertical stab. Wings are nice and solid and the lg is very robust.
Flight wise it is an absolute *****cat in the air, very smooth and predicable. Phil was putting it through its paces today and the K170 was pushing it along nicely. It certainly stands out in the sky and as the day got more overcast, his colour scheme was eay to see against the clouds.
What impressed me most was how slow it lands. On one of the flights the wind had picked up and was coming across the main runway so Phil used our much shorter cross strip and it handled it with ease. It's a gentle giant but flies great.
so now for the conspiratory theories....I forgot my video camera, I was going to try and get some more video of my Gryphon EVO today but I left in the living room at home, but never fear there is plenty more flyingt to be had and when Phil is back in Sydney again on his next rdo's and I'll make sure I have both my video camera and on board camera with me to get some footage.
Cheers
Jez.
05-09-2014, 10:19 PM
#237
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: pmb, SOUTH AFRICA
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aaah! would have loved to see it. i went with the 2.6m skymaster viper until more info is known on this plane.
They should have the option of no gear doors on this sport jet. keep it simple
They should have the option of no gear doors on this sport jet. keep it simple
05-09-2014, 10:36 PM
#239
The doors are actually quite good on this, reminded me of an L39 with the configuration with the number of doors and sequencing. It would be easy to remove them if you chose to do so. I forgot to mention I had a look at the sbus setup Phil has installed. I've never tried it our myself but it was really interesting to see how it is all wired up and working. Makes the installation nice and neat.
05-09-2014, 10:38 PM
#240
I promise I will take my camera with me next time I'm out there. We are also going to strap on a heap of those small HK wing cams to see what the surfaces are doing during the flight and one on the nose for a good youtube video 
05-10-2014, 02:04 AM
#241
Thread Starter
So more flying today (still no video, but a lot of onlookers who can verify the flights)
With the repairs to the main door cylinder after the test flight the air system now hold air perfectly.
I removed the intermediate doors on the struts as these still hinder the mains going up due to the angle they face the air, even with a good air system the force required to overcome this isnt up to the task, especially with sequenced doors, by the time gear is ready to go up, the aircraft speed is fast enough to stop the gear. With these doors Removed, the gear goes up nicely. Nose door needs a bit of work, the standard nylon offset hinges do not allow enough clearance for the upcoming wheel, well they do on the ground but it doesnt take much in the air to close the door enough to interfere on the fork. I plan to remove the existing hinges in favor of Robart aluminium offset hinges, these give a nice big offset, while at it i will replace the door strut with a bigger Robart cylinder just to ensure its operation.
Flying wise its a beauty, it doesnt look overly fast but still manages to cover a lot of ground in very little time. At half throttle the 170 provides a comfortable flying speed given the size of this jet. You do tend to fly it further away which makes you forget about its actual size. So far i cannot fault it, other than needing a few degrees of differential to clean up the slight barrelling during a roll, most would not worry, but my preference is a very axial roll.
The gentle landing of the test flight was duplicated again today, beginning to wonder if struts are really necessary on this jet
So with a little bit of rework to do on the nose door, there is nothing much else to do other than get some video of it flying.
With the repairs to the main door cylinder after the test flight the air system now hold air perfectly.
I removed the intermediate doors on the struts as these still hinder the mains going up due to the angle they face the air, even with a good air system the force required to overcome this isnt up to the task, especially with sequenced doors, by the time gear is ready to go up, the aircraft speed is fast enough to stop the gear. With these doors Removed, the gear goes up nicely. Nose door needs a bit of work, the standard nylon offset hinges do not allow enough clearance for the upcoming wheel, well they do on the ground but it doesnt take much in the air to close the door enough to interfere on the fork. I plan to remove the existing hinges in favor of Robart aluminium offset hinges, these give a nice big offset, while at it i will replace the door strut with a bigger Robart cylinder just to ensure its operation.
Flying wise its a beauty, it doesnt look overly fast but still manages to cover a lot of ground in very little time. At half throttle the 170 provides a comfortable flying speed given the size of this jet. You do tend to fly it further away which makes you forget about its actual size. So far i cannot fault it, other than needing a few degrees of differential to clean up the slight barrelling during a roll, most would not worry, but my preference is a very axial roll.
The gentle landing of the test flight was duplicated again today, beginning to wonder if struts are really necessary on this jet
So with a little bit of rework to do on the nose door, there is nothing much else to do other than get some video of it flying.
05-10-2014, 04:33 PM
#245
Thread Starter
Not sure what the retail is but this jet cost me AUD $3500 which I though very cheap, I did not receive any special discounts other than the discount you get for filling in the FEJ club membership form, you are supposed to get a tee shirt and cap with this form but I never did
If this thing wasnt so big and such a hassel to store it, I would be buying another in the Redbull scheme.
05-10-2014, 05:11 PM
#246
Thread Starter
Not sure what the retail is but this jet cost me AUD $3500 which I though very cheap, I did not receive any special discounts other than the discount you get for filling in the FEJ club membership form, you are supposed to get a tee shirt and cap with this form but I never did
If this thing wasnt so big and such a hassel to store it, I would be buying another in the Redbull scheme.
