2024-07-28 Foam Plane Flight Test
- Meghan Dang
- Daniel Puratich
- Derek Tang
- Manasva Katyal
Admin Preparation
Requested By | @Meghan Dang |
|---|---|
Goal Summary | Foam Plane First Flight Test |
Desired Airframe | Appa |
Date(s) | 28th July, 2024 |
Introduction
Purpose of this flight test is to test how well this flies in preparation for more expensive fixed wing program
Plane Information
Foam plane doesn’t have a flight controller, but does have a 5.8ghz video system
Link to Photos
Lead Up Construction Timeline
this program was completed over the course of 2.5 weeks, expand to see how time was allocated
Logistics
Date
Sunday, Jul 28, 2024
Location
booked by @Yuchen Lin
Transportation
Caravan
booked by @Smile Khatri
Attendees
max 6, anyone welcome as space permits
Name | Phone # | Sub-team | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
@Smile Khatri | 8076320853 | Mech | Driver, Plane Thrower, Ground Videographer |
@Meghan Dang | 9054648126 | EE | Foam Plane Pilot |
@Daniel Puratich | 2535143546 | Exec | Admin, Second Pilot |
Ahmed Saraj |
| Ops | Photography |
@Derek Tang | 4168186590 | EFS | Observer |
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Checklists
Flight Plans
Warmup
Flight 1
Flight 2
Flight 3
Flight Path Options
Colour Legend
Pink
take off/landing zone
Purple
flying path
Blue
pilot/observer zone
Path A)
Loop around Skidpad
Path B)
Loop around Field
Path C)
Figure Eight around Skidpad
Path D)
Figure Eight around Field
Flight Test Timeline
Date/Time | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
11:00-1:00 | @Daniel Puratich @Meghan Dang Meet in Bay, complete checklist |
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1:00-1:15 | @Smile Khatri & Ahmed Arrive, Briefing then Departure |
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1:15-1:30 | Arrive at WRESTRC, Setup |
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1:30-1:40 | Warmup Flight |
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1:40-1:50 | First take off |
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1:55-2:05 | Second take off |
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2:10-2:20 | Third take off |
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2:20-2:40 | Clean up |
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2:40-3:20 | Costco & @Smile Khatri gets gas |
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3:30-4:00 | Arrive at Bay, Debrief | @Smile Khatri and Ahmed good to leave after first debrief |
4:00-4:30 | Discharge Batteries, more debrief | @Daniel Puratich @Meghan Dang good to leave after this |
Debrief
Media
28 July 2024 - Videos
2024-07-28 Foam Plane Flight Test - Photos
2024-07-28 Foam Plane Flight Test | Link to Photos - DVR Footage
Date/Time | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
11:00-12:20 | @Daniel Puratich @Meghan Dang Meet in Bay, complete checklist |
|
12:20-12:40 | @Smile Khatri & Ahmed Arrive, Briefing then Departure |
|
1:00-1:15 | Arrive at WRESTRC, Setup |
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1:15-1:20 | Warmup Flight |
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1:25-1:27 | First take off |
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1:35-1:38 | Second take off |
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1:40-2:20 | Clean up |
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2:20-3:10 | Costco & @Smile Khatri gets gas |
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3:15- | Arrive at Bay, Debrief |
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4:00-4:30 | Discharge Batteries, more debrief | @Daniel Puratich @Meghan Dang good to leave after this |
Flight #1
elevator was there before flight 1, fell off during crash
Notes
elevator rod came off during crash most likely
feed quality was fine whole flight
no arming switch
should be implemented next rev
should have tested full throttle before flight
knocked off prop in landing
almost took off but needs more power to counteract wind probably
flight time
~10 seconds
Identified issue
motor could not spin the prop at full throttle
prop had too much pitch
lost elevator rod
Flight #2
changed prop to smaller pitch
verified motor works with smaller pitch
there was no elevator bc the rod came off
slight damage to elevator due to crashing position
flight time
~5 seconds
Identified issue
no elevator
Summary
Flight #1
Root Cause: Prop pitch too high for high Kv motor resulted in insufficient power to fly
Flight #2
Philosophy
not doing a full throttle test was a massive oversight, should've tested that and not thrown that one
an optimized airframe might be more important espeacilly with poor pilotting abilities
lighter will be easier, lower stall speed would be nice which I think mathematically works out, smthin bout reynolds number maybe im wrong lol
we're kind of on the edge of what can be easily hand launched, even tho no elevator in flight #2 it's kind of evident that the power would be enough to fly if it had built airspeed (which would've required elevator control to go down a bit lol)
prolly gonna sub 250g build to git gud going fwd, rlly wanna git gud without fwb before expensive fixed wing (post finals tho lmao, mfw pass my courses real quick)