Hi all

When landing my trainer 40 is it right that When approaching to land my throttle should be at about 25% and I decend the plane by giving up elevator. Or should up elevator only be used to flare at the last minute?

All tips I am greatful for.

Thanks in adv,

REgards

It's generally best to descent in a slightly nose-down attitude, or on a trainer, level. A nose-up descent is possible, but you're flying pretty close to stall at that point.

You shouldn't push the nose down and dive at the ground though. That just builds up airspeed, and the result will be a balloon climb when you pull the stick back to flair.

It's normal to need to hold a little back stick while descending at low power, even though the nose is level or slightly down.

When flairing, you only pull back as hard as you need to prevent the nosewheel from touching first, or on a tail dragger, to prevent touching down in a nose-down attitude (or too nose down), since that often results in a nose-over.

When I fly my trainer (not often anymore), I pull back to idle about 50 or so yards out (it depends upon the wind--if it's windy, then I wait a little longer to pull off. If it's completely calm, my entire glide-slope may be at idle) then, I approach with a slightly nose down, or level attitude. right before touchdown, I pull back just a bit to make the mains hit first. Once the mains are down, let the stick go back to neutral and the nose gear should settle down. If you try a nose high approach, you will stall the trainer. Especially if it's a flatbottomed wing. mine is semi-symmetrical, and I think it lands much better than a flat bottom wing.

carl24bpool, I'm a newbie too and only soloed a few months ago so take this with the proverbial grain of salt. I found that if I concentrated on flying the plane to the ground instead of worrying so much about throttle positions and flare heights then I progressed much faster with my landings. From your other posts it sounds like you have a lot of room to land so misjudging the touchdown point shouldn't be a big concern.

I ease the throttle back all the way as I make my base leg turn and keep the nose slightly down. Too far down and you will pick up lots of airspeed that will keep you flying longer than you'd like. Too shallow and the plane will slow down too much and stall before you are near the ground. A little testing up high will help you find a nice shallow glide angle that keeps the plane flying at a slow speed.

As I get close to the ground (6 feet or so), I think about flying the plane just inches above the ground. I start adding just a little up elevator to start bringing the nose of the pane up. It only takes a little elevator to do that, too much and you'll slow the plane and stall while you're high. If it looks like the plane is is slowing too quickly then I add a little throttle. I keep adding small amounts of up elevator trying to keep the plane just an inch or so above the ground, use ailerons to keep the wings level, and make sure I have the throttle down at idle. The plane will slow and settle onto the ground.

Once you get the basics down, then you can start adjusting your approach turns, speed and height to get the tocuhdown point right where you want it. If something doesn't look or feel right then smoothly throttle up and go around. Be careful when you apply power as the torque may make the plane roll to the left. A little right rudder will compensate for that.

Goodl luck!

When I was learning to land, I would get lined up with the run way and then kill the engine on my trainer. Then all I would have to do is keep the wings level. Probably not the best strategy, but it worked well enough.

eaglehope has the correct approach.

You FLY the plane down until the mains are about 3" from the ground. Depending on the wind you should only have 1/8 - 1/4 throttle on at this point. Then reduce your throttle to idle or a little above.

The next step takes some practice to get it right.

What you need to do is add in a LITTLE UP ELEVATOR AND HOLD IT. (What you want to do is bleed off speed, not baloon back up.)

The plane will settle in to a nice landing.

[quote]ORIGINAL: Campy.

What you need to do is add in a LITTLE UP ELEVATOR AND HOLD IT. (What you want to do is bleed off speed, not baloon back up.)
Campy, you summed it up here!

Remember this, when landing you control your AIRSPEED with the ELEVATOR!
Also, you control your RATE OF DECENT with the THROTTLE

Great advise... Takes practice, then some... But it's soooooooo sweet
when you greese it in:-) Also once on the ground it's good to hold
some down elev. on trike gear, and up on tail draggers to get more
ground control.

I land my planes the same as when I was flying full size. In other words, when you know that you can make the runway with the right amount of speed then chop the engine to idle and float it in. Don't forget to start adding in up elevator to flair just before the touch down. If you need to have throttle at 25% to make the runway means that either you are too low, too far away, or its really windy which slows down the plane too much.

double post

Going to a local airport and watching full scale landings is actually not a bad thing to do. Getting a ride in a light plane is even better.

Do keep in mind that your typical full scale seems to run a steaper approach than is typical for models. I'm not really sure WHY this is, but it seems to be the case. Guessing here, but I think a big part of that is the lighter wingloading of many of our models, and the extra power we have, plus the fairly high idles and the prop pitch results in models that don't bleed speed as fast as full scales.

Thanks lads for all your tips.

You all seem to be pointing me in the right direction.

Kirk is right about "your typical full scale seems to run a steaper approach than is typical for models". This because the full scale planes use flaps while landing to get more lift at slower speeds. The higher lift means that you can come in to land in a moderatly nose down position which gives the pilot a better view of the runway. Some of the RC planes that have flaps can also come in to land this way. These are usually larger, heavier, more expensive, advanced types of planes compared to typical sport planes or trainers so you may not see that many of them around. [8D]