Learning to fly RC

by Robert
(Chicago)

I mastered my Slow Stick and figured I could fly my Avistar 40 just fine...
My Avistar was designed to be powered by a .40 glow plug engine, but I decided to convert it to electric. I put a 5055-650 motor on it as well as two 4000mAh 3 cell Li-Po batteries, and an 11x5 prop.

This thing had so much power that I had a hard time keeping it straight on the ground, due to the motor torque!

The weight of this plane was about 10lb. It was designed to be 5lb.

Well due to all the power, I did get it in the air and flew 2 or 3 circuits, at about 50ft I decided to try and fly it slow like the Slow Stick.
It slowed down quite a bit, but all of a sudden there was a gust of wind from the back, or a radio glitch, and I lost all lift. The plane was heading perpendicular into the ground. It was about 300ft away from me, I saw it smack in to the ground but the noise of the crash (a loud thud) did not reach me for a second or so (just like lightning).
I was surprised at the force of the impact, as the motor had dug into the baseball field about 2 inches deep. You would need a hammer and quite a bit of force to sink a chunk of metal that deep in the ground!

Well, I think that I'll practice more on the Slow Stick... I already purchased 3 Avistars and have plans for SPAD airplanes, which I will build a lot lighter and with less power. The experience taught me that balsa airplanes are very fragile, and that I need more practice!