FLEXJET SUPER PNP

[andre]

While in Ohio for Flite Fest I met the Flex Innovations crew and came home with a FJ.

Flew it on Saturday with my heart pounding and fingers shaking.

Looking forward to a lot more flights with this beast.

[bill34207]

I destroyed my Flexjet this past Sunday coming out the bottom of an outside loop and panicking when I spotted another club members plane in my exit path. Lots of carnage as it went in nose 1st from about 50' up.. :Crying:
I will be replacing mine providing they don't run out of them before next Friday when I can get down to their location. With their shop hours being the same as my normal work schedule had to schedule myself a vacation day. That way I don't have to pay shipping on top of Florida sales tax.

[xviper]

I was going to do my final appraisal of this plane but I've decided against it so that I don't inject too much negativity into this thread. After all, it's only my opinion. I've given my "bottom line" thoughts on this plane in the Avanti S thread as I found it too easy to compare the FlexJet to that plane. I will, however, just say that if they could take out the Aura 8 and sell it for around $400.00, they'd have a winner. When it comes time to thin out the herd, I'll be keeping the Avanti S. ZCOL has already shown us that this plane is not immune to QC problems and the response he got from Flex Innovations is far less than what it should have been, but then, we've been spoiled by Motion RC's high standards of customer relations.

[crxmanpat]

Four great flights on the FLEXJET today! The only issue I had was that my elevators were not lined up properly on the maiden and required significant left aileron trim to fly level. After landing I adjusted the elevators, but must have gone too much on the right side and the second flight needed right trim. It wasn't a lot, so I left them there for the other two flights.

Other than that, it flew great! Insane roll rate on Expert mode, and knife edges were extremely easy to hold. Great vertical, even while rolling.

No pics or video today as my cameraman was not there. All I need to do now is get my decal order in with Callie.

[ZCOL]

One the biggest RC pet peeves of mine is lack of glue (in general on all surfaces glued, but mostly...) on crucial flight surface mounts and landing gear mounts. If the factory cannot secure it properly with glue, the right type of glue, and the right amount of glue all with consistency, I’d rather do the assembly myself to ensure the surfaces are safe and ready for flight.

T-CAT I'm with you, I'd rather glue all surfaces myself as well. I tugged on all landing gear (what I thought sufficient pressure) apparently it's the downward/forward pressure that does the trick.

[ZCOL]

Bill34207, I agree with you. Thank you for sharing I still enjoy the bird just discourage at first at that price point.

Hope you all get some good flight weather this weekend.

[bill34207]

It does seem QC coming out of China is all over the place and not just with this particular manufacturers model. I've seen reports of loose (insufficient glue) gear in FMS and even Freewing products.
It appears I got a "good one". Other than the boatload of right roll trim it needed on the maiden mine has been problem free for 40 flights now.
When I heard the 1st report of insufficient glue on the gear (RC Groups) I tug tested all 3 of mine and they were solid.One person reported a DOA BEC so I added a Scorpion backup guard to mine (since it was laying around doing nothing) When I fly with the SoloShot tag in plane I remove the backup guard to offset it's weight. My BEC still works and has for the duration of flights since the backup can be used for a couple of weeks without needing a recharge.
Other than the crappy performance of my robotic cameraman shooting like he has attention deficit disorder I'm happy with mine.

[T-CAT]

One the biggest RC pet peeves of mine is lack of glue (in general on all surfaces glued, but mostly...) on crucial flight surface mounts and landing gear mounts. If the factory cannot secure it properly with glue, the right type of glue, and the right amount of glue all with consistency, I’d rather do the assembly myself to ensure the surfaces are safe and ready for flight.

