It's been about 2 years since I've flown a "nice" plane, last few weeks been fly'n my spad and the thing is just not right! I have a balsa plane also that I'd like to fly but don't have the "goodie bag" to do it, so I'm practicing on the sim.

Question: When you land do you just throttle back and glide it in, or use throttle for elevation and elevator to control speed?
I want to practice doing it right and I believe it's the throttle/elevator way to do it.

fyi: getting a new avistar coming and have a sukhoi(?) profile on the bench; also my spad-stick, which is very spaztic in the air(the planes fault not the pilot)

Thank you for the help, this site has been so helpful. Happy newyear!

Both ideas are partially correct. The throttle does in fact control elevation and elevators speed, but there is considerable interaction depending on the power setting and speed at which you are flying.

Here is how I do it. I slow the airplane before turning final by both retarding the throttle and adding nose up trim (elevator). I try to keep the speed pretty slow but with a safe margin above stall. (This is something to practice at altitude especially if it is a first flight.) I generally carry a little power down final until close to the runway threshold. If the airplane is a little low, I add a smidgen of power, and if it’s a little high I close the throttle completely. If I’m too high, I go around and try again.

The secret is to slow the airplane by using nose up trim to a fairly slow glide. You can fly pretty slowly even carrying a little power if you are properly trimmed. If you simply dive at the runway the landing will be pretty difficult.

It is certainly possible to simply close the throttle and glide it in, however you still need to trim it for a slow glide. When I started in R/C every landing was power off since we didn’t have throttle control, we just flew until the tank was dry and every landing was dead stick. That still works, now there is just a better way.

LoneAL:

You say your spadstick is "spaztic" in the air but you didn't say what it's doing. If it seems uncontrolable in the air (either climbs or dives) no matter what you do to trim it check the CG of your spad and I'll bet you will find that it is tail heavy. My first spad did this exact thing....was a tad tail heavy which made it a real handful to fly. If it balances out ok then check to make sure the ailerons aren't drooping below the trailing edge of your spadstick wing.....they should be actually reflexed (tipped up a about a 1/4") and that sometimes will help out quite a bit as well.

Don't give up on the spad concept just because it's plastic and everyone says they fly like a brick. I've crashed my spads hard enough to turn a balsa plane into nothing more than a trashbag full of toothpicks with no damage other than maybe a busted prop or the need to straighten the landing gear.

Madd_Maxx

Man this is hard to explain... Almost bad as trying to verbally teach someone how to drive a standard...

I'd suggest going out on a fairly windy day. Say 5-10mph winds and find an altitude where you feel comfortable. From there point the plane's nose into the wind and throttle back all the way, the plane will slow down. Before you stall increase your throttle a bit and try to 'hover'. The idea is the wind is passing over your wings and helping you generate lift. You then use the throttle to pull yourself into the wind and maintain that lift. You'll also use the elevator and rudder to keep yourself pointed into the wind. As the plane enters into the stall zone you'll find your elevator and rudder sticks at their extremes. If you're sticking more than half way more than likley you need to add throttle. This should help you get an idea what it takes to actually stall the plane, but also how much throttle and control is needed to maintain lift. Since you're high enough if you do stall you'll be able to recover with out a problem. Just throttle up and go around. If you really want to have fun... On a very windy day you can acutally fly backwards.

Landing is the same idea, but you're close to the ground so you have no room to really stall. On the downwind run when the plane passes me usually I throttle back all the way. From there I let the plane fly down wind until it slows down to about half my landing speed. I then begin the 180 degree turn back toward the center line of the runway. During the turn I let the plane just fall out of the air, but I only add throttle if I feel the plane is going to stall. Usually you don't have to because you're flying perpendicular to the wind. Once I'm lined up, I find myself 'bumping' the throttle up a bit to maintain airspeed. It's kinda a thumb mixing between elevator and throttle. You are flying into the wind at this time so you have to maintain airspeed with the throttle. If the plane is slowing down to much and you find yourself adding ALOT up elevator... Throttle up a bit. Give it just enough throttle to relax the elevator stick. You may find yourself throttling up, then returning back to idle, especially in gusts. When you're about 1-3 feet from the ground cut the throttle all the way and slowly begin your flare. In the pefect world when your elevator stick hits the extreme up position.. All 3 wheels should hit the ground.

--SF

Landing a plane is about the same for tail draggers and tri gear.

Start slowing down and dropping height on your 2nd and 3rd legs. When you turn on final you should be about 6' off the ground and you want to have ABOUT 1/8 throttle on (You may need more if it is windy ).

Now FLY the plane down until the MAINS ARE ABOUT 3" from the ground. At this point you want to reduce the throttle to an idle and SLOWLY add in a LITTLE up elevator AND HOLD IT. What you want to do is bleed off speed - not balloon back up.

The key to a good landing is FLYING the plane down. By flying it down you will be going a little bit faster than if you were idling/gliding down, however, YOU HAVE CONTROL OF THE PLANE. If you have any flying time at all, I don't have to tell you about the stuff the wind does at 0 - 4' off the ground. The little additional speed means the engine will not be loaded and will respond quicker AND the plane has more flying speed so it will respond and not stall out.

When your mains are on the ground:

For tail draggers - use FULL UP ELEVATOR to "plant" and hold the tail wheel on the ground so you can taxi off the runway.

For tri gear - use full DOWN ELEVATOR to "plant" and hold the nose wheel on the ground so you can taxi off the runway.

If you are first starting out and the plane is a trainer, then the "you just throttle back and glide it in" works but you still need to know what you are doing. A problem new flyers have is to be able to keep the plane lined up with the runway without making constant back and forth corrections. If the engine is at at idle, then every time you do a turn, the plane loses speed and altitude. Make too many corrections to stay lined up with the runway and you may not be able to make the runway with out throttling up again. I have 3 warbirds that I just throttle down to idle and land but I turn to final much closer to the runway than a trainer (they don't glide much) and I keep the speed up by careful use of the elevator. My suggestion, join a club, and get some proper training. [8D]

O.K. I got it. It's what I've been doing but wasn't sure it was right. The trainer I "used" to have, until that tree got jealous, I could land it real nice with mains touching first then the nose gear. It was more fun using throttle and elevator to land than just gliding it it. Thank you guys for the help and reassurance.

As for the spad...... the first time I flew it, it wasn't too bad(but not too good either). So I started messing with wing placement, learning the limits of sticks I did get it down with only needing to reattach the landing gear. I did find out tail heavy is bad, but when I had it pretty well cg'd, it still wouldn't fly real nice, maybe that is the fun of it.
Am I right that the cg should be at the spar? Or perhaps a hair forward of the spar?(as to be slightly nose heavy) I'll get it figured out, in the mean time it gives me practice for "wild" planes. I live in the country, so I park the tractor and trucks in the shed before I fly my spad.

Thanks again, gotta go......this web site is too addictive!

For the cg setting for spads. I like to balance on the main spar. I like to have the nose dip down about 1 1/2" when the plane is held up for all my planes. That gives me a slight nose down that works well for me. I balanced one plane for level at the cg instead of the slightly nose down for an experiment. I had to be careful to keep the plane gliding toward me for landing. With the engine at idle, with the plane comiong in to land, it would just stop moving forward and stall if I didn't add down elevator! I added a bit more weight after that!!

1.) Control speed with elevator

2.) Control rate of descent with throttle


Short ? Add power, not elevator.

In full scale aircraft (I don't know too much about r/c - just started) you actually hold up elevator for as long as practical especially on short field landings to act as a speed brake (aerodynamic braking I think is the technical term). Again that's in full scale and I don't really know how that translates to r/c because I haven't tried it.