FLEXJET SUPER PNP

[Robert Belluomini]

Not sure why you would buy this model and remove the Aura 8! It flies great with either the standard or the Expert config. The Aura settings are easy to change through the configuration tool.

Phantom you need to up the endpoints per the flex manual to make the gear cycle. You do need to flick gear switch up then down before flight to set the sequencer. This has to be done before each flight.

I also suggest using a light battery. I use s HS 4200 and the model flies beautifully.

[xviper]

[Phantom]

The gear switch must be cycles at least once (maybe twice), with a reasonable wait time (2 - 4 seconds) for it to react. This is assuming that you left all the wires the same from the sequencer to the retracts and doors. Many of today's sequenced door systems must be cycled before they "wake up" and work properly. The newer Hobby King planes, especially, are like this.
If memory serves, the sequencer module does not label the pins, or at least, not very well. If the cycling didn't help, it may be possible that someone at the factory plugged those in wrong. You will have to confirm all leads with a servo tester and then by trial and error plug them into the pins and see which ones work. It's a pain. I took everything apart when I did the repair and figuring out where each lead went on the sequencer took a long time. Hopefully, yours will work after cycling. Take a picture of it in case you ever have to re-assemble it again.

Thanks, I never unplugged anything from the sequencer, I messed around with it for about half an hour and the gear just started working. I have no idea what I did to fix it lol. I also got all three flight modes programmed and am still adding more mixes, once you get the hang of the X9D plus, holy crap it seems like there's no end to programming mixes. And I hate programming! Gonna setup my 90mm F-16 the same way. Thanks for your help, can't wait to get her maidened.

[xviper]

Well plugged the one output lead that was in the Aura 8 from the sequencer and plugged it into my reciever channel 5. Nothing, ensure the switch was assigned in the radio and nothing, tried every other switch, knob, and slider on the radio, nothing. Could you take a look at yours and see if you had to plug and play a little differently, I'd appreciate any assistance.

The gear switch must be cycles at least once (maybe twice), with a reasonable wait time (2 - 4 seconds) for it to react. This is assuming that you left all the wires the same from the sequencer to the retracts and doors. Many of today's sequenced door systems must be cycled before they "wake up" and work properly. The newer Hobby King planes, especially, are like this.
If memory serves, the sequencer module does not label the pins, or at least, not very well. If the cycling didn't help, it may be possible that someone at the factory plugged those in wrong. You will have to confirm all leads with a servo tester and then by trial and error plug them into the pins and see which ones work. It's a pain. I took everything apart when I did the repair and figuring out where each lead went on the sequencer took a long time. Hopefully, yours will work after cycling. Take a picture of it in case you ever have to re-assemble it again.

[Phantom]

I don't believe the retracts are controlled by the Aura 8. It has its own separate controller that sequences the doors. I can't remember but if it does go through the Aura 8, it can simply be unplugged and plugged directly into Ch. 5 of your RX.

Now that this thread has been brought back, I did decide to fix the FlexJet and my last day of flying it, it flies better than it ever has. I've figured out how to bring it in much slower by increasing the flaperon travel. I've also increased the "taileron" travel as well, since when I'm at high angles of flap, I go to much reduced aileron throws so as to not over drive the servos. The tailerons help with roll control in those instances. I can now bring it in at high alpha and under much better control when flying so slow. I don't "hate" this plane nearly as much as I once did.

Well plugged the one output lead that was in the Aura 8 from the sequencer and plugged it into my reciever channel 5. Nothing, ensure the switch was assigned in the radio and nothing, tried every other switch, knob, and slider on the radio, nothing. Could you take a look at yours and see if you had to plug and play a little differently, I'd appreciate any assistance.

[Phantom]

I don't believe the retracts are controlled by the Aura 8. It has its own separate controller that sequences the doors. I can't remember but if it does go through the Aura 8, it can simply be unplugged and plugged directly into Ch. 5 of your RX.

Now that this thread has been brought back, I did decide to fix the FlexJet and my last day of flying it, it flies better than it ever has. I've figured out how to bring it in much slower by increasing the flaperon travel. I've also increased the "taileron" travel as well, since when I'm at high angles of flap, I go to much reduced aileron throws so as to not over drive the servos. The tailerons help with roll control in those instances. I can now bring it in at high alpha and under much better control when flying so slow. I don't "hate" this plane nearly as much as I once did.

I appreciate the info and prompt response, my plan to set her up is simular to how you already have yours set up. I've got my ailerons on separate channels and my elevators on separate channels. The plan was to create 3 flight modes, 1 conventional ailerons and elevators, 2 flaps, no ailerons and elevons, and 3 flaperons and elevons. Using the Taranis x9d plus with open tx, not sure if it's possible but I'm giving it a shot.

