Flight Report for the 66" Edge:

First flights were yesterday. Set-up as follows - VF Edge 66" Edge, JR 8103 w/DS811 digital on surfaces and Hitec 225 Metal Gear on Throttle, Engine is Saito 120 FS (more on that in a minute) Set-up is per VF with all recommended throws.
Weight just at 9 lbs.

Finished off the plane Friday night and went to balance Sat Morning. Way too nose heavy! I saw this comming with the 120 up front and mounted all radio gear in the rear-most portion of the interior. Still too heavy, so put the battery on a tiller and pushed back into the fuse as far as I dared. I still had to add lead to achieve balance at 4 3/8" from leading edge. This is the result of the engine of course. It is an older model Saito 120 and is quite a chunck of metal. Decided to take it out anyway since a fellow pilot at the field was going to perform the maiden.

Range check and tuning of the engine were compleated and out to the runway she went. The plane took off just as everyone said it would. I think someone in one thread even said something about majestic. It really was very nice...just a tap on the right rudder was all that was needed to keep her on the centerline. Climbout into a right turn and she was trimmed in half the circut. Jess is a very good pilot and he was done quickly. Put it through some paces and found very quickly that with aggressive elevator, she snaps right. Took it around a few more times and she came in for a nice clean landing. Today I flew her and found that I could really "feel" the extra weight of this plane. It was never flown past 1/2 throttle yesterday or today. I experienced the snap on my third time around. Pulled up to go into a long upline and it just snapped over to the right. First landing was uneventful. I just flew the plane down and landed a little hot. Second landing was further down on the runway and I had a brain-fart. I chopped too soon and made it down to about a foot when it tipped. Speed was too slow to do any real damage, but when it tipped, my left wing-tip hit the grass and turned the plane. When the gear found the grass it was perpindicular to it's intended line and the impact sheared the gear and half the plate out. I was a little surprised to say the least. Granted, this was pilot error, but I was no more than a foot off the ground and speed was to a minimum(part of the problem, I know).

Summary: This is a Wonderful Plane. The folks at VF are top notch. I would not recommend a 120 4-stroke for this plane. Yeah, it fits the firewall, but the speed is simply not needed. By having such a heavy engine up front, I basically inflated the wingloading to inappropriate levels which had a negative affect on handling and probably contributed to the shearing of the landing gear plate. I will say that after getting home and investigating further I found that the plate sheared on every glue seam. IMHO it simply was not adequately glued at the factory, or checked and reinforced by me. The fix is minor and I will be using a more substaitial piece of material. The most important part of the repair is to get rid of the 120 and install an OS 91 four stroke. Between the weight savings on the engine and the removal of lead required to achieve proper balance, I should realize almost 1 pound in weight reduction. This will bring wingloading to a more acceptable level and make the plane fly alot better. This will be a great IMAC manuver plane and teach me a lot. I would get another in a heartbeat!

Thanks to David Cutler, David Moen, Cooter2, Diablo Kid, for your opinions and thoughts when I was looking into this plane. Jess and Jack out at my field were great in getting the first flights on it. I took some good digital pics of it yesterday, but I don't have the software that came with the camera in my puter yet. Will try to post some pics soon. If you are looking into VF products, GET ONE, they are great. Just don't do what I did. They don't need that much power with a wing as efficient as they have.

Cheers,
John