ORIGINAL: cfircav8r

I keep seeing the arguments for and against full scale techniques and experience, but I believe most of the problem is misunderstanding the differences and similarities. Speed says he holds rudder into the wind to maintain his straight line with wings level and the F/S flyers say that is impossible. Lets look at this for a minute and use what we know about aircraft to find out where the problem is. Speed does this all the time and it works, but when we fly full scale it is not done, why. First I think that what speed is saying is not that he holds rudder all the way down the line, but I have a feeling he holds it long enough to set the crab angle without loosing wings level and releases it as it stablizes to the corrected heading. Why do F/S pilots not use rudder to correct for wind? Because it is danged uncomfortable and they are setup differently than an IMAC model. This doesn't mean it can't be done in F/S just that it is not done generally. Speed is going for a look not passenger comfort or safety so many things he does with his model that seem absurd to a F/S pilot are fine with a model. Again this is not a difference with how they work just a difference in what we are looking for out of our aircraft. For the average weekend flyer what we do in F/S is generally a safer start to get them past the initial learning stages. After they have a good handle on what makes a plane fly and what limits a plane they can start to tailor their flying to suit the niche they have gravitated towards. Understanding aerodynamics will allow you to understand how F/S and models differ, and you will find that making a plane do what you want is really no different in models and F/S. The main differences are airframe, power and passenger limitations. Control is essentially identical. The best reason to learn full scale is the unique perspective it offers often makes difficult to grasp concepts click much easier.