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- Jun 20, 2014
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We've always been uncomfortable with the clearance between the camera and the ground. (and, I'm a TwinCommander pilot and know all about not much clearance between airframes and the ground ) Today, one of the guys was at Lowe's Hardware and picked up a piece of water pipe foam insulation. The smallest diameter was 1/2". We just cut off a couple of pieces, opened the pre-split foam, and wrapped one around each skid. Way too big inner diameter of course, but why not give it a try? The extra ground clearance was nice. And, the landings seemed more gentle. Inflight performance seemed unaffected by the mod. However, the new configuration made the Phantom want to tip over on takeoff more than it usually does. So, full takeoff power is necessary for about 1.5 seconds. In the next couple of days, we'll try tiewrapping the foam so as to reduce the inner diameter to see what effect that will have on takeoff performance. Also, the foam can remain on the landing gear when the Phantom goes into its hard case.