The new Radian XL is a ....really good plane!

[GordySoar]

One of our clubmates got his RXL and had it at the field for its maidens today.  He let me get on the sticks and .... it flys a lot like a Paragon!

The prop is horrible, a LOT of slip and noise but not much going upwards.  Yet it works ;-). (we are very noise sensitive at our field, and while the RXL's prop isn't noisy it does do a lot of "trying")

It slows wayyyyy down for landings.  

The 3 axis auto thing still drives me nuts because it wants to argue with my thumb a little bit, and I got into this hobby to be the pilot, not the operator.  Still guess what? The Radian XL flies really well ;-).

The stab is surprisingly stiff at the trailing edge and there is little or no slop in the linkage, so it holds a solid attitude with speed changes.

Thanks to Ken for his report and letting me on the sticks.

Gordy

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Gantz <khg...@gmail.com>
To: louisvillesoaring <louisvil...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Jul 4, 2016 12:00 am
Subject: [LASS] It's a family affair..

Many families will find their way to the park to celebrate the Independence Day holiday this year. The same is true of the Radian clan who made it out to the field today to watch papa XL do a little sky surfing. Mamma and junior didn’t fly, they were just there to lend moral support and look good in the photo.

I ran out of the house so quickly when the rain stopped, that I ran right by the “hat cam” and forgot to take it with me. Papa Radian will surely show up in a hat cam video real soon though. He’s easy to see in the sky.

The Radian XL, which people are calling the RXL now, really is almost comically large. There’s no way it’s going to fit in the normal cradle that I use for working on and prepping various sailplanes. It’s kind of like Dumbo the elephant trying to ride in a clown car.

This was my one unexpected surprise for the day. The last battery and last flight on that battery almost turned into the last flight EVER for papa Radian. Apparently the rudder got jostled a little during the last landing and I committed the cardinal sin of not checking the flight controls before every single flight. I launched it and the climb seemed pretty normal until I tried to turn and realized I had no rudder. It was above the trees and heading for the farm field where John’s Radian landed recently. Then I got a little turn, and then no turn again.I had no idea why it wasn’t turning but I kept trying to get it to turn. All of a sudden it did, and it made about a 270 degree turn which had it coming back toward me but it was flying straight again. The only problem then was that all of our cars were straight ahead. I put out the spoilers and , to my surprise, by holding a lot of up elevator, had it descending almost in a flat attitude. It landed gently well short of the cars. When I picked it up, I took the photo you see below. The silicone “safety” strap was still in place, nothing was broken, yet the clevis still was able to detach from the rudder horn. I guess I got lucky a couple of times and was pushing the horn with the closed clevis. That is not a flight that I wish to duplicate any time soon! Now I will surely remember to check all flight controls before every flight!

All in all, I do like the way it flies. It will turn on a dime if you need it to and there were times when I felt I could almost set the radio down and go take a nap in my car without having to worry about where it was going to be when I came back. It just hung there in the sky. It almost reminded me of those old black & white videos of the Graf Zeppelin or Hindenburg. It almost ended up like the Hindenburg on that last flight.

While the general flight performance seems pretty good, especially with all of that heavy foam, It’s climb is a little lackluster. It doesn’t so much climb as it does saunter. It looks like a sailplane perched on a department store escalator heading up to Sporting Goods on the third floor. I didn’t have an altitude switch in it but it is highly likely that some of my climbs exceeded 30 seconds trying to get it well up there. It tracked very straight for the lone loop that I did, just to see how willing it was. I flew with 2200 mah batteries and had them strapped down pretty far aft in the nose. I know I was well behind the suggested 91mm CG. I don’t know exactly how far back though because the darn thing won’t fit in any of my CG measuring jigs and trying to balance it on one’s fingers while measuring is tough to do. 

All in all I’m very happy with the way it flew, even if it did try to scare me to death on the last flight. There will be more to come!

--
Ken Gantz 

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[Tailspin]

Have been tuning in one of my club mates and agree it is really a good flying plane.

We set the gain on the TX 3-pos switch to be 0,30,50 but with the air yesterday (Helen Keller special day) it was hard to tell the difference because the air was so smooth and light lift everywhere.

What I liked about it is that you could set up a thermal turn and just freeze on the sticks, the plane did all the work even on zero gain.

Going to make a lot of big buck planes (that I fly) look bad in the hands of a good stick and on a calm day. No idea in bad air yet but it is better than all the Paragons I have owned (3).

Jack

[Jim Carlton]

Not familiar with the model but does it have "stabilization" in the electronics similar to the micro stuff out there today? I imagine it's great for fun flying but is it approved or permitted in contests? Does it make much difference in the control of the plane? Gordy said it felt "weird" on the rudder? curious...

Jim C

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Jim Carlton

N8UAY

[bobj...@yahoo.com]

The Radian XL climbs a bit better and there is less prop noise if the stock prop and yoke are replaced with a 10X5 aeronaut prop and a 62 mm yoke. Both are available from Esprint Models.
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 7/3/16, 'GordySoar' via RCSE <rc...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Subject: [RCSE] The new Radian XL is a ....really good plane!
To: RC...@googlegroups.com
Date: Sunday, July 3, 2016, 9:51 PM

The Radian XL, which people are
calling the RXL now, really is almost comically large.
There’s no way it’s going to fit in the normal cradle
that I use for working on and prepping various sailplanes.
It’s kind of like Dumbo the elephant trying to ride in a
clown car.

