To clear the air, this is going to be a slow thread for a couple winter builds that I'll be working with.
Right now my highest impulse flight is with Aerotech E-18W's, so I'm going to take a couple baby steps on the way before going for the gusto.
My plan right now is to by the end of Summer 2015 be L2 certified, with a stretch goal of doing my L1 and L2 flights on the same day if reality allows it.
The one thing I am NOT going to do is force this, and cause myself to do dumb mistakes. I spent too many years in commercial aviation to take big risks without a critical need to do so.
So, here's the plan.
Stage 1: Convert my existing Estes QCC explorer to fit an av bay for the eggtimer I recently built. I'm going to stick with motor charge deployment for now, this phase is to learn the altimeter and do comparisons between sim and reality to figure out where I need to work in extra safety factors. I know it flies well on E's, and trust it will do fine on lower impulse F's, but that's as far as I feel comfortable pushing this airframe.
Stage 2: A Painkiller Micro. This is for getting back into working with two part epoxies and fiberglass. Skills permitting, I'll start this with motor deployment then move to apogee deployment with an altimeter. Main target here is If I get comfortable I also want to move it to dual deployment, and start pushing higher altitudes.
Stage 3: Painkiller 3, L1 flight. It's a 54mm bird, and I honestly don't feel like running 38's with an adapter in it. I may change my mind later, that's a decision for 6 months from now. The plan for now is a dual deployment L1 flight with one of the single grain 54mm CTI motors. Any of them except the Vmax.
Stage 4: Painkiller 3, L2 flight. Same as stage 3, but moving to a 2 or 3 grain J motor.
Lots of details to work out over the next few months, lots of building to do, lots of fun to be had.
Right now my highest impulse flight is with Aerotech E-18W's, so I'm going to take a couple baby steps on the way before going for the gusto.
My plan right now is to by the end of Summer 2015 be L2 certified, with a stretch goal of doing my L1 and L2 flights on the same day if reality allows it.
The one thing I am NOT going to do is force this, and cause myself to do dumb mistakes. I spent too many years in commercial aviation to take big risks without a critical need to do so.
So, here's the plan.
Stage 1: Convert my existing Estes QCC explorer to fit an av bay for the eggtimer I recently built. I'm going to stick with motor charge deployment for now, this phase is to learn the altimeter and do comparisons between sim and reality to figure out where I need to work in extra safety factors. I know it flies well on E's, and trust it will do fine on lower impulse F's, but that's as far as I feel comfortable pushing this airframe.
Stage 2: A Painkiller Micro. This is for getting back into working with two part epoxies and fiberglass. Skills permitting, I'll start this with motor deployment then move to apogee deployment with an altimeter. Main target here is If I get comfortable I also want to move it to dual deployment, and start pushing higher altitudes.
Stage 3: Painkiller 3, L1 flight. It's a 54mm bird, and I honestly don't feel like running 38's with an adapter in it. I may change my mind later, that's a decision for 6 months from now. The plan for now is a dual deployment L1 flight with one of the single grain 54mm CTI motors. Any of them except the Vmax.
Stage 4: Painkiller 3, L2 flight. Same as stage 3, but moving to a 2 or 3 grain J motor.
Lots of details to work out over the next few months, lots of building to do, lots of fun to be had.
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