Icon A5 fresh build and flight

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After wrecking the Icon last time I decided it was time for a new fuselage. So I rebuilt it. It’s basically a new plane.

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When I first went to fly it I noticed some nasty servo grinding on the rudder servo. So I had to bring it home and did the throws on the front wheel. It was binding against the control rod and causing the servo to grind.

With the front wheel fixed good enough I was ready to fly!

It took a while to setup my radio.

These are my rates.

  • 50% - EXPO 20

  • 70% - EXPO 70

  • 80% - EXPO 80

Sometimes the throws change when moving from spectrum to frsky. And the stuff I read said to set them at 80%. That might be another reason my rudder was grinding. I had it at 100% when I first put the L9r receiver in.

Turn off sound!

The flight was fine. I took off line of sight. I flew a bit to watch and see what trims need adjusted. It was definitely nose heavy. But that’s normal for this plane. It has always felt a bit like it is pulling a parachute. It would probably be better on 4s.

Video Transmitter

The video feed cut out a couple times which is not normal. I was using a new antenna and a new power harnes so I could power everything from a single battery. I installed a capacitor, but I still don’t quite trust this setup. I think I’ll go back to a second battery . Removing the second battery probably threw off the CG.

Landing

The landing felt right. I could have flared more, and it was coming in pretty fast, but It didn’t feel hard enough to completely sheer the front wheel off!

I don’t know what to do. Maybe I just leave this as a water plane and try it at the lake again? I’m not sure I want to buy my third set of landing gear!

Second opinions

I write these basically the moment I land. I want to capture what’s going through my head in that moment so I don’t forget.

After watching the video you can see jello in the feed. That means the plane was vibrating. I usually don’t have this much jello. Last crash I nicked the prop a little and I think it’s worse than I thought. So I probably need a new prop too.

I think I need a proper LC filter to ensure solid video. I’ll probably have to add that to my builds moving forward.