No flight yesterday, thunderstorms. Got to field this am. Specs first.

Engine: Saito .56 that has floated around two planes so far. Good running little engine, on the Twist I ran one of the APC 12.25x3.75" props, so that's what was on it right off the bat.

All Futaba 3004's. Running a 5 cell batter.

Set throws to what looked like enough. Elevator and rucder servo side are all the way out on the horn, control surface on the middle hole. Alieron rods are all the way out on the servo and about 1/4" down on the torque rods. Balanced slightly nose heavy.

Throws: Rudder hi rates all I can get and 30% expo. Low rate is 65% and still 30 expo
Elevator is about 1" up and down on hi and 20% expo, about 3/4" and 40% expo on low rates
Alierons are all I can get on hi and 30% expo, about 2/3 that and 50% expo on middle rates and less than 1/2 and 60% expo on low rates.


Wind was straight down the runway about 7 knots.

For first flight, alierons are on low, elevator is on high, rudder is on high. Nice long takeoff run, tail unsticks very abruptly. Plane will not fly off runway by itself, must be rotated. First thing I notice is that the alierons are SLUGGISH. Well, what did I expect. Get it to alititude, trim it out. I don't remember exactally what I needed for trim, some right wing down and a little up. Not bad though. Get some alitude and try the controls. WOAH! this thing has WAAAAY too much elevator. Even on low rates it's still too much. Guess that's what I get for not setting at the MFR reccomended throws, eh? But it's not at all twitchy, feels very solid and stable. Stalls are very straightfoward, will drop a wing. Have to be very carefull on recovery with the elevator and it's very snappy. Once you pull power this plane just wants to drop! Lots of drag there. Turns require some rudder to look nice, roll rate is good, not exactally RPM fast but quick. Plane requires some down stick to fly inverted, and CG is too far off to knife edge. Plane has enough rudder travel but too much and it snaps out. But it dosen't seem happy flying slowly. I try a vertical climb and the engine quits. Deadstick is fairly uneventfull into the long grass off the runway, no damage but boy does this plane come in FAST!

So once on the ground I change to a 12x6 prop, adjust the elevator pushrods slightly as I noticed the plane rolling when I pulled elevator. Check over for loose hardware and find a missing bolt from the engine mount. Ooops. Adjusted radio to the following:

Alieron high rates 100% -15% expo. That feels just about perfect.
Elevator: high rates 65% and -25 expo. Plane will still snap but this setting is just about right for snap rolls and other manuvers, without being too much. Low rates are 50% throw and -30% expo. This is fairly safe, plane won't snap even at full deflection unless you're going fairly slowly, and it gives plenty of authority for takeoff and landings.
Rudder si 100% and -30, low rates (trying to knife edge) are 40% and same expo. Still too much throw for knife edge, though. Or maybee not enough expo.

More thoughts:" This plane flies more like a small pattern plane than a bipe. Landings are best done under power, especially with a headwind, as the plane will literally just stop flying and fall. Three pointers seem to be the way to go, as it bounces too much on faster wheel landings. Plane must be flown, as expected, all the time. I can't really comment on how well it does aerobatics untill I get the CG further aft. Saito .56 is just barely adequate. The one in the plane is the older of the two I have, I'll probablly try the other one. Or just break down and buy a .72, I don't think that would be too muich for it. It runs out of steam on uplines, but with the 12x6 prop it's much faster and feels a lot happier. Slow flying dosen't seem to be this plane's forte.
The plane can be hard to see at times..... it's too fast to really fly close in, and sort of small to fly big manuvers.

OK, I guess that's about all...... All in all I like it, this is my first Ultimate so I really didn't know what to expect. Just for comparison purposes, my other biplane is a Model Tech SE-5a, and it flies completely differently. Other than both of them needing a touch of rudder to turn nicely.

Andy