The first flight test at HMAS in 2017 after a incredibly hot and then wet summer…
The PC-9 now has a full instrumentation set and it was time to try it out. But with all the rain the runway was very soft and full of holes made by the cows, which share the airfield. So flying was dangerous. Luckily we only bent one main gear strut in the progress. Getting back into flight testing after three months break is quite a slow process and lots of things didn’t work yet as they should…
Other activities included flying Zi’s ‘birdy’, a mechanical bird with some interesting steering properties, as well as a load test with our medium hex equipped with new motors and propellers. The maximum load was 4.75 kg, which with the vehicle itself gives a flying weight of about 7 kg, falling short of the 11 kg predicted by bench tests of the motors. This may have been caused by the battery voltages dropping too much, since the vehicle draws about 120 amps in this condition. Therefore, we might need to try that one again.
Photos:
