freeonthree

My Feedback: (1)

I have a new Kyosho Super Stearman ARF with a Saito 72 on it. I can't get the plane to go straight on take offs. Do I just need more practice and this is normal, or is there something Im not doing right.
Dennis (Red Bluff)

OUTCAST

Make sure the main gear has about 2 degrees of toe-in. Hold full up elevator during taxi and at the begining of the take off roll untill there is enough airflow for the rudder to become effective. They are a little squirly by nature but not out of control.

rwh

That's a lot of torque for a little mini-bipe like that. Try half throttle until she's off the ground.

Ed

Don't torture yourself. Get yourself a gyro for rudder.

Tower Hobbies flyer, page 65, Hobbico Multi-purpose Piezo, $ 65.

It's the simpelest solution. They work !

TIGER2PLANE

Check your toe-in. If you already have toe-in then set them a 0 and try that. we have two AT6s and they both do just what you say your bird is doing. We set the toe at 0 and then you have to ease the power in slow........keeping the tail down till you have enough air speed to control the tail and then lift the tail and go.

IronCross

Ditto what Sideliner said. Thaking the toe-in out straightened a couple of my taildraggers out. Seems with toe in/out if one wing lifts first leaving the opposite wheel on the ground the wheel steers the plane in the direction it is pointed. Gets real squirly.

Robby

My Feedback: (18)

I will never understand why someone would want a gyro to control their plane.. And I understand less why someone would recommend such.. This is LEARNING how to control a plane?
This is allowing the operator of the equipment to KNOW how to operate such equipment..?
Personally.. I think people who use gyro for standard flight functions are incompetent or lazy... This also applys to those who
use gyros for hovering.. If you lack the skills then why bother..

Robby

IronCross

OUCH, guess I am incompetent/lazy. Kinda sounds like my wife :-]
I race planes, taildraggers have less drag then tri gears and thus go faster. The races generally go no matter what the wind conditions. My firs goal is to get the plane off the ground no matter what the wind conditions are. This is not the time to be messing with cross runway takeoffs etc. Enter the gyro. It can be a real life saver. Miss one takeoff and it can be 4 points of the season score. Also as with the pattern folks, things can get pretty busy in the air and happen fast. The gyro also helps there in the turns etc.

OUTCAST

Robby, I remember being told if I needed a computer in my transmitter I obviously didn't know how to fly, and four strokes don't make power. I have a neighbor who thinks the internet is for morons, things change, its called progress, try to keep up, or you may become as obsolete as the typewriter. ;^}

Robby

My Feedback: (18)

oh hell,, OutCast.. I am already obsolete .. :sunsmiley
I can see using a gyro for an aid.. Something to help LEARN..
But to use it for a major control.. hmmm.. Why bother.. And
yes, I read IronCross's reply.. I still hold that the use of one
for an experienced flyer to fly by takes away from flying.. As
the orginator is having problems LEARNING take off control,
perhaps it would be benificial...
If gyros are acceptable.. what next... Total auto-pilot ? Start
it and let it go, sit back, and watch ... Hmm... Yes, sounds like
fun.... As it is a hobby, I guess I like the old fashion way of me
moving the sticks and making it do what I want.. Giving me the
satisfaction knowing *I* did <whatever>.... And yes,, even should I dork it... At least I would know, LEARN, what not to do again...

Robby <throwing feathers, not bricks>

Ed

Robby: A ME-109 or Gee Bee, at maybe Top Gun without a gyro on rudder ? I don't think so. Not when you are looking for Max points. You are out of touch with model aviation my friend.

Oh, and please let us know when you plan to take up Helicopter flying without a gyro. I want to be there.

smokingcrater

Many full size military planes are simply not flyable without computer assistance, they are completely unstable and basically unflightworthy. I wouldn't want to be the one to tell those guys they are lazy because of it... ;-)

anyway, gyros in my opinion add to the flying pleasure, and possibly in the future the full size military idea will trickle down to model aircraft. (planes that could NOT be flown without assistance)

just my $.02 worth...

ronl

My Feedback: (9)

Hey ROBBY i have been flying helis and planes for a long time.I tried flying a heli once without a gyro and i mean one time.Not a fun thing to do.We need to get together i would like to see this.

