torelentless

I just purchased a pz t28 and am trying to land on a 50 ft square. Is this to small of an area or do i just need more practice

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

That is completely possible with that small of an airplane. To lower the landing speeds some you may want ti try moving the battery back small increments, a nose heavy airplane wants to land faster then one that has it's center of gravity more towards the neutral side.

jester_s1

That is a small space though. Doable certainly with a good plane setup and good flying skills, but if you can find a bigger space to fly in that would make your life a lot easier.

AMA 74894

My Feedback: (1)

agree completely.
with enough practice, you can draw a three foot square on your runway and put your airplane in the middle of it almost every time.

practice practice practice (with a purpose )

good luck.

CafeenMan

This is one of those, "If you have to ask..." situations. The fact that you're asking means that it's too small for you at this stage in your training. Definitely try to find a larger space.

If you can't and you manage to keep your plane in one piece then you'll be more skilled at landing than most beginners with the same flight hours you have.

torelentless

Thanks for the advise. Im flying at an old airstrip that was ripped up all but a 50 ft square heli pad the rest is dirt. maybe ill get bigger wheels so rolling in the dirt after landing doesnt nose it. I live in the woods so the old air strip is my only choice.

torelentless

Ok upgraded to 3" wheels and totaly forgot about the extra weight of the 2200mah battery will try moving it back some.

bikerbc

That's a pretty small space in my opinion . The fact that you will have a good approach help a lot though . It doesn't get much better than an old air strip . Do you think you could improve the runway on either side of your 50 foot spot ? It doesn't need to be paved just flat and packed .100 ft would be nice

torelentless

Ya ive been kicking rocks every time out there and lots of wind is my friend. air strip is nice and its just me so less pressure learning

malthepal

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I understand what you mean, but I have learned more by listening to people with much more experience. When I first started flying (after my trainer cut me loose) I found myself repeating the same things, good and bad. Now a good friend of mine, Ed used to watch my approaches and "offer suggestions" on a better way to do it. "Why the @%#$ are you coming in that hot?" comes to mind. Learning to fly alone comes with much less pressure but you might be "grooving in" some bad habits. I know I was. Happy flying.

torelentless

Ya a trainer would be nice but i live in the mountains in a small town. And im the most experienced, which isn't saying much, so im pretty much on my own. Learned on a p51 ultra micro got all the controls down and got to used to floating that weightless plane down probably my first bad habit. I just need to learn to flare and touch down right at the beggining of the strip. I probably can make it work if i stop landing 10 to 20ft long. thanks for the input any advise is welcome im here to listen and learn

thailazer

tore... It sounds like you are doing the right things, and if you have a clear approach, that 50 feet should be enough. Try learning how to fly your plane slower at a safe (high) altitude. Keep slowing it down until it stalls to see how slow it will really fly. Most beginners and even experienced folks fly approaches that are much too fast. Once you learn how to slow it down and can see or maybe "feel" that right attitude and speed, you can nail that 50 foot patch every time. I normally slow the airplane down on downwind and then add in 5 clicks up up trim so I am not holding any back stick. Keep flying as experience is your best teacher, and have fun!

torelentless

Never thought of trimming up for landing thats good advi ill try that since my soft touch is a little jerky still. ive also added 3 inch wheels for rough terrain landing. My rudder and front gear are connected and it feels like that huge wheel is catching wind when turned. should i switch back to stock. I dont think my plane should be twisting so much from rudder input. plus i havent noticed anything from bigger wheels except center balance being off.

torelentless

Changed back to stock wheels and stuck the landing thinking the extra large wheels added to much weight to bring in slow enough. i thought large gear would help but nothing but trouble. heavy, off balance and broke a clevis landing which i macgyvered until the new ones come in the mail

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Great advice!!!

Kurt

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

50 foot square? Land on the diagonal, then you have 71 feet of runway.

If you have plenty of practice, and a bit of skill, you don't need much width of runway, you need length for the roll out. You would be surprised how small a runway you can land on with the right technique.

JPerrone

We've been having some wind lately but I'm finding that interesting. I've not so good at landings so I've been practicing them. With the headwind, I had the plane almost stopped in the air above the ground!!! That made for interesting landing-it looked more like a "sit down" than a landing.

Regards

torelentless

I also had a 1 by 2" piece missing from the bottom of my cowl thinking i was having trouble keeping the nose up from this. got a new one on and am waiting for good weather. Are all cowls built with egg shells?

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

With a good setup and some practice landing on a small strip should be no issue. A short vid of me landing a 33% Laser on a friends driveway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpm4cwaFrAg

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

I was once asked by a fellow club member just how well I could land after watching me shoot a couple hundred touch and goes one day. We were the last two at the field and it was a calm day. So I started doing touch and go landings between the pits fence and the pilot's start up pads which were in the middle of each pilot's station with another fence. Maybe 10-12 feet wide between the fences but only about 6 feet between the pit fence and the start pad for a 53" wingspan model. It takes a good model, a good throttle response, the right day, and lot's of practice. But landing consistently on a spot the size of a card table is not that hard with practice. The closer you stand to your touch down point the easier, because of depth of perception issues. By practice, I don't mean 5 or 6 landings over the course of a day. but rather dozens each flight and ten's of thousands over the years. Most model pilots seem happy if they can land without killing the engine or breaking a prop. But instead, be critical if you are not placing the airplane on the center line of the runway and stopping still on the runway. Most take-offs are just as sloppy, with poor cross wind techniques. Just saying.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

The easiest way to land like you've done it a 1,000 times........................................do it 1,000 times LOL

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

So true.

Rob2160

It just takes lots of practice.

When I was teenager learning to fly RC my instructor would make me cut the engine and wanted me to deadstick so the aircraft rolled to a stop right at my feet.

It wasn't easy but I was a stubborn kid and kept practicing until I could do it every time. Its a very good training exercise because each landing is a learning experience, IE, did you overshoot? Undershoot? Line it up wrong? etc, and each time I got it wrong, I adjusted accordingly the next time. A great way to learn how to manage the energy in your aircraft.

It was invaluable when I later flew slope soarers with only a tiny landing area.

35 years later I still do it at least once each time I fly to avoid getting rusty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzeD7CXK6cQ

torelentless

Great video you make it look to easy. That little plane is nice cant wait till im ready for one

Rob2160

The UMX aircraft are great, I have most of them now.

Inexpensive fun, $60 will get you 10 batteries for these planes and that makes for a good session of flying.