Hello all,

For a video production class, my partner and I made this video. It's 5 minutes long and goes over all the basics of RC.

Note: Only attempt to watch this if you have broadband. On a good cable connection it will take about 6 minutes to stream (it's huge). Please be patient.

http://www.liftingbodies.com/videos/flying.wmv

Good luck! -Andrew

way to show them a good trainer

Darn...I thought I was the only one that noticed that![:@]

Well, my inteded audience was total newbies to the sport, so I didn't think they'd mind... But for the record: DO NOT ATTEMPT A FIRST SOLO FLIGHT WITH AN OMP EDGE 540. -Andrew

I finally get DSL in my area and it's STILL not enough.
Dennis-

Be patient, guys. I really think/hope it will be worth the wait. -Andrew

Added: There is now a smaller, quicker download available. (25MB)

http://www.liftingbodies.com/videos/smallflying.wmv

Will be up as of 11:30 EST.

wow. even with dsl at 300 kb down, it took 3 min.

Be prepared.

It took about 25 sec for me with the first one, but it was still downloading as I watched it

Hey Andrew... for the most part it looked fun to do.

Unless I am mistaken though, a couple of procedural/safety blunders are made.

Firtsly, the plane (RX) is turned on before the TX which is not recommended. (I have personally seen this lead to stripped servos).
Secondly, the glow-ignitor is attached to the glow plug, and then the engine is turned (backward) to compression with a bare hand before the electric starter is applied. Hmm... I cringe when I see people do that.

While lots of things were done in a very fine way, and I don't want to focus on the negatives ... , I must bring your attention to the above.

gus.

Thank you. It's people like you who keep everyone safer.

Neither me nor the actor thought of that. -Andrew

I personally enjoyed the guy using his body to show us what each control did to the airplane!

I know of one old timer that turns on his RX first just to see if anyone is operating on that frequency then he turns on the TX and he has been flying for about 30 years.

How would it hurt the servos by turning the RX first?

It doesn't but I suppose it's a good habit to get into, especially if you operate very old electric models which do not have safe starts. But today, it really doesn't matter at all. The only danger is if there's a signal your RX gets which moves the servos too far and could break your control setup.

Yeah turning on the rx first would be a great way to check if any ones using your channel or if theres alot or a little interference in the area. The servos only move a small amount, i don't think its enough to strip them.

Sorry guys, but I strongly disagree. That's the great thing about this hobby-we can agree to disagree. I was always taught that the the Rx was the first on, and the first off. With that in mind, the order would be Rx on, then Tx on, and at the completion of the flight, Rx off, then Tx off. I've always done it that way and have never had any kind of servo problems or any other Rx or Tx problem. Almost everyone that I fly with uses the exact same procedure. Just my .02 worth. [8D]

Why?


I understand the Tx on first and off last.....
but why your way

(I am NOT saying I disagree or agree.......just curious why)

Cougar's got a good idea. I was always taught tx on first, tx off last. But turning the rx on first allows you to see if you will be shot down (or if you will shoot anyone down). But with a glow powered plane, it probably doesn't matter anyway. -Andrew

I liked when he pushed the rudder stick to the left and it made a wide RIGHT turn. Something's backwards here...

Sshhh! What they know won't hurt them!! We can just blame that on the pilot, who has been lurking quietly in this thread.

-Andrew

I have to apologize for my stupidity. [X(] A strange thing happens when you get older-you develop CRS. Unfortunately, I have an advanced case of CRS, for which there is no cure. (CRS = Can't remember s**t.). I hadn't been flying for a while when I put my big foot in my mouth on this thread the other day. Somewhere between my training period and my most recent flying time, I got the sequence out of order (the CRS must have kicked in). I talked to my instructor at the field today and he set me straight. You guys were right, you always turn the transmitter on before the receiver to avoid any damage to the servos. I would have bet money it was the other way around. I guess I've just been lucky so far. A big DUH! to me. The proper order of sequence is Tx on, Rx on, then Rx off, Tx off. I'm really sorry if I caused any confusion. I openly welcome any and all verbal abuse-I've got it coming to me. Hopefully by the time you youngsters out there get to be my age, there will be some good drugs to take to eliminate CRS. [8D] The mind is a terrible thing to waste. [&o][&o]

Cougar

There are two things in this video that bother me.

1. The pilot puts too much faith in the hold back "string". Standing in front of the plane to throttle it up after removing the glow ignitor wire.
2. The pilot carries his plane and transmitter out to the runway. Yes, you can do that. Would I teach a beginner to do that? No. My instructor carried the transmitter and I carried the plane.

I am very concerned about safety, especially for beginners. I believe if you are taught right from the beginning, you tend to follow what you are taught.

Otherwise, it was a very good production. Good takeoff and landing.

cougar it really doesnt matter whether you turn the tx on first or the rx.

Wow Vince, you've got it tough! -Andrew

I'm in the habbit of turning on my tx first. However, on my PCM receviers where I have programmed in a fail safe configuration I found I have to turn on the rx first so it can receive the instructions for failsafe from the transmitter. This is with a Futaba 8U radio. Also, I once had an on-board glow driver that required the rx to be turned on first so that it could get initial data when the tx was turned on.

As Rosanne Rosanadanna said, "It's always somthing."

That's what I was taught, and that's what the instructions for my Hitec Eclipse 7 strongly suggests.
That's my story & I'm stickin to it [8D]