pics.....pics
----- Original Message -----
From: "Philip A Renaud" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:36 AM
Subject: [RCSE] Icon2 First Flight Reports
Well the weather finally cooperated and we flew the prototype Icon 2 on
Sunday 3 Feb. This is a big airplane, 1,258 sq in, 150 in span. Radio
equipment consisted of my trusty Futaba R148DF receiver, JR DS368 rudder,
elevator and flap servos, and JR DS168 thin wing aileron servos and a 4
cell NiMH AA size 1700 mah battery pack. With about 3 ozs of lead in the
nose the prototype came in at 79 oz ready to fly which put the wing
loading at a hair over 9.1 oz per sq ft. Weather was heavy overcast, cool
for Arizona (52 degrees F), very light wind. Field elevation at our
flying field is 2500 ft MSL. A standard 12 volt winch with retriever and
250 lb test braided line was used to launch the airplane. Distance from
the winch to the turn around was shorter than normal, about 170 meters,
due to the need to work around some grass sprinklers that had been running
all night. We elected not to launch the airplane for the first flight
using the winch rather than risk damage during a hand launch. The first
launch was spectacular to say the least! Using 10 degrees of camber with
the tow hook about 1/8 of an inch ahead of the CG and moderate hold back
on the winch, the airplane climbed absolutely vertically out of the
launcher's hands. The launch was straight with slight wing bend so I kept
my foot on the winch pedal through the climb and "bucket". The zoom was
good and overall launch altitude was much better than normal considering
the shortness of the line and lack of wind. While I didn't have my data
logger installed for the flight I would guess the launch altitude at
around 700 feet based on previous "eyeball calibrations" with the data
logger. The first flight was spent checking out controllability, elevator
trim settings, CG location, crow (butterfly) settings, etc. As a result,
I wasn't really looking for lift and, given the weather conditions, didn't
expect to find any lift. In spite of that duration on the first flight
was about 8 min 50 sec. The airplane slowed down very well for landing
with no tendency to fall off on a wing. During the course of the day we
put a total of 7 flights on two airplanes (my prototype and a
pre-production airplane)
My general impressions regarding the airplane are as follows. I was
surprised with how nimble the airplane is in flight. This airplane
doesn't exhibit the "wing heaviness" of other large sailplanes. Roll
control and general flying qualities are very similar to the Pike Perfect.
Secondly the airplane is responsive to rudder. Using coordinate rudder
and ailerons I was able to perform some very tight (about 3 wingspan
diameter) thermal turns. When forced the airplane will tip stall but
recovery is quick. We intentionally spun the airplane and again recovery
is quick and "hands off". As you might expect, the airplane has great
legs and can really move out if you're looking for lift. While we weren't
particularly searching for lift on Sunday, we did encounter a few very
light patches of lift during the day. The airplane seemed to signal these
well and a couple of tight turns in the lift produced solid climb
indications. Our focus this last weekend was verifying structural
strength and general airworthiness. All launches were performed pedal to
the metal on the winch. Wing bend never approached any areas of concern.
I am looking forward to doing some more serious thermal flying with the
airplane this coming weekend and do plan on flying the airplane at the
Southwest Classic Contest in Phoenix February 16 and 17. I am pretty
impressed with the airplane.
Phil Renaud
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