Flight #1111

This was a good confidence builder.

Notes… wing was laid out a little ragged to prevent the prop wash from prematurely inflating the wing. I rolled a few feet and dragged the wing for maybe 5 feet before it started to lift. Next time lay it out more uniformly but roll back the center nose section. The new line keepers worked brilliantly.

I noticed that the Colorado flies farther back that the APCO or any other wing I’ve owned. It presses against the hangpoint loop at 5 o’clock instead of 3 o’clock. Its touching at the right spot, on the riser and I do not expect to see wear at the rub point. There is too much friction with the WST. Later, back at the house I couldn’t see a better routing , I’ll have to take another look in flight.

There was a strong onshore breeze above 100 feet but a very light countervailing wind at the surface. The convergence did not cause noticeable turbulence. I landed in the opposite direction to take off because even at 100 feet I was moving 40kts downwind. When I reversed and encountered the light tailwind it wasn’t dramatic and touchdown was feather light.

During the flight I played with the trimmers. They let out much better and I was able to trim in but with difficulty. I hope they will smooth out with time. The 2D steering is starting to make sense. I tried the horizontal arm pull and was making slow flat turns. The straight down pull that activates the wing tip first and is more responsive. I liked the the non-linear response to brake input. WTS was clunky but convenient. It didn’t require much pull but I didn’t try to see how far I could pull the WST toggle. The friction wasn’t enough to prevent full retraction of the line.

Dispite the 100 % humidity. I was flying level cruise trim 2900 RPM. Climb was great and decent was about 300 ft/min. Density of Altitude was a factor.

While packing up I noticed that a county sheriff was chatting with an RC pilot a couple of blocks away. I didn’t want to join the conversation so I “booked it”quickly.

The tangled lines issue seems to be resolved, so now, I will work on a better way to position my hands while starting the motor. maybe it’s time to try The A-assists. Then Robert’s Throggle.