RE: Flying Thingz
I took my Flying Lawnmower up yesterday. I had not flown it in about 3 months so I knew the first few flight would be "rough". Sure enough, it looked like I was chasing it most of the time, rather than leading it. By the third flight I was smooth once again. Since the Mower usually rolls left/right/left/right about 5 degrees all of the time, I occasionally wondered if I am commanding corrections from my transmitter. I did my best to determine this while flying it and I am nearly 100% convinced that I am not making these quick corrections. I am convinced, however, that the Mower cannot fly level without a roll input correction, but these are fairly slow. I cannot remember now if I ever put in some exponential. I'll have to check my transmitter. I use the new Futaba 2.4Mhz 6 channel. I do hate to post this because on rereading this it appears that the Mower is difficult to fly. It is different, a challenge, and not for a beginner. My landings are very hot (fast), since the Mower has the glide path of a smooth brick. When about 2 feet off the ground, it accepts about a 15 degree angle of flare and practically stops, then greases in for a smooooth touch down. This is very exciting. Of course, I can also make a conventional high speed landing and roll out. After a lot of experimenting, my landing gear is extremely tough and supports very hard landings. In the beginning the Mower would roll over about every second landing. It is best to have your most reliable engine on the Mower. I don't thing I have ever had the engine stop in the air. I did have one elevon servo fail while in the air. I had to land in a circle since that was the only pattern I could fly. I now use stronger elevon servos. I think the cord on the elevons is 5 inches so there is a lot of area to move. Remember this all applies to my own Mower which is a different design. If others had posted their experience with the Mower in question I would not have posted this.