sensei

I do the same and believe that many negative flight characteristics go away with the loss of excess weight, I know, I am beating that dead horse...

Bob

cymaz

How do I slow up for landing? It starts with a good approach. A planned landing circuit will leave you with space, time and room to go around again if needed. I start off by coming slow into wind down the strip at about 50ft ( depending on model size) and call "circuit and land". Then feed into down trim into the Tx, not much though. Making a rectangle circuit turn down wind. On the base leg turns reduce a bit of throttle on each. Heading into wind again now, but losing height because of lower airspeed and trim. Hold the plane up on the elevator, if you are short open throttle if long shut throttle and release a bit of elevator. I am constantly adjusting throttle and elevator to get a nice glide path down to the strip.

I see lots of pilots just at the end of the strip call landing, whip it around into wind and bang the throttle shut and dive the plane in....NO

thatairplaneguy

My Feedback: (50)

Ballance the plane to glide at a flat attitude without being so flat that it slows down too much and stalls. This is for any sport or trainer model.

Idle led the engine low enough that it doesn't fly too fast on its glide slope.

The BEST way to slow a model down, any model, is not with flaps or spoilers. Flaps just make it float farther on a model without doing much to slow it down unless you have 40* or more.
USE YOUR RUDDER!!
proper term is forward slip but some call it crabbing.
A forward slip is easy. You can make the usual diving approach and loose speed. Just add in rudder WITH the wind so that your fuselage side is presented to the wind for more drag. Use as much rudder as possible without useing so much that it wants to drop a wing tip and dive in that direction or you over power the ailerons.

Use se yor elevator (pitch angle) to maintain speed
use your ailerons to turn the opposite direction of the rudder as needed to keep the plane strait.
When your in ground effect (within half the wing span of your plane above the ground) start to ease off rudder and aileron to bring the plane strait again and land with little or no flair with the wheels strait again.

Sounds hard. But its not. It takes practice but any model can do it and you can make very steep aproches and not gain speed.

Now ow just for a side note. A CRAB angle is te same only usually used on takeoff INTO the wind (not against the wind as in a slip) this is to reduce drag and penetrate or to not get blown off course.

cymaz

AKA .....Slide slipping

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

I have two methods of getting assistance to slow my planes down for final approach.

1) I call for Superman. I call out, "Superman, Superman, Superman." When he shows up, I ask him to go to the end of the runway and blow real hard to create a headwind to slow the plane down.

If Superman doesn't show up because he's too busy fighting crime when I call for him, I use my second method.

2) I then call out, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there." My agent then grabs an attic fan and puts it on the approach end of the runway to create a headwind that will slow the plane down.

Lightspeed1551

My Feedback: (4)

I top gun it. Come in low, pull back hard on the elevator stick till she is near stall, nose it back over and set it down.

sensei

I have two methods of getting assistance to slow my planes down for final approach.

1) I call for Superman. I call out, "Superman, Superman, Superman." When he shows up, I ask him to go to the end of the runway and blow real hard to create a headwind to slow the plane down.

If Superman doesn't show up because he's too busy fighting crime when I call for him, I use my second method.

2) I then call out, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there." My agent then grabs an attic fan and puts it on the approach end of the runway to create a headwind that will slow the plane down.

I top gun it. Come in low, pull back hard on the elevator stick till she is near stall, nose it back over and set it down.


The rest of us sure wish we were as clever as you two bozos, but just for grins, how about you show us how good you really are on the sticks, surly top gun pilots like you have video....

Bob

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

You're just jealous because I can contact Superman, and have a State Farm agent.

Besides that, I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.

sensei

Yah, just as I suspected.....

Bob

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

Thatairiplaneguy - "term is forward slip but some call it crabbing.":

Cymaz - "AKA .....Slide slipping"

Well, these are three different maneuvers. Completely different appearing from both inside the airplane or outside the airplane.

Crabbing is flown wings level. It is coordinated flight. It is used to maintain a ground path (usually aligned with the runway) but is the same as flying cross country to arrive at another point while dealing with a crosswind component.

Forward Slip is when you stand on the rudder to push the fuselage broadside to the free air stream and bank the opposite direction to maintain a ground path aligned with the runway. The airplane is pointed away from the direction of travel. It can be done either direction, but is typically done so you have the low wing into the cross wind component. Great fun (especially from inside an airplane), and very good to lose altitude on the final leg.

Side Slip keeps the fuselage aligned with the direction and path the airplane is traveling. Easy to do, easy to switch back to a landing configuration since you already have the upwind wing low. Taken to the extreme, you can be doing knife edge flight while doing a side slip. Models with a big cowl like a Sukhoi 26 (anything with a radial engine) can drop altitude very quickly in a side slip. Looks like a crash from high altitude until you level the wings and land in a very short distance.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

I may catch some stuff for this but from what I have read on this thread maybe the question needs to be asked. " How do some of you guys slow down the keyboards you fly?"

