Tandem Wing Flight Test 10/15/17

Design Build Fly has had a good start for 2017-2018! We started off the year with many new members who are passionate to learn and be involved, as well as dedicated older members to kick off the new year. In preparation for the competition season spirit, we initially held several build sessions to design and build an aircraft to carry a dozen eggs. After this little warm up, we delved into the competition business with specific build team, design team, aero team.

To test our potential aircraft designs for DBF competition challenge, we held our second test flight on October 15th. We tested our tandem wing design and a conventional wing design.  Due to unexpected poor weather condition, there were several obstacles to get the tandem wing to take off the ground. To add on to the already existing challenge, the front wheel of the tandem wing plane was unstable, though we were quick to implement immediate adjustments to successfully send it up in the air. However, after taking off, it flipped over and crashed, partly because the strong wind, but it was also the result of bad center of gravity and aileron mappings for the tandem wing.

Nevertheless, good news for the conventional design, we had a fairly successful experience flying it even in the terrible weather. We tested the conventional wing by mounting a number of tools to the best of our ability on the training aircraft (aka Timber). The overall smooth take-off and flight verified desirable results for our conventional design.

Thanks to all DBF members who participated in this flight test, looking forward to more fruitful and fun experiences in the future and a better year for DBF competition!