After a rather long hiatus I finally got my jets back in the air at Princeton Jets.
09-27-2016, 07:16 AM
#1
After a rather long hiatus I finally got my jets back in the air at Princeton Jets.
Having not been able to attend a jet rally since spring of 2015 it was sure nice getting back out this past weekend to Princeton . With a freshly paved runway and weather that was just about the right temperature it was a great time.
With the exception of one old BVM T33 that was originally built as a ducted fan in the mid 90's I had the oldest jets at the event I think!
I loaded up my car with my BVM Bobcat XL, CAI Raptor, and of course my JMP Firebird.
The raptor hasn't flown in 5 years and the firebird hadn't flown in 3 years.
I flew the bobcat a few times first. It still has an old P70 from about 2000. One of those engines that once I taxi out, line up on the runway, I give it full throttle, go grab a coffee, have breakfast, chat with the rest of the pilots and by the time I get back to the flightline it's almost spooled to full power haha. Ok, not that bad but it is definitely not a fast spooling engine. At any rate, it never missed a beat, just kept going and going and going.
Many comments from the peanut gallery made about my lack of throttle usage and gasps when the stick did actually come back. hahaha.
Then I carried all the gear out to start the Raptor. Still strikes me as odd when people are asking what the scuba tank and all the other crap I carry out is for. Having not flown or run the old AMT Pegasus in 5 years it was really anyone's guess as to how it would go. I needn't have worried, the engine was up and running in seconds with that nostalgic air start sound.
I had forgotten just how amazing that old Raptor flies, to this day still the best all around sport jet I have ever flown. You guys can keep your bandits and flashes and whatever else, I hope to always have a raptor.
The next day I summoned the courage to fly the Firebird again. The big Olympus HP flashed up with what seemed like no time at all and at full roar that engine still never fails to impress, not just me, but everyone who heard it. The Firebird, what can I say about the Firebird, it's an absolute thrill to fly, it adrenalize's and terrorizes all at once. The sound of the air moving over the airframe, the smoothness of the airplane, and the sound of that Oly coming to full crank is what jet modeling is all about. The comments from the other pilots and spectators about how they've never seen an RC jet that is actually flying ahead of the sound was very cool, the whistle the jet makes when you come by full power and then pull power back and pull into a hard climb is amazing.
All my flights were without incident outside of my brakes deciding to misbehave on the raptor on landing. They didn't come on when I wanted, and then suddenly locked up causing one of the tires to come off the rim. After 16 years the rubber on the tire was just too old and when I tried to put it back on it just came apart, what a drag.
I know that pretty much every turbine manufacture out there today has smaller and lighter, more fuel efficient engines than AMT, but there is something about the power and sound of the AMT's that just makes me giddy. That old Jetcat just keeps going too. The bobcat is always consistent and it actually amazes me that the airframe hasn't come apart on me with the constant full throttle flying and hard pulls. The CAI Raptor, it's such a shame that they went under. I do feel that the Raptor is the best all around sport jet ever designed. Many will argue with me stating that it's heavy but I love how it flies. It is heavy, and you feel fully in control at all times, on landing there is no floating, no bouncing, nothing unexpected, just a locked in beautifully settling jet all the way to touch down. And the firebird, everytime I fly that jet it's magic, it just keeps going faster and faster with every circuit, I am going to need to invest in some bionic vision soon to fly it any further out than it goes though!
What a great weekend, people can laugh all they want at my old school airplanes, but they just keep working and I am a very happy jet guy!
With the exception of one old BVM T33 that was originally built as a ducted fan in the mid 90's I had the oldest jets at the event I think!
I loaded up my car with my BVM Bobcat XL, CAI Raptor, and of course my JMP Firebird.
The raptor hasn't flown in 5 years and the firebird hadn't flown in 3 years.
I flew the bobcat a few times first. It still has an old P70 from about 2000. One of those engines that once I taxi out, line up on the runway, I give it full throttle, go grab a coffee, have breakfast, chat with the rest of the pilots and by the time I get back to the flightline it's almost spooled to full power haha. Ok, not that bad but it is definitely not a fast spooling engine. At any rate, it never missed a beat, just kept going and going and going.
Many comments from the peanut gallery made about my lack of throttle usage and gasps when the stick did actually come back. hahaha.
Then I carried all the gear out to start the Raptor. Still strikes me as odd when people are asking what the scuba tank and all the other crap I carry out is for. Having not flown or run the old AMT Pegasus in 5 years it was really anyone's guess as to how it would go. I needn't have worried, the engine was up and running in seconds with that nostalgic air start sound.
I had forgotten just how amazing that old Raptor flies, to this day still the best all around sport jet I have ever flown. You guys can keep your bandits and flashes and whatever else, I hope to always have a raptor.
