I just finished my kangaroo with a Ram 1000. I am planning my maiden flight for this weekend. Does anyone have any pointers or advice on throws, CG’s, flight behavior, and landing tips. All input is appreciated.

Hi Turbocharge

First of all - GOOD LUCK! I have just completed flight no.25 this weekend on my ROO with 70N Model Mechanics turbine. I used the CG and throws given in the manual. My elevator trim is about 4mm(3/16) up in flight trim.

When taking off hold onto some up until you have a few feet of air between the ROO and the ground otherwise you are going to do a ROO hop. Fly's great and I am having plenty of fun with mine. You need to fly aileron and elevator in the turns otherwise it will tuck on you, no big deal, just be ready.

Landing, 2 options, if you have wheel brakes, you can come in a little hot and grease it and then hit the brakes, it is going to come in hot! Option 2, if you hve installed the bargeboard airbrake, wait until you have lined up for landing and then deploy-you should anticipate slight nose up. As for the bounces when you get it wrong - that's why it is called a Kangeroo!

I have mastered the "Hot" approach and have greased the majority of them, we fortunately have lots of runway to play with.

Regards

Zane

Zaney1,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, we have a short runway, approx 400 X 40 ft. I will take your advice on the takeoff but on the landing I may have trouble. I don't have speed brakes. Should I fly anyway or install them first? How important are they? Is the Ram 1000 going to be too much power? Thanks for your advice and assistance.

Hi Turbocharge

400ft is plenty. Even my "hot" landings don't take more than 200 ft! You can slow it down, but this must be done on the downwind leg. If you can get a nose up attitude under power on this leg, you've got it made. Practice makes perfect! Remember the turbine lag if you running a bit short. Does not get worse than a bounce if you get it wrong - bent undercart.

How much fuel are you carrying? I have got 3 litre on board and that gives a good 8 minutes with lots to spare.

RAM 1000 will be perfect to get you off, thereafter you won't need much more than half throttle!

Regards

Zane

Hi Turbocharge its good to see that your roo is ready for the maiden flight. Make sure you get an experience pilot for the test flight. Sometime the maiden flights is the killer.

If you decide to fly it by your self full power on take off. If for some reassion you are having problem with the landing level wings gear up and land in the grass. at no time fly at full power.

Good luck

Zaney1 and Unknown,

I will take your advice and hopefully have a great flight. I have an experienced pilot ready to coach me through it. I will let you both know how the flight went. Thanks again for all the advice and the pointers. If you think of anything else I need to know before Saturday, please let me know.

Turbo,
You WILL need the speed brake on the roo! Trying to land the roo can be a difficult task at best until you learn the proper way to slow this aircraft down. Without a speedbrake it will be nearly impossible on the runway length you have to work with. The roo will tend to hop (thus the name Kangaroo) if you carry too much speed into the landing. The trick to the roo is to have 90 deg of speedbrake deployment, transition to slow flight in the pattern then hold the plane 12" off the deck till it settles itself in. I would not even attempt to fly your roo until a speedbake has been installed!
Just my 411 flights worth
Todd

you have serious power my roo RAM 750 is off in 300 feet or less. on take off I hold the brakes as the turbine spools up then release the brakes. once your up gear up throttle back to 1/2

INSTALL the SPEED BRAKE make sure you get 90 degrees of rotation out of it. I have JR DS-8411 servo to operate it. (at least 100oz metal gear servo hitek HS-5645 will do the job)


the roo will fly slow you just have to wait for it to burn off speed, the RAM 1000 has a bit more residual thrust than a 750. landing hold the nose off after the mains are down. it will settle in if you let it drop then it will hop hop hop

have a roo pilot as your spotter / time keeper / (co-pilot )

Put the brake on and get it to deflect about 90 degrees. CG works per the plans (95-100 mm in front of the spar). Recommend you dual or triple rate the ailerons. Personally, I find the recommended aileron throw gives too high of a roll rate. The recommended elevator throw is okay. My first one had a RAM 1000....verticals were a blast! However....on your first flight get off the throttle once you get up. It will get to the next county very quick if you don't. Have fun...........

From what I am reading in the last few posts, it seems that I MUST have speed brakes installed before this weekend or hold off the flight until I can install them. Which brake is easier to install, the air operated one or the servo operated? It also sounds like the RAM 1000 may be too much power for a beginner.

I will speak to the guy I bought the engine from and have him turn down the engine to the 750.

Thanks again for all the previous and forthcoming advice.

Ditto what Todd and Bill said, You really need the speedbrake. Servo operated would be the easiest and works fine. I am like Bill on the roll rate, I have dual rates set up on aileron at 18mm. You will want all the elevator throw you can get for smooth landings.

Good luck

Turbocharge
I will see you about turning down the R1000 its very easy to do[8D]. As for speed brake i think you need them from the sound of it.

There is a in our club that flys a roo with no speed board. He has an old 750 for power and makes perfect landings but uses our 600+ feet to do so. I have a rookie with the speed board, i typically make a full circut with it deployed to get things calmed down for the approach.Try making a carrier type landing with some good aoa, keep her flying till basically says no more, then you are ready to touch the wheels and will have no bounce.
V..

Do you guys set up your brake so that it is either in or out, do you have it on a three position switch, or do you use it fully
proportional?

Your thoughts would be appreciated so I can set mine up.

Mine is set-up on the left slider switch on a Futaba 9C. You can deploy any amount you want. My experience level is that you need full 90 degrees to slow down for nice landings. I do not think the brake is very effective with less than 90 degrees.

More questions I'm afraid.

I've connected the servo and all is well until the brake gets to 85 degrees or so. Then instead of opening the brake further the servo just flexes the brake. I had originally thought that this may be a problem and was going to add another hinge in the middle but was told this wasn't necessary.

Am I doing something wrong?

II have flown hundreds of flights on a ROO, they are docile and safe at low speeds, if you have any problem landing, just set up the approach and cut the engine. They land really well without thrust, in-fact they are easier to land that way.
The only real vice the ROO has is going slow at the top of a loop or inverted, as the airspeed decays inverted the now low thrust line pushes the nose up, you will find you are applying more and more up elevator to try and pull it through the loop. Sometimes the plane slows up so much that it will flip nose over tail! and then go into an inverted spin.
This maneuver is now carried out deliberately in the UK at most shows, by applying more thrust the plane can be made to tumble continually.

If this happens you must not open the throttle! just chop the engine to tick over, the plane will fall and as the nose drops control is regained, you can now open up and go!

It is quite safe as a maneuver as long as you know what to do, but can be a bit of a shock if you are not expecting it!

Just keep the speed up inverted and there is no problem!

Hi guys!

In Norway we call that maneuver ! "The Chicken Flop"! great fun and looks insane.
Easy to engage by pulling up into a vertical climb with little power, and when u are close to a stall just floor it!!!! Works best when the engine is not lifted in the back like recommended for starters.

Had Jetcat P120 on my previous roo, and the same on the new one ready for maiden flight soon.
Agree on the speed brake discussion, very helpful. I have my speed-brake set on a three way switch, by deflecting the brake 45degrees on the first step and 90 on the second u get a smooth braking effect, plus applying 45degrees brake will make the roo take off on a shorter distance. I tried this on our grass strip and found it helpful.
I used to shut down the turbine just before entering the airstrip on my first short field landings, and it came down smoothly.
We have 100 meters of grass, and its sufficient.
Good luck with your Roo.

Milli