tlojak38

My Feedback: (15)

So, I got bored today and decided to go flying by myself.....without my trainer. So I took my plane and went to my parents house, where they have plenty of land. Got the plane up no problems. Was humming along doing great, then....got a little too close to the high tension wires, hit one and went down in a hurry. Now, my question is, is there any trick to be able to tell where your plane is in the air? Orientation is good, but can't judge distance away from me that well. Thanks for any help. Oh, and plane isn't too bad, was able to straighten it out to make a rough landing. It'll fly again with minimal work

Charlie P.

Practice, practice, practice.  Fly high but close until you get used to recognizing your plane.  A good color pattern is a great help as well.

The actual breakthrough will come when you are not reacting to what your aircraft is doing, but directing it to where you want it to be.  You have to "fly ahead" of the aircraft.

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

tlojak38, In this same "beginners" forum, please scroll down 15-20 threads and read all the posts in the thread titled "I tried to warn him". It also deals with a novice soloing by himself, high tension wires, the resulting crash, and possible financial responsibility for damage to the high tension wires. You may find it interesting. Oh, and as to your question about distance judgement, if your eyesight is OK then experience will improve your judgement for distance as well as "where and when to fly"!

rem0.061

My Feedback: (30)

You are not the only one to hit power lines...I think that was the last time I flew that plane.

jester_s1

The first way to not hit power lines is to not fly where there are some power lines. I know that sounds like a smarty pants response, but really that's the only safe way to do it. Even experienced pilots get tunnel vision and get closer to obstacles than they think they are. I was watching a combat match today and one guy flew right into the ground because he was so focused on the streamer he was chasing that he didn't realize how low he was. So the solution is to get a flying site that is far enough away from power lines and trees that you don't need to worry about hitting them.

rem0.061

My Feedback: (30)

It was getting dark and I couldn't tell which was it was going.

levram1

My Feedback: (1)

It eas going was way?

SeamusG

How about setting your model up in the middle of your parent's property - maybe on a folding chair. Pace off and mark various distances. Look at your plane from the different distances and you should get a feel for how it appears at different distance from you. Set it up on its nose showing the bottom. You might be better able to estimate your flying height. Do sides, front, rear, top and bottom. Take some pics. You may find that it doesn't look the same at a couple a hundred feet than it does at arm's length.

Yea, I know, familiarity breeds contempt ... Who knows, this just might help you better "see" the plane.

jetmech05

Ask your instructor....

SeamusG

You can learn to fish or wait for someone to give you some fish ...

Best of both worlds - do the walk thru with your instructor - I guarantee that this won't be the only topic raised for conversation.

flyhigh2

Sometimes it is easier said than done. Flying away from power lines that is. Our field that is AMA sactioned has power lines right at the west end of the field, and Oh yes almost everyone has has an expierence with them.

Terryh6336

My Feedback: (1)

I have trouble with distance myself: however, what concerns me is that you fly alone. There are just to many things that can happen. A flying buddy could have advise you of distance concerns. The need to fly is not worth the chance of damage to your body. I am sure everyone has a story of lost fingers, cuts, etc. I have a friend that missed his femoral artery by 1/4". Please enjoy this hobby and always have a friend. Nuffsaid.

SeamusG

No doubt that flying with others is great. Safer too. If there are times when you show up at the field and nobody else is there, it's so important that you have a "script" for setup (flight prep in the pits), start up and control checks and flight line activities. This goes for electric, glow and gas. Oh, and turn you "personal communication device" OFF or leave it in the car. There really is no time where you can afford to "forget" something because you were interrupted and forgot to start the process at the right step. Shortcuts will result in cuts for sure.

Man - where's the fun in that???

 

AA5BY

Depth perception is a product of many senses contributing data that your mind processes. Relative size, color brilliance, dead reckoning, sound and probably others. The most reliable one for me is dead reckoning. Sailors and pilots use the term to describe the process of deducing where they are based on where they were adjusted by the progress (time, speed and course). We RC fliers probably aren't even aware that we use it to assist with our depth perception. I know for sure that I do and think it is likely that others do as well.

For example... we have tall trees at the North end of our field where a good many fliers have roosted.... my self included although mine wasn't because of a too long landing pattern as most are. My procedure to acquire depth perception about the landing pattern is to time how long I fly the down wind leg after the plane crosses in front of me. I rely far more on that time and speed element than I do my eyes.

Many times there are just too many planes in the air to use noise as a reliable input. Eyes alone are inadequate and unreliable. Some may claim otherwise but I think they would be fooling themselves. Relative size is a good one, but not as reliable for those of us who fly varying size planes.

