What did you fly today?

[F22trainer]

Maiden Flight on my Mini-Apprentice. First RC flight ever. Spent a lot of hours with the AeroFly simulator, but nothing prepared me for how "floaty" this airplane is. Took off from a rough meadow surrounded by trees in what I thought was a calm day. WRONG. On liftoff, a gust of wind threw the airplane into a nearby tree. Here in NY the trees are still bare and I was amazed to see the airplane emerge at 90 degrees to its original flight path on the far side of the tree. Now of course, it was in the forest that bordered the field. Full power and up elevator and it was clear of the trees and at about 250 feet altitude in a matter of seconds - where the wind was much stronger! Managed to get it circling the field while i tried to figure out how to get it down. Even at idle power it just kept its altitude. Didn't have the presence of mind to switch out of beginner mode which would have given me more control authority. Finally worked it down to a perfect landing. Not hard, because into the wind that had picked up, it was almost hovering. Must have been a successful flight because the plane was still in one piece. Now waiting for a calmer day.

Every flight is a learning experience- welcome!

[CZ Flyer]

Awesome, cool choice in tunes. Love Joe Satriani.

Thanks! Me too. My next on board video should be my Freewing 70mm F-16. Got a nice track picked out for it already.

[TiredIronGRB]

Maiden Flight on my Mini-Apprentice. First RC flight ever. Spent a lot of hours with the AeroFly simulator, but nothing prepared me for how "floaty" this airplane is. Took off from a rough meadow surrounded by trees in what I thought was a calm day. WRONG. On liftoff, a gust of wind threw the airplane into a nearby tree. Here in NY the trees are still bare and I was amazed to see the airplane emerge at 90 degrees to its original flight path on the far side of the tree. Now of course, it was in the forest that bordered the field. Full power and up elevator and it was clear of the trees and at about 250 feet altitude in a matter of seconds - where the wind was much stronger! Managed to get it circling the field while i tried to figure out how to get it down. Even at idle power it just kept its altitude. Didn't have the presence of mind to switch out of beginner mode which would have given me more control authority. Finally worked it down to a perfect landing. Not hard, because into the wind that had picked up, it was almost hovering. Must have been a successful flight because the plane was still in one piece. Now waiting for a calmer day.

This post made my day, you will cherish the memory of that flight forever...oh, by the way...Welcome to Hobby Squawk:Cool:

[Grossman56]

Gotta love it! The Apprentices have a habit of turning into gliders pretty quickly. The wife has a full sized one that lost a prop due to the poorly designed prop shaft. GLIDER!, she landed it successfully.
A fellow at Nefi last year had the same thing, just after I had described the wife's experience. He and a friend were both new to the hobby and had Apprentices. His prop came off and I ran over to him to help him land it, did a great job. Talk about a confidence builder!!
BTW, I got a new prop shaft and Lock-Tited the thing (it's a two piece prop shaft with a collar holding it together, or it was...) on. Never came off again

Grossman56

[Shirty]

Welcome to the squawk bob stan. A few of my students have this plane, and as the boys say, it's a floater for sure. In a strong wind, it'll stay up there wth zero throttle as you experienced. I remember one kids plane I maidened for him in pretty strong winds, and I couldn't get it down because of the beginner mode either. (It really limits what you can do, though it is a good training aid in low winds). Even downwind, it wouldn't come down as the speed it gained just created extra lift, till it was getting too far away. But all you really have in those situations is rudder, elevator won't let you come down as you found, and in beginner mode you can't roll inverted and just split S either. I just put it in a corkscrew spiral with full rudder, aileron and no throttle, and straightened it out near the ground. I'd suggest going advanced or turning it off (you really need down elevator), if you're flying in strong winds. I'd also suggest having a experienced bloke with you - but if you're knife edging through trees already, you may not need this lol. It's bigger cousin is the same. Enough wind and beginner mode, it'll stay up there. Grats on your successful maiden and welcome to the hobby. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. You'll find the vast majority of blokes on the squawk really good guys, so don't be afraid to ask for advice. There are no stupid questions mate. Best of luck and watch out for plane magnet trees! ;)

[bob_stan]

It wasn't my intention to fly in strong winds - it just happened. I'll be more prepared to exit beginner mode if necessary the next time. I'm sure after a couple more fights, I'll be so self confident I will be able to get myself into real trouble!

[Shirty]

Lol mate. I know the "it just happened...!", very well myself. ;)

[F22trainer]

Finished work at 4:20, out the door by 4:45 pm. 30 minutes to AMPS Field, light breeze variable but mostly from west. No one at the field but me as the sun set. Sorry no pictures, but good memories as I got 4 good flights with each - my Carbon Cub and the PT-17 as the traffic passed me by. Nice way to unwind.
was 100* in Phoenix today, but was a comfy 90 ish at the field.

[Shirty]

Thought I'd share a few pics from a local warbird event last weekend, some nice birds, loved the caribou! :)

[Hardway]

Nice birds! The pics are great too! Did you shoot those?

[F22trainer]

Good stuff, Shirty!
Was that Fairchild twin a kit? Know anything about it, specs I mean?

[Aros]

Nice shots Shirty!

[F106DeltaDart]

Awesome photos Shirty! Drooling over that beautiful B-29!

[Shirty]

Cheers fellas. No, I didn't take the shots or make this vid, just sharing some stuff from my part of the world. Don't know the specs sorry, I was too busy watching and drooling... ;) my club will be doing one in a couple of weeks for Anzac Day, I'm flying so really looking forward to it. Some full scale flyovers in the vid too.

[OV10]

Good stuff, Shirty!
Was that Fairchild twin a kit? Know anything about it, specs I mean?

Only twin I see is the De Havilland DHC-3 Caribou ;)

[Shirty]

Nice shots Shirty!

Bit of that giant scale corsair with the moki from my club near the end of the vid Todd. I know you'll love it lol ;)

[Aros]

You know correctly! ;)

[AkumaZeto]

[BluesDragon]

Nice! I've been eye balling that one for a while now. How ya liking it?

[AkumaZeto]

Nice! I've been eye balling that one for a while now. How ya liking it?

Excellent except the stock lg is junk. Tired Iron helped me out though! Without that this thing would be a hand launcher belly lander for me. I did a immelman with it this morning. Boy was that ugly lol.