vfrank59

Well, after waiting 3 weekends to have a bud Maiden,test fly my Carden 35% Cap with a DA-100. He still could not meet up with me. I have only flown trainer planes. and a 1/4 scale Stinson Voyager. So I was scared to try something this big by myself. Well, patience from waiting 3 weeks and nerves were over ridden by no more patience and Balls!.I took the plane to an old 80 acre farm field. Grass was nice, 3 inches high nothing around to worry about. . I did my preflight for the 10th time , fired her up and taxied out. Winds were calm, throttled up easily, straight as an arrow down the centerline. More throttle and tail down, still good. I lifted the tail, still fine. Speed building. A little down elevator and she rotated , up she goes in a nice 20 degree climbout. More throttle and away it went. Throws were on low rates 30% expo. Still more touchy than I am used to. Gentle on the controls, kept telling myself. I flew the pattern to get used to it, Right aileron needed a click of up trim. That was all!
It flew straight and level after that. I did a few aileron rolls , perfect!. After a few minutes, I gave her full throttle, Wow, this thing is loud , with the little mufflers, but Cool, it will be noticed. I did a couple stalls a idle, the left wing mushed to the left. No snap spin , just a mushing drop to the left. Nose down recovery. Great !. 12 min. have gone by, time for a landing. Downwind. Throttled back. Base turn 1/4 throttle, Turn to final, nose up a bit , sinking, added throttle to maintain approach angle. Over the threshold , back to idle, Flared to almost perfect 3 point landing. Engine still idling away. Taxied back and killed the engine with the Opticle kill switch. Woo. Maiden flight complete.

Then my nerves kicked in, I was dry mouthed, started sweating. Knees shaking!

I flew my first GIANT !

I took the plane to the hanger, everything is still in it's place. Can't wait for the weekend!

Thought, I'd share my flight. It almost flew like a trainer plane. Probably not the smartest thing to be a test pilot but Heck , it's only a few grand! Stupid is as Stupid does, Anyway, it was a rush and it worked out fine.

Thanks for all the help, you guys are great!

Forrest

CAPtain232

My Feedback: (40)

Way to go FOREST......

I would have to say that you took a HUGE chance doing this yourself, but I did the same thing. I taught myself how to fly and never asked for any instruction......I am not saying that this is the way to do it, but it worked for me.... CONGRATULATIONS


By the way, get a picture bud......here's mine

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Excellent to hear Forrest....You just found out how much nicer big planes fly....And welcome to the world of spending your kids inheritance on the rest of the Giant Scale planes you're going to get [sm=tongue_smile.gif] Once you get over doing your first maiden it will get easier as you do more

Be sure to take time to go over everything to make sure it's all tight. And just a quick reminder, you did use locktite on everything didn't you? I only say this as you mentioned you went from glow to gas in a pretty good jump and locktite is important because of vibration

Now how about some specs and pics