Penguin 2

        Maiden flight - September 1, 2014

                    Final flight - September 23, 2014

The model flew great. The higher power package allowed for easy hand launching, although I used the Hi-Start a couple of times when the wind was light. I tried several new things with this version including getting the close range video to work properly, FPV distance flights and my first FPV landing. I also toured several of the landmarks around the flying field getting recordings on 8 flights before encountering a failure.

 

 

 

 

 

                   

 

 

Fly by of the hills to the Northwest. About 500 yards out from the field.

 

The far side of the abyss. I'm out about 800 yards to the Southeast and the video was breaking up.

The aircraft is headed to the Northeast in my turn back toward the field.

 

This is the flight path of the final flight on September 23rd, 2014. I was testing the video range using my short range clover leaf antennas. The video was noisy but usable at 800 yards out over the canyon.

Why the airplane spun in from an altitude of 250' is unknown, but I noticed the rudder was intact but in the full right position in the wreckage. The tail boom was completely intact and later tested to be functioning correctly.

The power  to the motor had just cut out and I was starting the turn back to the field hoping to land somewhere closer to my position.

The video telemetry was good at the time and was showing a solid RSS signal. I was able to locate the wreckage by using the video telemetry recording to get the GPS location and visual landmarks around the site.

Headed back to the field which is the white dot in the middle left of the picture.

The video was poor but I could make out the hills in the distance. I headed toward that until I could see the truck.

 

Here is the site of the crash. It took me over an hour to locate it. I didn't have my locating GPS with me so I finally went and reviewed the telemetry recordings to get visual queues to the final resting place. It was about 400 yards to the East from the field.

I had already removed the GoPro camera when this picture was taken. The motor and prop were undamaged. The tail-boom had broken away but was otherwise undamaged.

 

 

Just before the crash the motor unexpectedly quit. I was turning back toward the field to land when the airplane spun in.

The yellow lead for the throttle channel was found to be disconnected on the ESC. This explains the motor stopping but not the full right rudder that apparently caused the spin.

The rudder is one of the channels that is not  monitored by the data logger.

The wings were mostly undamaged with the exception that both ailerons were completely torn away, one split in half.

My servo covers stayed in place and the wing servos were undamaged.

My GoPro mount survived intact with only the lower collet and drive gear were missing. They apparently were pulled from the shaft when the top section separated from the lower mount.

The spruce mounts are still in place for the lower section having been torn from the foam fuselage.