Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

[Aros]

Gorgeous shots as usual Jon!

[andrew_flyguy]

[Hardway]

Sweet!!! Makes me want to put Top Gun in the DVD player.... LOL

[Aros]

Man you guys are making me want another one...Maybe the next one won't be so problematic for me...Might of just had a wonky one.

[seaviper]

Sweet!!! Makes me want to put Top Gun in the DVD player.... LOL

you mean VCR...lol

[Hardway]

YES!!! VCR.... Of course...…….. LOL

[pullupnow]

Here is flight #4 on my Tomcat. A very sweet flying bird all in all. I'm still trying to get my landings dialed in. Flight #3 I did a no flap approach which ended up in a go around due to a big bounce and too much speed. second approach with full flaps (full span too) much more solid on the approach. I have JS electric brakes on her now and I'm having problems getting symmetrical braking. On flight #4 as you can see I got a bit of a PIO going on the landing roll out followed by the hard asymmetrical brake application. Not too smooth... but a reusable airframe. Oh well great fun! ..lots of adrenalin

[Aros]

Nice flying! Good landing even though I could still see that bounce tendency I could never seem to avoid without forcing a lot of down once the gear touched. I tried so many different approach speeds, flaps, no flaps...Just wanted to be a bucking bronco...Nice job!

[pullupnow]

Nice flying! Good landing even though I could still see that bounce tendency I could never seem to avoid without forcing a lot of down once the gear touched. I tried so many different approach speeds, flaps, no flaps...Just wanted to be a bucking bronco...Nice job!

Thanks.. The pressure of having to have it on and stopped in 300ft doesn't help, and if I drag it in and drop it on it just bounces like you said..... It is an absolute showstopper in the air though!

[Rcfiddy1]

Just joined the tomcat crowd.....Wife is gonna kill me. Cant hide this big bird from her. Oh well guess I will have to take her out and surprise her with a gift to soften her up before delivery. Damn you motionrc...

[Aros]

LOL

[rifleman_btx]

LOL

[seaviper]

Good flight. I don't think that was PIO. It was just bouncing. Nice job.

[fhhuber]

Might need to tweak that nose-gear spring and/or find softer rubber for the front tires to damp the bounce.
Nose wheel is either touching down early or just too stiff and responding to a bump in the runway by kicking the nose up.

[Aros]

There most definitely was an issue with the nose gear/spring on mine. Now I am the first to admit when I have a bad landing (I am a professional at them) but I fly enough jets of all sizes to know something was up. It was very frustrating to say the least. Perfect speed, approach angle, flare, and then BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE... Eeesh. I finally sold it because I was so discouraged (on top of some other issues I was having with it). I am glad to see others enjoying it though. It really is a cool presence in the sky!

[OV10]

At least it had the USS Nimitz on it's wing shoulder before ya let her go.:Cool: Thanx again for doing it up correctly Aros ;)

[Aros]

Yes sir, thank you for the nudge!

[andrew_flyguy]

Great flying, Pullupnow! Also, FANTASTIC job on the custom refinish! About the bouncy landing - it looks like you came in a little flat. I haven't had this bounce issue you guys are talking about. I try to come in just a hair nose-high, then in ground effect, gradually keep pulling that elevator back 'til it touches down (it won't take long!). Great job stopping in that 300' area!

Here's one of my landings to show how I approach (even though this one's a little hot): https://youtu.be/fwO4cACrbK0?t=27

[Grossman56]

Anyone seen this mod to a Tomcat? Pretty wild...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzjWU5hbke8

Grossman56

[handyman220]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.