Birdwing98, Thanks for the sub, and thanks for the kind words! Glad that you learned a lot from my ramblings! Happy flying! :) :)

+RC-Grundrauschen, Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm happy to hear that you found my explanations to be useful. Happy soaring! :)

Wow, thanks for the very nice compliments! :) I remember what it was like when I started out in the hobby when I was a kid, back in the '60s - well-before before home computers & the Internet. I grew up in a small town with no local RC club. But there was one guy who flew RC. I loved to watch him fly. He'd stop by the house & pick me up on Saturday mornings & we'd go to his flying spot. When he was done flying, we'd go to his shop & his wife would make us some lunch. He taught me how to build balsa models. I couldn't afford RC back then (the price of a simple 4-chan proportional transmitter back then was nearly $3000 USD in today's dollars), so I few free-flight & control-line. Years later, when I could afford RC gear, he taught me how to fly RC. I have never forgotten that. (He's now in his mid-80s, and still does some flying.) So I do what I can to pay it forward, so-to-speak, and help others learn the finer points of why aircraft behave as they do. Understanding the basic principles of flight opens the door. The way aircraft behave in various situations is no longer a mystery. BTW - it is people like you who make it all worthwhile! :) Happy flying!

Thanks for the kind words, Rick! :) I'm always happy to help others in this hobby. Once it warms up around here, I'll be flying & shooting video again. It's supposed to get up into the 50s this week. If it's not too windy, I'll take her up & see if I can find any lift over the spots in the yard that are no longer snow-covered. :) I'll have the hat-cam rolling & I'll probably do some commentary. I often do so when I'm flying.

Jeff, Thanks for the kind words! :) I'm always happy to help. And welcome back to the hobby! I started flying RC in '84, and I flew CL & FF for around 20 years before that. It's amazing how far the technology has advanced since then, and how much more we get for our money today. And now we're in the early stages of an RC equivalent to Moore's Law. The hobby has advanced further over the last 7 years or so than it did during the previous 3 decades. There has never been a better time to be in the hobby! :)

Thanks for the very kind words, Capt'n! I'm happy to hear that it was of help. Regarding music tracks - I agree. I'd rather hear the natural sounds of flight mixed with some commentary from the pilot. Especially considering the large number of pilots who choose horrible canned "music", rather than something tasty that fits the flight. That said - Precision Aerobatics team pilot Michael Wargo is not only one of the best aerobatic pilots today, he's also an accomplished pianist. He has posted some absolutely wonderful video of him flying to his own music, with natural sounds mixed in. Here's a clip of him flying PA's new XR-52 at the beach. Very tasty flying and playing! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gtObi8Knt9OUo6M.html

Thanks for the kind words! I've been flying RC since the 80s, but I just got into sailplanes a couple years ago, with a full-house Radian Pro. Picked up this little guy when it came out. Wasn't expecting much at this size, as Reynolds is very cruel to small gliders. I was VERY surprised! It can actually ride micro-lift! Given the large amount of misinformation that gets passed around regarding RC aircraft flight-trimming & tuning, I decided to make this video for those who are new to this facet of the hobby. Of course, all of the flight-trimming & balancing info also applies to your powered planes. If you can find a used copy of Dave Thornburg's Old Buzzard's Soaring Book, pick one up. Best book there is on the art of soaring, and Dave's writing style makes it an excellent read! It has been out-of-print for a few years & it's also highly-acclaimed - so prices are high. Also - I highly recommend the following instructional videos on RC soaring. You can choose the custom 3 training DVD set option & save 15 bucks over ordering them separately: www.radiocarbonart.com/secretsdvd/ www.radiocarbonart.com/performance-tuning-for-sailplanes/ www.radiocarbonart.com/hptsdvd/

Glad to be of help! Soaring is a fairly new side of the hobby for me. I've been flying RC since the early 80s, but I didn't get into sailplanes until 4 years ago, when I picked up the Radian Pro. I found that I love soaring! Wish I would have tried it a long time ago. When the little Radian came out, I was a bit skeptical, as the laws of aerodynamics are usually pretty cruel to little gliders. But the plane rides lift like a bird! I've surfed lift off black rooftops & asphalt parking lots! Anyway - have fun with yours! If you get into a real hat-sucker, put the plane into a shallow spin to dump lift & lose altitude quickly without gaining too much speed. Joel

+MrTurboparker I figured that out last summer when I suddenly realized I couldnt get my Apprentice down,it didnt matter how much elevator I used,the thermal was sucking the plane not only up,but away from me. I started panicing,then did what you said,I was able to break free. I though I had gotten cought in the jet stream but I guess thats way too high for that to be possible. scared the shit out of me eather way. I couldnt imagine getting that little radian cought in one,it would be like bye bye!

