Flight Troubles?

[goblue007]

I doubt that the plane is to heavy it weight about 6 grams. We were using a .95 rubber band. Th H. Stablizer is 18.5cm and our wing span is 37cm. Our flight was about an 2/3 circle to 3/4. It tried to climb but couldn't. I thought it didn't have enough torque. We are only winding it 40 to 50 times with a 16:1 winder, so thats 640 to about 800. That could very easily be the problem. I then tried it with 960 rotations and it turn way to sharp and fliped over and flew upside down. It was not good we had to chase it as skimmed the ground to save it from wrecking the mylar. What do I do?

[carneyf1d]

what kind of dihedral do you have on the wing?
and what do you mean by 2/3 or 3/4 circle?

[goblue007]

when we launch it it flies alone for the circle

[jcollier]

I doubt that the plane is to heavy it weight about 6 grams. We were using a .95 rubber band. Th H. Stablizer is 18.5cm and our wing span is 37cm. Our flight was about an 2/3 circle to 3/4. It tried to climb but couldn't. I thought it didn't have enough torque. We are only winding it 40 to 50 times with a 16:1 winder, so thats 640 to about 800. That could very easily be the problem. I then tried it with 960 rotations and it turn way to sharp and fliped over and flew upside down. It was not good we had to chase it as skimmed the ground to save it from wrecking the mylar. What do I do?

Sounds like if you wind it harder, it flies worse. If that is true, it could be the motor stick bending. You should be able to raise the leading edge of the wing to get it to lift. If it doesn't lift with .095, it is not because of too little torque. We usually do trim flights with 600 winds, and a good plane will fly for 1:15-1:30 and climb to 15 ft. high or more.

[jander14indoor]

I doubt that the plane is to heavy it weight about 6 grams. We were using a .95 rubber band. Th H. Stablizer is 18.5cm and our wing span is 37cm. Our flight was about an 2/3 circle to 3/4. It tried to climb but couldn't. I thought it didn't have enough torque. We are only winding it 40 to 50 times with a 16:1 winder, so thats 640 to about 800. That could very easily be the problem. I then tried it with 960 rotations and it turn way to sharp and fliped over and flew upside down. It was not good we had to chase it as skimmed the ground to save it from wrecking the mylar. What do I do?

Yep, weight is OK. Assuming conventional configuration it should fly.

Definitely needs more turns, but sudden changes in behavior point to other things being wrong too.

Weak motor stick already mentioned, equally a weak prop hanger. But typically that causes a dive, not a roll over.

Increased torque could have flipped it over with more winds, but you didn't increase that much. Did it fly OK when you went back to less winds? If not, look for something broken. If yes, something is bending.

If the Motor stick is stout enough, try to watch the plane carefully in flight as you increase torque. I once had a plane that would fly great in low sites, but when I increased torque in taller sites to get to the ceiling the thing would roll into the ground. It was almost an on-off behavior, small changes in torque flipped the plane over the edge. Took forever to figure it out till was able to see things right. I had a weak front spar on the tail and above a certain torque (speed) the stab would suddenly twist the LE up on one side, rolling and diving to the ground. A weak front spar on the wing can cause similar things. For this, and other reasons (flutter if you want to look it up), its best to have a slightly stiffer front spar than a rear.

And yes, make sure you have enough dihedral.

Jeff Anderson
Jeff Anderson
temporarily in Oakville, ON, Canada
hoping to get home for the holidays to:
Livonia, MI
Well, more details would be useful. Its hard to give help with so few facts.
How much does the plane weigh. How big is it. How much rubber are you using, what kind? How hard are you winding the motor. How long does it circle without climbing. Please describe a flight in detail.

That said, here's the couple of big generic things I've seen over the years preventing good flights.
Plane is just too heavy. Sorry, only solution to that is to build a lighter plane.
Not winding the motor hard enough! Even with a properly built and trimmed plane it takes 1200 plus turns on a 3/32 wide 1.5 gm motor to fly good SO planes to these rules. WIND those motors.
If your plane is light, you are winding the motors hard, and are getting nice level, but not climbing flight, increase the angle of attack by tipping the leading edge of the wing up or trailing edge of the rear stab up. Make small changes.

Get back to us with details for your flights and we can be more helpful.

Jeff Anderson
still in Oakville, ON, Canada
but looking more like I'll get home for the holidays to:
Livonia, MI

[goblue007]

I doubt that the plane is to heavy it weight about 6 grams. We were using a .95 rubber band. Th H. Stablizer is 18.5cm and our wing span is 37cm. Our flight was about an 2/3 circle to 3/4. It tried to climb but couldn't. In addition it turns left then turns to much and flips and dives. The tail is loose meaning it twists possible durng flight could that possibly have a huge impact on the overall flight?

[goblue007]

Once again, we flew for another hour or two. The plane will "try" to climb, but it always turns starts to turn to soon. We are trying to figure it out and we are really struggled with the hole. idea. Could we adjust the horizontal stabilizer to prevent this from happening?

[Hamtown009]

What designs do you like? Which ones work? Can you please put a link or a website on here for us to begin building our second plane? Thanks

[jcollier]

To answer your question, yes, the horizontal stabilizer could be tipped too much, causing too much of a turn. The fact that it is loose is something that you should take care of. It is difficult if not impossible to make successful adjustments when something important is loose.

[planemaker]

Hi everybody I'm new to the Wright stuff scene and i bought a kit from Freedom Flight Models. hhttp://www.freedomflightmodels.com/paypal.htm

I want to know how good(or bad) this kit is?