75 flights on my T-3 now. No major issues encountered. One of the main struts will leak a little over time ... have to air it up at the start of each event I attend and its good through the week. Hope it doesn’t get worse. . I dry lube the trunnions and the trailing link pivot point periodically during assembly at the start of events ... I had one main gear trailing link pivot point that was a little sticky which caused the wheel to hit the wheel well and not lock up on a couple flights until I realized what was happening. Zero issues since I’ve started this practice. I have two large air tanks and one of the hex shaped JMP hi flow retract valves and it works flawlessly. All of the minor concerns were found in the first 20 flights.

Four events this year, two best sport jet awards/one best in show award, and ZERO issues. It’s proving to be a very reliable, low stress, and fun jet to fly! As large as it is, its still by far the lowest stress to fly at a small field than any other jet I’ve owned ... and I’ve been flying turbine jets since 2004. It flies reasonably fast, very slow, its stable, its aerobatic ... it does everything well.

I used a SM Modellbau GPS-Logger 2 to gather some data and Google Earth plots. See attached images. PBS 230N engine. Max speed: 210 mph ... normal flight max speed 190 mph. I’m flying my base and final approach around 45 mph, slowing to around 35mph over the threshold and 25mph at touch down. This is the easiest jet to land I’ve ever owned. Touch down and ride a wheelie for 100 ft even on grass.

I fly pretty smooth (try to anyway) and I’m seeing about 5G’s during most flights with a max observed of 7G’s. That’s just normal flying ... not trying to pull G’s ... I can’t imagine what some people pull with the maneuvers I see at events!

The key for me was getting CG correct ... I had one of the first ones in US and had to use factory numbers to start which were very nose heavy on mine. I started with all batteries in the nose section and now none of them are in the nose. Of course minor tweak on rates, expo, and Cortex Pro to my liking.

A couple links to videos: (Not sure if these will work for everyone or not)
https://www.facebook.com/10000808210...2ODkwNDIwMjky/
https://www.facebook.com/10000808210...9674770311906/ Skip to 15:00 mark for T-3


Excellent sport jet ... thanks again to T-One Models and Pacific RC Jets for making this airframe available in the US!

JS


Full flight 3D image.


Full flight path over KAM Club in Kinston NC at recent jet meet.


Pitch out and landing...


Max speed pass ...


Goal was to not cross the road on the right...mission accomplished!


Low pass on one of the 18 flights I had at the jet meet in Kinston, NC. Photo credit to Billy Davis.


I tried not to ugly up the picture too much. Photo credit to Billy Davis.


Bringing home some hardware ...


T-3 basking in the late afternoon sun...

I’m around 355 or so. I plan to shift it back maybe 5 more mm when I install some new battery mounts that a friend 3D printed fo me. I’m carrying a little up trim in level flight and it pitches nose down slightly from an inverted 45 degree upline.

Its very close though.

JS

That fast?!? How about that SLOW!! LOL!

Not to get into a debate but 190 mph seems right in line with what I’d expect. Eg, the Avanti XXL has a stated Vne of 175mph and a friend of mine found he was exceeding that pretty easily. So 190mph being a typical top speed on a flight seems about right. The MAX speed was out of a downline, not straight and level.

The T-3 is a pretty large jet but a much thinner airfoil and smaller fuse “bulk” than some of the other popular “aerobatic” jets out there right now. To me this means maybe a slightly higher speed (less draggy) with same engine of course, but maybe not able to do some of the crazy low speed stuff (because of the airfoil) that other airframes are doing. Casual observations ... I’m not an aero engineer. LOL!

Heck, maybe the T-3 will do the crazy low speed stuff too but I’m not going to risk my airframe trying it so its not a trade off to me but depending on your goals it could drive one to favor one airframe design over another. It lands super slow and easy and that’s a big plus, especially flying at smaller local fields. Every landing looks the same. Slow, stable, nose high, on the centerline, ride a wheelie however long you want, then drop the nose and tap the brakes.

It’s amazing to me that there is very little if any chatter about the T-3’s. 4 events including a really big one and so far mine has been the only one flying. I know Chris has his at FL Jets, but I wasn’t there for that one.

JS

Nice! Send pics and/or video! Have fun, wish I could have made it.

BTW ... I used to work for a company that had a factory in Fostoria and stayed in Findlay quite often. Nice place!

JS

I have an EA Shockwave for my “go fast” jet.


EA Shockwave ... quite possibly the best “go fast” sport jet on the market.

None of these aerobatic type jets are really built for all out speed but are still pretty fast of course ... most are certainly capable of the 200 mph AMA limit with a reasonable turbine choice. There is still plenty of adrenaline rush with the T-3, or T-1 for that matter if you want a smaller airframe.

I’m not worried about the internal drag on my T-3 ... I want as much as I can safely get actually. Mine is not fully bypassed and I removed my nose gear door. You could add a bypass if you really wanted to reduce the internal drag but the purpose of this airframe was never meant to be for all out speed.

It’s two completely different styles of flying really ... both of which are FUN!

I’m with you on the size ... the T-3 is a little larger than I really wanted but the T-1 is a little smaller than I wanted so I erred on the big side. A “T-2” would be perfect ... something that a 210N turbine would be the perfect match for. About the largest one-person jet possible which is what I love about the Shockwave size. I think EA recognized this in coming out with their Havoc SS. So who knows ... maybe T-One Models will develop a “T-2”! Hint, Hint!!

JS

78 flights on mine with no NG door at all. No issues.

I have seen a case where the latch did not fully engage and the pilot did not notice it and it came off in flight.

After seeing that I am very careful to ensure that the latch is fully engaged before each flight. JS

I was going to box mine in to keep water out on those morning flights with some dew still on the ground ... didn’t end up happening but maybe will add it later. I like the idea and yours came out great! JS

Photo credit to Perry McCormick for the great photo of my T-3 on a photo pass last weekend...