We spent a significant amount of time with the motor in the windtunnel testing out various propellers. We decided that we really needed a bigger prop then the 24x12 that we had been using.

Here Brandon is running the wind tunnel and Murski is writing down the data.

VanDis is crunching the numbers with MathCad and interpreting the results.

Here I am changing propellers in the windtunnel.

Another day of test flights with the new propellers to get some real world performance numbers. We finally decided on a 24x14 APC propeller as the best compromise between efficiency, ground clearance, thrust, and battery life.

Here Brandon, Mike, and Tall John load up the payload of water into the airplane.

Then disaster strikes, the plane stalls with 7 lbs of water and crashes.

We have a week before the contest begins in Wichita, so we have to get the plane rebuilt quickly. The horzontal tail is fine, the vertical needs major repair, some of the wing spars have cracked loose, and the fuselage took most of the impact. It is badly cracked around the landing gear and nose. We need to build new landing gear, wingmounts, and buy a new gear box for the motor.

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