How to Hover
 

I have a Sig Ultimate with a OS .46 FX with a Performance Specialties muffler and a 12 1/4 x 3 3/4 prop.

I need help on how to enter into a hover and any tips on holding a hover.

Thanks

PA

How to Hover
 

small plane like that isn't easy to hover...bigger planes are easier to hover but that is probably not the tip you wanted :)

I can't hover my DP Ultimate 40 bipe for too long but can hang my u-cando for quite awhile easily. I also haven't been able to hover the Modeltech Magic yet but then again only have under half a dozen flights on it and all were in heavy wind :)

I usually enter the hover by pulling up from slow level flight. Watch the airspeed and rock the throttle as needed to hold it there. The biggest trick is to get your orientations down regardless of which way the plane is facing you and react as fast as you can as the plane tries to fall out. Also avoid the tendency to over control your corrections which I was doing early on while practicing hovering.

Oh yeah...there is one other tip for hovering I hear from the heli guys..."get a heli"...so I did. I got a Caliber 30 and now can hover inches off the ground ;)

Ok....I probably need some rest based on what I wrote above!

How to Hover
 

One of the best tips I got when i was learning was to fly alot of vertical uplines, using rudder and elevator to keep the plane flying vertical. Dont try to hover strait away because you wont learn anything if you are just practising the same bad habbits. Flying the vertical uplines will teach you the right sort of control movements. If your committed you can learn in a day, just slowly over a number of flights fly the verticals with less and less power, the plane will wander more and your controls will get bigger and bigger. Make sure you have a quite rearward CG too (40-50 %). It took me one day with this technique (8 flights). Its not hard once you know the process.
Hope this helps, just get out there and learn your plane.

Matt

control throws
 

What about control throws for each surface. Do you need alot?

PA

How to Hover
 

Heres a good thread with lots of info.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...&referrerid=60]

How to Hover
 

No longer support RCU

How to Hover
 

MPJ220 is absolutely right, I learned more about hovering with my new PBF this week than a year on the sim. I can confidently do harriers and then hover indefinitely. I tried it on my fun 50 and wala.

It's nothing more than a balancing act.

The large control surfaces and throws help you easily move around at slow flight.

How to Hover
 

Now that the secret is out, ditto on the PQHOR :p . I have a Morris Knife, Magic, Extreme and UCD and the PQHOR is the easiest to hover BY FAR!!!. Harrier is almost too easy!

Go with the design Flyboone came up with, 36"wing and 36" channel for a .46 engine and use straight surfaces with no taper. Search around in the fun fly forum and you'll find the threads.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the plane is almost crash proof. I've put mine in several times practicing harriers and usually just break a prop.

How to Hover
 

Hi guys, i am new here..pretty cool, i like rc universe..

Finally you detected the ultimates....
We have been flying them for a long time, made of depron.
Visit my site , there are plenty of videos...

bis ones, with KAN-NIMH, smaller ones with lipoly..

K

How to Hover
 

Buy a helicopter and slowly increase collective while making the proper cyclic adjustments to keep it level. :D

I never thought I'd be one of THOSE guys. Hovering just takes practice. Buy more fuel!


Reid

How to Hover
 

Hi
Ya know, I consider myself a better than average flyer. I flown hundreds of airplanes, and enjoy 3D Aerobatic very much. I built one of the Sig Ultimates. It is the only Funfly Aerobatic Profiles
I couldn't hover. Erratic is the word to explain it. I gave it away after three flights. And yes, it was straight, balanced, and true.
Maybe I should have played with the setups more. Too late now:-)
Aerodynamically, the stab is too low. The disturbance from the bottom wing make the elevator muddy. I thought this when I was building it but went with the plans because I thought sig knew what they were doing. Check out this sight and look closely
at the stab placement. This guy knows his 3D Airplane designing.
http://www.hokusei-kobe.co.jp/products-ultimate1.htm

A mod like this to the Sig Ultimate, maybe a little longer tail as well (5-10% Longer) would make it controllable in hover.
I'd like to hear the input of other Sig Ultimate owners.

