ORIGINAL: tIANci
Okay ... can I take this in another direction? When you set up a pattern plane, how much stick do you give to get her to roll or loop? Example:
i. a stall turn, how much rudder input on the stick? 50% 75% 100%
ii. a half roll on Cuban 8 or Top Hat, how much input on the stick?
iii. a Top Hat ... how much elevator input as you pull up?
Maybe this can give us newbies some idea of how much throw to set and expo to use. For me I am thinking that for F3A you want to use as much of the stick as possible so that you have a better 'resolution' and not to use that much expo. Anyone may assist?
Stalls.....I use 100% rudder (mid rate)
Half rolls....about 1/2 stick deflection; sometimes a bit less depending on how much finnesse I want to roll with (mid rate)
Top Hat elevator.... little maybe 25% (varied depending on radius position) entered as smoothly as possible attempting to maintain radius (again mid rate)
Keep in mind that my mid rate is probably set-up differently than any one else's. Mid rate is considerable deflection, 12-16 degrees on el and ail and about 30 degrees on rudder. I use little expo in my tx.
A few years ago, one F3A pilot who couldn't bring his plane, borrowed mine. He just couldn't fly my settings so we programmed a second set of conditions and saved them as a separate model. He flew everything on low rates and added 80 or 90% expo for regular flying and he would switch to mid and high rates for snaps and spins. He beat good F3A competition with his set-up. I tried flying that set-up later and found it very tough to do. Eventually I got it but it took some flying. BUT I didn't adopt his control parameters...just too foreign
MattK