Today she went for her maiden flight and then another flap/elevator trim test flight. First impressions: 1) I am going to have to learn her yaw characteristics on takeoff. I fly a J-3 Cub model and also the BTE Venture. So tailwheel takeoffs are not something new. The small rudder compared to the nearly eight foot wing is going to require "learning" this airplane. Not a problem, I'm sure, but every airplane has a "best" way to takeoff. Maintaining good directional control was a challenge on the two takeoffs. This problem was not during the initial part of the takeoff, but as it was transitioning to flight. I don't use full power on my takeoffs as this puts in a lot of torque and less time for directional corrections. Fortunately, it takes off at a rather slow speeed. 2) I have not flown a trainer type aircraft in quite a while. It was a new learning experience to realize that when the plane with dihedral is put into a turn, if the controls are neutralized, it will roll back toward wings level. But other than those two items, it was a good day.

The baseball sized wiffle balls dropped from the bomb bay onto the runway were a big hit.

I used the plane's instruction manual recommendations of 1/4" down elevator for full flaps in the flap to elavator transmitter initial setup. After the first flight test, I needed to increase the amount of down elevator for the intermediate and full flap positions.

Bruce says the plane should come out at 10 to 12 pounds. With the overweight Saito 120 with J-tec mount and 6 0z of lead in the tail and the huge Dubro 5" wheels(1 lb total) my plane is 12 lbs 14 oz. Not to much of an increase for a plane this size. I used a Dubro 20 fuel tank and I think that will turn out to be enough fuel for some rather long flights.