R/C Cessna 182


Last night K and I went to a nearby park for the second "first flight" of my radio controlled Cessna 182. Why second “first flight”? Because on the real first flight I crashed it within 5 minutes. That left the airplane with multiple broken parts and a one-year prison sentence in the attic (that’ll learn ye!).

Last weekend I finally used the extra parts I ordered to fix it and realized that there was a reason I felt the ailerons didn't work properly the first time - they were installed incorrectly from the factory (more specifically the servo mount was not properly offset from center in the middle of the wing). After putting on the new wing and horizontal stabilizer and correcting that servo mount the ailerons seemed a little better (they actually traveled fully in both directions this time).

We took it out to hand-launched it for the test flights. It took a little while for us to figure out how to properly hand launch (how much power and at what angle) but we eventually did (75% and a slightly positive angle of attack) and managed a couple of 100 yard flights before darkness set in. The grass was rough at the chosen field so the landings were all quite abrupt, many causing the nose wheel to pop out.

On the last flight the nose wheel dropped out from 30 feet up because it was loose. K did her best to help with the situation (she giggled) and I did my best to hold the nose off the ground when landing. That worked for all of about 10 millisecs before the nose went in the dirt. Didn’t break anything though! Apparently the little airplane is fairly tough as long as you don’t fly the foam wing into a tree at 40 MPH.

So the mission was accomplished. We actually flew it for a little while and STILL brought it home in working order. Imagine that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Updating data on the Garmin Perspective system

Image
After changing from the Avidyne system to the Cirrus Perspective (G1000) system, I had to relearn an important part of owning an airplane: how to update all the data the systems use. There's even more data in the Perspective, including AOPA directory data and more charts. In this walkthrough, I make use of the Jeppesen app for Apple OS X: JDM .  It has worked well for me, though I did need to call Jeppesen when I first set this up to get my subscriptions fixed up.  They gave great customer support when I did. The process starts (optionally) by hooking up a ground power unit (GPU).  In the case of the Cirrus, you can certainly do this without it, but I tend to hook it up just to be sure.  The systems draw about 8-10amps while updating, but you won't generally have the power on for long.  One tip I've read: power up the GPU before plugging it into the plane, at least for the one I bought.  That saves the plane from seeing any power spikes that might have occurred when t
Read more

G1000 transistion training - emergencies - final flight

Image
For the final flight in my G1000 transition course we focused on failure scenarios. Not the "engine goes POOF" kind but the avionics kind. Normal situation This picture shows what the 2 Garmin screens show in a normal (non failure) situation. You can see we have 2 screens - the left PFD focusing on flight performance (airspeed, heading, attitude, altitude) and the right screen (MFD) focusing on engine data, mapping, checklists, and everything else. Failed PFD screen In this scenario the screen that is right in front of you (the PFD) has failed. This basically means the screen has gone dark. We simulate that by dimming the screen down to 0% brightness. After darkening the PFD we shot a GPS approach into Rock Hill. When this failure has occured you shift the G1000 into Reversionary mode. That means the info that is normally split across 2 screens is now merged into 1. It actually duplicates the same data on both screens, but since the PFD screen is no longer functioning
Read more

A-10C Standby Compass - Sun Shade

Image
 One of the final items to add to this instrument build (besides the text covers for the lower LEDs) was the sun shade for the AR LED box.  I made this out of thin aluminum sheets , cutting it from a template using some metal sheers .    My template was created by tracing some of the actual artwork from the DCS sim, and then scaling it to the proper size. It turned out ok, not perfect but pretty good.  Primed and painted it and then installed it using 2 of the 4 holes that were already on the LED box 3D print.  I used some heat inserts in those holes to give the screws something to bite, but the holes are really too big for my inserts so had to use some glue to help out.  
Read more