Red Bull ready for test flights

Okay, after many hours of work, lots of custom fabbed parts, idea changes mid stream, etc..., the bird is ready for the sky.

For the very first test flight I will only be using two blades. No sense in destroying four at one time. I've done that with the Coast Guard project.

Because there is no pod-n-boom version to test fly first, this first test flight will be the most nerve racking I have ever had. This is the most complicated build I have done. It's a one off, no other one anywhere. I am pretty confident in my skills, but you just never know when something could go wrong, or if you forgot one small but important detail.

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First flight test hover. I am very happy to report the thing lifted off without any issues at all. It actually came up before I was thinking it would and surprised me a little. She wants to fly bad!!! So in the air and hovering very smoothly. Wow, I am impressed and very happy with what I have done. Some small adjustments and a little expo too and back in the air. So first test flight is in the books and very successful. Woohoo baby!!!

Second day test hover, but with all four blades this time. Everything goes very well as expected, so nothing new to report.

First maiden forward flight goes great. The heli handles like a dream. Second flight I hear something when I land, but so many guys were talking I could not tell what it was I really heard. So up for the third flight and around one minute in to the flight I hear some kind of strange noise. I land right away and find out the bevel gear TR transmission I made has become loose and is grinding up metal teeth. Oh crap, I hope this is not going to be a problem area. I get the heli home on the bench and remove the mechs from it. Do some small adjustment to the transmission gear mesh, new Loctite, and good to go.

So a few more test flights and everything seems to be working very well. Everyone (including myself) is amazed how smooth the heli is. I am truly loving this heli and it's a joy to fly. I am so looking forward to a great summer of flying it. With around 8 flights on it now I decide it's time to fly it like it was meant to be flown. Just like the full sized Red Bull, loops and rolls.

So the first flight went very well and as you can hear in the video, I was very excited. It flew like it was on a rail. My loop was a little tight, but it was the first one and I was not sure how the heli would handle it. So time for the second flight of the day and again we are off to a great start. This heli just flies awesome. So a couple rolls and then another loop. Well little did I know it would be a death loop. Turns out the stock Goblin 500 main gear was not able to handle the power required for loops. Being mostly deaf I was not able to hear the heli was in trouble. By the time I saw something going wrong it was way too late to do anything but blink twice. The video below shows both flights. The next page shows all the damage and repairs I have done so far.