Flying The Kellet
11-13-2003, 03:37 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Flying The Kellet
85 flghts this year and still some of the season yet to go.Also 5 trim flights on my partners Kellet. What a great flying machine.thanks Steve T for doing a great job.
Some of the things I learned and some changes I made.
I'm using a Hitec HS 5735mg Digital servo to control the rotor tilt.This servo has 250 oz of torque and 750 oz of holding power.It keeps the rotor where it belongs and gives instant control response,no waiting for the servo to overpower the rotor.No more broken servo gears when you make a mistake and the rotor strikes something.It's runing on it's own set of batteries 6 volts.
I always use prespin to get the rotor going before attempting a takeoff.A Black and Decker 7.2 electric drill on the end of a stick does the job.It will turn 600 rpm and gets the rotor up to 500 plus rpms for the takeoff.I'm flying off grass fields and trying to get the rotor up to speed by take off runs was too difficult and unreliable since it seemed like I hit something almost every time and tipped over,broken blades,tailstrikes etc.
I have also modified my machine so that I can tilt the rotor front and back this enables me to kill the lift after I have landed.It's activated by the retract switch and tilts the rotor down so that the blades are no longer lifting.The logic here is if you have enough wind to get the rotor up to lifting rpm before takeoff,Then how will you land and stop the blades?This works so well it is unbelievable.I have a Hitec 805BB servo in the rear cockpit and some cables going up to the pylon and I used a piece of brass tube to pivot the top piece of the pylon.
With this set up wind is no longer a factor in determining if it's OK to fly If it's windy the takeoff after prespin is about 2 feet If there is no wind about 30
Strange thing that happened
I was making a downwind approach to the field The super realiable OS91 4S quit.The fuse rotated and pointed into the wind,I pointed the nose down and it autorotated into the beans and picked out a nice spot and set down.The crowd cheered an said what a great pilot I was.I couldn't figure why it done this until the light came on.With no prop wash the rudders played weather vane.The next time it happened was on a test flight of my partners machine I was ready.
It has been a great summer of flying the Kellet.I don't attract much of a crowd since it has become a pretty ordinary thing now.I suppose I could put some skis on it.
Special thanks to Hal DeBolt for suggesting the prespin idea.
AL
Some of the things I learned and some changes I made.
I'm using a Hitec HS 5735mg Digital servo to control the rotor tilt.This servo has 250 oz of torque and 750 oz of holding power.It keeps the rotor where it belongs and gives instant control response,no waiting for the servo to overpower the rotor.No more broken servo gears when you make a mistake and the rotor strikes something.It's runing on it's own set of batteries 6 volts.
I always use prespin to get the rotor going before attempting a takeoff.A Black and Decker 7.2 electric drill on the end of a stick does the job.It will turn 600 rpm and gets the rotor up to 500 plus rpms for the takeoff.I'm flying off grass fields and trying to get the rotor up to speed by take off runs was too difficult and unreliable since it seemed like I hit something almost every time and tipped over,broken blades,tailstrikes etc.
I have also modified my machine so that I can tilt the rotor front and back this enables me to kill the lift after I have landed.It's activated by the retract switch and tilts the rotor down so that the blades are no longer lifting.The logic here is if you have enough wind to get the rotor up to lifting rpm before takeoff,Then how will you land and stop the blades?This works so well it is unbelievable.I have a Hitec 805BB servo in the rear cockpit and some cables going up to the pylon and I used a piece of brass tube to pivot the top piece of the pylon.
With this set up wind is no longer a factor in determining if it's OK to fly If it's windy the takeoff after prespin is about 2 feet If there is no wind about 30
Strange thing that happened
I was making a downwind approach to the field The super realiable OS91 4S quit.The fuse rotated and pointed into the wind,I pointed the nose down and it autorotated into the beans and picked out a nice spot and set down.The crowd cheered an said what a great pilot I was.I couldn't figure why it done this until the light came on.With no prop wash the rudders played weather vane.The next time it happened was on a test flight of my partners machine I was ready.
It has been a great summer of flying the Kellet.I don't attract much of a crowd since it has become a pretty ordinary thing now.I suppose I could put some skis on it.
Special thanks to Hal DeBolt for suggesting the prespin idea.
AL
