Sunday, April 8th, 2012 10:02 am GMT -6 Sunday, April 8th, 2012 10:02 am GMT -6Sunday, April 8th, 2012 10:02 am GMT -6
I could not wait to test fly this prototype. Even in mid-afternoon, the winds were unusually calm. This is the post-flight debriefing.
Summary
As feared, the model is very tail heavy. Otherwise, I was very happy with how it turned out. Directional and lateral stability were great. In fact, I thought it was very stable in flight, not affected much by gusts.
Pickerel article index and discussion thread in forums.
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Pickerel Prototype #2 Design Choices
Pickerel Flying Wing Introduction
Pickerel Flying Wing First Prototype Build
Pickerel Prototype #1 Completed
Flying Wing CG Location
Pickerel Prototype 3 Completed
Pickerel Prototype 3 Build
Pickerel Prototype 2 Build
Book Review: Tailless Aircraft in Theory & Practice
Pickerel Prototype 3 Flight Report
Pickerel Flying Video 2
Kilo3D Part 1: Goals and Background
Will moving your motor and prop to the center help?
Thanks for the feedback. A friend also suggested that I do that, but I seriously doubt that it will be enough. The CG is about five inches too far back. It is not an over-powered model, as most are nowadays. The battery is just not heavy enough to move the CG where it needs to be.
I put together a fancy spreadsheet to help me figure this out. I’m toying with the idea of a crescent shaped flying wing with little or no taper. I built a half scale version as a free flight glider and the results are very promising. Look for an article/video in a couple of days. The spreadsheet is really neat.