Stinger maiden on West Lomond

It all turned out a bit rushed but I was finally able to get my Stinger in the air on Sunday morning. It meant the two and a quarter mile hike to the North West slope at West Lomond but when I got there the wind was blowing about 30mph straight on the slope. Ideal for a maiden flight!

Landed after first flight.

A range test followed by a final check that all the waggly bits moved in the correct direction and the addition of about 320g of ballast saw the Stinger committed to the air. Not one click of trim was needed and it flew very nicely. EM seems to suit it well and turns can be tight without losing speed. The roll rate is a little bit slow for me so some tweaks needed there but the rest seems pretty close. Axial rolls and hands off inverted. Cool. Dive test showed no tendency to recover so cg must be close. Crow brake mixing seemed good too and landing was easy enough with the powerful braking action. More ballast was added to bring it up to 570g and the Stinger was off again. A lack of time means that I will have to explore ballast limits at a later date but is goes very well even when light. I would fly my Pike with at least 1200g in similar conditions but the Pike does carry ballast well. The concensus on the Stinger seems to be to keep it lighter.

Poser!

Dashed home well pleased.

 

Addendum:-

This marker stone is next to the path and well known



I spotted this less weathered marker stone is hiding in a boundary wall.
 

"Found in many places over the Lomond Hills these stones are boundary markers from when the land in the Lomonds was taken away from the commoners and divided up amongst the local Land owners. This happened after an Act of Parliament in 1815 and the name of the Kings Commissioner who oversaw the process was Sir William Rae hence WR 1818"