Having problems with my Falcon.

[karlak]

So, I can fly normal aeroplanes fairly happily, both LOS and now FPV :)

However, I have never had a Flying wing before.  I am having real problems with the Flyingwings Falcon, it is the version before the EVO. 

Basically, It just seems to want to spin into the ground.  I am sure I had the COG too far back at first as it was very "swoopy", so added a bit of weight up front.  This seemed to help a little and off throttle it actually glided not too badly, but still wanted to climb on the slightest throttle.  So I took out some of the "up" elevon (reflex ?).  This made it again a bit better, but still very very sensitive and a again a spin into the ground.  Took a little bit more reflex out.  Takes off quite smoothly half a circuit LOS, then turn to come back and she just spins into the ground again :(

At this point I give up as it has smashed the wooden camera holder and to be honest I am getting a bit fed up , LOL

I am now wondering about the amount of elevon movement I have. Is there a rule of thumb as to how much up and down elevon you need for a smooth flight.  My feeling is I have far too much movement, then over compensate, possibly cause drag and then the inevitable spin.

It has a Cyclops storm, so I have set that up with the elevon setting and expo on the Taranis.  I didn't even try it in stabilise mode as I wanted to get a couple of decent circuits in first to make sure it flies properly.

[rob.thomson]

CG is too far back.

Wings need to fly with a forward cg, and up elevator (reflex)

A typical symptom of a rearward cg is... it flies ok, then you slow down.. and down you spin.

[iwan_canobi]

How much expo do you have on there? The throws need to be really small on the falcon as the elevons are pretty big for the wing size. If you have the CoG where the manual states then its probably way tail heavy. Where is your cg from the (smashed :P) nose? I found the best performance with CoG about 175mm back from the nose. I really struggled getting my storm OSD to work with it, you will probably find that you need the gains way down otherwise it will oscillate like crazy.

I did a review video a while back which talks a bit about some of these points:

! No longer available

Skip past the unboxing section (first 3-4 minutes).

[iPeel]

The throws and CG looked fine last time I saw it Simon, were they the same after you changed the elevons?

I'm at the Bury Field tomorrow if you want to pop there.

[karlak]

I will double check the COG, but it is around 175.  I notice you used an X8R aswell.  I messed up here as I put it towards the rear of the wing, behind the COG line for convenience of wiring lengths, Doh!!  I will move this forward or go back to the d4r-ii out on the wing.  I also replaced the elevons with wooden trailing edge ones, as the foam ones were warped - badly warped.

Will watch the video,, thanks :)

[karlak]

The throws and CG looked fine last time I saw it Simon, were they the same after you changed the elevons?

I'm at the Bury Field tomorrow if you want to pop there.

Hi Neil, I won't be able to pop over till much later in the day.  Will drop you a text to see if you are still around.

I think the throws are a lot more now possibly, so will look at changing them.

[karlak]

OOh heck,, just seen on the video, your throws were 5-10mm.  I think I may know what the problem was -  ;D  :hammershead:

[Brucey]

Yeah wings don't need a lot of throw at all!

[jimbo19]

yep throws of 2cm will definatley do it ;)

[karlak]

yep throws of 2cm will definatley do it ;)

Yeh, cheers and thanks for that Jim .  Funny you weren't so well informed before launch ;)  and the subsequent 5 crashes  :clap:

[jimbo19]

I have to say the wing took its punishment very well , any other normal foamy plane and we would have needed 5 bin bags

[Brucey]

You should of gave us a call....... We could of helped collect the bits :P