After completion of the now-routine crash repairs, the Radjet was up for its first flight with all mass balance mods completed, giving it the best possible chance of flying decently.
A gentle westerly was blowing as I launched the Radjet on max power, helping it climb quickly into the overcast sky. Happily, I soon discovered that the Radjet was now flying much better, although I still had it blasting around the skies of full throttle as I was still concerned about it losing lift and stalling. However, after a few heart-stopping episodes, I managed to calm the beast down and bring it in nicely for a good landing.
Reflecting on the flight I realised that, with it's improved flight characteristics, I no longer needed to be flying it at full pelt just to keep it in the air, so I decided to give it another go at a more moderate pace. Finally an opportunity to experience how the Radjet should fly...
Which, I can tell you, is really very well. It's stable, fast and responsive, with a super-high snap roll rate with just a flick of aileron. Also, its now docile enough to be able to fly around at moderate throttle settings. So all good except that, as I made a circuit of the field, the Radjet passed behind one of the trees. Now this is a common enough occurrence that has happened frequently with the gliders. But this wasn't a stable-flying glider...
After a second with still no sign of the little plane I ran to the fence for a better view, occasionally feeding a bit of elevator in the hope keep the plane from crashing. As I stared across the paddocks hoping to catch a glimpse of the Radjet in flight it was as if the plane had vanished into another dimension. It had just disappeared!
Not for the first time I climbed through the barbed-wire fence and went walkabout in the paddock. The cattle had fortunately gathered to graze at the far end so there was no trouble from them, and I greeted the curious observations of the kangaroos with a friendly hello.
After tramping through the swamp and up and then down the hill, I finally spotted a small orange fin of Radjet sticking above the grass. I hoped that gliding down without power it had managed to land without incident, however on reaching the plane it was clear this was unfortunately not the case: the nose was almost completely ripped off and the fuselage splayed open. In fact it exhibited the classic "peeled banana" look as if there had been an explosion in the cockpit.
Still, at least it would be repairable with the usual suspects, super glue and fibre tape...
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