wnt2fly2001
Apr 10, 2005, 08:00 PM
After many, many days of bad weather I finally got a chance to fly my Spectra today. My "flying field" is on top of a small hill. It's amazing that the wind can be perfectly calm at the parking area but 85 ft higher it seems like it's gusting to 15 mph :eek: I must have waited 20 minutes for it to calm down. I didn't want to do a "full out" launch without doing the recommended glide tests first so I had to walk....back down the hill.... where the wind was calm to finally get it accomplished. Flew fine. I decided to go back up the hill (whew...steep hill) and wait some more for calm wind.
Finally, it calmed down somewhat and I threw my $200.00 investment somewhat reluctantly :D into the wind. Being a little nervous after having a couple of bad Parkzone Cub hand launches in the past (seems like it likes to dive towards the ground on its own sometime) I was greatly relieved to see the Spectra climb straight and smooth out over the hill. I have gotten a bum charger from Tower Hobbies though, I heard the motor running down after about 20 seconds of flight so I shut it off. Other than that it seems to fly great. I must have made 6 or 7 passes over the slope riding on the slope lift from the wind, which was so annoying earlier :o and was actually able to gain a little altitude.
Landings seem like they're going to be interesting though. The wind picked up and started gusting (of course) when it was landing time. What's a good technique to use landing in a crosswind with the Spectra? The wind was blowing so hard I finally got it kicked around into the wind and got it to settle almost straight down onto the ground. Landings like that make me nervous :eek:
Also need to know where to buy whatever you guys use for weights to change the cg. I have the RTF Spectra and the cg is right at the forward limit. I'd like to get it back a little bit anyway.
Darrell
Finally, it calmed down somewhat and I threw my $200.00 investment somewhat reluctantly :D into the wind. Being a little nervous after having a couple of bad Parkzone Cub hand launches in the past (seems like it likes to dive towards the ground on its own sometime) I was greatly relieved to see the Spectra climb straight and smooth out over the hill. I have gotten a bum charger from Tower Hobbies though, I heard the motor running down after about 20 seconds of flight so I shut it off. Other than that it seems to fly great. I must have made 6 or 7 passes over the slope riding on the slope lift from the wind, which was so annoying earlier :o and was actually able to gain a little altitude.
Landings seem like they're going to be interesting though. The wind picked up and started gusting (of course) when it was landing time. What's a good technique to use landing in a crosswind with the Spectra? The wind was blowing so hard I finally got it kicked around into the wind and got it to settle almost straight down onto the ground. Landings like that make me nervous :eek:
Also need to know where to buy whatever you guys use for weights to change the cg. I have the RTF Spectra and the cg is right at the forward limit. I'd like to get it back a little bit anyway.
Darrell