There are many whats to learn to hover. The hard part isn't hovering but finding the way to learn how to hover. Take all the advice you can from all the guys here and any where els you can. Go the the field with a prov-en hover-able airplane, get a few mistakes too high and try different things. The Rudder and elevator are the balancing tools. What I did in the beginning is slow the plane down, power+ elevator to establish vertical, reduce power till the plane comes to a stop. Then full right aileron and power to hold the plane still and balance with the elevator and rudder.

Happy flying, Pat

How to Hover
 

make sure you stay as sharp as you can on the rudder.Try to keep the fuselage as vertical as you can. The more you do this, the easier it gets. The elevator is less critical, but if its windy you need to be sharp on the ailerons because the wind can get around the wing and make the plane roll . Then you end up with the bottom towards you which makes things tricky.

How to Hover
 

I agree with Luke 3D, you've gotta get the plane vertical. I see too many people afraid to get completely vertical, and the plane is mushing forward and constantly stalling on the wing making for a wild dance, but no real hovering.

... and don't forget the CG, the further back the easier the hover. I have a Su-Do-Khoi with a normal setup and it does a pretty good hover, but I also have a Top Cap with the CG waaaaaay back. Its a little hard to fly straight and level, and hard to land without ballooning, but it sure does like to hover!

How to Hover
 

I agree with the building a qhor method! Its helped me out.

And burn alot of fuel, and do you have a simulator? That helped me out some too.

How to Hover
 

What is a QHOR?

PS. Just started flying a Magic 3D and it is a ball. This is the first plane I have been able to hover. I kept trying to hover with "normal" planes and small control surfaces and it just doesn't work.

How to Hover
 

Here is a pic of one

How to Hover
 

and who makes this hovering marvel trainer? ( qhor)

How to Hover
 

that looks like a fun plane, even if it is the most ugly thing i have ever seen.

How to Hover
 

You can make it, check out the spad forum here, there are plans there!

SPA3D

Goto my prop site below and check out my video's of them.

Having a heli really helps LOL
 

I look foward on trying hovering in a plane like the UCD.

How to Hover
 

"that looks like a fun plane, even if it is the most ugly thing i have ever seen."

I just wouldn't call it "ugly", but "weird". It's not ugly just because you are not used to them. I find uglier most trainers, but not the QHOR. And I'll tell you it is a hell of a plane, I got my hands on one of them and boy, you can bet I was enjoying it as I didn't had in many, many time! I did some maneuvers that I've not even heard of! Imagine the face of my club fellows when I did a hammerhead with full gas using rudder, or made it descend like a paper, swinging from one side to the other, without advancing. :D
I found the perfect match! I just can't wait the summer to come and fly it all day long :spinnyeye

How to Hover
 

I bet it flies great but it still is damn ugly or wierd in my eyes!
It can't do knife edge though i bet, which is my favorite manuver.
Luke

How to Hover
 

Yeah that's right and its a pity. You can do many things, but not Kedge, it should undergo some design to correct this flaw.
You're right in one more thing: I just can't pretend to make you like the QHOR and it's butt ugly for many other people, but this happens all the time with so many things so its nothing to worry about provided you like what you fly.
And returning to the topic, I'll tell you my problems with hovering... :rolleyes:
I find it difficult to keep it hovering for a while and it soon falls, is this because of insuffient engine power or its just me being not fast enough at the sticks :( ?

How to Hover
 

not doing a Knife edge is pretty minor compared too all the stick time your going to get and all the fun your going to have, KE passes get old anyway after a bit.

Not alot of planes that a beginner can harrier around and hover and not break!

Torque Rolling 101
 

check this site out it might be help. good info from a Mike McConville Great TOC pilot.

http://horizon.hobbyshopnow.com/articles/1044.asp