1st Flight

[GA-XSP-Pilot]

Finally the stars have aligned and I was able to take the XSP out on its maiden voyage. No problems other than the stupid-rookie-pilot-induced kind . No damage to anything except my pride, and a good reminder to order some extra props...haha.

I did manage to catch a sunset shot or two...

 

[Smitty1157]

Beautiful Sunset. My first voyage was that way also. It wants to tip to one side when landing. I know just hover and grab the landing gear and shut it down no more damaged propellers.

 

[Bonsy]

I too landed on too much of uneven ground, scuffed up prop. I made a landing pad but only used it about three times. I now look for better ground.

 

[GA-XSP-Pilot]

Landing was fine...but for some reason I was toeing out instead of in when shutting down the engines. Oops. (Left stick only from now on, and we'll save the toe-ins for emergencies.)

EDIT: No I wasn't crazy, the manual says you can toe out to shut down the engines, but I don't do that any more.

 

[Francois]

Very beautiful photo. I prefer manual landing even if X-Star is has good automatisms.

 

[GA-XSP-Pilot]

I haven't used auto-land yet...need a nice big level field to try that.

 

[Bonsy]

I haven't used auto-land yet...need a nice big level field to try that.

You can cancel auto landing at the last second and take over manually.

 

[GA-XSP-Pilot]

I've had to do that a couple of times when the battery gets low and RTH kicks in. It's pretty accurate as far as landing in the same spot it took off from...but where I was flying, 2 feet isn't accurate enough. Lots of uneven terrain and possibility of tip-over on landing.

 

[Flying skymaster]

I found some interlocking rubber mats at Home Depot . You can quickly snap together and it makes a big target to land on and if you tip over, no flying dirt and grass. If I get energetic I might paint them the same color. They also do not flap around in the downwash

 

[GA-XSP-Pilot]

Great idea...the only problem is that the ground has to be near level to avoid tipover on landing.

I've thought of a design for an inexpensive landing pad that can be used on (variable) shallow slopes...gonna build that soon.

 

[Cider Boy]

Ahh Yes, those landing blues.. I had the same for my first few.
I say catch when you can and pick your spot other times.

As to the photo ..great first shot if it is your first.

Did you use a filter?

Regards, Cider Boy

 

[GA-XSP-Pilot]

No filters were used...and that was one of the shots from the first flight. I've got about 10 hours on it now, thanks to the mild winter.