Flight 2

Before flight 2 I had to take my plane to the workshop for some repairs to the snapped fuselage. as it was structural I thought best to not use balsa wood and get some stronger redwood from B&Q. I bought a 6mm quadrant which was £1.80 for a 2.4m length. It was strong but alos thin enough to keep weight down. I used 4 ieces of this to use as splints on each corner of the fuselage to hold the tail back in place. I then used some balsa wood arrpox 4 x 8mm to form some diagonal struts between the repairs. I also added some bracing accross what I felt was a weak point. Once all glued with a weather proof wood advesive I recovered it in some random black film that I had knocking about. I'm really not bothered how this plane looks. I just want it to get me to a stage where I can fly my low wing Seagull Spacewalker that I have in the workshop. After that I have a pristine Seagull PC-9 with an OSAX46 in it that will be my main plane for messing about with. Were a long way off that right now though.

So I went back to the field with one of my friends and got the plane ready. This time I was sure to carry out as many checks as possible to give me a fighting chance:

- Checked fuel tank full
- Checked transmitter battery okay
- Check distance each surface moves. i.e elevator, rudder and ailerons all move the distance specified in the manual. No more!
- Mor important check each surface moves the right way and reverse any servos if necessary. If you don't understand aerodynamics then don't guess as this will end in disaster.
- Check the movement of the throttle and ensure that lowest throttle allows for a steady idol without cutting out. Trimming down should then cut the engine.
- Check high speed needle valve is set 1/4 turn out from optimum speed.
- Check all your wheels are on firmly

There wa sno wind so I set her off and after about 70 yards of rolling the plane looked light and I pulled back ever so slightly on the elevator to get her up. The plane climbed steadily but any release of the stick and it wanted to roll right and pitch down quite badly. At this point the plane was too low for messing about so I just have to hold the stick in a place that keeps the plane flying straight at a steady ascent. Once high enough I initiated my first turn to come around for the back leg. I tried to let go of the stick to trim but there was no chance. The ailerons and elevator were that far out that it would of certainly crashed or at least beein in a position where I could not recover from. So I had to call my friend over to trim whilst I fly. He first gave the ailerons a good shove back left and got it fairly level. I finished it off myself to get it just right. I then managed to trim inthe elevator and get the plane flying virtually straight and level ant 3/4 throttle.this was by far the hariest moment up to now of the flying and is probably wtill the worst part after 5 flights.

I managed a few circuits just like onthe simulator and it was virtually the same as the simulator. A little more intense maybe as its a real plane and you don;t want to crash it. All of a sudden the engine spulttered and then cut out at aorund 80 feet or more. I wasnt too worried as I had performed deadstick landings on the sim so I just kept the nose level or just below level to maintain airspeed as I turned back towards the field. It seemsd to be moving much slower than on the simulator so I was happy with my approach. All I did was pretty much kept adding a little bit of up elevator easing it down lower and lower until it was right above the ground and just settled onto the grass. My mate even gave me a round of applause. what a great landing I thought.

I was unsure of why it cut out but I think it is likely becasue I never carried out the correct running in prooceedure when I was 15 or again when I was 24 lol.

Anyway undeterred I rechecked the high speed needle and topped up the fuel ready for another flight. Again the take off was okay and much easire to handle once trimmed. Its even fair to say its quite a ***** cat up in the air flying around. Agiain I managed 5 or six laps of the farmers field in front of me and then decided to try and practice landings whilst I still had fuel for a few attempts. I tried around once and was coming in way way too fast. Its surprising how quickly you run out of field unless you are going slow. At the back of my mind I thinkI had a fear of going to slow and stalling. The second time around I was too fast again and had to go back around for another approach. After climbing back out the engine cut again and this time I was out over an old industrial estate behind the pub. I made the turn back to try and make the field and then I hit the telephone lines with the tail plane upright which took her right out of the sky and landeed softly in some bushes below.

The video is here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQT0pd4FcFA[/youtube]