[xviper]

Xviper,

I've finally gotten around to putting my Flexjet together and want to remove the Aura 8 completely as you did. My question is, is any part of the landing gear or door operation tied in with the Aura 8?

I don't believe the retracts are controlled by the Aura 8. It has its own separate controller that sequences the doors. I can't remember but if it does go through the Aura 8, it can simply be unplugged and plugged directly into Ch. 5 of your RX.

Now that this thread has been brought back, I did decide to fix the FlexJet and my last day of flying it, it flies better than it ever has. I've figured out how to bring it in much slower by increasing the flaperon travel. I've also increased the "taileron" travel as well, since when I'm at high angles of flap, I go to much reduced aileron throws so as to not over drive the servos. The tailerons help with roll control in those instances. I can now bring it in at high alpha and under much better control when flying so slow. I don't "hate" this plane nearly as much as I once did.

[Phantom]

My last flight with this plane ended badly. It rolled on landing and didn't want to slow down. It hit the grass at the end of the GeoTex runway very fast. The grass is much higher than the runway surface. When it hit, the plane broke in two, right at the where the leading edge of the wing meets the fuse. The front retract broke off complete with all the balsa it was attached to. I may or may not fix it. The parts are quite good and they may serve a better purpose in a different plane. Prior to this, all retracts have come out at least once but was easy to glue back in. One must remember to cycle the gear a couple of times before sending it up. It needs to "wake up" (initialize).
EDF_Lover, if you had a power glitch while in the air, the gear may not have "awakened" again. I also found "mode 1" to be very twitchy because (if I recall correctly) it has no stabilizer or very little stabilizer programmed in. Mode 2 and 3 are more stabilized but also have higher rates. I tried the plane with the Aura 8 programmed with stabilizer on all 3 modes and even increased the stabilization throughout. I started flying this off grass and I found using mode 3 got the plane off the ground much more effectively, but I still didn't like the way it flew and took the Aura 8 out, opting to use a "regular" receiver exclusively. It flew OK for me after that. At the time, the FlexJet was an exciting concept in design and appearance, but having flown it for a while, I find the execution of it to be severely lacking and the price point unjustified compared to what was out there at the time and what has come along since. The landing gear is wonderful but they simply aren't secured on the plane adequately.

Xviper,

I've finally gotten around to putting my Flexjet together and want to remove the Aura 8 completely as you did. My question is, is any part of the landing gear or door operation tied in with the Aura 8?

[xviper]

My last flight with this plane ended badly. It rolled on landing and didn't want to slow down. It hit the grass at the end of the GeoTex runway very fast. The grass is much higher than the runway surface. When it hit, the plane broke in two, right at the where the leading edge of the wing meets the fuse. The front retract broke off complete with all the balsa it was attached to. I may or may not fix it. The parts are quite good and they may serve a better purpose in a different plane. Prior to this, all retracts have come out at least once but was easy to glue back in. One must remember to cycle the gear a couple of times before sending it up. It needs to "wake up" (initialize).
EDF_Lover, if you had a power glitch while in the air, the gear may not have "awakened" again. I also found "mode 1" to be very twitchy because (if I recall correctly) it has no stabilizer or very little stabilizer programmed in. Mode 2 and 3 are more stabilized but also have higher rates. I tried the plane with the Aura 8 programmed with stabilizer on all 3 modes and even increased the stabilization throughout. I started flying this off grass and I found using mode 3 got the plane off the ground much more effectively, but I still didn't like the way it flew and took the Aura 8 out, opting to use a "regular" receiver exclusively. It flew OK for me after that. At the time, the FlexJet was an exciting concept in design and appearance, but having flown it for a while, I find the execution of it to be severely lacking and the price point unjustified compared to what was out there at the time and what has come along since. The landing gear is wonderful but they simply aren't secured on the plane adequately.

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

I've re-glued both the mains on mine but I fell they were adequately glued in at the factory, it just happened on poor landings. I am however on my third nose retract. It wasn't dependable and I had to land with the nose gear up but I managed to keep the nose up until almost stopped which resulted in just some minor damage to the belly and front gear door.
I make a habit of doing a dirty pass prior to landing just to be sure all wheels are down.

Tom

[EDF_Lover]

I can’t tell how active the FlexJet topic is, but I just bought one and I’ll take any advice you guys are willing to provide!

I maidened it yesterday and it didn’t go well. I used a 5200 mah graphene battery, positioned for neutral CG.

I fly off of grass, that had just been cut, and used the “basic” (versus expert) Mode 1. It took a long roll to get airborne, but was completely controllable once it was off the ground.

I left the gear down for a couple of times around the pattern and it only needed about 3-4 clicks of up trim on the stab to fly level. It was a little twitchy in 5 knot winds. I raised the gear and no trim was required to maintain level flight. I switched to Mode 2 and it became rock solid with no real changes in control response. All great so far.

