Flight Date: 15March2009
Conditions
Equipment: (Parkzone T-28 Trojan)
WX: ~11 mph, Temp ~50 F
Ground Conditions: Almost all snow melted- wet field
Field: (#1 )
Flight Summary
Flight 1 (10Min)
Wow! I took my new T-28 Trojan (StarCode as named by my daughter) out for it's maiden today it it is a fantastic flier. The first 2 flights were early in the morning before the wind picked up and the plane handled superbly. There was no trimming required!
I did a quick pre-flight servo check to make sure the servo's where set up correctly. Quick tip- A pilot friend of mine mentioned during his pre-flight check of his “real” planes he turns the control wheel towards the direction he wants to turn with his thumb extended- hand on the top of the wheel. He looks in the direction his thumb is pointed and ensures that the aileron is up on that side. I have been using this concept with my planes before taking off- whatever way the stick is pointed (from behind the model) the aileron should be up.
The first take off was rolling from the ground in some packed dirt. With WOT the plane assertively rolled down the “runway” and took to the skies. I was careful to apply small inputs to the sticks and found the T-28 handled predictably and was very stable.
With a little less than half throttle the T-28 will cruise at SuperCub speeds making a relatively easy step up from the Super Cub equipped with ailerons. At full throttle the plane climbs aggressively and gains speed quickly.
I was able to make some slow passes relatively easily and the T-28 is a pleasure to see in the air.
After getting used to the flight characteristics I made a number of low passes- as if to land. What I found was the T-28 is a real floater. It was almost hard to bring it down. The good news is that this makes it fairly easy to land once you get the hang of how it handles
I ended up making 4 good landings. 2 where very nice. 2 where decent. On the last landing- which wasn't particularly hard- the whole left landing assembly popped out. Nothing broke it just came loose. I fixed it easily with some 5-minute epoxy. It was held in with some silicone glue.
My setup consists of the following:
Stock Airframe / Motor / Esc (plug and play model)
Spektrum AR6200 Receiver
Flight Max 2200 mAH LiPo
TX is a Spektrum DX7
The only modification I made to the stock plane was to cut off the stock batter connector and solder on a Deans plug. I really can't imagine changing anything on this plane- what a winner! I am very happy I made this choice as a 2nd plane.
Flight 2 (20 Minutes)
I have had the T-28 in the hanger for about 1 month. I had been trying to hold off until I had my planned 15 hours on the Super Cub. To date, I have almost 7 hours on the Super Cub. I will say that had I not spent this time on the SC, I am certain these flights would not have gone so well.
This 2nd flight was very good as well. I think I flew it a little faster than the first flight. What I did notice is that it is a lot easier to gain speed on the T-28 vs. the Super cub. I had situations that where 1 to 2 wrong moves away from a major catastrophe. Such as flying within about 20 feet of a pole and having a few awkward turns too low to the ground. The point I am making is that you do have to be more thoughtful with this plane than with the SC.
I had 3 good landings- one beautiful rolling landing with flair- I love landing with the tricycle gear!
Things I learned from these flights
The Parkzone T-28 Trojan is a great 2nd plane after having experience with the Hobbyzone Super Cub
Need to watch throttle / speed and think ahead of your moves with this plane as it has more potential to get into a bad situation quicker than a slower model like the SC
Damage
Not really damage- Left landing gear came loose on a decent landing- epoxied back in place
Stats
T-28 Cumulative flights 2
Cumulative Hrs: 0.5
successful Landings: 7
T-28 Trojan Maintenance / Repairs* ~$0
*Cost to replace items broken in flight
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