[popeyepete]

Whilst i didn't maiden the Eflite Advance 25e today, ill post an update together with the HK Decathlon 48.9i which i did maiden this morning.

Eflite Advance 25e
As you all know and have told me, Eflite make great planes. Theres no exception with this one. First flight was like it was on rails, no trim needed, plenty of power and very easy to fly. Pretty uneventful first few flights, even took it out on that windy Sunday a few weeks ago, no worries at all. Today was more difficult with the soggy ground, as Kieran was pointing out i wasn't flaring enough and the front wheel just sank and stopped in the mud snapping the wooden blade. Very happy with this plane and good trainer to practice on.
Motor - G32
ESC - 60A Plush
Servo's - Hitec 225MG
Prop - 11x8 light Wooden
Batt - 3.0mah 4S
   

HK Decathlon 48.9 inch
Well, much more of a flyers plane this one, no 'bank and yank' here. My set-up wasn't spot-on so that translated to a difficult flight. First with the traditional cartwheel on the take-off, over corrected with the rudder..... Second take-off was ok, but very twitchy on the controls and all my trim was out, took me the whole 5 mins to get it flying kinda straight, and i was still all over the place. With Kieran coaching i was able to get it back to terrafirma in one piece.
My problems were..
1. One side of the elevators was out of level by about 3mm. Caused issues with a wicked roll when i pulled back on the stick.
2. Little tail heavy, this compounded the other issues.
3. The ESC was set-up for a heli, soft start. Yep and i still took her up.
4. Didn't set-up expo as i though with such slim ailerons, shouldn't need it. Wrong!

Aside from all this, i knew this plane would be challenging to fly and that's why i got it, and will try and try again.
Thanks Kieran for the coaching and tips today.