After 3 minutes of rectangles, I set up for a landing approach. Getting into high alpha was easy and stable. I touched down mid-way down the field.

What happened next was was very quick and ugly. Here is the sequence, which I’ve reconstructed from all the evidence.

The front gear door had opened but the nose gear hadn’t come down. I missed this - I think because the mains are so big and visible that the nose gear gets lost a little behind the gear door (landing left to right had the door facing me). I was also paying most attention to attitude and airspeed.

When the nose came down, the door snagged on the grass and ripped out the gear door servo, flattening the door. This allowed the nose to drop further. Which caused the right main retract “knee” to hit the grass and rip cleanly out. There was very little foam on the mounting tray, which remained attached to the retract. The wire remained attached, causing the gear unit to swing back and into the fuselage, puncturing the foam (which is thin at that point) into the motor compartment. It then separated from the wire and hit the stab, which is now dented and some tape that covers what looks like a weight shattered.

I have contacted FlexInnovations support and they have asked for pictures. Hopefully I’ll get some help with the parts I need. I fly EDF jets a lot, and I’ve practiced the high alpha landing a lot (esp. with my Freewing F-35 V3). I don’t always land perfectly, but I know what a good approach and touchdown looks like. And, this one was good enough that I don’t think it should have hurt the jet at all.

That said, the right retract tray separated very cleanly from the foam - so perhaps that was a failure waiting to happen too.

Had anyone seen glue glue issues with this model? Are there areas I should be reinforcing?

Thanks...

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

Thought the Flex Jet could use a trim change.

[Desertlakeflying]

And then there is the big turbine version.

https://pacificrcjets.com/collections/t-one-models/products/t-one-models-t-50?variant=18286824226912

[xviper]

I’m wondering I have a grassy short runway, is it possible to use mode 3 to takeoff quickly without any issues based on your experience?

You can see from my video above how much distance it takes to get off very thick grass. If your grass is mowed, it'll build up speed much faster and get off the ground sooner. You can also see how much ground it took after landing for it to stop. Just to clarify what you mean by "mode 3", are you talking about the stock Aura 8 programming? Mode 3 would translate into very high rates and more expo, correct? I don't use the Aura 8, but what you saw in that video, I'm using an equivalent high rate on the elevator to make it rotate better. If that grass was mowed shorter, it could have lifted off in 2/3 that distance. I've done it at another field with much shorter grass.
The current version with thrust vectoring should be able to get off the ground in even shorter distance.

[Chkwoot]

I’m wondering I have a grassy short runway, is it possible to use mode 3 to takeoff quickly without any issues based on your experience?

[xviper]

For what it's worth, here's a video of my flight from this morning. Just to recap, I've pulled the Aura8 and am using a Lemon RX, with no stabilizer. I simply didn't like the Aura8 the way I had it configured (no sat RX), even after I reprogrammed the flight modes. What you see in this video is my FlexJet with flaperons. I landed with full flaps and that resulted in a somewhat ugly landing (second flight was very bouncy, also on full flaps). My third flight was with 1/2 flaps and it was "perfect". As you can see, I didn't think this plane could push it's way out of the thick grass but it did actually get off the ground in a fairly reasonable distance. It has very high lift wings. I haven't flown it in about a year and since then, I've acquired several other jets since - FW L-39, ME 262, FW SU-35, FW F/A 18 RAAF. Now the FlexJet feels slow and a bit "normal" and uninspiring. It still flies nice and sounds real good when it goes by. The quality is undeniable but looking back, the price was obtrusive and the bang for the buck is NOT there. Nevertheless, it's still a very fine platform to carry Mario around. It looks real pretty hanging from my garage ceiling.

[SPUD 37]

Her's my newly finished Flexjet. My Avanti met an early end when it augured in on it's maiden flight. Pilot error, I believe I had the ail. going the wrong way on the gyro. Oh well. I have a bunch of Flex planes so I thought I'd add the jet. Raining here in Fl. so won't get to fly it for a couple of days.

[Phantom]

VAT is 19% so after removing that and doing the exchange it comes to $355.00 USD plus shipping

Robert, you were correct. Subtract the VAT and it comes to $355.73. However for worldwide shipping via DHL economy world, outside of Deutschland/Europe is another $66.35 for a total price tag of $422.08. I am familiar with HET motors, but not with Schuebeler fans, is the juice worth the squeeze?

[Robert Belluomini]

VAT is 19% so after removing that and doing the exchange it comes to $355.00 USD plus shipping

[Phantom]

I googled the exchange rate and it came in at 439. And some change. I selected the motor and fan already be assembled, perhaps you can save a few bucks, assembling it yourself.