Glow Adventures Pt3

(Originally Published Aug 11, 2022) 

Yesterday was a lovely day of low wind and a great day to get out. As seems to be the norm at the club, that means crosswinds, but very mild ones.

As I had some maintenance to perform in the evening, I was able to duck out of work early and head to the field. Surprisingly nobody was there despite the delightful weather. 

This meant that for the first time I'd be flying the LT-40 with nobody around to help sort the engine if I ran into any issues. Luckily I didn't encounter any except the engine not wanting to restart when warm, but that proved to be nothing more than my Kwik-Start needing a charge. Put the backup wired glow igniter on and it started right up after a couple flips. 

Got 3 good flights in, and starting to try some mild aerobatics on the LT-40. I moved the CG back a touch which has helped a bit, more to come there. I may also shim the wing to get some of the incidence out, right now it's flying with visible down elevator trim. 

The first couple flights were 5-6 minutes long, I came back with plenty of fuel. The last one I decided to see if I could run out the 9 minute timer on a tank. Turns out I couldn't quite get there, the engine quit on the far end of the downwind leg and I didn't quite get back on the field deadstick, put it down gently in long grass about 30' from the runway. No damage, but I probably could have got it back if I'd realized I was gliding and not just puttering along at 1/3 throttle sooner. 

The deadstick was also due to running rich, I'm pretty sure if I'd peaked out the engine properly on start that I would have had enough fuel to fly the full 9 minutes. I've only run about 5-6 full tanks though the 46AXII and I'm still leaving it rich for a few more tanks to make sure it's well broken in. For now I just reset my timer to 8 minutes. The builder of my LT-40 put a smallish tank in, I might end up putting a larger tank in over the winter. 

It's interesting how starting to fly glow and moving up seriously in aircraft size has really put me back into a sort of 'new pilot' mindset. I'm a reasonably solid and confident pilot on the smaller electric stuff I regularly fly (mostly 40-50" span), but I noticed when I maidened my Valiant 10cc earlier this year that I did not feel nearly as confident flying a much larger (~70") aircraft. They do fly differently than the small stuff. Adding glow to the mix as well, with the new pre-flight skill set, different failure modes and different throttle response has just added to that. 

The LT-40 also flies very differently from what I'm used to, when I came back to the hobby in 2015/2016 and did my flight training I used the 1.3m Valiant, which while docile at mid-throttle is a very much more precise flying aircraft than a traditional trainer is. I hadn't flown something like the LT-40 since 1989 and it feels really different. The big Valiant does fly more like the small one in terms of precision, but speed and power is more like the LT-40 (I'd say the stock Power 46/4S power system on the Valiant 10cc is nearly identical in power to the LT-40/46AXII given the two aircraft have similar size/weight and span, my prop change on the Valiant makes it more sporty for sure). 

The last piece is just how much familiarity with the field leads to confidence. With my main club activity switching to the new club due to location (it's closer to my home) and allowing fuel planes, I've had to get used to a new field with very different challenges. A lot more serious crosswind flying and trees in the approach path instead of short finals to avoid overflying a highway and whatever crops are in the current farmer's field (corn this year at the old club). I'm getting more comfortable with the new field though, although I still don't have the final turn point nailed for flying a left-hand approach as that side has no trees to use as turn point indicators.

The result of this is twofold, I've been really leaning on the CFI at the club for guidance on the glow side of things (he's a pretty dedicated glow guy) and he's been a great help there. The other part is I just need to fly more to build confidence. The more I fly the LT-40, the more comfortable I get with it and I expect the same from the Valiant once I start flying it regularly. I've been somewhat hesitant to fly it because of those confidence issues and the overall investment I have in it. The irony of course being I need to fly it more to get that confidence that is preventing me from flying it more.