Round and round we go

A stiff hand throw and the Skywalker X5 takes flight 

Hand launching the Skywalker X5 has proved to be the toughest part of testing so far. Getting a reliable launch is a real challenge, she doesn't handle crosswind well and needs a dang hard throw to get her moving.

So today I thought  I'd take the X5 up for a series of circuits, to get as many hand launches in as possible. The drill was launch, do a couple of circuits, land and then repeat. This not only gave me plenty of practice at what is required for a successful hand launch, it also gave me an opportunity to hone my landing skills.

The real gem that I discovered was that after about 20min of running time the batteries started to run lower and hand launching became very dangerous because the takeoff thrust was noticeably less. Not that this is likely to happen in a 'real world' situation, but it's an excellent piece of flight performance data to know.

It wasn't the best landing of the day!