CLSSY56's Flight Log

[WingingIt74]

Maiden Flight:
Oddly enough I wasn't too nervous and felt confident. Shoved the throttle to the firewall and it launched beutifully. I did a few loops to get comfortable and then did my final and landed. Boy she flies fast compaired to a Slo-V. Turned it around and off I went again. I had my good friend "Ram Maxx" taking pics and video. I appologize for the pic quality, my camera is getting old. Anyway, I made a few touch-&-goes, some rolls, loops, inverted passes, stalls and high speed passes. I can't take all the credit, FSone has helped out a lot, as this is the first aileron flight I ever done. I probably would of flown smoother if I didn't have high rates on, but I like the fact it will move if I need it to, if you catch my drift. I didn't time the flight, just did it by feel. When I felt it was long enough, I brought it in. On my Slo-V, I'll fly that thing till I'm dead stick.

What a great flight I had :)

[WingingIt74]

More pics :)

[WingingIt74]

Some more and video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbFqIPEYHfU

[ATIS]

Congrats and nice runway!! Your lucky, grass makes it so much harder since your plane slection has to include a concideration for can it take off from grass. Looks like you had a beautiful sky to play in.

[WingingIt74]

Thanks :) Don't know how long I'll have that runway, depends if anymore houses get built. I might get to keep it for a few years. One good thing is that it's the street behind my house, so I don't have to go far to fly ::very happy:: Who's that fat guy in the green polo shirt anyway ??? ;)

[tkrahlin]

Welcome to the Apprentice family, Travis!


Who's that fat guy in the green polo shirt anyway?

Did your stand-in call in sick that day?

Tim ::tonguee:
.

[tkrahlin]

Travis’ camera platform fitted with the all new, steel rack and pinion M2A2 Bradley Zoom feature:

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/13/black_knight.jpg

[WingingIt74]

LOL :roflmao:

[WingingIt74]

Travis’ camera platform fitted with the all new, steel rack and pinion M2A2 Bradley Zoom feature:

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/13/black_knight.jpg

Na more like this
http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/tanks/images/sherman.jpg

[kirch]

Those planes look kind of heavy. Sure the CG is located on the wing OK?

At least they look like they can handle the grass better than the standard Apprentice.

[ATIS]

Those planes look kind of heavy. Sure the CG is located on the wing OK?

At least they look like they can handle the grass better than the standard Apprentice.

I was thinking they looked like they had high wing loading... must have to land them hot. :laughing:

[WingingIt74]

Wow, I'm having a blast :thumbsup:

The second flight was about 20 minutes, give or take. Did a lot of take offs and landings. Even had a little crosswind going (~6 mph) and did a few side-slip approaches. Had a few bouncy :happy bounce: landings and had some perfect 3 point landings. Inverted flight, slow and low and low inverted flight. It gets a little unstable inverted and slow. It also won't do an outside loop very gracefully.

[ATIS]

Outside loop....its a trainer...:opto:

[WingingIt74]

:)
Gotta have fun

I didn't try to knife edge yet :laughing:

that will be my 3rd flight
;D

[tkrahlin]

Wow, I'm having a blast

Ain't it a great platform!!? I really feel fortunate to have gotten it as my first plane.


It also won't do an outside loop very gracefully.Power-25 and CC45 ESC

I’m just saying…:rolleyes:

[WingingIt74]

Should I be having this much fun yet? I mean really, I went from trying to tail in a BCP to flying a Slo-V and now my second flight with the Apprentice. Should I dust off the BCPP and see what I can do (after I get a new lipo)?

[ATIS]

5 yrs of planes and I took out my Blade 400... still struggle with tail in hover...thery just arent the same, and yes, you should be having this much fun. Thats why I left helis for planes.

[WingingIt74]

Nope, won't knife edge. I was a little windy and had a lot of bouncy landings :happy bounce: My buddy "pinchflat" came by at the end of my flight and wanted to know if it would fly inverted. So, I showed him, although I did it quite low and almost lost it. At least the apprentice has enough power to climb inverted. I got it flipped back over and the motor started to pulse ever so slightly. I assume I was getting to the end of the battery limits so I brought it in. He was impressed by the plane, although he doesn't like the price tag.

[ATIS]

Some ESC's pulse when they get near LVC... happy to hear your having fun.

