Originally Posted by JumpySticks

My next glider....after I buy the castle of course....

That thing looks so cool Jumpy!! Not sure for me...... I'm liking the speed of the updated F27 Stryker, the F27Q Stryker due out next month?!?!

Originally Posted by JumpySticks

What is SEFF?

Lots of Radians there this week. Scheduled an LMR on Thursday morning.

Rick

Originally Posted by Rickn816

Lots of Radians there this week. Scheduled an LMR on Thursday morning.

Rick

I'll be there, can't wait!

I finally maidened my RP today. Very impressed!! No bad habits at all. I did almost lose it on the second flight though. I committed the number one sin ( or at least one of the top ten), I took my eyes off of the plane. I launched and cut the motor, then I heard a full sized multi engine turboprop somewhere behind me and although I'm sure well high enough, I wanted to confirm that. I turned around to look for the full sized, didn't see it and looked back at where the RP was. WAS being the thing. I had put chrome tape on the LE and rudder. I also put florecent orange trim tape on the bottom of the wing tips. All was useless!! After searching the skies, I found it at about two tree tops high (they were reaching for that plane) behind me. I had several more flights with one resulting in a nice thermal. I actually tried to bail from it by using the flaps. The thermal had other ideas. I ended up putting it into a gentle dive to exit.
Can't wait for my next experience.

nice man good to hear. Yea usually if i hear a Plane/Hili. I lose ALt fast,either a dive or Flaps. and normally i don't look to see where the Aircraft is.
Goal is get down.
I have Hilis/Jets/Props flying over my Field all the time and usually the Dash-8's fly at at 1500-2000ft AGL ,Jets are usually at least 3000ft.

Second last outing, i was setting up the Pro on the picnic table at our field and a Offshore S-91 was flying over head very very slow at about 800ft, I figured they were doing Sight seeing or something. normally they depart the Airport and head out too the Oil rigs.
So it past over head and headed of into the distance. Jump 35 mins later, im now airborne ,enjoying my flight and i hear it coming again. i did get a visual of it,i knew the direction it went by. So first thing i do is drop Atl. Well to my surprise as they got closer ,i noticed they made a 90 degree turn and ran parallel with me and then slowly drifted back on course once past...

They knew i was there, lol
When they pasted directly over head at first i add that "im being watched" feeling lol

Keep in mind that our responsibilty is to keep our aircraft at 400 feet or under when in the presence of an airport or other full size aircraft in the area.

Now with that said, it may not be possible to attain that altitude or less in time!, I have been at 2000' and above often when a full size comes thru, not very often but I am definetly above them.
My spotter will advise the FS location and I head the other way!.

Notice I said "My spotter" were also required to have a spotter when flying.

I know it's not always possible, we want to go out and fly and sometimes that means by ourself. If that's the case be prepaired to get it down.

MIke R

I'm sorry guys, I must have given the impression that the plane was right on top of me. I'm overly cautious about full sized aircraft when flying rc. I heard the plane, I looked. I was several miles from an airport and actually I wasn't too high either. I was concerned about losing visual (which I did anyway, ha,ha). No one was at risk of being on anothers air space during this flight. I do appreciate the commenta and concern though guys.
I will share something with you involving a "fly away" though. I "had" a 155in wingspan Merlyn at my local flying field. The plane was 25yrs old and I was the second owner. The original builder was at the field at the time. It was my second time out with it. First launch needed some trim adjusting as I had done some servo work on it. Trimmed out wonderfully. From the landing to the next launch, the plane somehow lost power to the RX. This plane had the push/pull external wire to turn on/off the plane. I should have changed it, but didn't. I think I inadvertantly bumped it. Long story short, I launched and it flew off the winch line just like it was supposed to. Circled over the field, got in a thermal and that was it. I have the Little Rock Tower programmed in my phone and called to report the fly away. They laughed at me at first. Then I told them it was a 155in wing span that weighed 8lbs. That caught their interest. The plane was last seen by me at about 3,500 ft just coring the thermal like it was built to do. A report from another RC'er said it was seen about 20 miles away still going, never to be seen again.

Nice story, I wonder how that plane ended up. Did you ever find out what happened to it? It might have gone on forever!

I'm just joining this group of Radian Pro owners and have about a dozen flights on mine. On my first flight, I caught a thermal and stayed up for over 30 minutes. On my second flight, there were some thunderstorms building in the area and I hooked an amazing thermal that took my RP up to the point that I could only see one little black strip that was the wing. I actually lost it for a nervous ten seconds even though I never took my eyes off of it. I did manage to get it back, however.

On my second day out, I caught a nice thermal by following some hawks and managed to stay aloft for 51:30. That was fun.

As someone who has been in RC for a decade and fly mostly giant scale aerobatic planes, this is my first glider and I never would have thought that it would be this fun. It really is not that hard to grin for over half an hour straight… Really.

As for air traffic, I have a couple of comments.

I moved from my original flying location because of air traffic. While it was over 4.5 miles from the airport, it was directly in line with the approach to the main runway, and planes were coming over regularly at altitudes of less than 2000 feet. I looked up the glide slope for the runway and found that the recommended slope was around 1700 feet at my location. So I will not fly there any more. If I hit a thermal, I want to be able to fly it.

I now fly well away from any well traveled flight path. You can find aviation chart information for your area on the internet, I'll try to locate some links later.

It is very difficult to determine the proximity of a model plane to a real one, so some attempts to avoid could actually lead to a collision if the aircraft does not see your plane.

IMHO the best policy to avoid collision is a downward spiral. The flash of the spiraling plane may catch the eye of the pilot, and maintaining a position over a point while descending will allow the real pilot to turn off the heading if he sees you. Getting low without wandering from position is the highest priority IMHO. Not sure what the AMA recommends, but I do know that we are responsible if there is a collision. Goes without saying none of us want such an accident to occur. Serious business.