Andy_S

Highplanes,

Good description.
I wish I had known this earlier, i had find out from experience, the wind actually weathercocks the plane as it hits the vertical stabilizer from the side.
I found that crosswind can be just as helpful as landing upwind to slow the plane right down. Then it becomes a matter of keeping the plane lined up with the runway as you land, in addition to managing throttle and elevator.

bogbeagle

I don't understand the difference between this "Forward slip" and "Sideslip".

I confess that I'd never even heard of a Forward Slip, until I got an internet connection.




The business of paddling the rudder on the approach used to be called "fish-tailing", I think. A manoeuvre from the very earliest days of flying; I suppose you'd call it obsolete, nowadays.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

Both forward and side slip are cross control (ailerons and rudder in opposite directions). The difference is the direction that the fuselage is pointed. Forward slip, the fuselage is pointed away from the direction of travel. Side slip, the fuselage is pointed the same direction of as the airplane is traveling.

bogbeagle

If the fuselage is pointing in the direction of travel ... isn't the aeroplane flying in balance?

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

I'm not sure what you are asking.

bogbeagle

If the fuselage is aligned with the direction of travel, how can there be any "slip" ?

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

The wings are not level, while they can be banked to any angle, the greater the bank, the faster you lose altitude. Since you would normally also be in a turn with the wings banked, the rudder holds the airplane in the direction of travel. As you increase the bank angle, the rudder starts to become the pitch function as well, which is why at the extreme it becomes knife edge but without the airspeed to maintain altitude.

The direction of bank is often used to compensate for crosswind components, but you can also use a slip to translate over to a runway if your altitude is enough. This means that you are on the heading of the runway, but not aligned with the runway. A side slip will also allow you to move left or right to get over the runway without changing the heading of the airplane.

Instructor

My Feedback: (16)

Well ahicks,

Let me give you a little background on myself. Flew rubber powered planes in the early 60's. Went to U-Controll planes in the late 60's. Flew Exscapement in the late 60's also. Started flying RC in the early 70's after a 3 year stent in the US Army. Started flying pylon in the early 80's and flew them into the early 90's. Started flying Ducted Fan jets in the mid 90's. Also flew helicopter's for five years before I got into Turbine jets. Have trained hundreds of pilots in RC. Tried to use Expo in racing and found I couldn't keep the plane on course. Still fly turbine jets and I don't use Expo at all. I have watched jet pilots plant the plane on the runway, knocking out the undercarrage trying to find the sweet spot while landing. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Expo is not for everyone. With all the things we now have on our transmitters, pilots try to use them instead of finding out what is causing the problem. If you have success with Expo, then by all means use it. Now I know what you are going to say. In the early 90's thete was only one Expo setting, today we have both Neg and Pos Expo and they are both used to tame down the plane. This is true, but the pilot needs to find out just why he/she needs Expo to correct the problems they are having....

Larry / Instructor

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

For instance: left wing low, right rudder to keep the plane from turning left. This is how you'd fly the approach in a full size taildragger in a crosswind from the left. You need to slip to handle the crosswind, which is why you're cross controlled. You need to keep the fuselage aligned with the direction of travel so you don't ground loop when you land. All slips are basically the same, the difference is whether you fly it with the nose pointed straight down the runway or off to the downwind side.

One thing that's puzzled me for a long time is why models never seem to ground loop. In 25 years of flying models I've never had or seen a ground loop. Yet in full-scale flying, learning to land a taildragger so You don't do one is a big deal.

YellowBlueBird

Good afternoon bogbeagle,
I have long since forgotten the name of that maneuver. It may be obsolete but it is much easer than coordinating The controls for a proper slip. It would be much easer for a beginner and really puts the breaks on. It is nice to know that there is someone else that remembers these old techniques.

jerry

rctech2k7

My Feedback: (1)

My ideal method of slowing down is to pull back on the stick a little more, increase power then flare, once it touchdown cut the power.
Second is to give more considerable AOA while holding power until touchdown.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

You must be flying off of grass. It's easier to ground loop on pavement.

But one has to consider the placement of the landing gear. Generally, models flown off of grass have the gear slightly more forward than ones setup for flying from pavement. A ground loop gets started with the center of mass gets outside of the wheel base to one side or the other. The farther forward the landing gear, the easier it is to get out of shape on the ground. Whole threads have been devoted to landing gear placement.

2walla

My Feedback: (10)

Use the local terrain features to bleed of excess airspeed. I got this one stopped right on the end of the runway.

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

Yeah, I do fly almost exclusively off grass. Why is it easier to ground loop on pavement?

I should correct my earlier statement. I have seen quite a few pwople ground loop on takeoff, and I've done it myself with old-time FF designs, which typically have the landing gear way up front. But I don't think I've ever seen it on landing.