Just some local Southeastern Ohio flying. Had some really short takeoffs in this video working the low ground effect to the max! I love this stuff.

Nice. I liked the dynamic, proactive for/aft stick movement to stay in low ground effect. Since the nose stayed laterally where it should be, I assume the dynamic, proactive rudder movement was there as well.

I still don't have the best feel for the strut mounted camera, from an observation of technique point of view. One of my sons does the RC thing. I crash immediately when trying to reverse control coming back toward me. I can do a backcourse ILS. Why can't I fly an airplane backwards?

When the model is coming towards you, try turning around so you're flying with your back to the model, looking over your shoulder.

Works for some, not for all.

The secret is just practice with the computer sim. I used to play Great Planes Realflight, and their included controller is just like a standard transmitter dual-stick thing except that it plugs into your computer via USB. A few hours of that with nothing to lose but time, flying a model toward you becomes 2nd nature.

Zzz wrote:The secret is just practice with the computer sim.

The real secret, is to keep crashing the f**king things on the ramp until you got tired of the time and $$$ to fix the f**king things, and go spend your time and $$$ on avgas, and fly your real airplane instead.

Gump

Excellent suggestion Gump. The problem is my son gives me the ones he has gotten tired of.

GumpAir wrote:

Zzz wrote:The secret is just practice with the computer sim.

The real secret, is to keep crashing the f**king things on the ramp until you got tired of the time and $$$ to fix the f**king things, and go spend your time and $$$ on avgas, and fly your real airplane instead.

Gump

Haha. X2. My wife won't let me buy parts for mine anymore. So I have to stick to the real thing now.

Thanks for the nice video. This yellow plane seems like a lot of fun.

I love your forward wing camera view. Do you have some pics of it?

Excellent video!

My Harbor Freight RC helicopter I got for Christmas lasted a surprisingly long time, flying it inside the shop. Then I took it outside.... got in an updraft (building lift) and it flew out of view up onto the shop roof. After it impacted the roof, it slide down and dead fell about 16'. That's when I lost control. It was a pretty cool machine for being around $50.00, my bad for taking it outside. All over the box it came in were disclaimers INDOOR USE ONLY

Man that green grass looks good about now Evan, fun stuff, made me want to tag along, you'd enjoy my backyard.

OliBuilt wrote:Thanks for the nice video. This yellow plane seems like a lot of fun.

I love your forward wing camera view. Do you have some pics of it?

Thanks Oli. The Savage really performs great. Makes the operator look good.



This is a Rode Video Mic extendable Boom Pole strapped to the strut and the GoPro is attached to the pole with a GoPro handlebar mount.



The handle portion is padded with foam so it doesn't scratch the airframe. It also provides friction so its not likely to slip. It is strapped with bungees and then backed up with Gorilla tape.

courierguy wrote: Man that green grass looks good about now Evan, fun stuff, made me want to tag along, you'd enjoy my backyard.

When I was passing through your neck of the woods on my way home this summer, I was thinking the whole time about the AWESOME playground that you have around you. I was checking out the ridgetops thinking, "I wonder if Tom has landed there?" Ha. I would love to come visit sometime.

contactflying wrote:Nice. I liked the dynamic, proactive for/aft stick movement to stay in low ground effect. Since the nose stayed laterally where it should be, I assume the dynamic, proactive rudder movement was there as well.

Thanks! I start rolling with a single notch of flaps and once I "feel" like I have enough airspeed I pop the second notch in and jerk the stick back and she just gets a few inches off of the ground. It sets on the cushion of air created in ground effect and I try to keep it there until it feels like I am getting a positive rate of climb, and then start letting the second notch out. Then let out the last of the flaps for a climbout. This is a technique that I have learned by watching others, but practice makes perfect.

I can't always get it perfect but I can easily be flying moderately loaded in 200 ft consistently. In the video, when I took off in the grass before the dirt/mud field, I had over half fuel and a passenger and we measured 250 ft. If I have less than half fuel and little weight in the baggage, 100 feet is possible on a cool day. Swingle told me he thinks the performance is better than the S7.

For those with electric flaps, you can get the same effect by setting the flaps and then using rapid aft stick, when she gets buoyant, followed by rapid fore stick. That's where the dynamic and proactive movement of the stick comes in handy to keep from porpoising and stay in low ground effect. Or you can work them by feel or looking at the wing. Don't look inside, you might hit something.

Great video, Evan! I think you're pretty damn close to getting the most out of that Savage that it can possibly give! Fun watching this while I can't get to the 185 for now...