How long shold it take you to learn how to hover? If you cant practice on your sim, I have RC Plane master and it doesn't think a plane should be able to hover so it doesn't let you, how many gallons do you have to go through. I have three 3D planes, a Funtana 90s, and Tribute 36 which are out of commission, and a Twist 60 which I am currently flying. I have been able to get all three planes into a hover but can not keep them there for more than 10 to 15 seconds. Anyone have any tips for me.

Burn more fuel, get more stick time.

Sorry

Get yourself a nice tough profile like a Mojo and then just burn lots of fuel.

The Mojo is such an easy plane to hover that you'll fall in love with it pretty quckly. There's no way a "fattie" can compare to a profile and the mojo is one of the best.

Get a U can do 3d or a mojo 60 its bigger and flys more like a foamy. Those planes are more of a second or third 3d plane.

I learnt to hover on 'fatties' and it is doable, u'll suddenly find one day ure correcting subconciously, before u notice the plane falling. tis a great feeling, keep at it.

Just keep at it, it'll come. Something I found useful was balancing the plane against a wind in a nose high attitude, a stationary harier if you will. That gets you practised on inputs, then all you gota worry bout is throttle management. And one more, when you get more than a few degrees off vertical, give a burst of full power with the control to kick the tail back under.

But the key is definitely burnin a lot of fuel, and as regularly as possible

I went from the razzle 3-d to the harrier 46 and that made me able to hover. The razzle was a piece of .hit to hover compared to the harrier. I have not even gone through a gallon yet on my harrier and can hover for as long as I want, not rock steady all the time , but still....I put the reciever battery in the tail(in the end actually,had to cut a vindow in the coating to get it in) plus I have 2 oz of lead back there, I power mine with a 91 fourstroke and a 14-6.It is tailheavy yes, but it still flies great and hover is easy. I could not hover my razzle for more than 10 sec at the time

The price of a second hand copy of Reflex XTR ($130-150) has got to be worth it against all that fuel and a new kite! Furthermore, it will be there for you to get the hang of all those other manoeuvres you will want to try once the hover becomes old hat. I'm able to hover with the top side facing me but believe me when I say it gets v difficult once you introduce a role (Torque rolling) and the Reflex sim has a trainer facility that lets you practice this to death. Your call, but if you are serious about 3D invest in a sim early on is my advice.

I could hover instantly on almost all planes on the sim, but it took me many months to learn how to hover in reality with my plane. I had a Goldberg matrix and finally after lots of fuel I could hover it pretty much for as long as I had fuel. I then crashed it and the next plane hovered sooooo much easier. I think I would have been much further ahead if I had something like a u can Do or profile. FWIW, I'm 90% done building a Mojo. Can't wait to actually fly a dedicated 3D machine.

Mike

Thanks for all the replys. Ill keep up the practice and I think I will be builing a Mojo this winter. I have read on many post that it is easyer to hover low to the ground? Is this true or should I keep it up at the 30 foot mark where I have been.

lower is for later or when your comfortable.
why wait for winter to build a mojo? if you start on friday night and stay with it , you can fly it on sunday!

Dewey,
You like that U Can Do for hoverin? I have a 60 and she hovers alright (for me anyway) but if I lose it too far left dosen't seem to be enough rudder to get it back even with a full throttle prop blast.

I worked all last summer on it and this summer. I finally did a tail touch a couple weeks ago. It just takes time and I am still learning. One thing that really helped me was to have a good 3D pilot hover my plane. I was getting frustrated so at least I knew it could be done. I also used Aerofly Pro during the winter - that helped also. Everyone learns at their own rate - some people, like me, are just slower than others.

I fly a UCD46 and an profile OMP EDGE 47 inch. They are different but both require a bit of skill. I highly recommend getting a profile 3D plane. They are really fun to fly.

I wish I had a fellow club member to try out my plane, the problem is it's a small club and there are only two of us into 3D and both of us are at the beginning stages of it. I am going to get a profile, but it will be some time as I have been ruff on planes this year and have put 7 in the ground, only 2 of which were beyond fixable, but my wife says no more planes this year. I will have to wait for the new year to get a one, I'm leaning towards the Mojo 40. The flying season is coming to an end up here anyway, only 2 or 3 of us still flying in our club now. I'll keep at it.

Mike,
Here's an idea, I think I'm gonna sell my U Can Do 60 so I can put the $ into a mojo. If you have something to sell might work...

I learned to hover on foam.

Foam is cheap, light and you can practice ANYWHERE! The entry cost is kinda high,(200 or more), but you can replace airframes for $20 and just keep practicing!!

These are the best foamies for 3D, IMHO www.chargerrc.com

Foam will teach you the inputs and reflexes...bring it down and get comfortable DOD. Then you can move to glow, practicing high. Foam is easier to recover than glow or gas, but the stick movements are the same.

Just keep flying, you'll get it. (I am just beginning to hover glow lower than 3 Mistakes high and I have not even tried to hover my gassers).

'Pucker Factor' is your biggest hurdle when moving to more powerful and expensive planes.

The wrong setup could make a 3d plane impossible to hover; you can use a 4 stroker to use a big prop, bigger props stabilize a lot the torque roll, set the CG a little aft, move it until you have trouble to land and the tail drops when you cut throtle ... use big throws and finally an adecuate plane: lowest wingloading, and not so short coupled with big moving surfaces

I have a hard time parting with my planes, your right though that would be a solution. As for the foamies, I'm not a fan of electrics, nor do I have the gear for them.

I guess there is hovering and then there is hovering. Several at my field can hover one mistake high for 30 seconds or so while the airplane drifts away with the wind. There is only one guy I've seen fly who can hover 3 feet off the deck and keep the airplane stationary for as long as the fuel lasts. I learned to hover my Burrito high and drifting in about 6 months of once or twice a week practice. I am still working on keeping it stationary and low. I've been working on that for several years.

Remember that torque rolling low on the deck is WAY EASIER as you can see the planeĀ“s attitude real well, the difficult part is to make it descend if you start high, but you can always start from a very low wall or a harrier to avoid gaining alttude when you put it nose high

Im starting to think that it has more to do with the plane it self rather that how far the CG is set back. I moved the CG back on my Twist thinking it might help with hovering. It didn't seem to make a difference with hovering, but it did make more difficult to land. At what point do you stop moving it back. I realize that it is just going to take alot more practice to hover well, my questions is should I keep the plane this tail heavy and struggle with the landings or move it back. Is it going to make it that much easier to learn to hover or doesn't it make that much difference. On the up side the flat spins were really looking good, and inverted flight is almost level.

I would move the cg fwd enough that it flies and lands ok. I set the cg so that the plane flies hands off , or nearly so, inverted when trimmed for level flight upright. You don't need WAY aft cg to hover and it does screw up other stuff.
Electric foamies are useful but hardly cheap by the time you get motor, esc, lipos, lipo charger, servos, rcvr. And one is never enough.
Lots of time on the simulator will soon have you flying without thinking. Then you are on your way. I am 70 and learned 3d in the last 2 years, so anyone can do it. I can do most of the stuff and rarely crash but I am more careful than you younguns.

Jack,
Good to hear that from you, most guys your age wouldn't even give 3D a second thought... Usually that second thought is "I hate those 3D..." Keep er goin!!!

ok, ok , I exagerated, when you have trouble to land is to much aft... and the plane will fly worse.. I learned it with a plane that entered a flat spin and stopped only with the ground

Hi sorry I'm late, not in my mind all the way for the last days. Try a washer on each left side engine mount bolt. I can flip mine up no problem with the rudder. Yes i love the plane for hovering.