Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Flying in the wind

After complaining about too much wind and not being able to fly, I was now waiting for a chance to fly with wind.  Yeah, I wanted to test if it would make much of a difference flying in the wind with ailerons.  So, finally a chance to fly and a day with wind.  About 8 to 10 mph.

I started with a full charge on the stock NiMH battery and tossed the aileron equipped Wild Hawk into the wind.  Wow, it flew great!  The ailerons really made a difference if keeping the plane in the air.  I continued to fly and enjoy playing in the wind.  I did notice that one drawback to flying in the wind is that you can only fly into the wind if you have the battery to do it.  I had to bring the plane in long before I normally would have while I still had enough power to bring it in.

So my flying in the wind was a success and I had a great time.  I was so eager to fly again that I went our as soon as I could.  I was having a great time and even decided to try a few loops.  Good thing I only tried one though because as soon as it pulled full Gs, I noticed that the wings had an odd angle to them.  I put the plane through a few more maneuvers and noticed the same odd wing angle.  Oops, time to bring it in!
Servo label nicely glued into the cutout!

Well, I brought the plane in a little too aggressive in an attempt to keep the wings in one piece and lost an aileron servo.  No big deal, and it will teach me not to hot glue servos in on the side with a sticker.  The bond is only as good as the sticker glue!

Wing crease right about where the window divider in the back groung meets the wing
Ok, so upon inspection, I found that the wings were both starting to kink and flex right at the line where the wing spar ends and the aileron servo cutout and aileron cutout weakened the wing.  Another learning experience, watch out where you make alterations and  where the stress points are!

Now I need to figure out how I'm going to strengthen my wings so they don't crack and give out during a flight.  That will be my next blog.


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