ColinW (and others) - you may be interested to learn that the model was stalled yesterday as part of it's continuing test-flight schedule. As you - and Rod Dean who flies the fullsize XF515 - predicted, the stall was innocuous. It did, indeed, hold nose-high for a moment, then mushed and started to dive with no wingdrop. The AFT was utterly 'dead' (no propwash, of course) which was interesting to experience!
Rolls and high-speed flight have now all been tested and the model behaves impeccably, but it does have a lot of inertia so speed has to be built-up and, when it has, gives the aircraft a lot of momentum. 'Ballistic style' flying with well-prepared manoeuvres are therefore the order of the day. On the last full-power pass, I pulled up into a 45deg. climb with an upward roll and it could easily have done another.
The airbrake was tested, high-speed S&L - it is highly effective - like a barn door! No trim change a la fullsize.
Previous landings have been with 50% flap which is nice and allows a nice curving final approach, power off. However, yesterday, I went to nearly full-flap. This steepened the approach and power was needed, particularly to round-out. Reassuringly, the Merlins spool-up promptly and effectively.
So there we are, another 3 flights successfully chalked off.
Keith M.
ORIGINAL: ColinW
Have spun the real thing - although only a 2 seater. The stall was fairly innocuous, and the aircraft settled into a fairly stable, nose high, high rate of descent at around 110 KIAS. There was some wing waggling, but no wing drop. Spinning was entered in a conventional manner from s&l flight at a speed of about 130 KIAS by putting in simultaneously full prospin rudder and full aft stick (we entered spins from 45,000 feet). The erect spin was quite slow and very oscillatory with roll reversals of up to 180 deg - these could be mistaken for recovery. The inverted spin, on the other hand, was very stable. Recovery was conventional; however, ailerons must be central as any aileron would prevent recovery (aileron at the wrong time in an erect spin would drive it inverted). Stall recovery took around 3000 feet whilst spin recovery took around 10,000 feet. this is dredged from my memory - if needed I could probably come up with more accurate figure for recovery. Hope this is of help.