[tkrahlin]

Some ESC's pulse when they get near LVC... happy to hear your having fun.

Seriously - The first time I heard my [stock] Apprentice doing that, I thought the farmer in the next field over was sawing trees. It wasn’t until I flew past that my son and I looked at one another and my son said, “Uh… that’s your freaking plane doing that!”

[WingingIt74]

Funny how that's not in the manual. It would have been nice to mention.

[WJCJR1]

Given this is a 'trainer' little hints of information like that are nice to have so YES I agree a little mention of the workings of the internals would be nice. I have not combed the manual lately but also do not remember a statement about the pulsing.

I am happy as well to see you are enjoying with success the Apprentice. For some more fun you can turn up the servo arms and swap in a good quality 2200 mAH (25C+). The weight savings and slight COG change with the 2200 makes the Apprentice snappy fun. Use the 2200 with care however, if you hit the LVC cutoff pulse you have WAY less time to land then with the 3200. If it pulses YOU LAND or it will land for you. Better yet stay under 14 minutes in your flight times with the 2200 and be safe that way.

Wayne

[ATIS]

Funny how that's not in the manual. It would have been nice to mention.


Thats why there are forums....

[Ram Maxx]

Looks like the camera guy could use a lesson or 2 in keeping the plane in view ;)

[WingingIt74]

na you did alright. It's funny you can hear the zoom moving :)

[WingingIt74]

Last night I had winds from 5-10 mph. I've been mainly practicing my landings. It's really different landing with some wind. I've learned you have to keep your airspeed up or you stall. I had some bad landings that were beyond bouncy :happy bounce: and I had some smooth as silk 3-point landings.

I did 2 things that were cool and surprised me. I had the apprentice hanging by the prop for a few seconds, I guess just enough wind and just enough angle, sure sounded funny. The other was I was coming in for a landing and just before I touched down the apprentice buffeted up. For some reason I ended up giving some up elevator and it started to do a high angle of attack and really slowed down and made a nearly perfect 2-point landing, with a few bounces of the nose wheel, which the roll out was very short compared to other landings that evening.

A few times taxiing around the wind would tip the plane over and I'd nick my prop. I'll have to sand the prop down and rebalance it.

[ATIS]

becareful with the high AOA on landing, you risk a stall that could get nasty. Remember to keep the up wind wing down (use a little aeliron to "turn that way") and the rudder to steer. That will keep the wind fron getting under her and flipping you.

[WingingIt74]

When that happened I was a foot off the ground, so it was all good. I realized that about the ailerons after it to me twice :eek:

[ATIS]

the key is you learned without to much damage. I still make the wind under wing mistake during high wind flying sessions but for me its duing the turns..I tend to bank hard!!:duh:

[WingingIt74]

Both times it happened when I was going straight.

[WingingIt74]

I forgot to mention, I didn't realize I was on low rates till half way through the flight. I was wondering why it wouldn't roll very quick. :duh: I can't stand flying on low rates on either the Slo-V or the Apprentice.

[WingingIt74]

http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2352&posted=1#post2352

[WingingIt74]

Well I got her put back together, big thanks to tkrahlin for selling me his spare parts. It is quite windy today. Pinchflat came over and we flew his SD, which we'll get to that later. Afterwards I finished repairing the apprentice. When I got outside the wind definitely picked up. Flew around just fine, but trying to slow for landing the wind picked up more. I decided to do a go around and then landed it in the grass.

[ATIS]

happy to hear she is flying again!! Whats up with the SD??

[WingingIt74]

Still on the same battery, just a few hours later when the wind died down. I was doing some take off and landings. I had one landing looking good and low and behold, I didn't notice the tall weeds till it was too late. My left wing clipped them and it cartwheeled in. Only damage was a scuffed up nose cone. I checked it out, pulled those weeds and did quite a few take off and landings afterwards. Can't wait to get some more flight time tomorrow.

[ATIS]

we got rain right now but its suppose to break so I have the Tahoe packed and ready to go...just waiting!!

[WingingIt74]

Did 2 flights today. I'm starting to get a good feel how to do a good 3 point landing. I had a few bouncy ones, however, I'm having more good landings.
:)
Practice, practice, practice...


Here's a pic from yesterdays flight.

