[wingtipper]

hi , here is the maiden flight report of the yak 54, these were on special from hobbies in the hills for $99 needless to say i snapped one up before they sold out
the build ,
HK 60AMP ESC with BEC
Prop drive series 30-36 550w 1400kv motor
4x corona MG digital 929 12g servos .
3s LIPO 1800mah batteries
APC 11X5.5 PROP .

PULLED 59 AMPS STATIC AT 640 WATTS .

arrived down at the field on a windy day ( it was calm when i left) and windy when i arrived , id been practicing solo on the pheonix simm countless hours , and flying the cessna and extra 330 foamy solo for some time , also managed a few landings and flights with the LARGE MX2 via the buddy setup , so felt ready to send one up for a maiden , the fact no one was there made it all the better for the nerves .
anyhow after pre flight cheks and a little nose heavy setup , she was ready for take off .
ramp up to full throttle and up she went straight into a verticle climb !!!!! OMG I thought it cant be tail heavy , so i pushed elevator stick down and got some good height while trying to settl;e the panic .
1/2 stick down to keep it level was a worry , so i trimmed ailerons 1st , then to my surprise , 4 clicks of down trim and it was level flight .
it was then that i realised 50-% expo and low rate 45% throws = 1/2 ( 4 TRIM CLICKS ) lol .
anyhow the plane twitched and rocked all over the place due to a mad cross wind above 10 metres which was more like turbulance , it simply wasnt flying well . so a few minutes trimming and a few approaches was necessary for a landing .
the plane is super dosile and floaty at low speeds , but very direct and un self correcting at high speed . it felt safe and easy at low speed and unforgiving at hi speed , trun in at 1/2 speed rendered a little trouble against the wind turbulance , it needeed sharp turns to fight the wind otherwise it wanted to drop its tail and stall , even though it was nose heavy , so a 2 to one power ratio saved this as it had plenty of verticle power when needed .
anyhow brought her in for a landing . all was good .
upon inspection i noted that it still had a little up elvator suggesting a little too nose heavy , so moved new battery 10mm back , checked CG , checked trims( recentered sub trim ) and up again for another 4 min flight .
the wind was a little annoying for flying this plane , it didnt seem to like it . never the less , time to check the true CG , so went over the strip inverted , and only the slightest fall to the ground was evident , so this suggested almost a nuetral balance , slight nose heavy . purfect .
anyhow the thing just wouldnot sink on a few approaches , so i had to do some slow flying low circuits to try and get some short approaches , i was a little frustrated as the thing just did not want to sink as the prop windmilled quite abit after thrttling off , which made me feel like it was running on .
managed a complete flyover the strip at 6 feet high , and had to go around for the final approach , same thing except i throttled off earlier , the plane floated by and i was waiting for it to sink , however at about 5 feet in the air it suddenly stalled and dropped , with wings level
one of the undercarraige strutts snapped off the fuse .
so i guess my experience wasnt so bad but a little challanged on landing . the undercarriage is the week link here on these planes , so ill have to do a quick restrength - refitt .

after that i had 2 flights with the cessna , which made me realise how bad the turbulance and cross winds were , as that wasnt nice to fly either ,upon touchdown on this a wind gust crosswind lifted the wind and caused a cart wheel . ( no damaghe though )

time for the big gun .
the SRL EXTRA 330 FOAMY
THIS THING LOVES THE WIND , makes me look like a pro and pulled some great hovers whilst the wind blew it sideways , looked a treat .
anyhow the maiden report is minor damage to the undercarraige , other planes no damage , all up enjoyable day .
but frustrated that more work to be done both in strengthening /and repair to undercarraige , and sorting out the setup .
its good for a 4 minute flight with the 1800mah 3s batteries , and up to 5 minutes i would think . as each cell had 3.9 volts after flights .
and the motor produced heaps of power .