The next day I summoned the courage to fly the Firebird again. The big Olympus HP flashed up with what seemed like no time at all and at full roar that engine still never fails to impress, not just me, but everyone who heard it. The Firebird, what can I say about the Firebird, it's an absolute thrill to fly, it adrenalize's and terrorizes all at once. The sound of the air moving over the airframe, the smoothness of the airplane, and the sound of that Oly coming to full crank is what jet modeling is all about. The comments from the other pilots and spectators about how they've never seen an RC jet that is actually flying ahead of the sound was very cool, the whistle the jet makes when you come by full power and then pull power back and pull into a hard climb is amazing.
All my flights were without incident outside of my brakes deciding to misbehave on the raptor on landing. They didn't come on when I wanted, and then suddenly locked up causing one of the tires to come off the rim. After 16 years the rubber on the tire was just too old and when I tried to put it back on it just came apart, what a drag.
I know that pretty much every turbine manufacture out there today has smaller and lighter, more fuel efficient engines than AMT, but there is something about the power and sound of the AMT's that just makes me giddy. That old Jetcat just keeps going too. The bobcat is always consistent and it actually amazes me that the airframe hasn't come apart on me with the constant full throttle flying and hard pulls. The CAI Raptor, it's such a shame that they went under. I do feel that the Raptor is the best all around sport jet ever designed. Many will argue with me stating that it's heavy but I love how it flies. It is heavy, and you feel fully in control at all times, on landing there is no floating, no bouncing, nothing unexpected, just a locked in beautifully settling jet all the way to touch down. And the firebird, everytime I fly that jet it's magic, it just keeps going faster and faster with every circuit, I am going to need to invest in some bionic vision soon to fly it any further out than it goes though!
What a great weekend, people can laugh all they want at my old school airplanes, but they just keep working and I am a very happy jet guy!
09-27-2016, 03:47 PM
#8
Nice Jeremy!! Obviously you are still strongly addicted. 
I fully understand the Adrenalized Terror you experience when launching a model like a Fire Bird, (It’s no
Boomerang), but it must be a fantastic feeling when you pull off a great flight followed by a text book landing.
That’s why we do it I guess, at any level.
Thanks for the reminder.
I fully understand the Adrenalized Terror you experience when launching a model like a Fire Bird, (It’s no
Boomerang), but it must be a fantastic feeling when you pull off a great flight followed by a text book landing.
That’s why we do it I guess, at any level.
Thanks for the reminder.
Last edited by roger.alli; 09-27-2016 at 03:49 PM.
09-27-2016, 04:02 PM
#9
Forgot all about Princeton Jeremy , I could have come up there and flown my Raptor with you. I went flying at the local field that was having a scale event. There can't be to many Raptors flying anymore, I have to agree with you about how it fly's, after the test flight on my comparf Hawk they asked me how it flew and my response was, Its no Raptor.
09-27-2016, 04:34 PM
#10
Yeah man, I have Vic's first firebird( see pic). I had it beautifully setup with a Kingtech 210 but currently is apart as I'm trying to figure out an issue. When the gear come down it wants to turn left quite hard and I'm not sure why. When everything is up and clean, it's the smoothest flying jet I've ever flown rock solid. Hopefully this thread will give me some motivation to work on it. It's been sitting for a year or two now
Last edited by txshan130; 09-27-2016 at 04:37 PM.
09-27-2016, 05:29 PM
#11
I remember watching Vic fly that jet the year I was at superman. I think he had an AT280 in it didn't he? That one and Tom's Olympus powered one was the first time I saw the Firebirds fly. I was sold right then and there. That was either 2003 or 2004 I don't remember for sure.
I can't think of any reason the airplane would turn any direction when the gear drops unless one of the main doors is really crooked and when it opens it acts like a rudder but even then it would have to be WAY out. That Firebird is an early one, do you know if it has the original fin with the lower ventral fins or if it has the later bigger vertical fin? Does Tom have any idea's as to why it might be turning left?
I can't think of any reason the airplane would turn any direction when the gear drops unless one of the main doors is really crooked and when it opens it acts like a rudder but even then it would have to be WAY out. That Firebird is an early one, do you know if it has the original fin with the lower ventral fins or if it has the later bigger vertical fin? Does Tom have any idea's as to why it might be turning left?
Yeah man, I have Vic's first firebird( see pic). I had it beautifully setup with a Kingtech 210 but currently is apart as I'm trying to figure out an issue. When the gear come down it wants to turn left quite hard and I'm not sure why. When everything is up and clean, it's the smoothest flying jet I've ever flown rock solid. Hopefully this thread will give me some motivation to work on it. It's been sitting for a year or two now
09-27-2016, 05:41 PM
#12
That's cool..I wasn't into jets back when this beast was built. When I got it from Paul Bingham and his dad, it still had the original 280, SP version I believe. It definitely is a v1 . Vic sold this one and bought a V2 to see if it made any difference in knife edge flight. I am going to see if I can have doors sequenced to go up after the gear retract down. That's really the only thing I can think of other than a fuel tank issue(unfortunately they are not removable so that's a harder to work on). I checked the incidence on the flaps and they are both the same so at least I have that ruled out..