[WingingIt74]

Man I love this plane. Tonight I moved near the gate, it wasn't any easier to land. Did some inverted, hammer head stalls, high speed passes and a few landings. Only had one bouncy one as my cutout had tripped so I wanted to bring it in as quick as I could, had to go-around twice as I was too high. I sure don't like that gate at the end of the road.

[ATIS]

I tried to land on the golf course cart path but find it a little hard to hit the narrow path so I understand the gate issue.

[pinchflat]

Try landing on that road crosswise. Not fun.

[WingingIt74]

Note to self:
It is possible for it to get too dark to fly.


No I didn't crash, just lost sight once and it was just because of the lighting. Scared the crap out of me.
:eye pop:

I did get some good landings in, except for the last one as I was nervous cause it was getting dark. Would have been fine except, it was about to run into me and I had to dodge out of the way at the last second.

[ATIS]

I did that at the park with my formosa... only I violated the airports airspace and had to fly circles to figure out which direction she was going... I was new and had only been flying for 8 months. Never flew the plane again and finally sold it to a friend at the field who now flys it all the time and loves it. The lose of orientation in low light is very unnerving!!

[WingingIt74]

I've flown more then my last post. Tonight's flight was a little chilly (55F). My neighbors started asking me about the plane as I taxied by their house. So I stopped and chatted a bit. He commented on how my flying has improved :thumbsup: Anyway, got it up and flying around. Wind was pretty choppy up there as it was bouncing around. I did one high speed dive and almost didn't pull up in time, must be a little rusty, but I didn't want to rip my wings off. I pulled up at the last minute and it was fine, but I bet those wings couldn't take much more. I practiced a dead stick, as soon as the the LVC hit I cut my throttle. It was pretty intense trying to land in a good wind. I did pretty well with only one hop. ;) It was fun practice. I taxied back to the house and put it away.

[WingingIt74]

Flight # I forgot, so lets say 35?
Date: 11/7/09
Time: ~2:00pm
Winds: 10-15 mph
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice
Duration: Not timed (~10-15 min.)
Type of flying: Fun
Altitude: 5'-200'+
Landings: 2
Damage: none
Final Cell Voltage: 3.66

I was lazy today, didn't feel like walking to the road behind me. I taxied out to the road in front of my house and up I went. One of the windiest days I've flown in. Walked to the back of the house and did some loops, stalls, rolls, dives, slow passes, fast passes, funky stall roll loop thing and inverted flight. Landed in the grass for the first time, twice. Wind made it hard to judge down wind approach, being so windy, and I did fine. As normal, I flew till the LVC pulsed, all cells are 3.66V.

[WingingIt74]

Flight # (Couple more then last time :) )
Date: 12/27/09
Time: 12:00pm
Temp: 28 F feels like 16 F
Winds: From W at 16 mph gusting to 19 mph
Aircraft: E-Flite Apprentice
Duration: Not timed (~10-15 min.) not short enough
Type of flying: Fun
Altitude: 5'-200'+
Landings: 1
Damage: none
Final Cell Voltage: n/c

HOLY MOTHER OF THE FROZEN NORTH IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

Wow, that was the windiest I've ever flown in. I could actually fly backwards and even hover.:eye pop: We had a light dusting of snow this morning. Did I mention it was cold and windy? Taxing to my runway, the wind flipped over the plane... I should have know better. I flipped it back over and taxied it to the runway. Had a brief gust during my taxi that it did get airborne about a foot. I took off and it flew fine. Man she would pick up some speed going down wind. I hovered it a few times and even flew backwards. I heard my LVC blipping so I landed it. What a hard landing with the winds that high. I knew I had to get it down though. My roll out was about an inch in the grass due to the head wind. LOL not sure if I'll do that again, especially when it's cold. No damage besides frozen fingers :relieved:

[pinchflat]

You actually FLEW TODAY!! Totally miserable out there today. This is why I am working on an indoor plane.

[WJCJR1]

My Airfield is there somewhere under 2'-3' of snow. We just received another 15"+. CLSSY56 it is a challenge to fly at that type of wind speed but even moreso when your fingers have ZERO dexterity and you're all thumbs.

I flew once at -12*F actual air temp, HZ Super Cub now THAT WAS COLD!

Good job going for it and these experiences will pay you back plus some when you get caught by a gust of wind on a calm day.

Wayne