Flight Date: 07March2009
Conditions
Equipment: (Super Cub 2.1 – Ailerons – LiPo Battery)
WX: ~5-10 mph, Temp ~30 F
Ground Conditions: 1-2 inches hard snow
Field: (#1 Field)
Flight Summary
My maiden flight with Ailerons.
Flight 1 (22 minutes)
Pretty good for a first flight with ailerons. It was a little rough at first because the SC2.1 was pulling to the right with the sticks centered. I adjusted on the first flight with the sticks. It took me a while to get the control down as smooth as with the stock wing. Flights 2 and 3 improved significantly.
2 rough landings- ouch!
Flight 2 (18 minutes)
Much better than the maiden. I realized I needed to trim the ailerons all the way to the left to keep the plane from banking right. My aileron implementation is not the best, and I can tell from sighting the plane- the left aileron is a little warped whereas one side is aligned well with the wing the other side is slightly out of alignment. I think it is part of the cause.
2 Landings- 1 nice landing
Flight 3 (19.5 minutes)
Great flight.
I'll do a quick write up on the ailerons. Overall I think this was a good modification for training purposes. SC2.1 turns quicker with the ailerons than with just rudder control / stock wing. Rudder control does not work well on the new wing as it has less dihedral- closer to flat. This is also good to get experience with. I don't think the ailerons are as good as they could be because I could not get SC2.1 to roll without a steep dive. It will not roll at constant elevation even if I combine with rudder. SC2.1 does not find its way back to center with this flatter wing. I have to move it there. This is yet another good aspect to get used to for the next Plane.
2 good Landings
Things I learned from these flights
With the ailerons it is possible to over-turn and end up in an inverted dive. Luckily every time I have done that I had the altitude to recover. I can see how a few aileron-equipped SCs may have meet an untimely demise at the hands of a novice this way.
If I was to re-do the build, I would be more precise with the cuts and construction of the Ailerons. While the are working as expected I had to add a lot of trim to get the SC 2.1 to fly in a straight line.
Again, re-trimming was critical and I needed some down elevator trim to make the plane fly smooth. I didn't figure this out until flight number 2
Damage
Fuselage cracking near landing gear caused by multiple hard landings. Fixed with a little CA glue and kicker to speed the process.
Stats
SC 1.0 Cumulative Flights: 15
SC 2.0 Cumulative Flights: 11
Total: 26
Cumulative Hrs: 5.9
Successful Landings: 38
SC Maintenance / Repairs* ~$51
*Cost to replace items broken in flight
Where did you learn to add ailerons? And you had to add servos, etc-- what did the mod cost you? And why did you buy a Transmitter when you were just starting out? The SC comes with a controller, have you ever used that?
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