Saturday, June 11, 2011

A Record Setting Day

First, let me thank all of the bloggies who hit my blog yesterday, it was an all-time Z8RC record for unique hits.  Actually, yesterday obliterated the record. 

In other record setting endeavors, the Z8RC Champ 15e is getting nicely ironed-out. E-Flight tried to re-Christen the venerable plane the Ch-anvil, but we've managed to completely fix Horizon Hobby's latest binge of record-setting buffoonery.  With more than 10 oz of E-Flight lead removed, in the form of their half-dead-weight Power 15 and recommended 3200mAh stone to feed it, this Aeronca Champ finally flies like a Champion.  Video follows.

E-Flight's mistake configuration:
  • Motor:  Power 15 (5.4 oz)
  • Battery:  3200 mAh 3-cell (10.3 oz)
  • ESC:  45A (1.5 oz)
  • Thrust: 50 oz
  • Weight: 55 oz
  • Thrust:Weight ratio: 0.91
  • Flying time: 6-8 minutes
  • Stall behavior:  Severe wing drop to 70 degrees nose low
  • Maneuverability:  Poor
  • Float:  Poor
Z8RC 100% fix
  • Motor:  Super Tigre .10 (2.2 oz)
  • Battery:  1250 (4.3) + 1200 (4.1 oz) mAH 3-cell in parallel  (8.4 oz)
  • ESC:  30A (1.0 oz)
  • Thrust: 44 oz
  • Weight: 48 oz
  • Thrust:Weight ratio: 0.92
  • Flying time: 18 minutes
  • Stall behavior:  Mild shudder, no wing dip if coordinated, nose level recovery from slight sink
  • Maneuverability:  Excellent
  • Float:  Excellent
Stats for today's test flight:
  • Winds: 10 mph direct crosswind (note flags on takeoff roll)
  • Time aloft: 18:08 mins
  • Landing Voltage: 10.8V on final, 11.3V on taxi back
 
Read the annotations by clicking on the video 
to switch to youtube display.