I took my first ever electric flights today. The Super Clown worked brilliantly. Whatever grumpiness I experienced while putting it together was more than made up for by the plane's performance.
I took the model to a local soccer field, it was mowed quite nicely, but I had concerns about the small wheels being able to roll in the dense grass. Having nobody available to assist, I relied on the 15 second delay in the timer to allow me to get to the handle. I actually timed myself walking 60 ft, exactly 15 seconds. So I opted to trot, that only took 7 seconds. I know a helper is best, a stooge is second best, and depending on the timer not to malfunction is a distant last option, but it worked for me today.
I got out to the handle, had it at the ready while putting my hand through the safety thong, then waited what seemed like an eternity (roughly 8 seconds) for the motor to spin. It started slow, like I expected, then quickly ramped up to full power. The wheels apparently had no issue with the grass, and after a short roll it was in the air. I didn't get a lap time, but it was acceptable. Line tension was more than I expected, given the size of the model, and the wings looked flat from my point of view. Naturally I had to loop it. That went well, so I tried some inverted flight, also a success. I proceeded to stunt it up a bit, but then went level, in anticipation of my time being up. I didn't know what the brief sag would be like, so I chose to be cautious.
After what seemed like 75 or 80 level laps, there's the sag. No way I wouldn't have noticed that. Power came back on for just a bit, and then I landed. My best landing in 20 years.
After three short flights I rolled 'em up and went home, only 5 minutes away. Took the battery's temperature, it was 105 F. Plugged it into my charger, still has mid to high 50% remaining. I think I could have done another flight without dropping into the 20% zone.
Now I'm going to need a couple more batteries.
Topic: More flying (Read 1505 times)