[ZCOL]

Just wanted to share my unfortunate experience with the Flex Innovations FlexJet:

It was my first time buying a plane from Flex Innovations, I'm running the AURA 8 open stock in my YAK 130 with outstanding results. The FlexJet goes together well, however the carbon fiber rod will break the surface of the wing if your not extremely careful on the insertion process. No big deal right, put some CA on the crack and carry on. I finished assembly and waited for the 6s 5200mah Potenza battery to come in. Once I received the battery I made all necessary adjustments in accordance with the manual (IOW). The following day is maiden I take both the Yak and Flexjet to the field, I put two batteries through my YAK with no issues, now its FlexJet time, I took off (Mode 1) with no issues the jet needed very little trim and she was solid. About a 3 min flight time with transition between all flight modes and I'm ready to land to ensure all surfaces are still secure, I bring her in working the throttle to control altitude. Upon the main landing gear touching the grass both main landing gear rip out of the fuselage the Jet comes to a sliding halt once the nose gear shoves back into the wheel bay. I'm thinking well that didn't seem right, upon further inspection I notice it was a clean rip Zero foam came out with the landing gear. I checked the landing gear and the entire plastic mount separated from the foam with little to no glue on the surface of the mount. I asses the rest of my damage the right wing mount (screw point) separated from the Fuselage (once again Zero glue). The gentleman who purchased the other FlexJet in my area had the exact same happen to him, I mean the exact same. We have contacted Flex Innovations and where very politely told to go pound sand, it must have been pilot error. OK. very well I have applied epoxy to all faulty surfaces and carried on with more flights. Did the same thing happen to me after I epoxied, no it did not. I share my story to give those individuals on the fence something to consider.

I've posted this same comment on RCGROUPS as a BOLO to all who purchase this model. I'm editing due to the fact I'm not sure what I expected Flex Innovations to do. I'm not going to ruin Flex Innovations name, I take it as a lesson learned as a customer you assume all risk once purchase is complete. Flex Innovations is fully aware of their GLUE ISSUE based off what I have seen in other RC forums discussing this EDF.

[bill34207]

Tried my 1st ever negative G (or outside) loop today. FlexJet makes it easy. Wish I had a good camera man, he might have caught the whole thing.

https://youtu.be/h9BA6lvPqmo

[xviper]

Finally got a chance to maiden this plane. I usually do a trimming flight and a "familiarization" flight before doing the video but this time, what you see is my maiden flight. Video was captured on an Iphone held by a friend.

My maiden flight was done on "mode 1" - no gyro. Wind was around 10mph. Take off was easy and relatively uneventful. As with others, mine needed a lot of right roll trim to fly level. It kept wanting to roll left. Elevator was near perfect, with only a click or two of trim. I didn't do anything fancy on this first flight, just flew it to trim it and get a bit acclimated to it. The plane has lots of power and climbed effortlessly, even at part throttle. Being on "mode 1", I found the plane to be quite twitchy on the controls. I'm going to have to go in and dial it down a bit and increase expo. You can see in the video what my landing looked like. The first attempt, it came in too fast for me and I went around. The actually landing was OK, with lots of input from the lumps and bumps in the newly thawed out ground. I also found the ground handling was very twitchy but I think that was mostly due to the rough and uneven terrain. I will, however, dial down the rudder a bit. Speed wise, keep in mind that I'm at 3500 feet elevation. I did full throttle runs both with the wind and against. Averaging the two, I'm guessing the speed to be in the 100mph range. I didn't have the opportunity to use my GPS tracker as the RX ports were difficult to reach. I'll add an extension and try next time. Even with the wind, I doubt mine could reach the 130mph that some have reported. My Mig 29, Avanti S, Freewing 70 Yak 130 and Mirage 80mm are all faster, not that "fast" is my sole objective. My 70mm Freewing F-16 is pretty darned quick, too.

