I bought a Biplane and I'm afraid the first flight could be the last. It has a 72" wing span with an OS FT300 engine. I've been flying since July 2003 and I have flown a Kaos and a Cloud Dancer. The Biplane is used so it should be fairly close to being set up. The air field I fly on is grass. Is there such a thing as a Biplane trainer? Or I could use any suggestions/advise on flying Biplanes (Do's, don'ts, what to look out for, best way to land)

O'l Goat

If you can fly purty well with the Kaos and cloud dancer a biplane is not a stretch--- (What kind of biplane do you have?)

There are docile biplanes and wild biplanes we need more info. on the model-

Assuming the tail moment is close (Most biplanes are-) make sure you set the CG and control throws on the conservative side- Too much elevator and... [X(]

Maybe have someone trim fly it for ya?

I have flown many biplanes and the Ultimate was the smoothest- Tell us what you got and info. will flow-

HI oLGOAT, What biplane is it? I have 4 Bipes now and are not really hard to fly if well set up. As suggested, really check the plane out for CG, MODEST throws on elevator and ailerons (especially if there are upper and lower wing ailerons). Once you are more comfortable you can crank them up. Not a bad idea to check wing incidence too. Definately have an experienced pilot check it out for you Good luck, I hope you are successful, you"ll love it.

I agree with Norm... a biplane can be a joy to fly. But! It takes some time to get it set up just right. If you don't have the CG in the right place and the wing incidence just right, you'd definitely be finding a new home for your engine if you're lucky. Definitely have someone experienced help you with the first flight. I wouldn't limit the throws too much but use dual rates to limit it first.

Good luck! And when you're up for the first time yourself, remember to have a spotter. That thing can play tricks on you. Can't tell if it's right side up, going toward or away from you. A spotter, that knows what problems you may encounter, can really help you out.

The place where you have to watch out the most with the bipe is when you lose power. Most biplanes lose airspeed QUICK when the prop stops.

Another place you can run into problems is most biplanes are taildraggers and topheavy with relatively narrow landing gear. That makes take-off and landing without dragging a wingtip a little harder...

Its not really that biplanes are inherantly harder to fly... its just that getting them set up correctly is a little harder than a monoplane (the upper and lower wings have to be corectly alligned to each other or you'll have problemes.) Also they tend to be shorter coupled so the control throws don't have to be as large to get the same reaction as the typical monoplane.

If its set up correctly and the control throws are set on the mild side... its nearly as easy to fly a bipe as it is to fly a monoplane with the same wingloading and power-weight ratio.

If you understand what the effects of the differencees will be... you should be better prepared to handle the airplane.

Thanks for the info, the bipe is a Weeks Special. The plane is used so it should be fairly close for set up. It has 4 ailerons and a large split (2 servos) elevator, and I will find someone to help me on the first flight. The radio I'm using is a JR 8103, it has dual rates and expediential capabilities, which I've taken advantage of. What is wing incidence?[sm=confused.gif]

Thanks,
O'lGoat

Here's a quick sketch. It's not great but....
Dennis-

wing incidence is the angle of the chord line of the wing relative to the "Datum" line or centerlne of the fuselage.

the datum line does not necessarilly have anything to do with the attitude of the aircraft in flight... its sometimes set arbitrarilly by the designer. NORMALLY designers try to set the datum at the level line for the fuselage in normal cruise.

I have seen one home-builder ultralight plan set that had the datum line drawn through the main and tailwheel axles. he specified something like 15 deg wing incidence and 10 deg tailplane incidence. (if you moved the datum line to the more conventional line... you get +4 deg wing and -1 deg tailplane on the same airplane)

Some designers will set the datum as the same as the thrust line... Its just a reference to measure all the other angles of the aircraft from.

The relationship of the upper and lower wing incidences to each other, and to the tailplane (and the engien thrustline) is what matters... not the actual number compared to the datum line.