planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

I was sitting around doing the usual plane repairs for the LHS owners and friends when one of my friends called and said " let's go flying ", now I've been sick for a week straight and I still feel like a bag of ***** but I said why not?! Got to the field and started doing the usual repairs to peoples planes to get them up in the air and a few engine tunes and finally some time for me to fly. I fire up my norvel .074 in the FW-190 and get ready to hand launch it when I here the dreaded whistle. I got called for something, but what? I checked for my pin, card, frequency tags and stood there with a dumb look on my face, I had everything right, why was I being unsafe?
Turns out that they think the pilot is dangerous when launching the plane himself, apparently they want you on both sticks. So I hand the Fw-190 to my friend to launch.After some instruction to him he gives it a limp toss and WHAM! it hits the deck, no damage but a broken prop. I calm him down and change the prop and let him try again, now I'm really looking to destroy it, he gives it all he has but I think a four year old could have done better, really! After the second time I walked up to the saftey officer and said "call the whistle and I'll smack you, I'm launching it!" So here I go and launch it perfect and fly for 20 minutes, no comment from the saftey officer, the next flight I want to do, my friend says that he figured it out and wants to try again, I said O.K., again, little norvel screaming away and he let's it go, but this time it's barely flying and nose high, next thing I know I'm fighting the sticks and trying to keep it from hitting the pits. The plane banks hard left, hard right, stalls and I managed to gain enough speed to get it flying as it comes into the pits and pull up over the fence and bank back around down the driveway between the trees and back on the field. I'm worried about the people and apologized while flying but everybody didn't care, they were amazed on how fast I reacted to the controls and to see that I piloted it out of a stall,over a fence,down the driveway and blindly around the trees to just pop out in the centerline of the field.
I don't fly hard or do every maneuver when I fly but when things get scary, I pull out all the stops to get it under control, I feel bad for making everybody hit the deck and I still feel like a bag of *****, this was one of those days that I should have stayed home!

Lynn S

Sounds like too much throw with the ailerons. I'm going to try a bit over 1/8 inch up and down on my Ace P-51 and let that be the low rate setting.
The way my Ace Extra flew you couldn't touch the stick for the first 5 or 6 seconds after a hand launch or it would tip stall. I think they should be stable enough to fly without pilot input until it is up to flying speed.
The last time I flew the Extra (with a .074 this time and landing gear) It had a wild take-off from the runway heading off to the left going through some small tree branches. It made it through the trees but it was so over controlled I couldn't get control of the plane. It finally rolled over and came in hard on the nose. This time I'm trying a very minimum of throw.

jboy381-RCU

that's awsome!!!i'm glad you didn't crash a third time...sounds like you stayed calm and keep your head...way to go

john

XJet

I think that (at least in RC circles) the art of the hand launch is a dying skill.

Times were when hand-launches for RC models was the norm rather than the exception but these days it seems that the average RC modeler doesn't have a clue. It's *much* safer to hand-launch your own plane (providing it's trimmed) than it is to get some neophyte to do it.

Mind you, those of us who fly Mode 1 have the added benefit that we can keep our thumb on the elevator whiule we toss our model with the other hand :-)

rrragmanliam

My Feedback: (1)

Well, well ,well fianally a benifit for a left hander in a right handed world! I've learned to fly mode 2 (USA standard) so I throw with my left hand. Right thumb on the master stick, give it a left handed launch, no problem. Sorry about the lame tosses plane 66. that wouldn't have happened if I'd been throwing for you. I don't think alerons were your problem on the last flight. As you said the previous flight was perfect. It sounds like your buddy was trying to compinsate for his previous crappy launches by throwing the plane "up" into a stall instead of a nice level launch with a good amount of human generated airspeed. It was just the stall (as you indicated) that you then had to fly your way out of. When that happens your basicly flying an inch at a time then reacting to your previous inputs and making corrections from there, then the cycle repeats it's self. It's easy to do if your say 50' -100' up but on a hand launch at very low altitude your screwed. You did a geat job of avoiding the "peanut gallery". Give youself a pat on the back you deserve it, hope you get to feeling better.

Rrragamn

Japanman

Wow,
I am glad that I am not the only one who has to fly in advese conditions!
Here in Japan there is no safety officer, or stinking wistle!
Gee, the last time I went to my local field I had a bad moment. Suddenly there were a lot of people there... It turns out the guy from the LHS was there. It also turns out that this is 'his' field... hmmm, do you get the vibe? (it is actually public land on the edge of a river)
I have been flying there for more than 8months, and I have never seen this guy. I have met many of the other regular flyers though.
On this particular day, this guy just ignores me. (I won`t go into his shocking safety practice- setting the needle on planes including fourstrokes with the prop aimed straight at the onlookers 3feet away)

Finaly at the end of the day, the 'club' secretary comes and tells me that this is indeed a club. Oh good, I think. He tells me about the pretty reasonable fee they all donate each year to buy a gift basket for the local community as a way of applogising and keeping a dialouge established. Great I think. And he also tells me that Mr man of the LHS is a "pro" and so we need to keep him happy, so please buy things from his shop, ONLY. Er... What? Isn`t this just a bit of public land next to a river, witha bunch of guys who are keen getting together?

Y`know, I don`t buy into that sort of crap. As it happens, I have been to this guys shop. (I didn`t see him, though) and I would have bought my new radio from there if it wasn`t for the really bad (verging on rude) service I got there.

I guess I`ll fly only on saturdays!

J.M

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Yeah, this club is ran by a LHS owner who has 0 clue of what is going on, I could care less if they kicked me out for flying through the pits, but I had no real choice over the matter. At least I didn't hit anyone or damage any property, unlike some people at our field. Infact, I'm fixing our club presidents (local LHS owner) twin ship, apparently he had a servo failure and changed the servo out but never checked the direction, on take-off it rolled 1 full revolution and he paniced, so he pushed full down and now I have 16 pieces of plane I have to put back together for him. I'm just not sure what is more dangerous, hand launching it yourself or not checking your plane before flight, I'll let you guy's decide that one.