ORIGINAL: WinterHawke
Some more food for thought, at least for the Dr.1
Several years back, late in the season flying my old Great Planes Fokker Dr.1, the centering spring came detached on the rudder stick on the transmitter - in essence, no auto return to neutral.
The triplane became extremely difficult to fly, as the tail wandered all over the place as I started chasing neutral. The landing was at best an arrival (fortunately no real damage that mission).
We take for granted the return-to-neutral our modern radios give our primary controls, but in the real world it's a whole 'nother animal. This is one ( of many ) reason that the Triplane earned such a reputation - it had to be constantly flown, whereas any decent model is going to be much easier to fly because our radios give us an automatic neutral reference point AND an enormous advantage the full-scale version does not.
Not real sure I'd enjoy flying that way too long (nor could I probably afford the repair bills!!).
Best regards,
Lee McD
Every full size aircraft I have flown (except Helicopters) also have automatic centering of controls, either hydraulic, or simple aerodynamic balancing..
If you roll any aircraft and let go of the stick it will centre and the aircraft will stop rolling... same with pitching up or down (assuming aircraft is in trim) The RC aircraft also do this..
The one thing missing between Real and RC is the 'Seat of the Pants" feeling.. you can "FEEL" when the aircraft is not in trim very easily and you can feel it yawing slightly if you don't correct with rudder during power changes (prop aircraft) or aileron application..
You can learn to fly RC using the rudder in unison to ailerons and but its rough at best because you are basing it on sight only and don't have any real feel for the balance of your rudder inputs.. I usually mix rudder with aileron to "simulate" what i would normally do in an aircraft anyway wheni can "feel it"