Larry

What Kurt says is very true. Back when I used to try to fly control line aerobatics, I just kept destroying one model after another and was getting very down on it. Then I got a real stunt expert to mentor me. His first RULE was though shalt not fly anything but the aerobatic pattern in order every flight. Never vary. Miss a maneuver, you just keep on going but never refly it. That way you always knew what came next, and where you were supposed to be going next. Immediately my planes began to last more than one season.

I have found the same thing in rc. Not having a plan leads to finding the airplane somewhere you don't intend for it to be and you are reacting and trying to figure out where to go next without having your ducks in a row. The free form of flying outside aerobatic sequences that is sport flying leads to this alot though. What I have found has really helped me was to start to fly planes that are intended to flyt that way. Things like 3d profiles, indoor electrics, small electric wings that you cannot kill like the Super-fly line. These types of planes really thrive on beging able to keep flying no mater how far bent out of shape you get the plane. And they encourage you to go there because it doesn't nessecarily kill them when you do screw up. Its made my other flying much more secure because I don't need as much lead time to figure out what to do next or how to extrecate myself. My sport flying is better, my sequence flying is better.

The last thing is the control line stunt flier's #1 rule of getting out of a screw up: give it full down elevator. Sounds wrong I know but it really works. When we screw up we are usually slow to realize it til we are really out of room and the normal reaction is to give it up. But if you could have done that and it would work, would you really feel out of position and hope? There is NEVER enough room to get out of it giving it up elevator. In RC you are stalled in which case feeding in more up is gonna kill the plane, or you are inverted or at least pointing towards the ground and probably already past verticle and low which will not give you room to save it by going up. Its uncanny, but it almost always saves the day.

There is always hope man! .... but then I am the kid who when trying to learn how to fly 1/2 control line models as a kid crashed 49 times in a row before I fianally got one sucessful lap. (instructions said to take 52 ft of string and make the control lines... I thought it was 52 ft for each line.... my grandma is slow but at least she's old. )

Injoy the VF plane. THere ain't no more and they are such a joy! I have one of the last small Extras on the shelf to do someday when I wear out my Edge and can return one of my ST .90's to the nose. Its always been my favorite VF package.... but I haven't really cranked up to full power on my Edge yet. There's nothing like the smell of glo fuel exhaust in the morning!

bob branch