redbiscuits

My Feedback: (6)

I'm getting ready to maiden my TF kit built P-47 on the next nice Sunday, Hopfully this week.
I always do my own maidens, it brings me so much saticfaction when they fly off and come back in one piece.
A lot of guys at the club let one particular guy do their maidens and I don't think there is nothing wrong with that, he's an excellent pilot. I just think they should have more faith in themselves, and reap the rewards of success.
Red.

jet22b

Hi Guys;
Thank for all the good storys and please keep posting. I have lost planes on maiden flight and it do hurt!! Like MinnFlyer, flying someone else plane is no fun. I have only flown 3 planes that was not mines, and let me tell you it is not fun!! If I do fly someone else bird, I like to have it a day before the maiden flight. That way I can go over the plane and look at the setup and where the CG is!! Some guy in my club will maiden a plane at the drop of a hat and don't check anything. Alot of those flight end in a crash. I know as long as I stay in this hobby, I will still have the maiden flight blues!!!

Sonny
aka
jet22b

joeheren

My Feedback: (11)

ya I will lend a hand

joeheren

My Feedback: (11)

oh and i get the knees a knockin on every flight! i love it!!! that is the best part of it..... just how i am

willig10

I maidened my Sig Morrisey Bravo yesterday after an 8 month build. Was I nervous? You bet. I am currently 45 years old and been doing this since I was 18. I still get the rapid heart beat, shaky knees and feel like the airplane is flying me instead of me flying the airplane.

Here are 2 video links of yesterday's take off and landing.

You will hear me say after I am being asked for help on the trims. "She is pitchy" the airplane is very responsive and I need some expo.

Power is a DLE-55 and she flies with authority.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUBIHtqpJDQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUkKWdF9LE



Enjoy
Glenn Williams

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I'd love to help you guys out, but I have a 90yr old dad that gets most of them - and at the rate he's crashing them lately, I can barely keep up with him!

I'm down in West Palm Beach right now with 3 new planes and he's already drooling over them. I guess I'm going home empty-handed again!

AA5BY

A maiden definitely has more intensity than a normal flight. Some amount might be fear of what can happen, but other parts of the emotions are the anticipation of how well it performs or what it feels like. There are certainly many more things racing through ones mind and that can be tiring but also exhilarating.

Exhilaration is a powerful emotion that most of us enjoy from time to time. Getting a little too personal here but I had a wife once who had an addiction to make up you know what probably because it was exhilarating. Course.... she had to provoke a fight to start the process.

I think I'd be somewhat disappointed at any notion that there would be no more maiden flights (hey, I'm back to talking about airplanes).

My last maiden was a 72" Yak with a 28cc gasser and because it was an arf and both the wing and stab were on tubes and studs, I didn't check the incidences. It required a lot of up trim and was exciting because when trying to crank in up... a moments distraction would see it dive briskly towards the ground. A friend came to my rescue and hit the trim button for me. More often a plane has a climbing issue that is easier to deal with.

I'm thinking that was more scary than exhilarating.

G.Barber

My Feedback: (1)

Minnflyer has his dad, and I have a 9 yr old son that is flying. My son gets a few of my planes, and some of the plane I review are a direct result of his flying skill level. Last year, I reviewed the Flyzone Skyfly Max. That was his second plane- the first was an older Goldberg Eagle 400 that he received from Minnflyer.

He is doing very well on the Skyfly Max, and I'm reviewing his next plane now- the E-flite Advance 25e ARF. It's built and ready for flight, but the weather here has been less than optimal for flying, let alone a nice day for shooting video and still pictures...

hrrcflyer

Red,

I couldn't have said it better myself.

As for me, I get quite nervous on Maiden flights. I have also totally destroyed a Hangar 9 Miss America on it's maiden flight and let me tell you, that was a sad day..... I have also done some of my best flying on maiden flights. I had just purchased an old 80" Dynaflight PT-19 that I spent hours looking over to check everything. The plane checked ou OK so I took to the field for it's maiden. The plane taxied down the runway and almost as soon as it broke ground, it started going to the right. The problem was I put ALL of the trim I had into the plane and it didn't completely solve the problem. So I ended up flying the plane around with left aileron stick in it to keep it level. After a couple of loops around the field to get it lined back up with the runway I started my down wind leg for landing and the motor quit. I was able to get the plane turned around and did the most beautiful, scale, tail up landing I ever did with the plane. I even landed right down the center of the runway, which i seldom ever do. Go figure....

dasquirrelisme

My Feedback: (81)

If you just spent a few months building one just let it sit for a few months...start on something else....you forget about all the time you spent building it...its easier to fly once you forget how many hours you spent building

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

A man has to know his limitations.

straitnickel

Oh yeah nothing like greasing a landing with yo!ur knees shaking

InboundLZ

My Feedback: (10)

Ahhhh, Maiden day....always nerve racking for sure. I have two coming up that willbe no problem, it is when I have a turbine maiden that I get a little flipped out. The group of guys I fly with, we have all decided that if it is a turbine that someone has experience on that person does the maiden. Only makes sense to have experience on the sticks with 10 grand flying around. I do the maiden on all of my prop/electric stuff and I can tell you how many I have done on helicopters.

Its always the jets that get my heart pumping!