SeamusG

I have a smile on my face as I type this ...

Dead reckoning at our field? We have the Rocky Mtn. continental divide to the west. We have Kansas plains to the east (slight exaggeration - hey, I'm smiling as I type). I would love to have anything above the level of prairie dog mounds to use for aiding depth of field recognition of my plane. That's kinda why I suggested practicing viewing your plane from a known distance. Like being on a golf course (before GPS-based distance toys) without distance reference points on the score card - one can get pretty accurate in estimating distances from a fixed known object (the flag stick).

Also, each plane with a different scheme (base covering plus trim layout and reflective nature of the colors used) will look different during flight. If you have 40, 60, 90 and giant scale planes in your hanger you gotta come up with a different plan. Somebody with more experience than I will ever have suggested that if your plane's distance from you makes it difficult to determine its attitude (flying towards you, away from you, looking at its front, its back, its top or its bottom) then it's too far away. Slightly rock the aileron stick and watch the movements of the wings to verify orientation and then get it back in as quickly as possible.

HTH

Villa

Hi tlojak38
You are doing the right thing, asking how to better determine how close your plane is to obstacles in order not to crash into them. I have been flying RC since around 1972. I have tried to learn from every one of my MANY crashes, including two mid-airs. A few years ago I realized that we humans are not able to determine how close we are to an object, once the object is further than our binocular vision allows. (I think that distance is something like 17 feet, and is called depth perception). So, we are actually flying blind with regards to the location of other objects. Recognizing this now, I fly very far away from any object. I emphasize that; VERY FAR AWAY. I also now try to land my plane only directly in front of me, flying right to left, or left to right, only. Only when the plane is directly in front of me (not coming toward me or away from me) am I able to properly determine how close to the ground it is, and, more importantly, how close it is to stalling. This is due to the changing geometry involved as the plane comes in for a landing. That changing geometry robs you of your ability to estimate correctly how close you are to stalling, and make the required correction. Comments from you or anyone?

jester_s1

It's good practice to simply never let the plane cross an obstacle. If you keep some daylight between the plane and the trees and such, you'll never be able to hit them no matter how far away you are. The issue of the OP's unsafe actions remains though. It's a fact that under stress we get tunnel vision. It's an automatic reaction that you can't do much about aside from reducing your stress. You can fly right into an obstacle and never see it until the instant before you hit it because your peripheral vision is gone. You need twice the space you actually plan to fly in so that if you make a mistake right at the edge of your flying area you still have enough room to correct it. When you get to be a better pilot, you can shrink your flying space but still must keep that extra room rule.

tlojak38

My Feedback: (15)

Ok, I wasn't flying alone, my stepfather was there with me, and watching. I do have a check list, and go over it before I fly. I've been flying for more than four months now at my field. I just decided I was comfortable flying and decided to do it again as this wasn't my first time solo, just not at my field. Thanks for the advise on the depth perception thing Villa. I'll just have to practice practice practice. I enjoy doing this, and have been told I am very good with plane orientation, but I know I need help figuring distance, that's why I came in here. I'm also aware my instructor is a good place to go for info. And I do go to him for help, but I don't see him every day. Anyways, thanks for the help. I need all I can get.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

What color is your plane? When I was first starting out I had one plane that plagued me with short landings and various other things revolving around depth perception. I put this sucker on the ground in the wrong place about five times, however I did not do that with any other plane! It dawned on me that my whole problem was with the way the plane looked to me at a distance that caused me to think it was further out or not on track to where it actually was.

The plane was white, blue, and red, but mostly white. I was so tired of landing short or in the wrong place that I decided I would try a different color. I recovered the plane with UltraCoat orange, silver, and white and walla! I never again had any issues with the plane. It was amazing how that changed the entire depth perception my eyes had with the plane.

I know this does not work for everyone, but amazing what it did for me. Of course tons of practice help with any plane. I have some that are sort of hard to see in certain sky conditions, but I have flown enough now that I just know where they are in relationship to the runway. For some that takes hundreds of flights and others not many at all.

Good flying and always something to learn [8D]

tlojak38

My Feedback: (15)

Ok, update. Took the plane home, fixed it and took it to the flying field. One of the guys was there, and I asked him to watch while I flew. Put the plane up, and he gave me some pointers on how to tell where the plane was. He also said I wasn't doing too bad with positioning. Anyhow, I put her up, and landed her 4 times today, and for the first time, I left a flying field with a whole plane, and some really good advise. Thanks for the advise here.