MayDay, I mean Maiden Flight
07-15-2016, 12:29 PM
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MayDay, I mean Maiden Flight
Well I finally got enough of this project finished to see just how she would fly. I found out that it flies very well I just have to exterminate some gremlins on board. The maiden was Thursday morning with very good weather. I checked everything over and checked the retracts for proper operation, I did not want to belly land all this labor the very first flight. one of the rear retracts would not deploy. I took it apart and found out it was binding. Fixed that and then started it up and taxied down the runway. It was tracking to the right so I trimmed it out and then checked and re-trimmed the rudder. All looked good so back to the starting bench to refuel. I checked the retracts again and the retract was stuck again. I shimmed it and it seemed to take care of the problem. I started up the engines and taxied to the end of the runway. After a quick photo op, I sent it down the runway and it took off by itself in about 80 feet. I put in about 3 clicks down elevator and it was all trimmed out.
I had about 1.5 minutes of flight time when I heard one engine struggling. I deployed the landing gear and only saw 2 tires. I cycled the gear again and still only 2 tires, that darn retract....no wait, I then saw the strut without the tire. The decision was quickly made between landing on the extended strut or bellying it in. I decided to try the strut landing. I put flaps to half and brought it around to land. I could not believe how slow it was flying. I landed on the runway with zero damage, the strut just skidded along the geotextile runway. I noticed that I was missing the rear portion of one muffler and the nut and washer fell off the other muffler. The whole axle was gone. I took it home and a fellow flyer gave me a wheel to replace the one I lost. I locktited everything and took the plane back out to the field in the evening.
Take off was uneventful and I had 3 great minutes of flight when all of a sudden I noticed that a strut was hanging down. I deployed the landing gear and came around for a landing. the plane was coming in hot and the one engine was at about 3/4 throttle. The other engine died. I aborted the landing and slowly climbed to a safe altitude on one 36 engine. I tried reducing the throttle several times but was not getting any signal what so ever to the throttle. I climbed a bit higher to an altitude I figured I could plane a good deadstick route to the runway after the engine ran out of fuel. After what seemed like eternity, the plane finally started to stumble and I got ready for the deadstick. Down she came and landed right on the runway with yet another no damage landing. Upon inspection, I noticed that the 4 small screws that hold the mounting plate to the retract mechanism were missing and another screw from the other retract was also missing. The muffler had again vibrated loose and was turning and the throttle servo on one side ( the live engine) did not respond. The servo extension seems to be the problem.
I don't know whether to call this airplane lucky or not. It has had two successful landings with no damage in two consecutive flights with multiple malfunctions each flight, but on the other had, I have had multiple malfunctions on two consecutive flights. I have the retracts all locktited together now and will change out the servo extension and then be ready for another flight tomorrow. I am thinking about using jb weld to hold the muffler parts together. I cant wait to have one good full length, uneventful flight.
Well here are some pictures of the bird just before the first flight. I plan to leave the cowls off until I get the engines fully broke in.
I had about 1.5 minutes of flight time when I heard one engine struggling. I deployed the landing gear and only saw 2 tires. I cycled the gear again and still only 2 tires, that darn retract....no wait, I then saw the strut without the tire. The decision was quickly made between landing on the extended strut or bellying it in. I decided to try the strut landing. I put flaps to half and brought it around to land. I could not believe how slow it was flying. I landed on the runway with zero damage, the strut just skidded along the geotextile runway. I noticed that I was missing the rear portion of one muffler and the nut and washer fell off the other muffler. The whole axle was gone. I took it home and a fellow flyer gave me a wheel to replace the one I lost. I locktited everything and took the plane back out to the field in the evening.
Take off was uneventful and I had 3 great minutes of flight when all of a sudden I noticed that a strut was hanging down. I deployed the landing gear and came around for a landing. the plane was coming in hot and the one engine was at about 3/4 throttle. The other engine died. I aborted the landing and slowly climbed to a safe altitude on one 36 engine. I tried reducing the throttle several times but was not getting any signal what so ever to the throttle. I climbed a bit higher to an altitude I figured I could plane a good deadstick route to the runway after the engine ran out of fuel. After what seemed like eternity, the plane finally started to stumble and I got ready for the deadstick. Down she came and landed right on the runway with yet another no damage landing. Upon inspection, I noticed that the 4 small screws that hold the mounting plate to the retract mechanism were missing and another screw from the other retract was also missing. The muffler had again vibrated loose and was turning and the throttle servo on one side ( the live engine) did not respond. The servo extension seems to be the problem.
I don't know whether to call this airplane lucky or not. It has had two successful landings with no damage in two consecutive flights with multiple malfunctions each flight, but on the other had, I have had multiple malfunctions on two consecutive flights. I have the retracts all locktited together now and will change out the servo extension and then be ready for another flight tomorrow. I am thinking about using jb weld to hold the muffler parts together. I cant wait to have one good full length, uneventful flight.
Well here are some pictures of the bird just before the first flight. I plan to leave the cowls off until I get the engines fully broke in.
07-15-2016, 12:41 PM
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Just some specs in case someone was wondering.
The wing is using the Ultrasport airfoil using the foam rib construction method. It has 1/3 length flaps and the wing holds two asp 36 engines, two 6 oz tanks, and electric retracts. The flaps are operated with one center wing mounted servo and two 1/16" cables running through tubing to the flaps. I stole some of the lines of the fuse from the Southern Eagle with alterations to the nose and tail feathers. The tail feathers are 1/16" sheeted built up structure.
Wing span: 70"
Length (nose to hingeline) : 49"
Weight : 8.7 lbs
Flying weight: 9.5Lb
Wing loading : 26.25 oz/sqft.
The wing is using the Ultrasport airfoil using the foam rib construction method. It has 1/3 length flaps and the wing holds two asp 36 engines, two 6 oz tanks, and electric retracts. The flaps are operated with one center wing mounted servo and two 1/16" cables running through tubing to the flaps. I stole some of the lines of the fuse from the Southern Eagle with alterations to the nose and tail feathers. The tail feathers are 1/16" sheeted built up structure.
Wing span: 70"
Length (nose to hingeline) : 49"
Weight : 8.7 lbs
Flying weight: 9.5Lb
Wing loading : 26.25 oz/sqft.
