How do you maiden your plane???
 

I'm just curious to know how everyone else takes their plane up for the first time. It seems to me that most people don't make the first flights on a new plane, they get another club member or a good freind to do it. Regardless of skills. I have never figgured that one out yet.
I just wanted to know everyone elses opinion on how people start off with a new, never flown plane.

Joe

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I do the maiden myself. I've been tempted a few times to let a more experienced pilot make the first flight, when moving up to a higher performing aircraft, but have always said "heck with it" and went for it.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

This is what I do.

Frist i do alot of taxi tests. Then do high speed taxi, and work up to tiny hops off the ground. If anything goes wrong I want to be as close to the ground as possibleto minimize damage. After working up to flying and I am satisfied with the plane I will do a quick pattern hop where I takeoff, fly a pattern and land. I then look over the plane very carefully to see if there are any problems. I gradually fly the airplane more aggresively until finally I am flying the plane as hard as possible, and check between every flight to see if anything is coming lose or breaking.

Basicall I gradually work up to flying to get a feel for the plane before commiting aviation. :D

I haven't lost a plane on a maiden flight yet. (knock on wood)

I always maiden my own planes. That way I can only blame myself if something goes wrong.

Matt

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

i have no choice but to do it myself. i have never seen anyone else fly in person. so i just get the plane ready and fly it. pretty simple

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

This is what I do.I do a very good preflight inspection to make everything as perfect as it can be. Fuel it up. Run the motor up to get it warm. Now idle the engine for several seconds and jam the stick forward, did it take it? ok. Do it again. did it work again? Good now I am ready. Taxi over to a spot on the field that gives me plenty of takeoff room. Get'er set right in the wind. Mash the throttle WFO. Let the plane roll till it seems to have flying speed and yank it straight up. When it slows down a little I'll back off the power and cruise around a bit. A few simple maneuvers then slow it down to check flight characteristics and stalls. Put her on the ground and check everything. If all OK fill er up. Now I will turn'er loose on the next flight to see what she will do.
"FLY RIGHT OR DIE"
Always works for me. I have never lost a plane on first flight. I have lost some on the second flight.:D
Ron

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

start it up hit the throttle pull back go around turn wall into hover never lost a plane yet never let another person fly my planes

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

this is how i do it :I take off them climb to about house height then go into wind and trim the plane land then check it over and fuel up.Take it up and put it through its paces.If its gonna go wrong let it go wrong in this flight.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I have never figured out the let someone else maiden it for you idea. HOWEVER with a trainer or an intermediate airplane I agree. If you are building and flying a 3D specific airplane then if you can't handle a test flight then you really have no business flying an airplane of this caliber YET !!! That might ruffle a few feathers and yes there are exceptions.

The first flight for me is always aggressive, I mean that's what I built the thing for lets tear it up. Prior to that there are numerous preflights and if available I will have another pilot look over my airplane, but I prefer to fly it.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

The only time I ever let someone fly for my planes first flight was with my trainer, but since then I always have the deed, so that I am the only one to blame. But also because I'm a selfish git and never let anyone fly my planes. I don't share my wife for starts, and I don't share my plane.:D:D

I always find it difficult to slow my self down and make sure everything is alright, I'm too quick to take off with a bit of sello tape holding the rx in because I can't find any foam and can't be bothered to drive to the LHS or in bad weather. But now I have a few more planes I take it easy and only make the maiden in perfect <5mph wind.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

ofcourse I let my instructor maiden my trainer, thats a no brainer.

My second plane was a somethin extra, and let an instructor maiden that one too.

The rest have all been my own maidens. We all have to "grow up" at some point. :D

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I have to aggree. For some simple reason we let someone else take the risk, rather than blaming a possible crash on ourself. I do it with almost all my (more expensive) planes. But there is always a better pilot at the fying field than we are, that's why I don't see it as embarassing as it seems to be to let somebody else maiden my planes.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I have to aggree. For some simple reason we let someone else take the risk, rather than blaming a possible crash on ourself. I do it with almost all my (more expensive) planes. But there is always a better pilot at the fying field than we are, that's why I don't see it as embarassing as it seems to be to let somebody else maiden my planes.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I have taken many up. I do a full check to make sure everything looks good and is tight. I then do a high speed taxi and if it doesn't have any adverse ground handling issues, I add power to take off. I never take off at full throttle and I have refused to fly two planes that I was asked to maiden over the past 5 years. One flew successfully by another person, the other crashed due to either an aft CG or pilot error.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I always got a better pilot to do it. Now I though I think Ill do them myself. (lasty maiden I did I totalled the plane 5 second after TO)

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

wot plane was that shahid?

i always test fly mine, cos nobody else likes 3D in my club. All i do is make sire all surfaces are lined up flat.......add the power, pull up, trim. simple:D

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I think it all boils down in how confident you are in your aircraft. Hmmmm, interesting. I have a UCD and have been working on it for about two months. Had it done in one month but just going over it to be sure everything is exactumundo for this last month. Now that I have read this thread, I might as well go ahead and do it myself. POST #3 is what made up my mind. MATTFLY, I like how you worded that. Thanks you! And thanks to all of you for your replies!!