GravityWorx

Nice on the SkyFly Max. I am not nine years old but am loving it as if I were. As for the E-flight Advance 25e..does it compare to the Flyzone "Switch". I am going to be maidening her in March when the ground softens up! Do you have any suggestions for me as I will be going from a push prop to a front mount outrunner. The skyFly is really user friendly so just wondering what I should expext when I take the Switch up?

Any advise is appreciated.

BBBRRRrrrrrrr its cold!

Erich

G.Barber

My Feedback: (1)

Minnflyer reviewed the Switch, and funny enough, my 9yr old son it the little guy in the video. I actually shot the video for the Switch while my son got to play with it! After we were done shooting the video, he said "WOW! I can't believe I got to fly a review plane before YOU did!" Yup, that's my boy!!!

The switch is a great flying airplane. With the wing mounted high, it's a stable flying trainer. "Switch" to the low-wing configuration, and you have a very smooth flying sport plane!

The Advance is a larger plane. It is basically a low-wing aerobatic trainer/sport plane. I would compare it to the Switch with the low wing, except that the Advance is mostly balsa/light ply with Ultra-cote covering. I say mostly balsa and ply, because the wing is balsa sheeted with foam cores. With a 52" wingspan, tricycle gear, and a decent wing loading, the Advance looks to be a fun plane to fly!

As soon as we get a decent break in the weather, I plan to take it out and put it in the air. Keep your eyes open for the review in the review/articles section!

Kostas1

Hihiii....knee shaking is something you can see everyday when a maiden takes place on the field.

The most anxious maiden was ofcourse with my trainer,
Hobbico Avistar 40 ARF + O.S. 46LA/11x6 MA.

The most recent knee-shaking flights were with my BlackHorse P36A Hawk + SAITO FA-120S
&
GreatPlanes Giant SuperSportster + [/b] SAITO FA-150Spower.

Pics from the maiden!

Kostas1

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landeck

My Feedback: (1)

Kostas1, do you ever put a cowling on your engines?

Bruce

Kostas1

During the maiden NO,NEVER

redbiscuits

My Feedback: (6)

Ram,
If you maidened the Zombie surly you know where I'm coming from on this.
Beautiful plane! I'm a big fan of that bird. Would love to see it up close someday.
Red.

luckylendy

My favorite flight!! After building a plane I love sending it off on it's first mission. By the time it flies for the first time, I've gone through it so thoroughly that there's not much left unaccounted for, and since I'm not planning on "wringing it out" on the first flight, it's all pleasure. I've flown a couple of ARFS, and their Maidens were not really as satisfying to me. My most nervous Maiden was when a friend ask me to take his plane up for him. He was my very first "student" and it was an "Aircore" fold and fly plane that turned out to be a bit crooked and quite underpowered.

I'm actually more nervous about losing a plane that I've fallen in love with than a "new relationship" plane!! I just put my Ultrasport 60 through a tree while lining up for an inverted pass and got caught up in an optical illusion, I think because the big ol' tree that we usually fly around was leafless in winter and got me. Nobody's fault but mine, but I loved that plane. Picked up a kit at the swap meet last weekend to replace it!!!

Happy Maiden Flights!

willig10

I do ground runs with the cowling off. I then install the cowling for the maiden. Now is the time to know if you are going to have over heating issues.

Here are a couple of pics of my maidening the Sig Morrisey Bravo.

Glenn Williams

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

I have been building all winter and have three new kits to maiden this year and some that did not get maiden for the last few years 9 in all right now that need maidened. Warbirds to a new trainer lost mine last year[:'(] But one thing I always do the day I maiden a plane is take one of my Sticks up for about a five min. flight, get my thumbs working then I maiden the new plane! I mostly build so I am always very uneasy till I get it back on the ground! The maiden is maybe three min. max, Then I calm down and take it up at least one more time keeping it in the air longer till I am more comfortable with it! I have maidened more then one in one day but prefere to just do one maiden, I can haul three planes at once so its two that I am use to and a new one goes! When I get the one on the bench done I will start going through all my other planes to get them ready for flying season! And do plan to get all maidened that need be done this year!

InboundLZ

My Feedback: (10)

It would suck not to be able to fly all year round...we miss only a few weekends a year here so there is not a building season in the traditional sense.

Anyway, just finished up my Aeroworks Cessna 195 and she is ready for maiden as soon as the wind settles down!

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Man that would be nice to fly all year! We only get about five months out of the year to fly and seven to build! Thats why I build, I would have way to many ARF's if thats all I dealt with! Part of this hobby is building and the other part flying. We can fly year round if you dont mind frostbite and 40+ mile an hour winds! When it gets time I will get some flying in though I went through 19 gal. of fuel So when I get to fly I go for it! last year I was working nights and would go from work to the flying field and spend the day, I only slept when the wind came up. This year will be diffrent because I work days now. So when I get a chance to fly I will be out there! Great flying to you!

roaddog2

Back a while ago I was a musician, said by a few to be one o' th' best rhythm guitars in my neck o' th' woods. An' I always, ALWAYS had Stage-fright. Seems t' me that's th' same thing y'all are experiencing an' callin' it "maiden Flight Jitters".
It's called, formally, "performance anxiety". The only "Cure" I EVER saw was to just GO DO IT!
Cheers!
RD