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Old 02-06-2007 | 06:56 AM
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dragline322
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From: Belmont, NC
Default Pilot Update... and a Question

Just a little update for those who read my first post.... Finally went solo with the Superstar, love this plane it files very well. Experienced guys at the local club took it off and trimmed it out correctly for me, the trim wasn't off by much, and then gave me the sticks.... I asked about landing and the guy helping me out told me to let the engine die to calculate (he was using a timer) the flight length for one tank of fuel. I did, it ran about 20 minutes at half throttle, and then he told me to land the plane... I landed dead stick (he was standing beside me and giving pointers about the landing) with no problem. Next flight I took off myself... and so it begins

now for the question part... I only get to fly every other weekend, I had already asked a question about the batteries being charged and memory and what not and the advice given was great... The guys at the club suggested a battery cycler, and recommended I get a volt meter to check the voltage... I ordered those from Tower Hobbies today. There was a guy who had gotten a new volt meter from one of the other guys at the club, and when I was packing up I let him hook it up to my receiver battery pack so he could see how it worked and because I was curious about the state of my batteries.... It was an analog reader and everyone kept saying "If it is in the green its good to go" my pack was just outside the green area. I had only made two flights and it wasn’t anything fancy, there was some wind so I used more throttle adjustments than I usually would. Also because of the wind I got really nervous on the first flight and landed after about 7 minutes of flight. The second flight was much less windy so I stayed up for about 15 min. Is it normal for this amount of flying to drain the battery to a level that a volt meter would show that it is not a good idea to fly any more, Should the battery packs be changed, and if so what kind of battery packs should I use? Are there any numbers on the packs that I need to match up if I do have to replace them?

I also plan to ask the guys at the local club next time I go these same questions since they love helping out us rookies, any advice from the RC Universe will be greatly appreciated.