HAPPY MAIDENS!!!

Joe

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I do my own madiens, mostly because there is no one at my field that I trust more than myself. I see a lot of newer pilots that prefer to get someone to fly their planes first to take care of things if anything goes wrong, I have done this for a number of people.

As for my own way of doing maidens for my own planes: I prefer to do what I call a "shock test".

I take a plane up and trim it out. If anything seems amiss I land as best as possible and check it out. If everything works smoothly, I keep flying and start a progressive series of aerobatics randing from loops and rolls to test CG and setup to snaps and tumbling to shake the airframe really well.

All of this usually lasts for just a minute or two before I land again. I then take the hatch/wing off and check everything over. All servo screws, pushrods, etc. Usually I find at least one thing that needs to be tightened up after being shaken loose.

I repeat this for a few flights gradually lengthning them and fixing things as they occur until I trust the airframe for full duty.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

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RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

Whether you do your own maiden or not depends on your confidence in your own ability, and the ability of others at your club.

I started to do my own maidens when I realised there were very few people who I was willing to trust with my new pride and joy. Now down to three others, though they would wonder why I was not doing it myself if I asked them anyway.

Having said that, for anything 90 size or bigger, and if possible smaller, I do like to have someone lend me a hand, as it just helps to take the pressure off a bit. Of course that is usually not a problem, I'm sure you all know what it is like when you turn up at the field with something new, everyone wants to see :D.

I now help out with the maidens for others, which is a nice feeling [8D]. However, unless asked, I wont push other peoples planes very hard on these maidens, just trim it for level flight, and maybe do a simple loop or roll to make sure all is ok. Basically I don't want to break someone elses plane doing something silly with it.

The other good thing about doing maidens, is you get to fly other planes, ones you would not normally fly, which is interesting and all part of the hobby ;).

Shahid, If you are not happy doing the maiden, then leave it to someone else that you are happy with. Last thing you want is to lose a plane to dumb thumbs when the only cause is nerves as it is a maiden flight.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I try to get someone that has flown what ever plane i have before because its nice to know that someone knows how it will react and fly.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

SPink, that is a thing I overlooked, I will never maiden on my own, too much risk with the stress that I'm under, someplanes I will maiden by myself such as my Acrowot, as that's not too much money, but like my flip which had quite alot in it, such as a YS motor and the plane was not cheap for a start. I'll have someone I trust near me. They're good as they don't really mind whether it goes down or not.
Also I will never do it when there;s a big crowd. My smaragd is going to be done with a very select crowd. You see there;s too many people that would like to see that come down and it all to end in tears.[&:] I don't like those people. They tend to fly the putt putt planes and tell everyone else off for doing what they just did!!!!!

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

obviously after trainer i had my old instructor test fly my adavanced trainer and that was it, been me doing maidons since, ive had a limbo dancer, a funtana and a harrier 3d to maidon since that

most nervous to do was the funtana as it was the most aerobatic and expensive for me. Harrier 3d was ok to maidon as i knew i could handle it no problem

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I live no where near anyone who could maiden my planes so the job is up to me. I have maidened all but my first two planes. I believe that it is your ability to set the plane up properly prior to the maiden that should make the maiden flight easy. If the plane is built straight and true and all the componets are installed properly, with CG set with in reason, there is no reason that the plane shouldn't fly as well on its maiden as it will on its fifth or fiftieth flight. A little out of trim but nothing too serious. Now with the trainer and maybe with your second plane you won't have the confindence to maiden her, but by your third there should be no reason why you wouldn't know how to set up a plane correctly. And with the high quality of the kits and arfs on the market today you are pretty much garrenteed that the plane will fly and fly well. So just give it a good going over and give her hell.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

For foamies, build it, paint it, charge it and push it out into a hover.:D (well, mabey not THAT simple:))

For bigger gas stuff I do a combo of what Ibange and Mattfly do. I like someone to look over everything and help me trim it because if it's badly out of trim I cant really take my hand off the sticks.

RE: How do you maiden your plane???
 

I believe that everybody who is "green" and starting out has someone else more experienced test fly their birds if available.

Just make sure you go over everything a few times before the first flight. Some people do a pre flight checklist.


Personally I never had this happen, have had more experienced flyers test fly it after I flew it a few times to give me a 2nd opinion.

If the bird is yours, you control it.