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Coro-Plane lift off Sunday

John L

New Member
Marcus?
 

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GAC05

Quit buggin' me
This is ground control to major Tom, you've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is major Tom to ground control, I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
Here am I floatin' 'round my tin can far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do


..........
 

Bigdawg

Just Me
Okay - monday morning... Time for the update!!!!

Hellooooooooo... I see you hiding down there SignManiac...
 

SignManiac

New Member
Well everyone, the day didn't go as planned. We arrived at sunrise only to be plagued with issues. First one was a fouled plug. Never even considered for a moment the engine would fail to start. In all of our earlier engine runs, that was the one thing that always worked every time. Not anticipating that, we had no tools with us or an extra spark plug. So now we had to wait until an auto parts store opened on a Sunday morning.

After a couple of hours we located the plug and the engine fired right up. No sooner than we started to do our taxi test down the run way, one of the PVC pipe rudder pedals let go from a weak hot glue joint. Again, another trip back to my shop to get the PVC cement and some more safety wire zip ties. All this is beginning to shoot down our hopes for a simple lift off.

After making those repairs everything seemed to be looking up. The first serious run down the runway did not fair to well. The plane kept wanting to turn right. The rudder on the plane just wasn't big enough to counter the built in torque of the engine, even after we had enlarged the first version we built months earlier.

At this point the storms were rolling in and we made the decision to scrub the attempt. Not sure if we are going to rebuild the tail section or not. It might be time to try and build a different version using better stronger materials for the critical structural elements. I'm not about to endanger anyone's life just to have some crazy fun. I know I've learned a hell of a lot from this endeavor. I definitely know you can use coroplast in a build that will in fact work.

Time to take a break and ponder the next move. I have some video on the taxi way. I'll post it once I upload it to youtube later today. :) Thanks for all the Coro Fans out there who shared in the dream and the faith in adventure and risk taking!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upBvXcjNUho
 

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TheSnowman

New Member
Bummer! Hopefully you can do something to still get a plane off the ground, but good call, if it's not safe, it probably shouldn't be in the air.
 

letterman7

New Member
That's a bummer. Since it was on the trailer, that would have made a good test if it were tethered to say.. a 5 meter rope. At least you'd be able to see if it would lift off the trailer at speed!
 

heyskull

New Member
That is one mad looking flying machine.
All I can say is you are some crazzzzy people.

Do you not need tests and the airspace people to come and test your flying machine?
In the UK you couldn't just go do that (wish you could!) Guess you are living in the land of the free...

I know the Wright Brothers didn't but their was no one round in them days.
Good luck (you need as much luck as you can!)

SC
 
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