+MrTurboparker There is an RC gliders club that meets somewhere in Alberta Michigan. They used to hang glide there in the 80's. there is a spot along the Lake Michigan shore line that is perfect for doing the Shoreline type gliding. I wouldnt be too interested in it as they get to "IN "to it , for me. Thats probably why I havent joined the Local Hobby RC club eather. I have 80 acres for farmland to fly on. No nearby people to bother me. The few houses along the road are relatives of the family I fly from and all like seeing me fly. Its pretty laid back,no rules,except common sense. I am allowed to have guys come out and fly,but they would rather pay I guess. whatever.

you probably dont care but if you're stoned like me during the covid times then you can stream all the new series on instaflixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend these days :)

@Armani Julius Yup, I have been using InstaFlixxer for years myself :D

To clarify - the power-off CG test is performed at a 45-degree angle. The decalage test is performed at a 90-degree angle (straight down) to eliminate the effects of CG.

MrTurboparker Thank you for the clarification!

Hi David, FYI - AS3X is just a simple gyro-based 3-axis damping system - therefore, it has absolutely no means of knowing which way is up. (Attitude-awareness would require a 3-axis accelerometer in addition to the 3-axis gyro.) Therefore, the plane's orientation during initialization is not at all important. It can be in any possible position - as long as it remains motionless until the initialization process is complete. That's the only thing that matters. Happy flying! :)

Thanks for the kind words, Alex! The RP is a fun little sailplane that performs far better than any sailplane of its size should. Since so many people who are new to soaring are buying this plane, I decided to do a video on the finer points of unpowered flight, as a number of things are different from what people are used to with conventional powered planes.

Thanks for the kind words! :) Glad you found it useful. Regarding my tx - it's a Futaba 10 CHP, which uses plugin RF modules. (That's why I bought it back in the 90s.) I simply unplugged the Futaba 72 MHz analog FM module, unscrewed the telescopic 72 MHz antenna, and then plugged-in a Spektrum DM8 module w/2.4 GHz antenna: www.spektrumrc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdId=SPMMSFUT7

Thanks, Fishy! Yeah, it's a fun little sailplane. Very relaxing to fly, and easy to fly in a small space. There are some on-board video clips on the RCG thread, however I have yet to put my 808 #16 on mine. Given that it's a sailplane, flight-time is totally dependent upon how much you're on the throttle. If there's a lot of lift & you only use the motor once for the initial climb, you could get ~20 minutes to the 80% discharge point with a high-performance 160 mAh batt, such as the Hyp 160. If there's no lift & you fly it like a sport-plane, maybe 5-6 minutes - tops. In what I call buoyant air (not enough lift to thermal, but enough to significantly stretch the glide) I usually get ~15 minutes in the air with 4-5 minutes of that being on the throttle, climbing back up to altitude. Not sure what you'd get while carrying a 17g 808 cam. Again, it would depend heavily upon the lift conditions. I always set up two timers for my powered sailplanes. One is tied to throttle so that it starts when I barely advance the throttle & stops when I close the throttle, but does not reset. The other starts running when I load the model & I use the trainer switch to reset it before the launch. That way, I have separate timers for motor run-time & overall flight-time.

thank you for a very thorough post, appreciate the info. to capture video is a choice, other panes for that. I feel this will be a excellent. plane to grab go get a few flights and say WOW!. I am not in a mountain area just a city and a local park and flying around works for me. 15 minutes on & off throttle a few glides perfect. thanks again. just going to wait for that discount or coupon from HH. 20% flowers for valentines day no thank you, off the plane I am there!

Thanks for the kind words! :) Glad you found it to be useful! Regarding the black thing - that's one of the insulators for my home-brew ham radio antenna. It's configured as an inverted-L - 50' vertical & 50' horizontal, supported on each end & at the bottom of the vertical leg by ropes attached to a suspension system that allows the trees to sway without breaking the antenna wire. At 16:08, you can see the horizontal wire running from the insulator toward the other side of the yard & the rope that runs from the other end of the insulator, and back to tree on the right. What you don't see are the sixty 65-ft radials that run out from the base of the vertical section like spokes of a wheel. That's 3900 feet of wire! Well-worth it, though. I can talk to any point on the planet with that single antenna - day or night. :D

woo excellent, neat that ham radio lives on !

Hi Rick, Yes, I am a member of RCG. I go by 'Turboparker' on there.

Ah yes, the chap with farting field mice :)

LOL! Yeah, that's me. Can't claim that phrase as my own, though. Many years ago, I heard a veteran sailplane guy in the local club use it to describe the performance of his new 3-meter balsa ship! We all laughed so hard our sides hurt! Anyway....I thought it was perfect for this little bird, as she can stay up on seemingly nothing at all! In fact, I've surfed asphalt parking lot lift, as well as "roof lift" from houses! :D

The CG was spot-on with the battery where it's at in this video.

It's exactly where it needs to be to get the CG to the sweet-spot for proper performance. :)

MrTurboparker I have to keep mine half way of the compartment for the battery

That's why you need to always measure the CG & do the standard CG flight-tests to fine-tune the CG on a given airframe, rather than simply go by where others put the battery. I stress this in a number of my tutorials. As you can see in my flight-demos, my UMXR flies perfectly. :)