Tempest flight report:

Ok, I flew this sucker 4 times this morning. in a word....AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No joke, this plane blows away any other plane I have ever flown, including EVERYTHING by ZN except the new Supreme. (which I haven't flown yet).

Take off was dead straight, perfect level lift off on center. It required 2 clicks of up trim, as it is slightly nose heavy (on purpose...new design). It also pulls VERY slightly to the canopy on down lines for that reason. The rudder coupling is dead perfect. Not any roll or pitch coupling. Zero. Nada.

I flew it through the intermediate sequence, then through the advanced sequence, then a friend of mine flew it through FAI P01. Flawless. A perfect blend of stability and manueverability. Tracks dead straight, and inverted flight is just as effortless as upright, with barely any stick pressure to hold it level. 1/2 oz in the tail and that'll cure everything.

Rolls are the most axial of any plane I have ever flown, PERIOD. It requires no top rudder, and barely a hint of down passing through inverted. I tried top rudder a few times and it climbed. Knife edge it pulled slightly to the canopy, again this can be fixed with just a slght amount of tail weight, no roll tendancies whatsoever. Point rolls and slow rolls were textbook.

Landing was laughable. Perfect glide slope, 3 point touchdown on center and 10 foot roll out. Pffft please.

To say I'm pleased would be an understatement. I am already beginning to cut parts for another one! (I hope I can find a freakin cowl). In short, this ain't your grandpa's Typhoon. This is a totally up to date FAI butt whoopin design that is a true JOY to fly. All of the bad habits the Typhoon 2000 had are GONE. In fact, I'm searching for any bad habitst his thing DOES have. So far just the nose heavy thingy is all. And we're only talking about a 1/2 ounce to fix it. MAYBE.

Enough talk, it's time to start cutting parts for Tempest #2 [8D]

-Mike