Joe’s Yak 100 launches his Spark EDF Jet at the Wenatchee Huckfest!
This is something you don’t see every day, a 100cc 3D plane launching a composite EDF jet! Joe and Kody teamed up to give us a bit of a thrill during one of the brief breaks in the action at the Huckfest.
In this video, Kody takes up Joe’s big 100cc size electric powered Yak and gives Joe a flying start to do a few speed runs with his EDF Sparks Jet. This EDF takes up much too much runway to get off the ground at Joe’s local flying field so he came up with this launch system to save him a 3 hour drive every time he wants to fly it.
You have no idea how hard it was to keep this little fast mover in the viewfinder, especially when it went to the right of the runway and flew against the backdrop of the smoke haze from the local forest fires! I urge you to watch the video on full screen if you want to see Joe’s little EDF going 200mph! I think the actual speed reached in this run was 196mph based on his datalogger info.
I need to apologize for messing with the sound track during the time that Joe and Kody were getting the planes ready. There was a loudspeaker right next to us that was blasting music so loud that you couldn't hear anything anyway. To avoid music copyright issues that would have lead to YouTube either muting the sound altogether or taking down the video, I turned down the volume on the music and mixed in a little 120cc music to cover it up. Sorry about that!
They say that necessity is the mother of invention and Joe had to come up with a way to restore the big Yak’s center of gravity after it dropped the Jet. Joe came up with a unique sliding battery tray that shifts the weight of the batteries after the launch to restore the correct CG.
If you’re interested, following are a couple of links where you can learn more:
YAK 100 Spark Jet Lifter
Spark Hauler CG Shift Mechanism
Joe is also one of the leading authorities within the hobby when it comes to lipo batteries (and all things electric for that matter). He has a very popular thread on RC Groups and as far as I’m concerned, it is required reading for anyone flying EP planes. It reveals the truth behind the so called premium lipos that some of us have been paying way too much for. Here is the link to that thread:
I hope you enjoy this short video and that you join me in giving Joe and Kody two thumbs up for an awesome job!
As always, thanks for watching and happy flying!
Cheers,
Bob