Originally Posted by Tip22v

Had a bad day this past weekend and lost one of my T-1 minis, fortunately I still have my other T-1 Mini and regular T-1 to fly while I morn the loss of this baby. I've been flying turbines for just under seven years (~1000 flights) and this is my first loss, so I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. Initially I suspected some kind of flight control malfunction (servo, radio, gyro) but after watching the video (frame by frame) I'm convinced this accident was the result of a good ol' fashion stall. This was flight number 27 for this airframe but my first time shooting an approach from the north (rather than the south) with this particular jet. Because the approach from the north is much shorter than the approach from the south I rolled off the throttle about mid-way through the base leg with flaps full down, when I rolled out onto final I did not have the aircraft in a nose slightly low attitude to maintain airspeed, shortly after rolling out on final the right wing dipped very rapidly and the aircraft changed direction 90 deg to the right. I immediately went to full throttle in an effort to recover but the aircraft went behind some trees and I lost visual contact. At that point I cut the throttle and started the walk of shame. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the aircraft in the above condition, I expected much worse. Based on impact it looks like I was able to mostly level the aircraft before it hit the ground. The airframe is obviously a total loss, but all of the electronics are unharmed. The retracts are fine except for a bent pin on the nose gear. I will send the turbine back to Dirk for a complete inspection but the turbine does not even have a scratch on it.
My take-away from this event is: be very mindful of your nose attitude when you have the flaps all the way down and the throttle at idle, these jets will bleed energy very rapidly, and they will stall with no warning.

So now the big question is, order another T-1 mini or the new F-16?

Originally Posted by Dansy

One of my new engine....a K85 that was going into my mini, had a problem on the bench on the very first start.....send it back and I up with a new one.......my plane would have burned up if it had been in there for the initial run, needless to say I will now run ALL the new engine before install in the planes.

This was the first time I was running my engine prior to install........

Originally Posted by T3chDad

Successful maiden day! I got four flights in. Stock throws and CG at 190mm. Being my first turbine, I had no idea what to expect and that was really scary. I didn't have enough expo on aileron without the Cortex and that aileron sensitivity freaked me out a little at first, but I was able to adjust somewhat. Two clicks of up trim on elevator and two clicks of right aileron was all that was needed. Cortex to the rescue! Flew around some and started checking flaps. I did one landing pass with a wave-off and landed find on my second approach. After that I got comfortable very quickly and it got less scary and much more fun. I adjusted my non-gyro aileron expo and flew it again without the gyro and it was perfect. I forgot my paperwork at home, so I'll have my waiver signed tomorrow! What a blast!

Originally Posted by T3chDad

Successful maiden day! I got four flights in. Stock throws and CG at 190mm. Being my first turbine, I had no idea what to expect and that was really scary. I didn't have enough expo on aileron without the Cortex and that aileron sensitivity freaked me out a little at first, but I was able to adjust somewhat. Two clicks of up trim on elevator and two clicks of right aileron was all that was needed. Cortex to the rescue! Flew around some and started checking flaps. I did one landing pass with a wave-off and landed find on my second approach. After that I got comfortable very quickly and it got less scary and much more fun. I adjusted my non-gyro aileron expo and flew it again without the gyro and it was perfect. I forgot my paperwork at home, so I'll have my waiver signed tomorrow! What a blast!

Originally Posted by T3chDad

Thanks guys! I am president of Rocket City RC in Huntsville, AL. We are extremely fortunate to have such a nice facility. Lots of hard work by great people to keep it going!

I had so much information to absorb yesterday. Now that I've been able to let the experience sink in and pick apart the problems/mistakes I've got some tips.

1) General: If it's your first turbine and you're going to maiden it yourself, have a good turbine coach who's experienced that can talk to you during the maiden and give you tips/instructions. I flew it myself, he was really able to help it be a success. (Thanks Jeff!)
2) General: Have some experience turbine people look over your build and double check all of your work.
3) Mini: Check your brake adjustments. Even though the slot on the potentiometer was between the "+" and the "-", they were set to the strongest. As a result, I had some wacky behavior and now have some flat spots on my mains. Now that I've got them adjusted to the least power, I think they will work much better. (I'll update once I know for sure)
4) Mini: Triple-check the CG. Mine is at 190mm and it flies perfect.
5) Mini: Check binding on flaps once the wings are mounted. My left flap was binding on the wing root retracting from from full flaps. This was resolved by loosening the rear wing bolt and pulling the rear of the wing out by about .5mm and then re-tighten the wing bolt.
6) Mini: Stock throws are great..although I set my rudder to the maximum throw obtainable for nice knife edges.

I'll post more as I come up with them. Happy flying!

Originally Posted by T3chDad

• I had never used flight modes before. Now that I fully understand them, I should have been using them on everything all along.
• Expo with gyro off/vs gyro on. I'm flying a cortex. In the end, I needed 40% on aileron with gyro off and 8% with it on. Elevators were 30% with it off and 8/% with it on. I don't use expo on rudder. I do use tons of expo on nose steering however so I'm not all over the place on take off.
• Much of the in-flight coaching was what to expect and keep me on task for accomplishing the maiden goals (trim, gyro, flaps/flight modes, landing setup, etc.) I felt like I had so much to think about and remember that he just helped me keep things organized in my head.
• Don't drop flaps until you've slowed WAY down. Coming from EDFs I was dropping my flaps when I was still going too fast.
• Fly the throttle the entire flight. Again, coming from EDFs, I was leaving the throttle in one place too long. Use the throttle as you go through maneuvers to make it easier to be consistent and reliable. Throttle management! I fly my EDFs like they have a switch for throttle. I still haven't opened her up all the way yet...maybe 3/4. I probably see Tuesday.
• Take time to get acquainted with throttle response. It's much slower than anything electric. Mainly you need to be aware of this on landings in case a go-around is required.
• On landing, you should be able to put her at an angle of attack (good glide slope) and not have to do a bunch of elevator management. A good CG is crucial here.

I'll post more as I remember them.

Yes. Just make sure you plenty of do taxi/ground testing! I'll admit I had gotten pretty impatient by this time.


From front to back of the wing tube, I'm about 1/4 the tube's diameter from the front. I'll post pictures of my CG and internal placement when I can.

We love having AJ. Thankfully we have really been able to rejuvenate the club in the last few years.


Thank you! I can't wait to fly her again. The guys kept telling me that it would ruin flying anything else (fixed wing). I didn't believe them. Now I'm like "what EDFs?"

Originally Posted by T3chDad

I'll just leave this here... The wife helped me with the design. Done in cut vinyl.