A few of us buddies picked up the Retro Rocket from Flitetest. This is the first completed Plane. Pusher prop power system from Flitetest with the optional thrust vector. Running an AR637 safe receiver.

It didn’t fly.

It’s set up as basic elevons and the thrust vector is set as the rudder. With the T.V. on the rudder channel it is steerable during taxi.

It seems to get enough speed to take off but then it porpoises and almost spirals back into the ground. The final attempt not captured on video, the plane finally became airborne but was porpoising up and down pretty bad.

Looking for some answers or tips here. Trying to figure out what the problem(s) were.

1) I think maybe the CG isn’t right? The cg was marked on the wings as per the instructions and it balances almost neutral but it does tip back towards the tail a little. A half ounce or so would make it favor the nose but it wasn’t so tail heavy that I thought it would be this much trouble to get it in the air…I also suspect maybe the safe receiver is trying to counter the possible tail heaviness and it just made the porpoising worse?

2) I think using the T.V. as a rudder on take off may be causing the corkscrew/spiral like effect as it rotates up into the air. Perhaps T.V. should be disabled during take off and regular flight?

Also worth noting the landing gear design is not very robust and the nose gear on the battery hatch cover was definitely not very durable. Maybe if taking off from a nice clean asphalt or rubber runway it would be okay but grass or dirt it’s not gonna cut it. I think the gear needs to be relocated or that hatch be made solid and the battery installed some other way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated in getting this model fly nicely! 😀

#retrorocket #flitetest #rcairplane

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