After modifying HobbyKing Altimeter down to an all-up weight of 1.8 gram & powered by the flight battery, I have started to record some flights to learn more about the characteristics of my planes & help me become a better pilot. I will record more flights as the season progresses. They will be posted here, each with a specific question answered, like what is the glide rate, how fast can I loose altitude, why am I floating under Nimbostratus clouds...

Great little Speed Conversion calculator click here
Keep Warm at the Core! U & the Batts click here
Flight Logger, Part II “1s Power Mod” click here
Flight Logger, Part I “The Bench Test” click here
Triangulation Calculator, click here
Join the RCG discussion click here

This blog includes reports for
~ umx Radian ~
~ umx Sport Cub S2 ~
click on images to view larger

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Sport Cub S2 Stratus 2
Scariest flight ever
Last Spiral 22.9fps / 15.6mph
Flight log from June 12, 2015
click here

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Sport Cub S2 Stratus 2
Eiffel Tower sortie with 800+ foot spiral
Flight log from May 7, 2015
click here

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umx Radian
Debrief report on a 13+ min thermal ride
Flight log from April 12, 2015
includes graph
click here

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Sport Cub S2 Stratus 2
No cam or graph
Debrief report on a 27+ min sortie
Flight log from April 12, 2015
click here

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umx Radian
Wind Surfing
Max altitude 37 feet
Flight log from April 3, 2015

Local conditions:
… Aero: umx Radian
… Field: Oval
… Time: 12:46PM
… Temperature: 63°F
… Average Wind: 3 mph W
… Gusts: 12mph NW
… Humidity: 64%
… Pressure: 29.84" rising
… Cover: Stormy
… Streamers attached: no
… Battery: Mini Aviation 220mah 45C
… Battery warmer used: Yes set to 95°F
… Enjoyed a 6+ min wind surfing sortie

Weather conditions: Winds steady, heavy gust, light turbulence.

Note 1: Added weight of the logger & 220mah batt surely helped. Landing on the downwind wheel or wing tip is never pretty.

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umx Sport Cub S2
Power off glide plus spiral mode 2 & 3
3.0 / 13.2 / 21.0 fps
Flight log from March 31, 2015

Local conditions:
… Aero: umx Sport Cub S2 aka Stratus II
… Field: Oval
… Time: 8:47 am
… Temperature: 38°F
… Average Wind: 3 mph W
… Gusts: 11mph N
… Humidity: 59%
… Pressure: 29.84"
… Cover: Party cloudy
… Streamers attached: yes
… Battery: Hyperion 550mah 25C
… Battery warmer used: Yes set to 95°F
… Power off glide descend 263 feet, 1 min 28 sec / 3.0 feet per sec / 2.0 mph / 3.3 kph
… Mode 2 (aka Intermediate) Spiral (full rudder, full aileron, power off) descend 172 feet, 13 sec / 13.2 feet per sec / 9.0 mph / 14.5 kph
… Mode 3 (aka Expert) Spiral (full rudder, full aileron, power off) descend 126 feet, 6 sec / 21.0 feet per sec / 14.3 mph / 23.0 kph
… Enjoyed a 1 min 45 sec tour at 240–279 foot / 73.2-85.0 meter AGL
… Total mission lasted 10 min 9 sec.

Weather conditions: Winds steady, light gust, no turbulence.

Note 1: Due to the CG, the 550mah battery is placed mostly inside the fuse & is therefore protected from the wind & temperature. Voltage reading was 3.91 at room temperature - Actual amps recharged = 185 mah or 42% used. I did not hit LVC during flight.

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umx Sport Cub S2
Rate of climb, spiral mode 1, 550mah battery
5.3 / 12.4 fps / 10+++ min
Flight log from March 27, 2015

Local conditions:
… Aero: umx Sport Cub S2 aka Stratus II (mode I – stability)
… Field: Oval at White Lake Park
… Time: 3:00 pm
… Temperature: 40.1°F
… Average Wind: 5mph NW
… Gusts: 19mph NW
… Humidity: 30%
… Pressure: 30.18" dropping
… Cover: Clear blue skies
… Streamers attached: yes
… Battery: Hyperion 550mah 25C
… Battery warmer used: Yes set to 104 F
… Rate of climb: 5.3 feet per second / 3.6 mph / 5.8 kph
… Spiral rate of descend (full rudder & full aileron = lazy spiral): 12.4 feet per second / 8.5 mph / 13.6 kph

Weather conditions: Clear blue skies. Gusts, heavy turbulence & sink present.

Note 1: Due to the CG, the 550mah battery is placed mostly inside the fuse & is therefore protected from the wind & temperature. Very happty with the cold weather performance of the battery. 10 min sortie. Voltage reading was 3.86 at room temperature (52% of practical capacity left = 550 x 0.80 x 0.52 = 229 mah left / 48% ~ 211 mah used) - Actual amps recharged = 216 mah or 49%. I did not hit LVC during flight.

Note 2: In mode 1 – stability (beginner), the lazy spiral was caused by a) windy conditions & b) the system's attempt to stabilize the spiral. Good to know that even in mode 1, you can spiral the plane with full rudder, full aileron & motor off, thereby overriding the stability system, to an extent, when you need to drop altitude ‘rapidly’.

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umx Radian
Rate of climb, glide
7.6 / 1.5 fps
Nimbostratus clouds
Flight log from March 26, 2015

Local conditions:
... Aero: umx Radian aka umx Rad II
... Field: Oval at White Lake Park
... Time: 9:39 am
... Temperature: 45.1°F
... Average Wind: 0mph SSW
... Gusts: 6mph SSW
... Humidity: 78%
... Pressure: 29.9" dropping
... Cover: Nimbostratus clouds
... Streamers attached: no
... Battery: 220mah 45C
... Battery warmer used: Yes set to 95F
... Rate of climb: 7.6 feet per second / 5.2 mph / 8.4 kph
... Spiral rate of descend: n/a
... Glide rate of descend: 1.5 feet per second / 1.0 mph / 1.6 kph

Note 1: Nimbostratus clouds covered the entire sky, with a homogenous gray appearance. Nimbostratus occurs along a warm front where a slowly rising warm air mass is present. Flying under a Nimbostratus cloud provides a very smooth relaxing ride.

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umx Radian
Rate of climb, spiral
8.6 / 50 fps
a great flight with thermal activity
Flight log from March 24, 2015

Here is why I will always fly my umx Radian II with a Logger. Most days, boring but on a day like today, much appreciated.

Again, boring flight, so I induced a spiral to see how fast it would come down. Spiral rate of descend = 50 feet per second / 34mph / 55 kph Them I got me a thermal. Birds quickly showed to join the fun. Someone tell me how they can see the thermal from far away. Up, up & away, then it happened, I got nervous, started to get disoriented & down wind. No problems mate, I'll spiral down. Back into another thermal. Finally decided to preserve the flight & come on home. About an 8 minute ride on 1 climb. Total batt used = 2 min = 4 climbs.

Note 1: Rate of climb - range: 8.6 / 9.9 / 4.7 / 5.5 feet per second. What may cause a wide range of climb rates? I find that sink will hamper the rate of climb, worse case it will look like you hit a glass ceiling. In these cases, best to try a different part of the sky. On the converse, when climbing in a thermal, the rate of climb will be significantly increased. For today, I believe the drop in the rate of climb during the flight was due to the voltage drop of the battery, i.e. lower prop rpm.

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Actual results will vary, the question is why?

Allot of information.

What about simple telemetry, like altitude-speed-etc etc....programmed into the TX from RX, so you can see on the TX or ( hear if you have voice alert ) ,
is that possible, without any added ( you will like this term) do-dads ?

Thanks
Ed.

All currently possible but at a much higher weight penalty. Due to the new FAA drone rules, you will see some of these features integrated into the Rx in the next 5 years or so, me thinks. First one will most likely be altitude telemetry. We will have to stay tuned.

I sort of figured that, but was not sure, had to ask. lol