Dave Batchelor

Hi All,

Congratulations on the maiden flight John, what a lovely sight, bet you were chuffed with that!
Richard, looked great in the sky but a much flatter and slower approach will be the trick. This thing does fly incredibly slowly and after flaring, keep the nose as high as you can without climbing and the drag will slow it right down till it descends onto the runway. I have mine setup with full width elevons and both functions are under the watchful eye of an igyro3. I do not get any of that waggling about on approach as even at slow speed the gyro does its thing far faster than my brain can pick it up and move the stick! Good luck on the next flights but well done on getting her built in such a short space of time, I assume you did get SOME sleep?

cheers
Dave

johnshiell

Thanks Dave,

Are you still flying yours? Do you know if John R fixed his?

Regards,

John

BashaBolla

Thanks Dave
Clearly this is going to need a correct landing technique working out .
Currently I am looking at exploring high alpha approach from turn in to finals as opposed to the more traditional long and low .
I tried what I thought was a fairly "normal" long approach in the video although I turned in early and shortened it as it was pretty breezy . The thinking was that its draggy and it would slow in the headwind and wouldnt need so much of a long run in ....it didnt slow down !! . The headwind seemed to make it just float on more and more without really slowing - hence the first attempt and go around when I touched down way too fast as it was disappearing away from me at a great rate of knots ! . The second attempt was also long and lower and would probably have worked out if I hadnt released the back pressure too soon ..but still wasnt the high alpha approach that I am being told is the correct way to land this plane .
I have had 3 good landings with this plane ..all were long and low holding off all the time ..all required being really really careful with the holding off - way past the point where most planes would be happy to settle - and needed the throttle cut at just the right time on finals so that the final part of the hold off happened just in front of me where I could see the wheels and judge the kiss accurately . It may be easier on grass but most of my flying is on tarmac so I would much prefer to find a technique that does not require quite so much finesse. Hence the higher high alpha all the way down is the next "adventure "
Hope it works ..I am getting bored with fixing it !!
Have you been flying yours much lately ?
Richard

BashaBolla

3rd Landing of my Vulcan at Dishforth ....little wind but not much high alpha ! ( skid at the end was a result of a loose main leg that twisted when I put the brakes on ! )

Dave Wilshere

Better, but you can still come off the power a little earlier

johnshiell

Hi Richard,

That looked great. I suppose it's just building up the confidence / knowledge on the slow flying ability of the Vulcan.

Regards

John

BashaBolla

Hi all
Yep....just needs stick time I guess ...and the confidence to cut the power miles away and know it will get to you !! :-).
Its funny that in real life it looked to be really slow on touchdown ..but the video shows it was still travelling at a good rate ..so there is still lots of scope for slowing it a lot more !

Just reduced the nose leg length by 20mm and increased the main gear by 10mm......should give it a better chance of sticking on landing ( hopefully ) .
I will be changing it over to full width elevons this week as I do think that will help with control at really slow airspeeds......next Sundays forecast is looking good so hopefully that will be the next round of the Vulcan adventure ....gulp !

Look forward to hearing your successes

Richard

johnshiell

Hi,

Up to 8 flights on my Vulcan now. Still learning how to slow it up for landing.
Hoping to take the Vulcan to Buckminster at the end of September. Maybe I'll meet Dave and Richard?

Here is a link to an evening flight.

And a couple of pictures



Enjoyed reading your report in RCM&E this month Dave.

Regards,

John

jcterrettaz

My Feedback: (1)

Gorgeous jet , congratulations

Capt G

My Feedback: (8)

very nice flight!

BashaBolla

A beauty !! ....flew mine again the weekend before last.....C of G slightly further back with more aileron movement...flew ( and landed !) beautifully....very long run in ( almost twice the length of John's run in in the video)..but it that was landing on tarmac !...touched down on the main gear at just over walking pace . Happy bunny !!

I want the 100 engine that is currently in the Vulcan for a Hawker Hunter I am just finishing so planning on putting a Wren 80 in the Vulcan instead..any thoughts ?

Richard

Ray Staerck

Starting my build today but cant post pics until 10 comments.
She is a big girl
Ray

Craig Carr

Just thought I would share the progress of mine so far. The build is a bit of a challenge at times, especially keeping everything straight but got there in the end.

it would be remiss of me not to mention the help I have received from builders on this forum, John Sheil and Dave Batchelor who moulded some beautiful dummy underside mouldings in glass to replace the plastic ones in the kit,

control surfaces not fitted in photos but are built


Craig

Craig Carr

I’m installing electrons, a club mate made the oleos for me (JP wheels)

Craig Carr

These are the replacement glass parts made by Dave Batchelor, thanks Dave

highhorse

My Feedback: (2)

What outstanding work. Congrats to anyone who has taken on one of these amazing projects.