A little confuse about my first flight on the NexStar. I flew on the simulation for 3 months to prepare myself for my first flight to ensure that I could fly. Before my first I perform my pre-flight checks and everything was fine. After taking off for some reason after getting airborne it went sharp left. After a few adjustments on the flaps which were out of adjustment for some reason everything was good. Thankfully, it landed safely in the grass with no damages. The second time it kept climbing accelerating and going into a circle. Finally, I was able to land again safely. My last flight I bit the dust. It went in a left bank and straight down to the ground. My questions are what went wrong with the NexStar and, is it worth fixing which I would need to purchase another fuselage. Should I look for another trainer to fly? Since I am new to this and have been reading many question in the forum so I am looking for the best advice on this matter. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

P.S I want to add that I was with a quaflied AMA member with a buddy cord.

Who had control of the plane when it was doing all of these things?

You should probably get with someone that has more experience than the person you were with on the buddy box. Just because they have an AMA card does not qualify them to instruct. The reason I say this is that anyone qualified to fly another person on a buddy box should be experienced enough in RC aircraft to diagnose the problems you were having. You are describing what your aircraft was doing and looking for an explanation from people who were not there. It could have been radio hits, bad control surface rigging, a bad buddy box connection, a stripped servo or one of many other things.

If you purchased the Nexstar new you should check out the no crash guarantee before you buy any replacemnt parts. As for the value of the Nexstar as a trainer i learned on one and would swear by it. My first one was crashed and then replaced by the guarantee. I still fly the replacement 4 years and7 airplanes later!(some are still flyable) It sounds like the airplane was way out of trim. Your instructor should have taken care of that so i would have to agree that you may need to find someone else to help you. It needs to be trimmed on the master AND the students box. Your instructor should also make sure that it is high enough for him to take back control in time to save it. Good luck and dont give up on learning or on this plane it is a great trainer!

Also when you are ready to start learning to land take the speedbrakes off before you (the student) gets the plane below thirty feet or so. The Nexstar will fly slow enough that your flight controls will lose effectiveness without the prop blast blowing across them (thats what happened to my first one). The speedbrakes block the prop blast from the control surfaces.

Good Luck

P.S. This won't be the last plane you crash but you can learn from the crashes too.

Thanks for all the info because I was really confuse what to do. So I am going to press on order the parts need and hopefully be fly again soon. Also, I'll check into the guarantee on the crash. Thanks for the good replies from my new RTF family.

dont they have self leveling or something maybe it was throwing you off

You haven't answered a key question. You wrote "......I was able to land safely......"

What was the person on the other end of the trainer cord doing? Why did this person allow you to land a plane that was unflyable by a new pilot?

A qualified instructor would:
Do a preflight inspection himself and help you make any obvious adjustments
Do a trim flight and land safely
Hook up the buddy box and get it trimmed to match the master
Take off, gain altitude, give you control to check trims
Help you make minor trim changes if needed
Give you control, advise you on turns and altitude adjustments. Take control, if necessary, to avoid a crash or other dangerous situaton
Take control and do the landing

On subsequent flights, the instructor would have you do the takeoff and landing.

Once you get the plane back together, whoever is helping you needs to get the plane flyable before giving you control of it. Otherwise you'll need to have a really big checkbook.

I have 3 nextars did you add flaps? if you did .use meteric the us measurement is wrong in the manual also also disconnect the anti crash prob that can give you problems like you are saying no matter who flys I did not get off the ground with it on .2nd take the speed brakes off its the reason that your plane kept climbing.this happens when the engine is going fast DO you have flaps? with the speed brakes? the nextar is a great plane !!!

Maybe I'm blind but I didn't read anywhere that he was on a buddy box or even had any experienced help. Maybe that is where he should start. ENJOY !!! RED

Thanks,

P.S I want to add that I was with a quaflied AMA member with a buddy cord.


It was the last thing he wrote.

your thumbs and fingers put the plane in. this is a very good trainer. as everyone said, get on the buddy box. when you do finally solo, make sure your instructor is with you.

another note, the plane sounds like it was not c.g.ed, or balanced properly. a instructor will trim the plane after takeoff.

You should also check the beginners forum. You can find some good info there. There are alot of experienced instructors that can give you good advice. Not everyone likes the Nexstar as much as me but i found after you advance to some aerobatic planes you will find it is more fun to increase the throws and make the Nexstar do things a trainer isn't supposed to do. But that is many gallons of fuel in your future, just something to look forward to.

Nexstars are fun, I have 4. I have played with the different modifications, i.e., speed brakes on & off, wing tips on & off, AFS on & off.
I have found that to achieve the slow landing speed (if desired), increase the prop (assuming you have a OS .46) to a 12 x 6 while leaving the tips & speed brakes on. Then, take them off but leave the prop 12 X 6. The 3 bladed prop like comes on the Raptor may work also. I have not tried it, but intend to.

I have had trouble with the aeliron trim. They way the rods are inserted in the control surface, they work loose & you have "slop" in the control linkage. This will make it very difficult to trim & keep trimed. Thus, I installed the 2 servos in the wing & changed to a 7 channel Rx so the left & right aelirons could be individually trimmed.
If you install flaps, try different lenghts. I used a 6 inch measurement by mistake (instead of the 10 inch), & can't wait to try it. I'm hoping that they will work more as speed brakes, than flaps. Also they shouldn't X out the air flow over the tail surfaces as bad.

Anybody else got any Nexstar tips?

Down the road, the nexstar is a great plane to keep. I kept mine and changed it to a tail dragger. For the wing I took off all the speed brakes, etc., flattened out the wing and put servos on each alieron, increased the size of the rudder. Wow! what a different plane. I like to use this plane now as a trainer for practicing various maneouvers such as hammerheads, rolls, flying upside down, etc. In other words it has become my real life simulator plane. I still use the OS 46 FX with an 11X6 prop.

Hey rebranger Flaps are A must!!! ALSO like Buckskin said increase the throws A blast this way .ALSO Have lights on one for night flying in the dark also thought about same set up on the raptor f22 with the lights . with flaps and extra throws while racing to others nextars called A cheater !! A different plane !! fun !!! . falcon.

If you can't get free replacement parts-Go with a diffrent trainer, there are many that are much easier to fly. My preference and Many others is the SIG LT40. This plane doesn't have the bad tendencies of the Nexstar (sharp left or Rights after take-off) Generally due to slow speeds, air breaks, flaps. The Nexstar is a fine plane if you remove all the Speed crap, make it a Tail Dragger, Increase the Rudder and Elevator and recover it. Save this Plane and rebuild for the future when your flying well.
Just my opinion!

SORRY I guess we got carried away with how to hot rod A trainer may be the start of something how to hot rod your trainer nextar,pts mustang ,alpha 60,and pts f22 raptor for the new brothers and sisters on the next steps and give our hobbie more ways to enjoy thanks all falcongt

Your right, should just leave things alone-----NOT! I call the new plane the "Next" Star.

Add a Hobbico Superstar to the list!

NorfolkSouthern

FOR me i did not have money to get a 1/4 scale cub with flaps so i put flaps on my trainer hey a new plane Ive seen A hobbico super star take off then straight up 100 feet level out WOW all i can say