well the g/f was away for the weekend so it was a flying free for all! went out on saturday to the field, cranked up the motor and noticed when i throttled up to full it would hit full rpm and then die down a little bit but thought it was just cuz it was cold and just started running (not the case). taxied out to the runway and away we went... nice take off and turn downwind. came around and heard the engine sputtering a bit, so i gave it full throttle and it died! trying not to panic, i told myself i have plenty of altitude to glide, just take it easy. came around for landing and realized i was going pretty fast ... watched as it sped by me down the runway and finally touched down, with a few bunny hops, towards the end of the runway. the momentum took it off the end of the runway and into some mud which brought it to a stop.

i was so happy to have it in one piece and to have landed my first deadstick by myself.

the lesson learned? when its really hot outside you need to retune your high end on your motor. the funny part is, before i went out for my flight i was listening to a few guys talking about the heat and having to lean your engine a bit on full size planes!

so i retuned my motor and had 2 more successful flights saturday and 2 more on sunday. i'm really starting to get the hang of this and the shakes are starting to subside a bit. i love this hobby!!!

John

Congratz on your first deadstick. Glad it was successful

And yes, several at my field learned a similar lesson this weekend...when it's this hot, air is significantly less dense...meaning the same needle valve setting allows fewer air molecules into the fuel-air mixture. Result: Richer engine.

It need to be awfully darned warm for this to make a signifcant enough impact to require re-adjustment...but, of late, it has certainly been 'awfully darned warm' up here, and I suspect down in TX as well.

Good job. When i did mine i wasn't lucky enough to fly it back, but i got it down safely (dead stick about 300 feet out, and 15 feet off the deck, but the way it is setup that was below me..

If i remember correctly you fly the avistar?

yep, avistar is still going strong. going to adjust the control throws this week to try some more aerobatic stuff.

ScienceisCool,
If you really want to improve your aerobatic capabilities you might also consider sealing up your control hinge gaps in addition to increasing you throws. Sealing those gaps will to more to improve performance than you can imagine. It will seam like a new plane after your done.

Hope this helps.

Ken

Ken,
How do you do that?

Pilot Chad:

If you look close into your ailerons you will see that there is a little space between the aileron and the wing (where the hinges are).

You can get some clear monokote or heavy duty clear packing tape and "seal" that gap.

The way to do it is to flex (with your hand) the control surface to its max throw and apply the tape.

Take a look here http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_31...tm.htm#3159454

Cheers,
Joseph

My first deadstick was during my training before I soloed. Our club does simulated deadsticks to practice for a pilot's solo test.

I always seem to have nice soft landings on a deadstick. Weird!

Swager,

You would be surprised just how much more focused you become once your engine goes dead unexpectedly. You will also notice that allot of top pilots actually land dead stick and it some cases it's because of the prop pitch. A 10 pitch or bigger prop needs a very slow idle to really stop pulling a plane and in some cases you cannot get the idle low enough.

Case in point, I was flying a students LT-40 last week, during my preflight I failed to ask/check the pitch of the prop. I had a heck of a time landing it. Come to find out he had a 11X7 on a 46FX. I had to deadstick 2 landing until I realized what was going on. DOH

ScienceIsCool,

Congrats on flying your first dead stick! [sm=thumbup.gif] I remember my first dead stick...I was flying with 2 other guys so I couldn't hear the engine quit and continued flying around...then, my instructor (more like advisor...I'm soled and I hold the only transmitter controlling the airplane while he yells stuff from behind ) said the engine quit and just to fly it in...well, flying a taildragger avistar, the mains hit about halfway down the runway, but the tail flew for quite a while before I could give it up elevator without going back into the sky

Happy RCing!

i was the only one flying at the time so i could hear my engine quit on me. it suddenly became very quiet and everyone at the field knew what just happened and what was going to happen. if nothing else, this experience has made me even more confident for the next time i go out and fly.

i deadsticked my sea bee on my first 2 maiden flights this weekend. and ill tell ya its a new experiance deadsticking with a plane that does not float like a trainer or second plane. but both landing very successful

Glider pilots always dead stick!!! and they don't think a thing about it. I make my students dead stick at least a couple times. I like dead sticks in some ways, I think it helps to understand your plane. I did 2 today on purpose. ENJOY !!! RED