Floatna

This plane, modeled partly on FliteTest's trainer aircraft and partly on the Cessna 172, was my next personally-built aircraft. Once again, the Mustang was scrapped after a fatal crash destroyed the powerpod and crumpled the wing. I wanted an easy-to-fly plane that I wouldn't have to worry about destroying as much, and this influenced much of the design. You'll note that the gear is made using giant bush-wheels and weak suspension wire, so that impact can be easily absorbed(learned from the snappy gear of the last aircraft). This gear would later be replaced with metallic gear attached with JB-Weld, as this had a problem of jettisoning or folding. A video of my first flight of this plane is in the two-minute clip; it crashed due to overcompensation. I had to adjust the aileron throws. This plane also taught me about exponential throw, which saved me a few crashes. I adapted this plane to work as a hydroplane as well. This was a difficult job, however, as the plans I used for the float gear were designed for a diffferent model. I had to make several incisions to the bottom of the plane to get the right center of mass, and I think this led to significantly weakened fuselage structure. I also introduced a carbon-fiber propeller after losing way too many plastic ones (and somehow still broke it--- the prop tips were going quite fast, and carbon fiber at ~100mph does not react well to pavement).