Nexstar first flight.
 

I purchased the Nexstar this winter and spent quite a few hours on the simulator. My only other experience flying had been taking the controls for 5-10 minutes last year on my brothers trainer with a buddy box. Today we fired up my Nexstar and the instructor took it up and landed it for me on the first go round. After that we kept it on the buddy box, but the instructor didn't have to make any corrections during any of the following flights. I completed at least 6 take off and landings, very smooth. I only had one "bobble" on the ground when I landed a bit long and over steered to miss the weeds, no damage.

I had the AFS set at zero as I don't think it's a great idea. The air brakes and wind droops worked perfectly, even the "old guys" (sorry) at the club thought it flew great. It helps having an experienced person with you to get it trimmed correctly.

I'm very pleased with the plane and don't plan on making any changes.

Good luck so far, which is unusual for me!

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Excellent! I hope you have many happy flights. Thanks for the post!

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Congrats and happy flying.

Great hobby isn't?

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Be careful when removing the speed brakes - the plane takes on a whole new personality!

Jerry

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

It is a great hobby. I'm not sure I'll remove the brakes or droops, it just flys so great now. I suppose that could change with time. I think I'm going to be one of the guys that just kind of pucka pucka puckas low and slow across the field. My nephew is way up there tearing around and I can't keep track of the darn thing.

I'm thinking about a Cessna for a second plane? Good idea?

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Do take the leading edge devices and the flaps off the NextStar before getting a second plane. A Cessna or something simular will likely fly in a way that isn't all that different from the trainer with out the gadgets, but it will be a little harder to fly, land a bit faster, and so on. So takeing the gadets off the NextStar would be a good half-step towards a Cessna.

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Well today was my second time out. Winds were at least 10 miles per hour so I was a bit nervous. I was surprised that I did all right, a few "bobbles" but I was always in the air or on the wheels. I was finally going to unhook the buddy box when we saw a loose screw, and then a missing screw. The darn engine mount is coming loose, glad I didn't go up! I'll get that fixed this weekend and am looking forward to my first official solo. I've kept it on the buddy box but the instructor hasn't had to ever help out.

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Great news! It just gets better and better after you get "unplugged"- ;) A Cessna is a good second plane- though not very common for most pilots...

They are so docile by design- just make sure you have it flown by someone else to trim and go from there!

james

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Congrats Klunk,
Sounds like you've got a good attitude towards all this, which will make things so much easier for you. ;)
Dennis-

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

I posted this in the 'Nexstar Crash' post originally, before seeing this, probably the wrong place but first timer here ;)

Interesting to read all the posts about the airfoil extensions and flaps / brakes, maybe that accounted for the bounced landings, it was definately floating from speed on both occasions. First time was OK, better fast than not making it all all dead-stick I imagine, but the second was with power, need to see what it's slow flight handling is like.

"Well, knew to this hobby and the board, so thought I'd add to this poste.

Not a crash, but a successful maiden flight. As with some of the other posters, my instructor wanted the AFS disconnected, as well as the flap / brakes and airfoil extensions.

Prior to this I've used Flt Sim, Warbirds, hold a PPL and used the Real Flight program. Instructor took it off, checked it out and then I spent 10 mins flying racetrack patterns at the field. Apparently he was very impressed, only taking over once in the 10 mins, but I can see how people going solo without an instructor can end up a cropper!

He had control when engine quit after about 12 mins, and dead sticked it down OK.

Refuelled and back up again, another 10 mins or so, and before bringing it back down. First landing was aborted, he wasn't happy, I think too fast on finals, and second had a few bounces, resulting in a clipped prop. No big deal, a $2 replacement.

Enclosed a couple of pics, before the unthinkable can happen, fingers crossed!

However, the weird thing is, its lasting 10 - 12 mins on a tank, but then we find that the tanks still half full on landing the second time. I'm positive the tank was full on the first flight, and can only assume it was near to quiting on the second. If so, what's the problem, it defuels to empty OK from the supply line?

I was checking out the club a couple of weeks ago and there was another guys that had had the same problem I think, but buggared if I can remember how he fixed it.

Kev. "

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Hey Kokpit. You'll notice in one of my last posts I had some problems with the bolts coming loose in the engine mount, one was completely gone. We took all of the bolts out and put them back in with some lock tight this weekend,,,apparently the engine falling out is a bad thing. Just a heads up if you haven't checked that.

Looking forward to getting back out this week.

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

LOL I can imagine. thanks for the heads up.

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

Hey Guys, that is ironic. I am training a guy at my field with a Nextstar which by the way is a great trainer once you build it over. It is far from a RTF aircraft IMHO. The trainer this student bought was brand new, because I was there when he bought it. It came out of the box with a lose motor mount screw and lose motor hold down bolt, lose muffler, the plane was extremely tail heavy and had a horizontal stab that was terriblly lose even if it was tighten all the way. I disconnected the AFS from the beginning and it has never been plug in. I removed the airbrakes as it would constantly try to climb in level flight even with a fairly good bit down of elevator was trimmed into it to compensate for it. The student wasn't going to be learning to land soon so it wasn't helping then anyway. I would highly recommend going over the plane with a fine tooth comb and recheck every bolt, screw, snap, etc... The wings were epoxyed together since they became lose in flight, but luckly they stayed together and the horistontal stab was also glued in place to remove the slack from the bolts not holding properly. The plane flys very well now, but is no where near RTF out of the box as the company states. These companies are mass producing these items, but are literally skipping steps to keep up with production and that will cost some poor soul later when it crashes due to the motor coming off or worse the motor flying off the plane into a crowd while on the ground trying to tune. Students don't always know the proper procedures of the hobby when they are new and that could hurt someone if not themselves. Locktite should be a industry standard when building these aircraft.

RE: Nexstar first flight.
 

I couldn't agree more DTB. Saying that the plane is flight ready in 20 minutes is certainly a stretch. I think the sales pitch make this hobby seem a lot easier than it is, I'm thinking it could lead to a higher rate of accidents. I do seem to be one of the few people actually liking the brakes and drupes. I think I used the sim so much I was used to them, I like how you can just hangs in the air forever. The plane did want to climb so the instructor did turn out the push rod for the elevator three turns, perfect. The plane is perfectly balanced, no weights, and all my trims are in the middle.