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*** FLIGHT REPORT - ANGEL S EVO 50 ***
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I took it to the field this morning and got 7 flights on it, wow is all I can say! The plane tracks superbly, not a wiggle or flutter, it locks on a line and simply holds it, very nice. Takeoff was very gentle, I came up to half throttle and it just lifted slowly off the ground with just a hint of elevator. I've got the recomended throws for low and high rates, 30% expo dialed in and it feels and flies like my other pattern planes, the only exception is the aileron which is a little sensitive, perhaps a little more expo to work that out. landing is slightly hot, I don't mean fast but ever so slightly hot, it won't hang in the air (like my inspire 60) with its' thin wings and needs an slight heavy touch of elevator to flare at 6" above the runway. To be fair, my CG is 3/4" forward because of the heavier EVO 5000 packs I am using so this may play a factor but I think the wing profile is most of it.

The Angel looks awesome in the air, the colors are very elegant, not just a bunch of colors layered on top of one another, it looks very nice in the air. Contrast is good, the completely different pattern on the bottom is easy to distinguish and the dark tinted canopy easy to use as reference when going high, tumbling and trying to get a straight downline out. The canopy hatch held tight, with the force needed to pull it loose to change the battery, I doubt there is any chance it will come off in the air. I did notice a little rubbing off of the color where it slides under the cowl, I plan on adding a layer of 8 mil clear (3M clear used in auto detailing) to prevent more color rubbing off. This would actually be a great use for the left over decal material, there is a fair amount of clear left after you cut out the decals and the thickness is perfect to use to protect this area, I'll go back and edit the tips post for this one.

Motor temps never got above 100 F, the massive air flow is probably the most cooling of any of my models and evident in the low temperatures of the electrical components post flight. The ESC never got above 105 F and the batteries barely broke a sweat at 90 F, mostly due to this extra cooling. I do have to add the Hacker A50 14L setup I chose is not going to cut it, I think going overly safe at 44 amps swiging an APC 17 x 10 is evident in the overall slow uplines and hard pulling over high loops. Another look into MotoCalc and it looks like the Hacker A50 12L is what I should have chosen (not a big deal, I have one here for the next test) matched with a smaller APC 16 x 10 prop. The RPM/Volt on the 14L just isn't high enough to get the RPM's I need and if I tried to prop up to an 18 x 10 and get more thrust, I'd likely hit the ground not to mention that would only decrease overall speed, which I feel is too slow going into a tall upline.

Some background on the motor choice, I didn't mind the 16S they recommended but a bad experience with one recently made me worry about over amping. My battery arsenal is mostly comprised of 6S2P EVO 5000 packs, they can push current like nothing else I have and they will fry anything that can't hold up. I think running the recommended 16S with a 16 x 10 would be a viable option if you were using something in the recommended capacity (under 4000) but knowing I was going in with 5000's, I wanted to be safe. When I compared the long can motors, the 12L stood out as "the one" but when I went to order one for my Inspire 60 and the Angel, only 1 was available so I got a 14L as well. Bottom line, the 14L draws low current, has potential if I could prop up but in the end the 12L is what I need, I'm going to drop one in, drop down the an APC 16 x 10 (though there was no issue with the 17 and clearance, if I don't drop down I'm looking at close to 60 amps again, a little too hot if you have a long, demanding flight in the wind) and fly again Wednesday.

Here is a MotoCalc comparison (the important part, the bottom half of the comparison page) showing the difference between the 2 setups. The one on the left is the current Hacker A50 14L with an APC 17 x 10, on the right is the Hacker A50 12L with an APC 16 x 10. The amp draw is fine for both (knowing I have more-than-adequate cooling, I am not as concerned about amps), the efficiency is plenty on both setups but the watts per pound and thrust on the 12L setup is really nice for the amp draw. I'll be moving closer to 150 watts/pound and the vertical gets another 1,000 FPM, these numbers match my Inspire 60 which has unlimted vertical and can pull out on slow uplines, I think I'll be happier with this setup. Bottom line the Angel holds so true on it's line I doubt I'll fly my Inspire 60 that much anymore. Adding more power is the only thing lacking on this setup and I'll get that fixed, anyone looking at one of these as a possible pattern practice plane or just for fun can't go wrong!

Jack