Guys,

I now have my third Passport flying and I have learned a lot about the different ways to trim this airplane. Since it is very strong on rudder it takes very little movement in order to sustain knife egde flight. With that being the case, then using a stadard linear curve P-mix does not work very well. That type curve requires stick movement to work properly.

Since the stick is not being moved very far the type of mixing that is needed will be either a spline or point mix What I have ended up with is 2.5% up elev. with rudder both left and right. I brought the 1st point off either side of center in very close so it comes on immediately. The same goes for the rudder to ail. mix.

Hope this helps, I am leaving for Phoenix Contest in a couple of hours. Upon my return I will put my exact pecentages and mix types used.

Chip

Well the weekend was a success as far as getting in a bunch of good practice. Bill Sheets and myself were the only 2 in FAI and after I had only practiced P09 Bill decided we should fly F09. This was the first time my daughter Tiffany (10) was going to call for me as well. She worked so hard to get the lingo down perfectly for P and at the last minute we switched to F.

No worries, she told me to relax and stop stressin she had it covered. Anyway we flew 6 rounds in every class and that included a new club class that had 3 or 4 people in it each day. All together I think there were approx 15-17 pilots that entered and to my knowledge everyone took home there planes in one peice. I believe this was the first annual for this time of year at Phoenix so it wasn't a bad turnout. If the local F3A guys would of come out it would of been nice, but we still had a blast.

The final mix amount on my passport is 1.5% rudd to ail. and 3% Rudd to Elev. The type of mix used is a spline mix which is selected in the P-Mix menu. The wing is a +.5, the spinner is lined up with the nose ring, and the stab is set where it does not need any trim to fly straight and level. Throttle to Rudd is 1.0 % and that is to the right at full throttle or to the left at idle. .5 % from mid throttle up to full and .5% from Mid throttle to idle. Now the only mix left is throttle to evev and that is 1% down at idle. This will get you really close and then just fine tune it. I have not checked the CG yet on the Ground but I will and add it tomorrow.

Chip

Chip,
Thanks for the setup tips. I will be installing the Neu F3A motor in my Passport this week, and hopefully doing a maiden next weekend. Your mix and CG information is very much appreciated.

Steve

Thanks for this info. It makes sense that a point curve on the rudder to elevator mix would work well but I've never thought about it till now.
I'm kind of fence sitting on a new plane decision for 09. My friend Bobby Satalino just received and showed me his new Passport Arf on Saturday and I have to admit it's beautiful. I also liked what I saw of them in the air at this years Nats.
I do have some concerns about the weights since I use the Axi F3A motor. I don't think that it would work in this plane. Therefore I suppose the Neu would be the option because it's a lot lighter. My question is can weight be made with the Nue and a 42 oz Lipo? ie. Prolite V2 5300 and the True RC 5000 10s longs.
What is your guys weights looking like? Thanks, Mike Mueller

Mike,
on my Pass-Port with the Nue and FlightPower 5300's I am at 10lbs.15oz. one thing we did do was go to the FlightPower 4350 10's (37 oz.)
because FAI now has less manuvers, this saved around 3 oz.
One thing to remember is Chip and I have one extra servo and lead for the split rudder. I do not have any weights on the Pass-Port
with a single servo on the rudder.

I will be using a single servo on the rudder, and 4300 batteries, so I am expecting to be somewhere in the 10.5 pound range. Where are you guys ending up on CG, and where do you mount the batteries to get the right CG?

CG is on the front of the tube and the batteries are mounted just in front of the gear plate

I just picked up a Passport at the Southeast RC show (Perry) and was looking for control throw setup information for this plane. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Some info here. Also there should be some info here on RCU just do a search.
http://toddblose.homestead.com/Pass-Port_build2.html

The throws I used were
Aeliron, 25 deg high and 10 deg low rate
Elev 20 deg High and 10 deg low rate
Rudder all you can get on high for stall turns but you will use very little in normal flying. Add SFG's on the wings if they come with it

Thanks for the reply toddblose.