TIGER2PLANE

Back in the 70s they didn't have a thing called a gyro, so what did we do then? We learned the hard way..............

OUTCAST

sideliner, thats true but we didn't have planes with the flight abilities of today, we didn't have radios with programming, we didn't have the engine performance we have now, in fact if memory serves we didn't even have nicads. Some of the planes we fly hadn't been invented yet. If you try a gyro you will find gyros don't fly planes, people do, they only smooth out the bumps.

IronCross

Start taking away all the "crutches" we use in this hobbly and it probably only leaves us with free flight. To those of us that are happy putting around the sky in a circle all day a gyro is probably a total waste of money and effort. To those of us that would like to push the envelope in other directions a gyro is very helpful. Much more to be learned this way.

banktoturn

Just look at the original post. It didn't sound like Dennis is in a competition, or trying to fly some advanced design that just isn't flyable without a gyro. He even asked whether this is a skill he needs to learn. Sure, there are some situatations where the gyro is needed for max. points or to add to enjoyment, but this doesn't sound like one of them. I have to agree with Robby: learning to take off without the gyro is a useful skill, and one that will never be learned if the student starts out with the crutch. Having said that, we all know that part of the fun of this hobby is the cool hardware. If anyone decides that they want to enjoy the hardware more than they want to learn basic skills, then get out the checkbook and go for it.

banktoturn

phuffstatler

My Feedback: (20)

I agree with Robby for the most part. I've never seen a Stearman that couldn't be tamed with some simple mechanical tweaks. It just isn't a hard plane to fly.

Yes, there are aircraft where using gyros is prudent. This isn't one of them. Unless you really like it boring.


And, it's "Squirrelly", for those who needed to know.... Not that Webster probably has that one...

OUTCAST

Take that!

IronCross

Try going through the pylons at 100 + miles and hour 25 feet off the ground with a bunch of other planes. You will learn to appreciate all the advancments in hardware. I suppose we could stop using things like airborne mixture control (should be able to guess at it before take off), computer monitored engines (shouldn't worry about leaning out in tight turns and burning up those expensive engines). We could eliminate computer engine controls for the turbine boys. Might be a long learning curve but they should be able to handle there jets without them in a "manly" way. Lets just go back to living in caves. Progress is bad... :-]

OUTCAST

Yeah, but we now know how to spell squirrelly. :^)

bdtsr

My Feedback: (5)

Try checking the tail wheel alignment. If it is off even a little bit it will cause the plane to track to one side and trying to correct with rudder will cause the plane to track to the opposite side when it reaches enough speed for the rudder to take over. Hope this might be helpfull.

IronCross

Lets see, s q u ir r e l l y. Now I are one two...

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Its a funny thing but I remember using ni-cads in the 70's. In fact I bought my first ni-cad in 1959.
I used to fly formula 1 in the early 70's. Our airplanes exceeded 150 mph and nobody used gyros. On take off you would put in full up and full rt rudder before it was released. After it left the ground you would sort things out.
Today when I take off a taildragger I advance the throttle 1/3 and get the airplane steering with the rudder then advance it to 2/3 and get the ac up on the wheels and starting to fly. Then give it full throttle. This is easy to practice. Get the a/c out and practice steering it around with the rudder on 1/3 throttle. When you learn this the rest will come easy.
I don't have anything against a gyro. They have their uses. If other pilots are using them in racing you probably would need to have them to remain competitive. But I think a pilot should learn to take off a taildragger without it.

OUTCAST

OK this post is going nowhere, those of you who don't like gyros by all means don't use them, those who like to experiment with progress, give one a try. Anybody know where I can get bias ply tires for my 58 Chrysler? :^)