Making Progress on Phase III

[IBflyN]

Progress on Pegasus III - the fully autonomous flight platform. Ran the OS .46FX engine for the first time today. This is the engine I built from parts of 3 engines purchased off of Craigslist last week. After a 3 minute warm up it ran 21 minutes at 100% power on 16oz. of fuel or .8oz per minute. I've been modeling a 60mph flight at .5 ounces per minute. The 32oz fuel tank just barely fits in the fuselage. The plan for Pegasus III is a 50 mile flight in 50 minutes with 14 minutes reserve fuel. Time to climb to 10,000 feet is estimated at just 4.5 minutes. Flight control Servos and avionics will be relocated behind the fuel tank while throttle and nose wheel steering servos will be mounted 'under the hood' where the stock tank would normally be located - just behind the engine, along with the backup battery system. Maintaining center of gravity will be a learning exercise.

[john hestness]

Cool projects IBflyN.  I just helped a friend run a 2.5 mile flight (electric power), and we thought that was a long one!  I hope you make a few test flights of increasing difficulty before sending your plane off. Anyway good luck and if you need observers, helpers, etc. give a shout.

[IBflyN]

We have a progressive test plan in mind.  Thanks for volunteering.  we're a ways away from anything beyond line of sight.