Lightning maiden
 

HI all, I'm about ready to test fly my Lightning, any tips about the Lightnings habits would be appreciated.
Rcpete

RE: Lightning maiden
 

bring it to ohio and let me do it for you - i will need about a year to dial it in really good for you .

nice job on that one looking forward to seeing it in person!!!!!!!![sm=thumbup.gif]

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Looks great except for the guy in the cockpit :)

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Pilot looks fine to me!

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Awesome paint job.... They fly awesome!!! A good friend of mine has one that he gives me a pull on now and again... Fly it to the ground with power.... Remember she is a big and heavy bird...

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Duk,

I hate to differ with you, but, I just put first flights on mine this past weekend, and she doesn't fly or land heavy at all. The flaps in landing position do create quiite a bit of drag though, which definitely requires power to offset. I actually found I liked landing with takeoff flap better! The glide ratio is much better. If you want a really short landing rollout or steep approach the landing flap position from the manual is great.

If you have a deadstick, do not go to landing flap. Takeoff position will give you best glide ratio. I tried a few simulated deadstick approaches with throttle at idle and landing flap position. You almost have to point the nose straight down to keep it flying. That airbrake action on the top of the wing is very effective. At takeoff flap position though, you can almost glide this plane forever.

A truly straight great flying jet, you're going to love it Pete! NO WORRIES!

David

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Down and dirty with the boards fully extended requires power to drag her in... Never landed it with only take off flaps..;)

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Great work as usual Pete,Pilot looks great,Bulluomini is jealous of your cockpit:)

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Hey Pete, looks awesome, let me know when you are going to do the maiden and I'll try and make it out.

Angus

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Love the AETE scheme. Make sure you post video of it!!!!!!!

Dale

RE: Lightning maiden
 

:D

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Hi Pete.

I agree with David. The plane will develop a scary sink rate with full flaps and no power. If you keep the airspeed up, however, it is easy to fly to the ground. Not sure where you fly, but having a longer runway will be helpful on your first few flights.

Also, the control surfaces are very effective, so you might want to have different combos of DRs set up to find the settings that suit your flying style.

I would leave enough time on your first flight to shoot several approaches ... this will be hard as you will be having so much fun flying it around.

Good luck!

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Where did you find your cockpit pilot and dashboard? Is the pilot bluebox? Is your dash home built?

Very beautiful paint job

Glad to be part of the community, just getting into jets myself, flew a Kangaroo with Jetcat 120 (awesome power) this summer and looking forward to fly my Lightning next year with the Behotec180 after I build it this winter

RE: Lightning maiden
 

HI Frank Tiano sells the pilots and got the cockpit from RCU, jets for sale, Frank might have the cockpits also.
Rcpete

RE: Lightning maiden
 

She is a beautiful aircradt to fly. I find I need about 2mm of up elevator for level flight. She is a little pitchy so I have 60% expo on the elevators. Landing is a breeze, just fly it all the wat to the deck! I find about 60% power with full landing flap...

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Thanks for the heads up rcpete347 will look into it

RE: Lightning maiden
 

Use the takeoff flap for landing. It is a heavy bird, and it yes it will sink if you dont keep the power on landing. They fly so awesome though!! I loved ours!

Andrew