**Please read before commenting. *UPDATE. See this newer video if your considering buying ANY pusher plane. My retracts and ducted fans upgrade flight! [ Ссылка ]
If you follow my channel, you know I am no newbie and for some to say I asked for it or should have done it differently is disappointing, especially when I am the one hurt, the hospital charged me $2400 for xrays, Tetanus shot, 27 stitches and 2 repaired tendons, when I followed the manual's launch instructions word for word. See previous good hand launches in my Product review vid and my second one here: [ Ссылка ] and [ Ссылка ] My latest is a very efficient SELF CONTAINED CATAPULT I built. Watch this. [ Ссылка ]
Note that throttle arming had nothing to do with my hand injury. I only mentioned the Throttle arming because I followed instructions in the manual and that is the way it bound up. It arms the motor as soon as you plug in the battery. I usually program a throttle cut in and mentioned it in case a new person forgot. In older Electrics we used to put the throttle at full. Then when it was time to fly, you would bring the throttle down to idle to arm it.. You can see this procedure where I am using the Electrifly 22-25 ESCs on my Giant Stormlauncher. [ Ссылка ] It has SAFE START. Here is right from their manual.
SAFE-START: As a safety precaution to prevent the motor from rotating when the battery is first connected, you must “arm” the ESC every time you connect the battery. The propeller will NOT rotate until the ESC is armed. To arm the ESC, move the throttle stick to full position, then back to off (or brake). Now the motor will rotate anytime the throttle stick is advanced away from the off position.
Because this big plane is hard to handle to prepare for launch, I think the manual should mention to program in a throttle cut. This plane is hard to pick up by the tip and barely has enough power to fly out of your hand at launch. I know and I tried. It would also be extremely difficult to somehow launch it discus style with the elevon there and that 7" tall winglet rudder that is also on the tip. I know how to do it , but not with this plane.
It's not like launching my SMALL F-27 Evolution or 1.2M Opterra. So I followed the instructions word for as I did for the video I made of my product review earlier where nothing happened bad. [ Ссылка ]
We are only talking about a Half inch of clearance that I needed to keep from getting cut.
Here is word for word what the Opterra 2M manual says about launching.
1. Put the aircraft into launch mode with the channel 5 switch. (in my first video that did not work, it went into the ground)
2. Hold the aircraft in one hand and the transmitter in the other.
3. Apply full throttle and throw the aircraft directly into the wind, angled slightly up (5 to 10 degrees above the horizon).
4. Climb to a safe altitude and check the trim.
I know others have their own ways, and either way, my Dolly is the safest solution for me.
The Opterra 2M manual also says nothing about throwing it with the motor off, so if a newbie followed the instructions, like I did, I'm showing what could happen, in case a gust of wind got them or something else. Nothing is 100% and no matter how good you can throw, this big 7 foot wing with a 10 inch prop spinning right next to your face, is risky.
Maybe a gust of wind, maybe my 73 year old left arm was weaker, or who knows. But either way, if it happened to me launching the way I thought was good (and the same as all my previous launches.) So if it can happen to me, it can happen to others, and that is the warning I want to present.
Gloves
Thanks for that suggestion and I tried that already, because it was cold, but trying to hold on to the tiny finger grips on the bottom of the 7 foot wing with a thick glove under full power would be difficult when under power and then trying to fly with it on and also difficult to fly the transmitter, so although that sounds like a good idea, it would probably not work that well. We are only talking about a Half inch of clearance that I needed to keep from getting cut.
Landing gear.
If you saw my Product review video, [ Ссылка ] you would see those wings aren't as strong or thick as you would think. I would have to add a nose wheel servo and make it a trike as well. And since the prop on the back is 10 inches, the landing gear would have to be quite long or retractable prop would hit the ground on rotation or landing.
And to see another fellow who got whacked with a smaller plane, click here.
[ Ссылка ]
Dave
Music Score by Http://www.bensound.com