My second (unrecorded) flight was in "mode 2" and I found the gyro helped tremendously with that wind and was a more enjoyable experience. The twitchiness of "mode 1" decreased somewhat but was still there. The second landing was picture perfect and feather light and smooth - the gyro helped a lot. After tweaking the programming a bit, I think I'll fly it mostly in "mode 2".
The rest of my comments are purely personal and I can only compare with other planes I have. I'm going to compare the FlexJet with my Avanti S, SebArt Mig 29 and Freewing/Flighline A-10. I use these because of their similarities in style of aircraft and/or in terms of price. All of these (except for the Avanti S) are within $70.00 of each other, so a comparison of "value" is always in my mind.
Perhaps my opinion will change with more flights on the Flex, but for now, with only two flights, you must give me a bit of leeway.
The FlexJet takes off and lands the best of all my EDFs. Flying characteristics, I find my Avanti to be more "controllable" and stable (no gyro on the Avanti). Enjoyment wise, my SebArt is way more fun as I can do more things with it than the Flex. Value wise (and of course this is in the eye of the beholder), the Mig 29 and A-10 are much better value, with the A-10 taking the lead. I would have said the Avanti S is the best bargain and bang for the buck, but it's somewhat in a different ball park pricing. It has an almost unfair advantage being so relatively cheap. I also have the 90mm F/A-18 from Freewing, 90mm ViperJet, 90mm Eurofighter and a few smaller EDFs that are in a different class altogether, so I won't even draw any comparisons with them. My old Stinger 90 was a terrific plane also, but it was replaced with the Avanti S with absolutely no regrets.
If I had to get rid of ALL my EDFs, save one, I would pick the Mig 29 hands down. Nevertheless, I'll keep flying the Flex and see if it grows on me more. For now, I'll be keeping the Avanti S as that's the one the Flex was supposed replace. For now, I still like the Avanti more (in that style of plane).

[bill34207]

Put another 6 flights on mine today and recorded 5 of them.
This was the 1st video shot this morning in wide mode. Basically unedited other than to remove the beginning footage of me walking to the flight line and footage walking back. I was flying conservative for the most part and trying to keep it smooth with gradual transitions to vertical maneuvers. It did pretty good and only lost the plane a couple of times. The most aggravating thing is how it likes to shoot video of the ground when the plane is landing.

https://youtu.be/KbdYz75TtfE

This was flight 6 (Video 5 since I forgot to start the camera on one of the earlier flights) One more shot in extra wide mode which is about like hat cam for model size. This one was a little better than the 1st E/W I shot (video 3) and even almost caught the landing. (Figures since it was my worst of the day.)

https://youtu.be/CVpBX_mTg3M

[rifleman_btx]

When they brought that thing out I told a friend of mine it looked like someone shoved a f16 up a f/a18s butt, and out came this demon love child. Lol! But that's what makes it so dang cool!

[crxmanpat]

Thanks! I wanted something different as 3 guys at my field have it also.

[rifleman_btx]

That looks dang good Pat!

[crxmanpat]

Pretty much done with paint. I need to add a few minor details, find a pilot, and get a decal order in with Callie.

[bill34207]

I decided to do a remake that used the take off and landing from the last video today with the 2nd one that was shot in the wide setting between them. The middle section (some portions removed) gives a decent idea of how the tracking was working for me. I think I need to try to set the base up further from the runway next time out. Shortening it down to a typical flight time makes it more "watchable" too. ;)

https://youtu.be/VfIF9o4sGdg

[crxmanpat]

I agree with you on the SS3. Friend of mine has one and we tested it with my FW A-10, and at times it just could not keep up. Especially when doing low passes or when landing. The camera kept angling down not realizing the plane had leveled out. Did not matter which settings we used. Maybe SS4 will be better. ;)

[bill34207]

I put 6 flights on mine today bringing the total to 22. Recorded 4 of them with my latest "toy"
I finally got a chance to test my SoloShot 3 camera today. Initial thoughts are it's not quite ready for prime time yet. At least not for a fast moving model that is performing aerobatics. This is a merge of 4 videos shot today with most of the empty sky edited out. The timer on my radio is set for 4-1/2 minutes. The 1st video shot at medium frame ends around the 2:40 mark. The second one shot at the wide setting runs through 7:40 so it worked better on it. Number 3 and 4 were back to medium and finish out the compilation. Number 4 starts at the 10:55 mark but was the only one where the camera actually caught the moment of touchdown while landing.
Video quality is much better than a hat cam video but still not up to the model following specs of a good human camera man. I do like the smoothness of how it tracks and it appears the latest update has taken care of focus issues.

https://youtu.be/pd39pj4PiIM

[Cpl. Sli]

great vid Bajora. Keep um coming