Phoenix 2000 maiden

After almost 2 weeks of Easterly winds the wind finally changed direction with just enough speed to allow some serious South Gower soaring.  I was not the only person taking advantage of this small window of opportunity as tomorrow the wind is forecasted to be Northerly.
My latest and dare I say plastic Phoenix 2000 soarer was ready for a maiden.  I'm not really sure what possessed me to purchase a plastic and polystyrene plane but the cost of £47 ex P&P and video's of it's flight characteristic persuaded or perhaps brain wash me to think that it was a good decision.  As advertised it didn't take long and was an easy task to put together.  As mentioned on forums the supplied clevis's do appear to be very fragile and could possibly have been replaced but I didn't,.  However, I did decide to and an additional rudder hinge, my own motor, ESC, folding prop, spinner and not forgetting the 6 servo's

 

For the maiden I didn't programme any mixes and used Y leads for the ailerons and flaps.  Keeping it simple to start off with.   The CoG was set as per the instructions and when she left my grip into 20 mph of clean, crisp, off the sea lift there were no immediate flight corrections required, she just sailed off in a straight line whilst gaining steady height.  In fact it was a very uneventful maiden, she flew extremely well, at times I felt she could do with a little more weight and the rolls were a bit slow and not very axial but to be honest I'm glad as I can now look forward to a bit of tweaking and experimentation to further improve this gliders performance.  One thing which wont need any altering are the flaps, they did their job brilliantly and made my landings look quite professional.
Talking of professional pilots these two were looking very pleased with themselves


I was not alone this morning as an old Mumbles Modeller and his wife were also making the most of the favourable wind direction.  Kerry has be a modeller since 1954 and his vast experience is very evident in both his building and flying prowess.


Kerry and Caddy making their way to the slope


Kerry has had his Phase six for many years in a box but built it just a couple of years ago.  It flew beautifully and was very agile.  It was quite an eye opener so now I think  have a lot to learn to make mine fly better.