Just remembered when I maidened my shocky I had someone else hand launch it for me. A few others had already flown them and said there would not be a problem doing it myself, and they were probably right, but I still did not want to risk it with it out of trim.[&:]

Second flight was by myself, short underarm push, straight into a hover

Heh the plane I totalled was TOTALLY UNKNOWN! Never seen anything like it as in dunno what it was.

It was bent I think the fuz. We couldnt get enough movement on the elevtor, when we finally did the plane climbed........very slowly. Lost control rolled one way then other. Even on full elevator it was decending!

Bang

Not too much of a loss, felt sorry for my friend though he gave it to me for free (he bought it second hand) . The funny thing was, when I looked at the construction of the wing. It was a horror movie! Ribs un evenly spaced! Stringers OVER the ribs! Odd bits off wood in useless places! We named it the wierd blue pattern ship thingy bob.

The inside ply servo tray was painted........the whole of the inside was painted as well.

very strange plane. [X(]

shahid

OK here goes.

1. One last check to make sure hinged surfaces are well attached and nothing broken.
2. Wings securely attached
3. Servo leads correctly and securely connected
4. Control horn and servo arm are securely connected to the pushrods
5. Batteries Fully charged under a load.
6. Transmitter battery fully charged
7. Fuel lines securely attached
8. Spinner/prop nuts tight


I do the following steps with a partner
8. Check all control surfaces, wings and stabs to be sure they are not washed in or out, and are straight and true
9. Verify servos are moving all control surfaces in the right direction.
10. Antenna is properly located and clear of power wires
11. Confirm CG is correct
12. Range check at 150' with antenna down and have partner verify servos are moving correctly
13. Start the engine. Range check again with the antenna down at various engine speeds
14. VERIFY CONTROL SURFACES ARE NOT REVERSED ONE LAST TIME
15. Taxi out and steer around the runway to be sure steering on tracking correctly
16. High speed taxi
17. Get partner to standby for intial takeoff to help out with the trims in case there are any big trim changes that need to be made on initial takeoff
18. Takeoff
19. Get the plane trimmed out for hands off straight and level
20. Check roll rate
21. Check low rate tendencies to see if CG is ok.
22. Get up high and slow the plane down to final approach and touchdown speed to see what the stall tendencies are. (See how fast you are going to have to approach to land safely)
23. Make a few landing approaches to see how the plane tracks in
24. Land
25. Breathe
26. Make sure everything is still tight.
27. Check to see how much fuel you have left.
28. Set transmitter timer so that you will know how long to fly next time.

BigNed, What an interesting way to get ready for a maiden. Can I print that out on my printer? If I can, are you gonna sue me for copyrights? J/K That was a great explination of how to go about it. I think I will give it a shot.

THANKS!!!!

Joe

Thanks I think.
I always go back over EVERYTHING with another experienced flyer before I maiden. Too many things to miss going over it alone. You can forget little things like screwing in servo arms, Securing clevis linkages, properly connecting ailerons, verifying servos are are traveling right (not reversed), on the right model in the transmitter etc etc etc. Sometimes after you have looked at something 1000 times you cant see the errors. Better to have a fresh set of eyes go over it one last time just to be safe. Nothing worse than taking off and being on the wrong model when using a computer radio.... I know I have done it.

When it comes to the maiden you really can't do much except fly and trim it- all checks should have been done beforehand, with the help of a friend, because you will ALWAYS miss something unless you have Big ned's checklist

In my opinion if youre not confident to go and fly the thing properly and have to do little hops and taxi runs first then you shouldnt be test flying it- get a more poficient pilot to do the honours.

Indeed-why risk a new plane? Sides you can always make the other guy pay!

jus kiddin

shahid

Luke

I am overly cautious with my planes. Mostly because they are self designed and scratch built.

The test hops are just to get a feel for the plane before I take it up. By the time I do these hops I am very confident the plane will fly fine, but as I said if anything goes wrong it minimizes the damage. As said earlier things will loosen up as the plane is flown and may need tightining.

It also allows for setting the trim. As you do the hops you will see if the plane needs any trim corrections. I have had only one plane fly off the board without any trim corrections needed. This also gives a chance to see if there are range problems even if the plane has been range checked.

I also had 7200 feet of taxiway ( worked at an airport) so I had plenty of room.

I run the engine (if glow) a few times before I fly to subject the airframe to vibration and see if there any problems.

Being around full size aviation I test my planes very similar to the real things.

Alot depends on the type of plane as well. If its a flat plate foamy toss it and good luck, if it is a 1/4 scale aerobatic I am gonna run through the whole test procedure.

If the plane is a kit and I followed the directions I don't worry about the flying of the plane as much as checking the parts to make sure everything is right as the plane is flown and "broken in".

I live at 6000 feet above sea level so It also tests the tip stalling of the plane, if the plane does tip stall on a small hop the main damage would be at most a broken prop and scrapes to the wingtip.

I am just a cautious flyer and try to minimize problems. I don't like maidening others planes for the fact that I don't want to be held responsible for a plane weather it was my fault or not. I have been flying for 11+ years so I am a fairly proficent flyer and will even practice with similar types of planes on the simulator at the hobby store I work at before flying a new plane. I also maiden my planes when few or no people are around to lessen the stress.

This is just what I do and don't have any problems with someone just going up and flying thier new plane.

Hope this helps people and a checklist and having another person look over the plane is a good way to find problems before they cause a crash.

Matt

The last plane i built was DOD 30 seconds after i took off. Sounds like your a little too cautius Mattfly.

Sometimes I don't follow my own advice and will takeoff after 2 or 3 quick taxi runs.

Thats how I flew this plane.

I am on a limited budget so with expensive plane (500$+) I literally can't afford to lose the plane.

Matt

once you are capable, you should do your own maidens. no sense in bothering other people for something you can do and should do yourself. ever since i solo'd i have ben maidening my own planes, with a lot of success. see, on maidens, as long as you are balanced and set up correctly as any pre-flight would verify, your chances of actually crashing are not as great as most people think they are. sure, it is a bit out of trim. full throttle it and gain altitude asap, full bore it and fine-tune it.

I agreee, as soon as you are capable, you should maiden your planes yourself. no, don't try it the first time on $5k monster....

the thing is, maidening a plane is like sight-reading music, you can only do it once per plane (or piece of music). so the fact is, you don't get a lot of practice "maidening". however, it is a good skill to have. being able to fly a plane which is a bit out of trim and keeping it under control has on more than one occaision saved a plane for me.

re: how to do it. like others, i do rigourously check over everything. i usually try to get up to full throttle pretty quickly while on the runway and i do NOT add up elevator. if the plane jumps off and heads upstairs, you know you will be having to add some down trim soon. if that is the case, i usually don't worry about it (as long as the climb is not excessive). gentle turn around, trim aileron, then trim elevator, then fly. before too long i usually do a stall test up high to verify that it won't drop into a spin unexpectedly, then i set up for practice approaches. i usually do several approches to get used to the size/way it looks/speed/etc over the runway, then i go for landing.

i do usually open up the hatch and check all linkages before second flight....


hope that helps,
David S.

Get it running fairly good.
Check right/left.
Check up/down.
Point it down range and nail it!

I taught myself (with dads help-) when I was 13 and have never let anyone else test fly my airplanes... I trust myself more than anyone else!

On the initial flight I make an aggressive take-off after a brief taxi test to check steering and gear placement- When I get off the ground I gain some altitude to trim it out, I usually throttle back to maybe 3/4 then do some uplines at 45 degrees, roll, inverted etc. to check thrust-line and control throws---