Apprentice + grass = Blurrgghhh!!

After spending a month on the simulator, I took mine out for the first time today. The grass was very fine, less than an inch high, and was very dried up (due to no rain here in Sydney) and the ground below was very hard. Still, it would not roll on the grass for a take-off.! I increased the power, and all it would do is nose into the ground. Fortunately we have a cricket pitch in almost every park in AUS, and so taking off ended up being no problem. Once I was in the air, I had an absolute blast - once my hands stopped trembling. :-)

Well, now I was in the air, I started to worry about the landing. Not because I did not think I could bring it in, but rather, what was going to happen with the grass??? Well, the same thing happened on all 3 landings. I brought it in nice and smooth, flared a little just as it stalled, landed softly, and it rolled in nicely...BUT....just before it came to a halt, it would nose in and flip over. It would not matter how well you landed...this was when the rollout reduced to about 5mph, and it was exactly the same each time. Half expecting this, I cut the throttle about 3 seconds before touch down, so the prop does not have a mark on it, BUT...my motor bearing seems somehow loose and the rotating outer case is wobbling. This should not happen from this!!! I will see what my LHS has to say tomorrow.

One thing is for sure...I am going to convert this thing into a tail dragger. Anyone tried it yet? It is no good to do a perfect landing in quite short grass, and then watch the plane flip over it's nose every time just before it comes to a standstill. Very unsatisfying.

Oh, BTW, I flew for 16 minutes (3 min, then 10 min, then 3 min) and when I came home, ends up I used only just over 50% of the battery!!!!!! Apart from the take off, I was cruising at about 40% throttle most of the time, and also I found the low rate control throws recommended in the manual to give me plenty of control without letting me overcompensate too easily.

Anyway, the plane looks great in the air (much better in the flesh than the you-tube videos show, and you certainly cannot see the rubber bands) and was a breeze to fly and land, but still seemed quite nimble and plenty of fun. I had a lot of admiring onlookers, and I think what intrigued them most was that it is almost totally silent in the air - even at near full throttle. If you are not landing on grass, then there are no issues with this plane, but if you are...well, I would like to hear how you fix them.

Regards,
Harrow.