Today was the day. The baby has taken it's first steps in the air.
I'm so fortunate to fly with Gordan (Mr. Twin) Delaney, and Norm Whittle. They were invaluable help to me today.
First, the plane seems to have a lot of potential. Level flight both upright and inverted seemed to groove well. Turn rates seemed pretty equal on first rerview. Line tension seemed good at all altitudes flown. The wing seemed to be pretty level upright and inverted. The ploane has a good power off glide, and the gear appears to be located optimally.
Now the items that really need to be addressed.
As the engines are currently set, the 9X4 APC props seem to be loading the engines more than they seemed to like.
I need to do some more work getting the tank height set proper for both engines.
I will need to make up a new set of lines dedicated to this plane. The ones I'm using are setup for my Pathfinder Twin, and I need to legnthen the up line slightly. I dont want to mess up the settings by making changes to this set of lines.
The most imnportant area, of course is getting the engines properly dialed in. Electric would be easier to setup, but I love the smell of castor in the morning.
Here's whats been done, and is going to be done before Sundays flying session.
Since I'm getting about 6+ minutes of flight from only 2 ounces of 10% fuel, we're betting that the venturiis need to be opened up some. We've already adjusted the depth the spigot goes into the throat of the vebturii. This should increase the size of the venturii's opening. I'm also going to change from the highly efficient APC 9X4 props, to the Master airscrew S2 style props of the same size. Norms experience was good with these props, and my Pathfinder twin did well with them also.
If the pesponce to the above change is good, but I still need more, I can open up the venturiis a bit, and, or up the nitro.
I'm quite happy so far, I think the plane may have a bright future.