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US AirCore 40
Aircraft |
Building |
Flight-Log | Flying
Flight LogIt's maiden flight was at the local ultra-lite
airport/ RC field. It's 10 minute flight
went well and I made a proper grass landing. I then refueled and did it all
over again. The ultralite ground controllers said my plane was nice
and I did a good job piloting (but be sure to always stay away from the
ranch
house on the left, in the no-fly zone).
During my next visits to the field, we often watch
ultralights
take-off and land, using the same runway we use (we have to yield to them).
I have also
flown in one now. UltraLights are cool.
I "really" learned to fly gas powered planes with this trainer, and ran a
couple of gallons of fuel through it.
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General Flight Notes:
My flights were usually
shorter because I didn't want to run out of fuel and have to land
"dead-stick". I mainly flew the plane at 2/3 to 3/4 throttle. After my
10-15 minute flights, I always had 1/2-1/3 of a tank left. I'm estimating
this plane can stay in the air a full 20-30 minutes (depending on the
pilot's
flight style and various other factors).
Flight Log
|
| Date |
Field |
Winds |
Equipment |
Details |
Friday
7/23/04 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
10 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Simple 10 minute maiden flight.
Plane flies fine and engine runs good. Nice grass landing.
Refueled. (My first good solo flight recently)
Second flight: Basic 10 minute flight with decent grass landing. No damage. Called it a day. |
Thursday
8/5/04 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
4 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Basic 15 minute
flight with 1st runway landing. Rolled 4 ft. into grass at end of runway
but still on all 3 wheels.
Second flight: Perfect take-off. 10
minute flight. Nice runway landing.
Third flight: 10 minute flight with runway landing. Heat index at 2pm. now 104°...
called it a (good) day. |
Saturday
8/14/04 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
12 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Simple flight (normal
patterns and figure 8s), runway
landing. Lots more Ultralite traffic to yield to on Saturdays.
Second flight: Basic 10 minute
flight and runway landing. Concludes 3rd day at Kitty Hawk field and 7th
flight with AirCore40. |
Friday
8/20/04 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
17 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Simple (yet
challenging) flight and runway landing. All field wind-socks full. Took
pit crew's advice and flew only once today, due to high winds. |
Wednesday
10/20/04 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
5 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Simple flight (normal
patterns and figure 8s), runway landing.
Second flight: Preformed first
aerobatics. Flight included 2 full loops and 1 complete aileron roll.
Runway landing. |
Friday
5/27/05 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
5 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Flight included
several loops and rolls. Runway landing.
Second flight: Basically a good
flight until ... on one of the last maneuvers (a loop) the plane was too
low and crashed into the ground (at about a 45° angle) while trying to
pull out of the loop. I was in the down-leg of the loop so it was going
pretty fast on impact. |
Thursday
7/7/05 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
8 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Good basic 15 min. flight of repaired
AirCore40. Simple flying, figure 8s, 2 loops, runway landing. |
Tuesday
7/12/05 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
5 mph |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
(2) 15 min. flights. Simple flying,
figure 8s, loops, spins, runway landings. Also practiced landing
approaches from opposite direction. |
Friday
7/22/05 |
Kitty Hawk
Ultralite |
5 mph cross-wind.
Gusts
to ? |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46fx, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
(3) 15 min. flights. Basic flying, figure
8s, loops, spins, runway landings. One landing from opposite direction
(south), and taxied to pits. 3rd flight: On landing approach (2nd try
from the south) reduced throttle to turn and land, but wind picked up
and plane drifted too far out and went down
here :-( |
Thursday
11/17/05 |
ARCS
(AMA flying field) |
9 mph.
Gusts
to 13 |
Futaba 6-Ch,
OS .46, A3, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Simple flying and figure 8's to try to
get repaired aircraft trimmed-out (pulling to left and up badly). Plane
is not handling the wind well (tail surfaces and possibly ailerons
flexing some in flight). Unpredictable flight coming out of loops. Made
runway landing. Second flight: Simple flying with trims adjusted, but
still not doing well in gusts and thermals. Basic runway landing. ARCS
field is nice. |
| 12/2005 |
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I needed the engine and radio from this
plane to use in another, so this airplane is temporarily inactive. |
Saturday
8/12/06 |
ARCS
(AMA flying field) |
15 mph.
Gusts
to 20 |
Futaba 4-Ch,
OS .46FX, #8, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Retrieved plane from attic and installed
used OS .46 FX and Futaba 4 channel radio (basic / non-computer) and (4)
3003 servos. Pretty windy so only 2 flights. Trimmed out with
basic flying and got used to lack of exponential on 1st flight. Did some loops, rolls, and stall turns on
2nd flight. Take-offs and landings super easy, and plenty fast in the
air. Even though CG is correct, plane acts tail
heavy (needed lots of down elevator trim) and often popped a wheelie on
the ground when taxiing slowly. |
Wednesday
8/16/06 |
ARCS
(AMA flying field) |
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Futaba 4-Ch,
OS .46FX, #8, Byron 15%, (10x6-N) |
Added some weight to the nose to bring CG
forward (it helped some). After first engine tuning, the plane almost
crashed after take-off due to NO POWER, but got plane back down ok.
Second tuning was much better. 2 more flights were good with loops,
rolls, stall turns, and good landings. |
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