UM T-28 Maiden.

[SW5-Flier]

Hi!

I just now maidened my UM T-28! Here is pretty well how it went:
After sitting there still too nervous to launch, I finally hand launched it (No good place to really take off in a grass field .) and it went up waaay too much and stalled out. Took a look at it, and my CG was way off. Adjusted the CG, and tried again. Same thing happened this time. Not sure what happened there. Then, finally, I had a successful launch, and flight. I was surprised at how well it handled, even in the slight breeze we had. Landing went prefect, and had 2 more flights just like that one before my battery drained.
Now I guess I had a little question. It sort of "bobbed" up and down as it flew, any idea what could have caused this, or how to fix it?

[hoghead5150]

you mentioned "slight breeze". even this will affect the um planes pretty well. mine would "bobble" around flying into the wind, but flying with the wind it was smooth. i think when i would fly into the wind the plane would climb and i would push the stick to try and keep the plane level, thus i was causing the bobble.

i've flown the um t-28 in around 10mph winds and its a handful. fun once you get confident enough to do it, scary as all get out if your new to flying!!

congrats on the maiden flight!!!!

[SW5-Flier]

Thanks.
I guess it's just a little sensitive to the wind compared to my champ...I can usually pilot my champ in up to about 6 mph winds and still be able to keep it airborne and on a general flight path. I guess I could have thought and figured it out, just sort of used to my champ, I guess, so I wasn't expecting the bobbing effect so much.

[SW5-Flier]

Update: I flew it again today! However, I did have to wait the whole day for the wind to die down. I had a nice first flight, practicing keeping it nice and steady, and had a nice landing. Second flight was absolutely beautiful, I kept it very level and had some nice turns. Third flight was interesting... I ended up losing orientation of the plane (it was getting a bit dark outside.) and then cut the throttle, and promptly hit the branches of a tree, thank goodness it didn't get stuck, but just took a fall. The only damage was some paint chipped off the cowl and a *tiny* bit of crumpled foam in the same spot.
That was my flights today in a nutshell...

[hoghead5150]

lol, it seems that trees just love to eat planes!! i swear they will jump right out in front of a plane to get a bite.

[SW5-Flier]

I know right? Not the first time one of my planes had a run-in with a tree. My champ got a face full of branches once as well.

[BroncoSquid]

Originally Posted by SW5-Flier

Third flight was interesting... I ended up losing orientation of the plane (it was getting a bit dark outside.)

I hear you on that one. I fly at dusk when there is no wind most of the time also. I could see the plane easy enough, just couldn't tell exactly if it was coming at me or going away. Especially in turns. So I added (4) 3mm LEDs, 2 small resistors, and tapped directly into the wires from the batteries. Only reduced flight time by approx 45sec at full throttle.

[JetPlaneFlyer]

The 'bobbing' up and down sounds like it's maybe flying in a series of climbs, stalls and dives (looks like a roller-coaster?) that's often simply due to not being trimmed out properly, you may just need some downtrim?

[SW5-Flier]

Yeah, figured that out yesterday. I noticed when I came in for a landing it acted just a bit tail heavy, so I figured it had too much up trim on the elevator. Thanks for trying to help anyways!

[SW5-Flier]

Originally Posted by BroncoSquid

I hear you on that one. I fly at dusk when there is no wind most of the time also. I could see the plane easy enough, just couldn't tell exactly if it was coming at me or going away. Especially in turns. So I added (4) 3mm LEDs, 2 small resistors, and tapped directly into the wires from the batteries. Only reduced flight time by approx 45sec at full throttle.

Sounds like a nice idea. How much would a setup cost for something like that? I think I might try that. I almost always fly around 5-7 PM so it's usually getting a bit dark out.

[BroncoSquid]

I think the small spool of 30ga. wire was the most expensive part. 12$ IIRC. 3mm LEDS were 1 or 2 bucks for a pack of 3. I got red, green, white, and blue. A small pack of 100 diffrent size resistors was like 5 bucks. You could do it with a basic soldering kit. I set it up on a breadboard to make sure it worked.

Oh, side note, tape a length of .060 CF rod down the center of both wings. Keeps the wings from cracking during rough landings and chance encounters with trees.

[SW5-Flier]

Sorry didn't respond earlier, I'm on vacation and I've been busy. Anyways, I really want to have one of those LED setups, but, I didn't think about having to use a soldering kit... Because, I don't have one. How much does a soldering kit cost? I don't want anything fancy just one that'll do the job. Thanks!