Maiden flight of the Moth

So here it is, the maiden flight of the Moth.

This took place on the Back of Wrecker at the Bwlch. On arrival, the cloud was very low, and sometimes low enough to engulf us in what the locals call, "clag".

A few of my flying buddies would be a bit hesitant about performing a maiden flight on Back of Wrecker. Out of all the slopes at the Bwlch, it is our least favourite, suffering from turbulence caused by the forest below, the patchy lift it sometimes produces, and the fact that if it all goes wrong, it can be difficult to retrieve your model as the cliff is almost vertical with a road at the bottom.

But we had about 17 mph of southerly wind, and I'd already sent up the Wildthing to test the air, so on I went.

I headed up to the brow behind the slope and gave the Moth a few test throws and found I had to add a few clicks of up elevator trim.

Mark did the honours for me and threw the Moth, but it nose dived straight into the ground. A few more clicks of elevator trim and Mark tried again. It probably helped that this time he was also standing closer to the edge of the slope as this time it went away without a hitch.

Due to the low cloud I had to keep the Moth low and cruise back and forth only. So now happy that she was trimmed, I decided to bring her in as the clag was beginning to come in and soon I wouldn't be able to see it.

Mark, Mike and myself hung around for a while, and eventually the skies cleared and I was able to launch her again, and she flew beautifully.

So now I just have to play about with the CofG until I find the "sweet spot".

Enjoy the video.