GoFlyRC.com - H9 33% Cap Flight Reports

H9 33% Cap Flight Reports This is my "diary" of flight data for the 33% Cap. It gives an idea of what I am trying to accomplish or learn as I become more familiar with the plane, as well as the status of any bugs I am working on. 33% Cap Main 33% Cap Canister Install 33%Cap Headers 33% Cap Flight Reports
History Projects/Reviews Carl Goldberg Falcon 56 MkII Colombo Andersson 38% Extra Hangar 9 33% Cap 232 Hangar 9 1.20 Cap 232 (Bob's) Hangar 9 1.20 Cap 232 (Bill's) Lanier 31.5% Staudacher S600 Sig Kadet Mk II Sterling Ringmaster Thunder Tiger Fun Tiger Updated!! Pics of Cool Stuff Crash Pictures Car Stuff Updated!! 1989 Jaguar XJS Updated!! Random Thoughts Links Stuff for Sale Contact Bob Bill	8/24/03	Being monsoon season in Arizona, it got windy today and I only got one flight in. Just finished the 3rd gallon of gas, so I have about 10 flights on the plane now. So far I have: -Richened the low end needle almost 1 turn to get smooth transition -Leaned the high end needle about 1/2 turn to get higher peak RPM on the ground The plane is still loosing RPM in the upline, I would normally call this a lean high end needle, but richening the needle seemed to make it worse. Leaned another 1/8 turn and will see what happens next flight. Have the rudder/elevator mix about dialed in for knife edge flight. I may mess with a multi-point curve on it later, but for now it is close enough for my skills. The plane pulls to the left as it bleeds off speed in the uplines. This may not be a problem once I get the motor needled right, being able to hold a constant speed should help considerably. Also, I've heard that 3-blade props require more right thrust. Still have not seen any tendency to snap out of high G loops, turns or walls. This is a very good thing, I feel like I can really trust the plane. *No sign of any need for changes to aileron differential (currently set per manual), rolls on uplines and horizontal are very axial.
	8/26/03	Having some battery problems, I neglected to "shape" the packs when they were new. I've cycled them a couple of times and they seem to be doing OK, getting 2000 +/- 10% for charge and discharge. But, this morning when I checked on them, one of the receiver packs only took 250mAh after a full discharge. This concerns me, I'll give it another full cycle and see what's up.
	8/30/03	Got the batteries working good now. Made 5 flights today, about 12-13 mins each, packs had about 1100 mAh left in them, so I probably could have gotten two more in. Cycling the new packs to "shape" them is definitely key. Leaning the hi-end 1/8 turn really woke up the DA100. It's now ripping the prop with ease and uplines are significantly improved. I will try another 1/8 lean next flight. Just finished my 4th gallon of fuel, so it's not broken in yet. I'd rather be a little rich for now. Started working on harriers and blenders. Harriers are super easy, the plane locks right in. Using some up spoilerons for the time being. Had a little trouble getting a good blender, the plane wants to tumble. Need more practice, no doubt. Going to take 5% out of the up-elevator on the knife edge mix before next session. Currently it pulls to the canopy a bit. *Thinking about a 26-10 prop (3 blade.) I'd like to slow the plane down a bit and be able to hold more of a constant speed in the uplines. Right now the plane really boogies in level flight..of course, a little throttle management on my part would help :-)
	9/3/03	Two flights today, no significant changes to setup. Discovered the the plane will snap out of a hard loop if I pull full up elevator (low rates) at about half throttle. Not a terribly violent snap, very manageable. No tendency to snap when entering a wall or normal square loop. *Batteries continue to work well
	9/15/03	Four flights Worked on knife-edge mix a bit, 22% elevator seems to be about right. Tried to lean out hi-end another 1/8, bad idea. Goofed up the transition, had to richen up low-end 1/2 turn to compensate, still ran sloppy. Back to my "before" settings, glad I wrote them down. Still dropping a few RPM on the verticals, and in knife edge. Transition is very slightly muddy. Went 1/16 turn richer on low-end helped a bit. Will try 1/16 more next time. On the ground the 24x12 is turning 6420 RPM wide open. Backed down elevator and aileron throws (dual rates), I was only using about 1/4 stick travel for the IMAC sportsman maneuvers, I like to be able to use a bit more. Hi-rates are still 3D. Soon as I am satisfied with the trim and current settings, I will set up 3 flight conditions on the 9z: IMAC, Freestyle, and 3D.
	Late Nov. 03	*Lost the plane on the 25th flight. Blame pilot error. Here is what should have happened. 1. Working on Basic IMAC sequence. 2. As I enter the roll at center box for about the 100th time, notice that the right wheel pant has come loose and rotated around to cover the wheel. 3. Decide to quit the practice session and get the plane down so I can deal with the wheel pant. 4. Finish the roll 5. Pull altitude 6. Circle and do a super-slow landing. What actually happened was that I got ahead of myself and switched steps 4 and 5. Pulled up while inverted, went straight in at 2/3 throttle from about 70ft. That's not on page 1 of the dumb mistakes manual, but I think it is on page 2. I just got focused on the wheel pant, and I had done the routine so many times that I let my mind drift and sort of switched to auto-pilot. The carnage was amazing. Radio and engine came thru pretty OK, but both have been sent in for a post-crash checkup. This is not the worst I have ever felt in my life, but it is probably Top 5. I saved a header, can, and the spinner just to show how mangled they were, will post pics at some point. I hadn't even begun to really work this plane yet, and I really liked it, so I will try another. Sooo.. I called Chief and bought another plane for $729. Will make some minor design changes to the cans install, just to simplify things, but overall will assemble the plane much as I did before. Things should go fairly quickly.
	2/28/04	Whew - what a long strange trip it's been! Cap #2 now has about 10 flights on it. I have been chasing performance issues - as in I don't think I'm getting the vertical performance I should out of this combo. Vertical on Cap #1 was never as good as I would like, always figured it was due to small 3-blade and my inexperience with tuning gas motors. Cap #2 started out with a Mejzlik 26x12-3 prop. Seemed take awhile to spool up, and would just crap out on the uplines. I know some say they run these props and like them for IMAC, so I wasn't sure what the deal was. The plane just seemed to lose power and rpm on the uplines. Much worse than Cap #1, which would just slowly bleed speed. Here's what I've done over the past couple of weeks: Cleared port on phenolic between crankcase and carb, sometimes gets sealer in it which prevents the pump from working. Tried NX 27x10 2-blade prop. Much better vertical, but still not what I want. Noisy, too. Switched to Slimline mufflers to see if my cans were too restrictive. Picked up 300 RPM on 26x12 (5000 on cans, 5300 on Slimlines) but no change on 27x10 (both cans and Slimlines at 6060). The Slimlines are nice looking units, very well made. Tried a 28x10 Mejzlik (Thanks Brian Hunter!). Got 6120 rpm. Cleaned out carb. (Thanks Joe Hunt for the advice!) The fuel screen was clear full of gunk, apparently from the Lawnboy. Ran the plane with clean carb and the 28x10 and got 6180. Was able to put the needles back to factory settings, getting good transition and idle. Seems like the needle adjustments I was making were just compensating for a dirty carb. Flew the plane once today with the 28x10. It works great! Now it has what I'd call unlimited vertical - point it straight up, nail the throttle, and it will fly out of sight without bleeding speed or rpm. It isn't as quiet as I'd like, but throttle management keeps things under control. Anything over half throttle in level flight and it starts to rip the prop. I may put the cans back in at some point just to see if there is a big performance difference. I think my biggest problem was the dirty carb.