darrell

This is my first plane. I had no experience with any form of RC. That
being said, here goes.

Yesterday, after taking plenty of time (about five months), I finally
finished building a Sig Rascal kit. My son and I visited the local RC
airport this morning. My little Rascal was inspected from top-to-bottom and
stem-to-stern and after reversing the throttle servo and moving the rudder
to a different channel on the receiver, it was granted permission to attempt
her maiden flight.

Because of his skills, Steve, an employee at Hitec, was nominated to be the
test pilot. Because the Rascal is a relatively small plane and with the
wind picking up, Steve and his friend (Roger?) decided to hand-launch.
Three steps later and with a light toss, my Rascal was airborne! Yee-haw!!!
Bucking winds at the end of the runway, Steve managed to get the plane
turned. Granted, it was up the wrong side of the pattern, but ... hey, it's
still flying. He managed to cross the runway to the proper side and fell
into the patten. He brought it around once in front of us and near the end
of the runway found a thermal. Ten minutes later my plane was a speck in
the sky! What a rush! Hell, I not even flying it and I was excited! Steve
passed the radio to my 14yo son. Billy, in his infinite wisdom, decided to
fly the plane as if it were one of the sims we've been playing with for the
past two months. Hey, dad! Watch this! Can you say "Elevator down?!?"
500 vertical feet straight down, spinning the whole time! Steve tells my
son to knock off the elevator routine and my son pulls the plane out of the
dive. Meanwhile, I'm calming going nuts over here. "Bill, give him the
radio!" -- Over and over and over. Finally, my son passes the radio back
to Steve. We decided bring the plane in. Steve brought the plane down and
into the pattern. On landing, he set the plane down in a near-perfect,
3-point landing, right in front of us.

Post flight inspection indicated that I need to adjust the rudder throws
slightly.

Darrell

p.s. I forgot to mention; about half way up the climb on that thermal, the
engine quit. For nearly ten minutes, Steve flew my Rascal as a glider.
What a bird!

rumprider

Good for you Darrell, it's a great sport.

Regards
vincent

martin x. moleski, sj

Congratulations, Darren!

Thanks for sharing the story.

Watch out for those thermals when you're on your own.
I've seen light electrics get too far downwind to come
home.

Marty

malcolm fisher

My sentiments entirely. It's a great feeling and, if we're honest, we've all
been there and, hopefully, will continue to have some of those great
moments.

Malcolm

mk

That was a good day I'd say!
mk