walter2323

Well, I bought a Slo-V last weekend on something of a whim (although I've been fantasizing about R/C flight since I was a kid) and today was finally calm and warm enough to go out for a flight. I spent a week training with FMS and a dual-analogue joystick gamepad, flying every type of plane I could find a model for until I was satisfied that I could land almost anything in moderate wind. I set the radio to mode A (slow response) figuring it would be easier to control and got the batteries charged and checked the trim on the tail surfaces. The wind was a bit high (~3 to 5 mph gusts) but I figured I'd try it anyway, having practiced a lot with wind in the simulator and rationalizing that parts were fairly cheap I found a soccer field near an elementary school and gave it a go.

My first flight was a sad little bunny hop that ended in a graceful landing after I realized it was way out of trim, either steering hard right or straight ahead - no left bank/turn. I put it down. Immediately after touching down, I was a little over-excited and foolishly figured I'd try another little hop (after adjusting the trim a bit on the radio), despite being in a bad position too close to an obstacle. Throttle, hard up - Stall - Nose-down - crash, flip. Oops. Broke part of a little spacer between the prop and the motor gear, so the prop now spun freely on the shaft. Managed a field repair by just tightening the prop nut and started again, at this point thinking I was being totally foolish and would probably ruin my airplane. Rationalized it again - parts are cheap for this plane. Radio still on low - not very responsive mode.

I tried three or four little hops and each time found I could hardly control the plane - it pretty much drifted off to the left, I had very little pitch control, and I ended each hop in a hard landing and often a little flip. Not very encouraged, but determined to succeed I decided I needed to have more control of the plane, so I switched the transmitter to "B" mode - highly responsive. This gives you much more movement of the servos and tail surfaces.

Lined up and took off into the wind again... drifted up, started into a nice left banking turn, tried to level it off and noticed the trim was a bit off.. adjusted it to get relatively straight flight, and had a fantastic flight! I ended in a bit of a hard landing and once again the prop was loose - tightened the nut again and I was off. Had a short little flight before the battery ran out, and went back to the car to wait 40 mins for a recharge.

Next flight was absolutely fantastic.. I had complete control of the airplane. Found the wind was a bit high for this plane, and therefore had a hard time making headway upwind (but no problem travelling downwind!). I climbed a bit and got some good altitude and decided to try a little loop - no problem at all! This plane isn't exactly acrobatic but it had no problem pulling off tight loops. Very maneuverable. Came in for a very gentle landing once the power was too low and was absolutely elated!

This plane flies very stably and is really controllable. It flies nice and slow, too, and on my third and final flight of today gave me a good 10 minutes of flight (I managed the throttle a little better - not just full the whole time).

Bottom line: practice a lot on a simulator, try as many simulated planes as you can (so you won't be surprised when your model responds differently), make sure you can land 99% of the time, and then go out and fly! It's really quite easy! And if you get a Slo-V, DO NOT use the low response mode! I realized this was the cause of my initial hard landings and nose dives - I was totally unable to control the plane until I gave myself full control. I was surprised by how similar it was to the simulator - the simulator is a good thing! I probably crashed $10,000 worth of planes in FMS before getting comfortable enough with the controls to fly my real plane mostly without incident.

walter2323

Went out for another flight, came in for a low pass and suddenly realized I was heading straight for a goal post. Did a quick maneuver to avoid it and ended up in a steep banking nose-dive into the dirt at full-throttle, clipping the wing and bashing up the prop. Oops. Amazingly there was absolutely NO DAMAGE! This plane is amazing in its resilience.

I need to buy a new spacer for the prop to keep it tight, as it was getting a bit loose near the end of today.. not bad for my first time flying!

Leo L

Congratulations on your successful flights! Keep us informed of your progress and let us know when you are ready for some suggestions for your next plane. (No matter your skill level or number of planes in your hanger, there is always a "next plane" on the planning horizon.)

walter2323

Thanks Leo. I'm going to stick with this one until the end of the winter, and maybe then start thinking about moving to something with more agility. I think I'd prefer to stick with things that I can fly in city parks, I don't know if I have the commitment to head out to a real flying field or join a club. Is that possible, or should I resign myself to finding a club field?

cheers,
walter

1LO64

Great replies. I bought one of these for my 10 year old son and we also bought one for my dad on Christmas. I haven't let either one of them fly it yet and have been making them both practice on the FMS. I want to make sure that they can circle and fly in both directions plus land before I let them maiden!! I was also curious to know if I should start in A or B mode. I initially figured B was the way to go so you could get the most out of the servos, but again was not sure. You definately acknowledged that!!

My son and ole man can land the Slo-V on the FMS 10 out of 10 times and can actually fly pretty decent but there are simple mistakes that they're still making. I hope to have them in the air in a month or two.

1LO64

I also plan on flying both planes before they maiden them just to make sure they don't have to mess with trims and stuff. I really hope both of them walk away with good first time experiences, I would enjoy flying with both of them. Right now my son gets kinda bored on the FMS, but that's to be expected since he's a BIG gamer. FMS doesn't really hold a candlestick to GameCube!

BobbyGee

My Feedback: (3)

Isn't it great to see something flying that you are controlling? The SloV may not win any beauty contests, but it is a great first plane for people who want to stay close to home and fly in parks and at ball fields. It's close, it's fun, it's relaxing!

You don't have to resign yourself to finding a club field. There are lots of parkflyers of varying skill levels that are right at home in the park environment. It's becoming one of the growth sectors of the hobby - so much so that the new line of Spektrum radios is designed just for them, and they've eliminated the worry about frequency conflicts.

I started with park flyers and still enjoy flying them. I did find that it got to be too much of a challenge for me to wait for the breeze to die down after a week or two of wind, and that's when I made the ove to glow power in addition to electric.

Just stay in your comfort/fun range and do what you enjoy. Isn't that what this is all about?

BobbyG

PS - you're not the first to discover that the "beginner" mode on some of those planes is actually more like a "no control" mode. I got sick and tired of crunching my Aerobird and one day I said to heck with it - I'll crash trying harder, went to "pro mode" and presto! the plane was going where I intended!

walter2323

Yeah, maybe if you were lucky you'd get a plane that would respond properly to inputs in the easy mode, but mine just flies off wherever it wants to. Bad, bad, bad! If they're used to flying in FMS I'm sure they'll find the responsive "expert" mode much easier to deal with. They've probably already realized in FMS that being light on the controls is necessary to avoid crashing.