After what felt like an eternity, I was back home in Seattle. with my own transmitter bought and shipped there ahead of time, I set off to build a simple and easy trainer plane to show off/recruit more people into the R/C hobby. With all my rambling about RC planes on my phone calls home, I figured my parents needed to see what all the hype was about.
Due to the short amount of time I had at home, I used premade plans from "Flite Test", specifically the 'Old Speedster'. As previously stated, I wanted a trainer for other people to fly, I did not want another lengthy design project. The plane was a slow 3 channel flyer, meaning it I had an elevator to pitch my nose up and down, and a rudder to roll and turn. With large wing area, and a thin , curved airfoil, perfect to fly in the smaller local parks in western Washington.
Between build time, part shipments, and weather delays, I finally got to fly in the last week of break. I showed 3 people the plane, and got the same response each time. Honest laughter. They were shocked that this piece of foam board and hot glue actually took off. Despite my audience being impress by the plane's lazy demeanor, they were hesitant to fly. Now I must acquire a second transmitter so I can set up a "buddy box" system.On my final day of break, I was flying at a local field when my power plant quit out on me. the motor started screeching and the prop would not rotate. I had no thrust. My mom put down her camera in shock, as my dad tensed up.Mid turn, about 30' off the ground, I was able to smoothly glide it in and perform a textbook landing. It just goes to prove that airplanes are quite stable, and want to be in the air.
It was later discovered that it was the brushless motor, as opposed tot he Electronic Speed Controller (ESC), that quit out. Turns out that I overloaded my motor with an over sized 9" diameter prop (9x4.7 instead of a 8x4.5).
With that tragedy to end my vacation on, I packed up my electric components, and flew back to Virgina Tech.
