KenParker
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- Aug 1, 2001
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This was one of those rare days..... no particular plans, and about 70 degrees and ABSOLUTELY DEAD CALM, and my almost-17 year old son even came around wanting to know what I was going to be doing today.
He wanted to go and fly RC Boost Gliders.
Sooooo..... we did.
First off the pad: the new Estes StratoBlaster on an Aerotech E15-PW single use. The first ignitor, which was a B&K, popped and ejected itself out the back of the motor without igniting it. So I put an AT Copperhead in it and much to my surprise..... ZOOOM !!! Off she went. Boost was kind of squirelly, even though we took great pains to try to set all the control surfaces to absolute neutral. It came off the pad and started to come backwards like it had a bit of up elevator. Kent controlled it out of it and got pretty darn good altitude. He was able to easily trim the glider for a nice slow flight, and kept it in the air for probably a full minute. (Meant to bring a stopwatch, but we kind of threw things in the van in a hurry and I forgot it.) He greased the landing between two soccer goals. We were very pleased with the first flight of the StratoBlaster.
Flight #2: Kent liked it so much he wanted to take the SB right back up. so we did. Another E15-PW single use ignited with a Copperhead. This time we had a bit of down trim in the elevator and she boosted almost straight up. Got really good altitude, probably 600 or 700 feet. Kent played with it a bit this time, even threw in a roll or two. He went a bit long on the landing, and kind of bounced it a time or two.
Flight #3: Kent wanted to fly the Combat Jet. Loaded it up with an F40 White Lightning reload in a 29/40-120 casing, another Copperhead, and away she went. Very straight boost, probably 800 feet altitude. Kent rolled it, looped it, stalled it, played with it a lot. Greased the landing.
Flight #4: I flew the SB on another E15-PW single use. Good boost, but she looped back on me right into line with the sun. I lost it. Kent yelled "pull up elevator !" so I did, and caught it as it came out of line from the sun in a zoom climb. It had been going STRAIGHT DOWN. Flew it back over the main part of the field, but couldn't get the trim right and stalled it. Recovered, finally got the trim set right and it settled down. My nerves didn't. Fortunately though, with some coaching from #1 son (boy, that was certainly a change) I did manage to grease the landing.
Flight #5: Kent flew the SR-71 on an E18 White Lightning reload in a 24/40 RMS RC casing. She boosted straight up and really went high, probably higher than she's ever gone before. Gotta love that no wind. Kent leveled her out, and adjusted the trim. She was flying s-l-o-w. I couldn't believe how Kent was just floating her around. When she was about 200 feet up, Kent brought her around in a gentle right hand turn, and at the same time I felt the gentlest puff of wind blow past us. A couple seconds later, I saw the SR-71 literally STOP in midair. Then she started flat spinning and dropping. Kent yelled "trying down elevator .... now down with left aileron .... now down with right aileron .... now up elevator .... now up with left .... now up with right..." The SR-71 was still gently flat spinning descending towards the ground. I looked over and saw Kent frantically trying every control input he could. Still flat spinning. I hollered "just hold full down and nothing else!" He did that, but by now it was only about 20 feet up. It kind of just plunked into the grass. Kent went over to it, and when he picked it up I could tell by his body language that we hadn't gotten off scot free. But the damage is not bad: the fuselage (the whole thing is foam, by the way) had a stress break across the bottom of the fuselage right in front of the wing. The top of the fuselage had a small wrinkle on the top side. Some CA, and probably a fiberglass strip for reinforcing and she'll be good as new. She will fly again.
Flight #6: I wanted Kent to get right back into the saddle, so we put an F24 White Lightning reload into the 24/40 RMS RC casing and loaded it into the SB. The Copperhead ignited it and again it boosted nearly straight up..... and up..... and up. Kent was laughing with glee over the altitude he had. Another good flight, another good landing, and confidence fully restored.
Flight #7: Kent and I had been wanting to try the Combat Jet on a G33 BlackJack load. So I loaded one into the 29/40-120 RMS casing and put it into the CJ. Again, the Copperhead set it off and off the pad she came. Up about 300 feet, and then it went hard down until it was level, and then a few hundred more feet, and then slightly down, with Kent screaming "I'm holding full up !!" Finally, it seemed to take effect, and she started climbing again. Probably only got about 500 feet and then the motor burned out. Kent, in spite of the scare that the launch caused us, quickly got it trimmed out, and true to its capabilities, she settled into her usual predictable, ultimately controllable smooth glide. He greased another landing. He then turned to me and said "I am not ever going to fly that on a G33 again !! You can if you want to, but I never will !!" OK.... so the CJ doesn't like G33 loads.