I really think that one day we will have cheap transponders that will help with the problem. Not here yet though.

Not feeling the Radian Pro love just yet....

Not as relaxing as the Radian. And something about how it handles is not right. Can't put my finger on it. I balance it on the leading edge of that strip of white tape under the wing, with a 1250 Rhino battery or the stock one. I added the Morgan Mill servo covers and makes me feel better if I miss a catch that I won't be ripping the servos and horns off.

It never really settles into a smooth cruise. Always needs some control input. At this point I don't think I would be comfortable going up really high. Of course I mean only up to 400 feet, but still.

No mods except for the covers and servo lead extensions to make it a less-stressful event putting the wings on. No more quickie flights as I pass a nice field. I leave it put together in my Expedition as much as I can but have had to break it down several times and its more of hassle to put it back together.

Maybe its just CG. But sometimes it seems to porpoise a little but then in a dive test, it seems to want to stay diving and even tucks under. So that's tail heavy, right? Tried moving the 1250 almost touching the motor and still about the same.

I guess I am just being picky. I tore up the nose of my Radian and stripped a servo and needed to get some aerial GoPro shots, so I picked up the Pro about a month ago. With the GP velcroed to the top leading edge of the wing about 4 inches out, it takes some correcting rudder and aileron to keep her straight. I expected this as had to put rudder in for the Radian, also.

I am more into using both Radians for an AP/AV platform with some beach flying and local thermaling on occasion. Maybe time for a new Co-pilot II. Had one on the Radian and loved it....but flew great with it on or off. Hopefully that will change my mind on the Pro.

Have to give credit to Gary at Morgan Mill. The vac-formed servo covers as great! They look really cool, too. And they really protect the whole wing bottom...not just the servos and arms.

Rant over. Back to more worthwhile discussions.
-Allen

Originally Posted by AeroRecon

Not feeling the Radian Pro love just yet....

Not as relaxing as the Radian. And something about how it handles is not right. Can't put my finger on it. I balance it on the leading edge of that strip of white tape under the wing, with a 1250 Rhino battery or the stock one. I added the Morgan Mill servo covers and makes me feel better if I miss a catch that I won't be ripping the servos and horns off.

It never really settles into a smooth cruise. Always needs some control input. At this point I don't think I would be comfortable going up really high. Of course I mean only up to 400 feet, but still.

No mods except for the covers and servo lead extensions to make it a less-stressful event putting the wings on. No more quickie flights as I pass a nice field. I leave it put together in my Expedition as much as I can but have had to break it down several times and its more of hassle to put it back together.

Maybe its just CG. But sometimes it seems to porpoise a little but then in a dive test, it seems to want to stay diving and even tucks under. So that's tail heavy, right? Tried moving the 1250 almost touching the motor and still about the same.

I guess I am just being picky. I tore up the nose of my Radian and stripped a servo and needed to get some aerial GoPro shots, so I picked up the Pro about a month ago. With the GP velcroed to the top leading edge of the wing about 4 inches out, it takes some correcting rudder and aileron to keep her straight. I expected this as had to put rudder in for the Radian, also.

I am more into using both Radians for an AP/AV platform with some beach flying and local thermaling on occasion. Maybe time for a new Co-pilot II. Had one on the Radian and loved it....but flew great with it on or off. Hopefully that will change my mind on the Pro.

Have to give credit to Gary at Morgan Mill. The vac-formed servo covers as great! They look really cool, too. And they really protect the whole wing bottom...not just the servos and arms.

Rant over. Back to more worthwhile discussions.
-Allen

Work on your CG again using the dive test and get it to just slightly want to come out of the dive. I think that will be worth your while. don;t forget to retrim after changing CG.

MIke R

Originally Posted by mikeruth

Work on your CG again using the dive test and get it to just slightly want to come out of the dive. I think that will be worth your while. don;t forget to retrim after changing CG.

MIke R

Thanks Mike.

Invest time to make it better? Who has time for that!
Next decent, calm flying day I will spend more time on that.
But the elevator looks spot on. Dead centered and level with the stab. If off as much as it seems, wouldn't that be drooping way down? What else could force it to tuck under?

Finally got my Polaris rebuilt so been flying that a lot in all conditions. The truck gets crowded with the assembled Radian Pro, the Polaris, a 3DEPP Yak hanging from a bungy in the back seat, all my gear and 3 sets of golf clubs.

"Let's take your car dear. Its got more room for the family."

Originally Posted by AeroRecon

Thanks Mike.

Invest time to make it better? Who has time for that!
Next decent, calm flying day I will spend more time on that.
But the elevator looks spot on. Dead centered and level with the stab. If off as much as it seems, wouldn't that be drooping way down? What else could force it to tuck under?

Finally got my Polaris rebuilt so been flying that a lot in all conditions. The truck gets crowded with the assembled Radian Pro, the Polaris, a 3DEPP Yak hanging from a bungy in the back seat, all my gear and 3 sets of golf clubs.

"Let's take your car dear. Its got more room for the family."

Without getting into measuring everything, Decalage could be off, but we don;t have control over that, so that's why I say redo the CG and see if that makes it more comfotable to you.
Mike R

AeroRecon

Sounds like your CG may be off a touch.

Don't expect the Pro to be anywhere near as hands off at the original Radian. The nature of the design of a full house glider typically requires more attention than a R/E design. It will not self level the way the original Radian does and will be thrown off level flight by gusts and side breezes because of this. The original Radian will come back to level flight without your help most of the time.

The same can be said for my full house Supra and my RES AVA. The AVA flies itself. The Supra needs much more attention.