[Tailspin]

Yes the plane has a stabilization equipped receiver and it is able to be set up on a 3 position switch (at least on the DX18) with three gain values. I set Rogers plane up with 0, 30 and 50 just to see what happened. Could not tell too much in the air as it was a very great Helen Keller day with smooth nice thermals all over and minimal wind so it was hard to tell if the unit did much in any of the gains I selected (do not know what the gain limits are as I never read the manual- not my plane). One thing that is kind of obvious is it helps on landing, especially cross wind which we were landing in at times (light and variable).

Not it is not legal for ALES contest as the rules state:

5. Any device for the transmission of information from the model aircraft to the pilot or timer/helper which would assist the pilot in finding, locating or centering on thermal or slope lift is prohibited. 

6. Any use of telecommunication devices in the field to communicate with competitors, their helpers or team managers while performing the competition task is prohibited. Academy of Model Aeronautics Competition Regulations | Radio Control Soaring 47 

7. Any device, other than the approved Altitude Limiter Switch, which is carried in or on the model and which enables total or partial independent control over the model, is prohibited. 

I talked to an LSF board member today on what to do at the NATS and gave my opinion that as long as the gain is set to zero, there would be no reason to change receivers. I do not know what their final decision will be but that is just my input as a flyer and competitor and Soaring Contest Board member. They may have a problem policing the settings but that is their decision along with the CD.

BTW, in the smooth air I flew the plane in, I did not see any of the rudder-fight that Gordy mentioned but again maybe if the gain was set higher I would have noticed.

Jack

[Pat McCleave]

Jack,

This is why I have lost interest in contesting and have started moving towards fun flying on the slope and Aerotow.  Why would anyone really care if a beginner came to the field to fly a contest and wanted to fly his new Radian XL.  I don't care how good the plane flys it is not going to be competitive against any of the super ships in the hands of even a intermediate class pilot let alone an expert.  At our Aerotows we have two rules, 1.) Fly in a safe manor, and 2.). Have Fun.  Maybe a third one and that is to come hungry because we are going feed you well.

See Ya,

Pat

Sent from my iPad

[GordySoar]

My personal opinion is who cares if a guy has it on his plane at the Nats?  Its certainly no advantage.

As far as "it helps on landings" ... you have to put that into context.  As in it helps a newbie keep from wrecking his RXL when it gets near the ground.

It does not help anything when it comes to improving contest landing points.  Anyone flying a RXL for ALES isn't likely hitting points with or without.

Just wondering Jack, how many 50's did you guys manage with the RXL? :-)

So again, there's no reason to worry about the self stabilization feature at the Nats or anywhere else. IF it helps build attendance, its a good thing!

On the "in general" column, a pilot who learns to fly using any kind of self stabilization gimmick, is a bit like a driver learning to drive only automatic.  Those pilots are unlikely to ever buy a 4m comp ship because --- "they are too hard to fly", and that's because pilots have to actually "fly" them.  

"Yes the plane has a stabilization equipped receiver and it is able to be set up on a 3 position switch (at least on the DX18) with three gain values"

Jack, the guy who spends his time programming a DX18 to make a flying beer cooler model fly partially by itself would have been better served reading an article on reading air in RCSD or watching one of Paul Naton's videos on the subject.  The shipping on the DX18 was probably more than the cost of the RXL:-) (amazing price/value by the way!)

These kind of gimmicks move RC into the toy range where buyers become operators, not pilots. They may fill the sky with more airplanes, but ?

Still, no reason not to allow its use at the NATS or at any ALES comp.  ALES is the special olympics of RC soaring, pilots only have to fly for 9 1/2 minutes and landings are measured in feet not inches.  That's not a bad thing, its a fun thing.  So a perfect place for something like self stabilization.

Gordy

[Tailspin]

Somehow you guy's kind of missed the point. I am only stating the rules that the LSF is obliged to fly by at the NATS, it is their obligation to AMA to do this unless otherwise specified in the sanction and in this case in the document that went out with the registration.

I could give a rats butt if a newbie flys with stabilization or not, that is not the point. The rules book is the point.

So the LSF with agreement with the AMA need to either follow the rules or publish the deviation from the rules that will be used at the NATS. That is the only point here and it is not opinion, just fact.

BTW, I also love aero-tow and have three ships equipped, but it not a contest. It is a fun fly and here we are specifying what is required at our national contest.

Jack

[Larry Jolly]

We are our own worst enemies when We look for reasons to turn people away from RC Soaring contests. I believe that we should encourage and  accomadate all those interested in participating.  L

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 6, 2016, at 9:23 PM, 'GordySoar' via RCSE <rc...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

My personal opinion is who cares if a guy has it on his plane at the Nats?  Its certainly no advantage.

As far as "it helps on landings" ... you have to put that into context. Madate As in it helps a newbie keep from wrecking his RXL when it gets near the ground.

[Larry Jolly]

Jack

This is not something the LSF board wants to do. We all agree that this particular item would prove irrelevant to final placing in the contest. The LSF was reminded by the AMA that we must follow AMA Soaring regulations at the Nats. They believed that in recent years the LSF had been     loose with rule enforcement and interpretation

Larry Jolly  LSF  President 2016

Sent from my iPhone

[Roger Van Elslander]

Jack,

For both of us to develop a better opinion on Stabilization.   I am offering you use of my Radian XL anytime you want to experiment.Take a look at this video on the relative gain setting technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc_e2E9qy6Y

This is something we should try. I will bring the RXL out to Sunday's contest but plan on flying the Mystique.

Regards, 

Roger 

\___|___/

Bent wings