Flight #8: Time for me to fly the CJ. No, I had no intention of trying a G33 load. Back to the trusty F40 load. Didn't quite get the trims right, and had to "help" things a bit on boost, but she still got good altitude, and settled quickly into her smooth glide. Greased the landing, but Kent gave me grief because she touched down on the gravel track. "Man, don't scratch her up !!" But when I retrieved it, not a mark could be seen. (Hey, I'm writing this, I'll tell the story any way I want to....)
Flight #9: We decided this would be the last flight of the day. I asked Kent what he wanted, another CJ flight or another SB flight. He didn't hestitate at all: "The SB on an F24." I loaded the engine, put it in the rocket, and put it on the pad. Another Copperhead fired the engine right off (we had incredibly good luck with Copperheads today). She went up about 300 feet, then there was a cracking noise, and she started shedding parts while doing all kinds of twists and turns. When the engine finally burnt out, she was only about 150 feet up and headed for the trees. I could see that the elevator was gone. Kent thought for a moment that he still had control of her, but found out he was wrong when it headed over the trees and he couldn't turn it. Much to our concern, the wing dropped vertically down into the top of a 70 foot pine, and after crashing through a few of the top limbs got stuck about 65 feet up. I went out into the field to see what parts I could find there. I found the elevator in the field. Kent found three pieces under the tree: the removable canopy, the right fusleage spar, and the piece of foam that was holding the battery pack in place.
Soooooo.... final tally for the day:
> 9 flights
> 5 for the StratoBlaster, and she's g-o-n-e
> 3 for the Combat Jet, and she's ready to go again... but we'll stick with the F40 for power, no more G33's
> 1 for the SR-71, has minor damage, will be repaired and ready to go again soon
The StratoBlaster that I flew was one that I bought from a friend at the last Whitakers launch. I didn't build it. However, I happen to have a StratoBlaster kit. I will buld it. I will build it stronger than the one I flew today. It will be able to take the boost of an F24.
We had an absolute ball today, even if I have lost a receiver, two micro servos, a battery pack, and the 24/40 RMS RC motor casing. In this hobby, like in everything else in life, stuff happens.
And who knows.... I'll check back at that tree from time to time, and maybe I'll get lucky after a windy day and I'll get some of the other stuff back.
But any day like today that I get to spend with my son having this kind of high tech high speed fun is worth nearly any price. And like I said.... we had a fantastic time.
He wanted to go and fly RC Boost Gliders.
Sooooo..... we did.
First off the pad: the new Estes StratoBlaster on an Aerotech E15-PW single use. The first ignitor, which was a B&K, popped and ejected itself out the back of the motor without igniting it. So I put an AT Copperhead in it and much to my surprise..... ZOOOM !!! Off she went. Boost was kind of squirelly, even though we took great pains to try to set all the control surfaces to absolute neutral. It came off the pad and started to come backwards like it had a bit of up elevator. Kent controlled it out of it and got pretty darn good altitude. He was able to easily trim the glider for a nice slow flight, and kept it in the air for probably a full minute. (Meant to bring a stopwatch, but we kind of threw things in the van in a hurry and I forgot it.) He greased the landing between two soccer goals. We were very pleased with the first flight of the StratoBlaster.
Flight #2: Kent liked it so much he wanted to take the SB right back up. so we did. Another E15-PW single use ignited with a Copperhead. This time we had a bit of down trim in the elevator and she boosted almost straight up. Got really good altitude, probably 600 or 700 feet. Kent played with it a bit this time, even threw in a roll or two. He went a bit long on the landing, and kind of bounced it a time or two.
Flight #3: Kent wanted to fly the Combat Jet. Loaded it up with an F40 White Lightning reload in a 29/40-120 casing, another Copperhead, and away she went. Very straight boost, probably 800 feet altitude. Kent rolled it, looped it, stalled it, played with it a lot. Greased the landing.
Flight #4: I flew the SB on another E15-PW single use. Good boost, but she looped back on me right into line with the sun. I lost it. Kent yelled "pull up elevator !" so I did, and caught it as it came out of line from the sun in a zoom climb. It had been going STRAIGHT DOWN. Flew it back over the main part of the field, but couldn't get the trim right and stalled it. Recovered, finally got the trim set right and it settled down. My nerves didn't. Fortunately though, with some coaching from #1 son (boy, that was certainly a change) I did manage to grease the landing.
