ORIGINAL: jester_s1

Acdii- It sounds like you have thrustline issues on your 4 Star. If it constantly yaws in a vertical (verified by doing it turned both ways so the wind isn't a factor) you have too much thrust in that direction or your rudder trim is simply off. You may also have too much down thrust if your plane flops at the stall. A perfectly trimmed thrust line will result in being able to set up a straight vertical and then drop to a low throttle (maybe 1/4 throttle or so) and the plane will just fall back down based on which direction it is imperfect in the air.

Which brings up another advantage for intermediate pilots to get into pattern flying: it teaches you to trim your model right. When flying a trainer or lots of sport planes, the odd little quirks you may see in a given model is often chalked up to being an idiosyncracy of the design. When you are flying a pattern plane, you know that it is designed to fly true in every attitude, so you are that little bit more motivated to get it right. In turn, you learn what to expect from a properly trimmed model and so when you get the itch for a P51, Tiger Moth, Cub, jet, etc you know how to spot the quirks that are a consequence of the design vs. what are trimming problems.