There’s a code yellow warning in the making says the weatherman. Don’t want to know what it is, but it sounds cold. I decided to go out anyway, and had a pleasant few flights. The plane must like the Jeti, since we are now finding thermal activity, when none would be suspected. I should not be surprised, but since I am still learning, I’m allowed to be surprised, ok? Seems what is happening at the moment is that the air temperature is dropping fast, and the land still has remnant heat from the very mild weather lately. So cold air above, warm land below, we’ve got thermal activity. I did find more of it in the direction of Lobith, it could also be that the nice people in the village all turned up their thermostats 😉 All in all I was pretty pleased with my 13 minute flight, launching from approx 120 meters (I’m using a 15 second countdown timer on the motor switch, the performance is not exactly ballistic, only pulling 25 Amps from the battery. It is clearly suffering in the cold near zero temps.) Time to go for that 4S setup! Maybe if the weather is bad tomorrow?
This is the result of the afternoon. Still a bit of a challenge to get it to show up nice on googlemaps. I must write down what I do, so the process is repeatable. The blob on the right is where I hung most of the time. Also did a few CG tests, and during the last flight, my prop did not want to fold anymore. Landed and checked for funnies, but nothing to be found. I put a fresh rubber band on the prop, and will retest soon. It’s a bit of a nuisance if you have to stall the plane, just to make the prop stop rotating! Landing with a running prop is NotGood. I also need fiddle with the vario settings, the current estimate is that the Insider has approx 50 cm/sec still air sinkrate. The vario settings should be so that it only sings when you enter a rising mass of air. Easier said then understood! And since I am very much in the setup phase, I know I can do better. Judging from the results of the 45 degree dive test, I need to shift the battery a bit further back. ( I think, must read G_T’s stories again.)