Feather XL

This is my Feather XL. This is a four-servo HLG from Raptor Aerosports. The plane was test-flown on Friday April 27th 2001, and proved to have great promise. However, the pull-pull control of the elevator was unsatisfactory. I re-worked it in the evening, tightening the cables and straightening their run, and made a further test on Saturday. This time, everything worked great. However the weather was not very co-operative. It was quite windy and very gusty. I did manage one thermal flight of about 5 minutes.

Overall, I am very happy with the Feather so far. It has great energy retention, and is quite maneouverable. There is some adverse yaw when applying a lot of aileron at low speed, so I'll have to learn to use my left thumb more effectively.

Feather update! Flew the Feather again on 5 May 2001. Man that thing floats. It'll go up on the proverbial gopher fart. Gentle 9am California thermals were giving two+ minute flights just drifting around. Unfortunately, I was flying at an unfamiliar site, and had to take some evasive action to avoid some civilians. I broke the sub-nose (the bit that the nose cone slips over) by ramming it into the ground. I did this to avoid some hikers who "just appeared out of nowhere". Bad observation skills - must and will do better in future. The damage was minor - the sub-nose broke out from the fuselage but was mostly intact. I epoxied it back in, and re-taped the servos and switch, and everything seems fine. I'll range check the radio, and test fly it next chance I get.

Feather update 2 The repaired Feather flies as well as ever.

Here are just a few pictures of the Feather XL.