Well we had the night fly as scheduled. Attendance was extremely light with only 2 flyers, but flights were made. The weather in the early evening was not cooperating with fairly high gusty winds and a definite chill in the air. Once the sun went down, the winds calmed down to a manageable level. Kris Kennedy was able to get multiple flights in with his plane. My plane was a different story. Every time I took off, the plane would get about 3 feet off the ground before it would stall and fall out of the air. First attempt was a crash but no damage. Second flight I broke the propeller when it came down. Changed the prop and tried once again. This time it came down and broke the vertical stab. I was done for the evening. I was scratching my head trying to figure out why the plane wouldn't fly, it flew successfully earlier in the summer.
It finally came to me as I was driving out to Wagner Rd. When I originally built the plane, I was going to use 2200 mAh 3 cell battery. I thought I read that it was an option in the directions. I was wrong, it would only get about 3 feet off the ground, stall and crash. The battery was to heavy for the motor plane combination.
Once I figured out my duh moment, the plane flew fine with a smaller battery. The problem on the night fly was I forgot it took a smaller battery and tried with the 2200 pack. The plane now marked so I will know the battery size in the future. We will have another night fly next spring once the weather gets warmer in the evenings.
I want to thank Kris Kennedy for coming out and supporting the event.
Here are a couple of pictures of the planes from that night.
- My plane showing its lights.
- Kris's plane in flight. Sorry for the quality, still getting used to the new phone.
- Kris's plane before his first flight.
