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Old 05-31-2003, 03:14 PM
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JCaste
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Barcelona, SPAIN
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Default how long till solo after landing?

I don't really know what to tell you. I think it mostly depends on your age and skills. Most of the guys I fly with are in their forties and it has taken them a year or so and they still have serious trouble to keep their planes with the original shape after landings ! I learned in a month (about 6-8 flights) with a aileron-less trainer. You can bet I was nervous when I first took off my 2nd plane, a jupiter, that made like 2-3 rolls per sec!!!
ok, so to go solo you must be proficient in taking off and landing. In my case it was easier to land. I made low passes with throttle nearly idle to get used to the feeling, then lower and lower and soon started touch&going. If you can touch and go, you can land.
Taking off was bit difficult to me, mostly because the gear was bent and the plane, that took off in 10 m, turned 90º after speeindg up, which was in the 8-9th meter! To take off, the first thing is be confident you can do it. You go to the bottom of the toff road, give max throttle like in 2-3 sec and gently push your plane forward. It could happen that accelerating too fast stalled your engine if poorly tuned, and the push will help your plane start moving. Now you just have to keep it in a straight line correcting whatever it takes (of course, if you see it coming to boxes chop throttle and turn the other way!) and soon it will lift by itself. When that happens, pull the plane up very gently (10-25º, not more). In this case its better to let it climb if you can; making it climb too fast would lead to a dangerous stall.
After taking off some times, try to do it while standing in one side.
Good luck!