I caught a break in the weather and took my Aresti up for her maiden voyage. I had intended on just breaking in the engine, but after that was done I just had to take it up.

She had a tendancy to ground loop at slow speeds, but I fixed it by just advancing the throttle a little faster. Takeoff was uneventful. The low rates that are recommended in the manual worked great for testing it out. I'll probably push them up a bit after I get comfortable with the plane.

The landings were real interesting. This plane doesn't want to slow down!! I was taking extremely long finals to get it slowed enough to touch down. I'm thinking of adding flaperons in the mix to help that out a bit.

All in all it was a great first run. The plane performed exactly as I had hoped with no suprises. I plan on taking her up next week and run it through the aerobatics wringer and see how she does. I have a 2 storke .45 in it, so I know it won't go vertical. The power seems plentiful for other maneuvers though.

Terry Fulwider
Nashville, TN