FS2002/FS9 Unreal Aviation "Crow" tailless homebuilt.
The crescent wing is one of the oldest planform configurations that offers great stability and efficiency and is currently being looked at by Dewald.

"Crow" is a fictitious representation of the sort of 'flivver' that homebuilders in the fifties thought everyone would be flying because it would be so easy and safe.

She certainly is safe with her benign stall and forgiving handling. The performance is relatively sprightly too (for 80 HP) with a 120 KIAS cruise. There is also a huge margin between cruise and VNE.

Difficult to build and relatively heavy (in wood) the performance seems to make it all worthwhile.


Installing:

Unzip to a temporary location and drop the Crow folder into your main Aircraft folder. FS2002 users must move the gauges in the aircraft's panel folder into their default Gauges folder.
For FS9 users there is a nicer Canopy_t.bmp file in the FS9 folder. Move this into the aircraft's Texture folder, replacing the FS2002 original.


Flying:

Start the engine with CTRL E.
Adjust elevon trim to slightly 'up', firewall the throttle and she will lift off at 40-50 KIAS. Keep the nose down until you have exceeded 70 KIAS before climbing otherwise you won't gain speed.

She likes a bit of rudder in the turns, especially at low speed but she is very easy to fly.

Cruising speed is 120 KIAS.

She is not aerobatic but loops and wingovers are possible with plenty of airspeed. Bear in mind that the elevators are quite weak, possibly due to the short moment arm and the fact that UP elevator reduces the angle of attack of quite a lot of the wing due to the all-flying nature of the elevons. (Cue loads of arguments from barstool aerodynamicists... ;-))

The handling is 'cruiser' rather than 'sportster' but you can really throw it around at low speeds with practice, just remember, "All aeroplanes bite fools" and don't take liberties.

Approach should be flown at 45 KIAS, (50-55 in gusty conditions) aiming for 40 on touchdown. There are no flaps and slowing down can take a while so plan your approach carefully.

The gear is designed to operate on unprepared strips but don't touch down nose first as the aircraft isn't indestructible. The important thing is to bring her in slowly but above 35 KIAS.

Simple repainting is possible but you are probably limited to just changing the colours.

Rudder_t.bmp also paints the elevons, Trim_t.bmp is all the red bits except the fuselage.


That's it. Have fun.
Kevin Bryan
Unreal Aviation
whirlybug@cix.co.uk