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Old 06-29-2010 | 07:33 AM
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Lnewqban
 
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: South Florida
Default RE: Landing for the beginner

ORIGINAL: Quigleywins

My thinking hear is to land with the motor out and maybe the power type landings will come with time. Yours Paul T
Not a good idea, if you don't mind.
It is good to master dead stick landings, but to make it a regular practice is not so good.
The simple reason is that conditions and approaches are not always ideal, and the potential for damaging the model is high.

There is no need of damaging our precious models.
In your case, excess of dynamic energy has been damaging your plane.
The wheels are touching down with too much momentum, too much speed.

Hence, before attempting the next powered landing, you need to learn to slow down your plane for landing by practicing two things:

1) Learn to stall the wing. This is to be practiced and learned high enough as to give yourself room to point the nose down, build up speed and level the model before the model meets the dirt. Learn to do it slower and slower, until you learn the limit of that wing, at what speed and angle of attack it quits flying. It should quit below 30 mph and around 13 degrees of AOA.

2) Learn to manage the energy of your model. Height becomes speed and speed becomes height. The engine-propeller gives your model energy, which can be potential energy to climb or speed energy to fly level. You select the use of the energy generated by the engine at will by controlling the elevator.

After mastering both skills, you should be able to fly the whole approach pattern at a speed 20% above the stall speed that you have determined by experimentation and at a AOA just below 10 degrees (nose pointing slightly up). As explained by others above, this may be achieved by trimming the elevator up only for approach or (as I do) by keeping a constant slight pressure on the elevator stick.
The slope or rate of descend depends on the energy that your engine-propeller produces, which is to be controlled by small inputs in the throttle stick.

By doing that, your model will approach as slow as it can be without stalling the wing, with little dynamic energy (which translates in minimum frame damage in the event of a mishap).
About three feet high, cut the throttle completely, and use the elevator to fly level as long as you can, like trying to avoid a touch down.
Then you have landed.

Repeat 1001 times more.