Petete — a flying boat design from the Petit concept.
Water glassy, sky overcast and threatening drizzle. Switched on, closed hatches and did a range test — no problems. Sat Petete on the water and took a quick pic before she drifted away — that's the only pic I have, as the challenges of taking photos while even taxying exceeded my available brain and finger channels.
Taxied around a bit to check water handling — lovely! She steers very positively at low speed and power with the water rudder — turn radius around wingspan or less.
Added a bit more power to see if she planes, and up on the step she popped! A smidgen more power and we were flying — yeehah! Climb rate is healthy, no major pitch trim change with throttle and nicely stable.
Rudder response is a bit fierce — feels like maybe a bit more fin area would be useful — a hint of the wobbles in yaw/roll if I am a bit too positive on the stick.
Approach and alighting — zero drama, even when I arrived with a bit of bank and touched an outrigger — just slewed heading and settled on the water.
Electronics:
Motor + ESC
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Strong Santa Ana conditions on Jan 19 2021 provided enough wind for Spencer Lisenby to bring the dynamic soaring speed record back to its birthplace of Parker Mountain, CA
