Hello everyone.
This summer I am working on a project at NCSU on morphing aircraft wings. We have bought the mini super sportster ep from great planes because of the long ailerons, smaller size, only a front propeller, and a larger hollow body which in the future may be used for other electronics. Our goal is to build our own wings that use morphing materials to control the airplane by changing the airfoil shape instead of using ailerons. This would eventually be applied to airplanes allowing us to replace the heavy hydraulically run flaps with light morphing material.

Currently we are working on designing a model wing which we will test separately in the wind tunnel. We have also bought the mini super sportster and I am in the process of assembling it. I was hoping people could give me an idea of how long it will take to learn to fly the mini super sportster. I have no experience with R/Cs but am willing to put in any necessary time to learn. Even though I am only working on this project this summer because I am returning to the University of Maryland in the fall, the other student working with me will continue with the project during the school year.

Thank you for any suggestions.

~ Laura

you may be bitting off more then you can chew trying to get to the experience of flying a mini super sporster in a few months. My recommendation is to do your project and find an experience pilot from a local club to do the flying. If you want to learn to fly then buy a high wing trainer and find your local club or someone that can teach you to fly. You will have a much better experience.

Like he said.

Consider these to be seperate projects.

e.g.

- Learn to fly
- Build the Mini Super Sportster and fly it ( or have someone else fly it )
- Make the morphing wings
- Test fly with the new wings.

We had a University group come out to our field with a project.

While they had great engineering theory behind them, it was eminiently clear that no one in the group had ever flown an RC plane, let alone understood fairly basic stuff.

Their airplane was taken up by an experienced pilot who found it extremely tail heavy, and over loaded and under powered. It crashed on the first flight almost immediately.

The group was ESTATIC ( ?!?!?!?! ) that it even flew!

The thing is that anyone who had completed basic flight instruction at our club would have immediately known what was wrong with the plane and could have indicated the needed changes.

Rumor has it she's working on that. In fact, someone has volunteered their GWS slow stick to help the students with their early flights.

That pretty cool to hear. I like the project and getting the students interest in the aerodynamics of flying. I would just think that the potential for a more positive and successful flight would come under the direction of an experienced pilot. I still every now and then get people to maiden a plane that I feel might be a challenge to set up initially or at least have in radio passing distance.

Putting another set of eyes on a plane never hurts.

I always have another club member look over my recent constructs.

It still amazes me how easily someone else may spot something that needs attention that I have totally overlooked.

Thanks for the advice. My professor wants me to finish assembling the plane ASAP so having someone else watch is probably not an option at this point. Yes, piper_chuck generously agreed to let us learn on his GWS slow stick. It sounds like we will have to learn on a trainer before flying the mini super sportster. Hopefully my professor will understand and have the patience. Hes a very go, go, go type of person when he wants to do something. We are definitely building a prototype wing and testing that separately from the plane until we have a solid design and have mastered the R/C plane. Thank you for all the advice.

A proper pre-flight should have caught the incorrect CG on that plane and it should have been fixed before attempting to fly it. Basic RC safety precaution here. Not rocket science.

If precautions were followed and a proper pre-flight followed by a fix, the plane may.. MAY have flown.

DS.

My suggestion was more along the lines of just having someone like piper_chuck fly the mini super sporster. The project seems to require at least one successful flight. If someone that is inexperienced has control of the aircraft and crashes then the flight with the prototype wing will not happen until the plane is rebuilt.

To answer your origninal question on how long it will take to learn to fly a mini super sporster. Well, it could take 6 months or it could take the full year, and some could never get the skills to fly that type of plane. There are people out there that still crash high wing trainers on landings and they have been flying for years. The flight characteristics of the high wing trainer compaired to a low wing aircraft is completely different. Then multiply that by adding mini and super means two things it's small, so it is hard to see, and "long" ailerons make for a very twitchy movements increasing the challenge of flying.

Regardless, good luck on the project and keep us updated.

Exactly, but the students were to anxious to get their plane airborne.

The Club Pilot wanted to see how it handled on the ground first before adjusting the C.G.

The design was so unusual ( and ungainly ) that he did not have a reference point at first for adjustting the C.G. via typical quick tests...

He took it onto the runway, and you guessed it, a sudden gust of wind on an otherwise calm day sent it flying... almost straight up....


When I arrived to the field there was a rather unusually large pile of balsa in one of the field trash cans.

Everyone was trying to figure out what kind of plane had crashed...

We later learned the sequence of events.

This unknown CG disaster may teach these current students working on this project to think through this issue ahead of time. If you plan on just swaping wings the same day the Center of Gravity will change. The thing to do might be to conduct CG test prior to flight of each wing. This way there is a basic understanding of whether to add weight or remove weight and how much.

Early airplanes such as the Write Flier and the Eindecker EIII used wing warping to generate roll effect. The idea you have is actually very old. However the tech used back then would not hold up to the airspeed requirements of todays aircraft. So you may want to do a little history work before you get started. Good luck and have fun with it.

I would invite the professor out to try his hand on piper_chuck's plane on a buddy box. He may have a new appreciation for your project.

Tom

So what ever happen with this project??? Did it fly?

Yup... but these were a group of anxious engineering students eager to view the viability of their handiwork.

Any club member would have spotted the problems.

As it is, that is exactly what was being done when the plane went for an unplanned flight.

Ok... fine. How is the project going? Did they ever solve the issues? CG (new plane)??