Flight #5: Kent flew the SR-71 on an E18 White Lightning reload in a 24/40 RMS RC casing. She boosted straight up and really went high, probably higher than she's ever gone before. Gotta love that no wind. Kent leveled her out, and adjusted the trim. She was flying s-l-o-w. I couldn't believe how Kent was just floating her around. When she was about 200 feet up, Kent brought her around in a gentle right hand turn, and at the same time I felt the gentlest puff of wind blow past us. A couple seconds later, I saw the SR-71 literally STOP in midair. Then she started flat spinning and dropping. Kent yelled "trying down elevator .... now down with left aileron .... now down with right aileron .... now up elevator .... now up with left .... now up with right..." The SR-71 was still gently flat spinning descending towards the ground. I looked over and saw Kent frantically trying every control input he could. Still flat spinning. I hollered "just hold full down and nothing else!" He did that, but by now it was only about 20 feet up. It kind of just plunked into the grass. Kent went over to it, and when he picked it up I could tell by his body language that we hadn't gotten off scot free. But the damage is not bad: the fuselage (the whole thing is foam, by the way) had a stress break across the bottom of the fuselage right in front of the wing. The top of the fuselage had a small wrinkle on the top side. Some CA, and probably a fiberglass strip for reinforcing and she'll be good as new. She will fly again.
Flight #6: I wanted Kent to get right back into the saddle, so we put an F24 White Lightning reload into the 24/40 RMS RC casing and loaded it into the SB. The Copperhead ignited it and again it boosted nearly straight up..... and up..... and up. Kent was laughing with glee over the altitude he had. Another good flight, another good landing, and confidence fully restored.
Flight #7: Kent and I had been wanting to try the Combat Jet on a G33 BlackJack load. So I loaded one into the 29/40-120 RMS casing and put it into the CJ. Again, the Copperhead set it off and off the pad she came. Up about 300 feet, and then it went hard down until it was level, and then a few hundred more feet, and then slightly down, with Kent screaming "I'm holding full up !!" Finally, it seemed to take effect, and she started climbing again. Probably only got about 500 feet and then the motor burned out. Kent, in spite of the scare that the launch caused us, quickly got it trimmed out, and true to its capabilities, she settled into her usual predictable, ultimately controllable smooth glide. He greased another landing. He then turned to me and said "I am not ever going to fly that on a G33 again !! You can if you want to, but I never will !!" OK.... so the CJ doesn't like G33 loads.
Flight #8: Time for me to fly the CJ. No, I had no intention of trying a G33 load. Back to the trusty F40 load. Didn't quite get the trims right, and had to "help" things a bit on boost, but she still got good altitude, and settled quickly into her smooth glide. Greased the landing, but Kent gave me grief because she touched down on the gravel track. "Man, don't scratch her up !!" But when I retrieved it, not a mark could be seen. (Hey, I'm writing this, I'll tell the story any way I want to....)
Flight #9: We decided this would be the last flight of the day. I asked Kent what he wanted, another CJ flight or another SB flight. He didn't hestitate at all: "The SB on an F24." I loaded the engine, put it in the rocket, and put it on the pad. Another Copperhead fired the engine right off (we had incredibly good luck with Copperheads today). She went up about 300 feet, then there was a cracking noise, and she started shedding parts while doing all kinds of twists and turns. When the engine finally burnt out, she was only about 150 feet up and headed for the trees. I could see that the elevator was gone. Kent thought for a moment that he still had control of her, but found out he was wrong when it headed over the trees and he couldn't turn it. Much to our concern, the wing dropped vertically down into the top of a 70 foot pine, and after crashing through a few of the top limbs got stuck about 65 feet up. I went out into the field to see what parts I could find there. I found the elevator in the field. Kent found three pieces under the tree: the removable canopy, the right fusleage spar, and the piece of foam that was holding the battery pack in place.
Soooooo.... final tally for the day:
> 9 flights
> 5 for the StratoBlaster, and she's g-o-n-e
> 3 for the Combat Jet, and she's ready to go again... but we'll stick with the F40 for power, no more G33's
> 1 for the SR-71, has minor damage, will be repaired and ready to go again soon
The StratoBlaster that I flew was one that I bought from a friend at the last Whitakers launch. I didn't build it. However, I happen to have a StratoBlaster kit. I will buld it. I will build it stronger than the one I flew today. It will be able to take the boost of an F24.
We had an absolute ball today, even if I have lost a receiver, two micro servos, a battery pack, and the 24/40 RMS RC motor casing. In this hobby, like in everything else in life, stuff happens.
And who knows.... I'll check back at that tree from time to time, and maybe I'll get lucky after a windy day and I'll get some of the other stuff back.
But any day like today that I get to spend with my son having this kind of high tech high speed fun is worth nearly any price. And like I said.... we had a fantastic time.
