I solo'd last week and have been to the field a couple of times since then and gotten in some more solo flights. I figure it'll be about a month before I start building my second plane (I really enjoy the building process) and was just wondering what folks here would recommend that I practice to improve my flying skills between now and when my next plane is ready to maiden. Thanks

Hi Neddy,

I would suggest that you fly touch and goes. Then, at least two mistakes high try to fly symmetrical loops of differing sizes with good throttle control from the invert to the down line.

Then fly more touch and goes then try moving from loops to figures of eight entering from left and right.

Then fly more touch and goes and then try inverted flight. Then more touch and goes.

Get my drift???

Cheers,

Colin

and of course don't forget those touch and goes LOL

Wind!!!! As soon as you get the chance go out on a windy day, as in more wind than you would normally be comfortable flying in. Then refer to step one, touch & goes in the wind till the cows come home. If you get the crosswind landings down with a Trainer, you'll find the wind to be no big deal as you move up to more point & shoot type planes. You will also improve your confidence level & not be too scared to fly every time the wind gets up over 15mph. You would be surprised at how many seasoned fliers are self-grounded at 10mph winds just because it is something they never practiced enough to get comfortable with. Depending on where you live & fly, the wind can be a huge part of flying. If you live in one of the many constantly windy areas in this country then the ability to fly in heavy winds is a must!! Good luck & congrats on your recent solo.[sm=thumbup.gif]

For a beginner, I could not agree more. Shooting touch and goes is a GREAT excercise. There is nothing more important than learning how to land. As a brand new pilot it is going to be the most difficult and risky maneuver you can execute. Once you are soloing, I would make as many touch and goes as you can shoot with a tank of gas. Basically this will also allow you to practice a lot of things.

At 1st you will be doing a non touch touch and go where you will just graze across the runway without actually touching. As you improve you will probably next do a bounce touch and go, that is you will slow the plane down and it will basically bouce off of the runway where you will immediately throttle up and fly around. Eventually you will be able to do a rolling touch and go where you make a nice clean approach, land softly under total control and throttle up and roll down the runway then take back off. This is an absolute blast, even for advanced pilots. Touch and gos are an essential part of really learning to fly.

I agree with everything said.
Another thing to do is get some altitude and at different points in your flight path go to idle for simulated deadstick and see how you are at getting a landing. If something doesn't feel right power up and go. At higher altitude and slower is also a good place to see how your plane reacts to rudder input.

Great point woodbutcher!![sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

Agree. My son and I both soloed last fall but haven't flown since. That situation changed this past week and we've made 4 trips up to the field and pretty much killed a gallon of fuel.

We're still using our trainer (Sig LT-40) so have been flying in more breezy conditions as well as practicing approaches and those bounce 'n go's - even some honest landings. Sometimes we'll land, turn around, taxi back to the downwind end of the runway and go right back up.

We've also been practicing stalls, getting into unnatural situations and recovering, doing loops, rolls, split S's and even tried inverted flight. It *can* be done with a trainer!

We plan to get the most out of our trainer before jumping to our 2nd model. Already have that - a H9 UltraStick 40 ARF. I'll need a better radio if I want to do a 4 servo wing setup on the US so for now, we're flying the wings off the LT-40.

BTW, th US 40 is a heck of a lot of fun with standard aileron setup

Circuits, circuits, and...more circuits...until you can fly a consistant circuit, approach and landing, proverbially, "in your sleep". Plenty to practise there. Different strips (approach orientation, situational awareness), maintain track per runway heading after T/O (ie: no sloppy torque induced uncorrected left slow rolling tracking 'turns' during rudderless after take-off climbout techique), S/F T/O, X/W T/O, X/W circuits, S/F approaches, X/W ldgs, EFATOS, missed approaches, glide approaches (dead stick), low level circuits, abridged (tight) circuits, etc.

Yup there's no such thing as being to good at landing

When you get good at touch and go's, nothing will improve your landings better than spot landings, we usually throw out a frisbee or some old hat and pass the transmitter back and forth and have a spot landing contest, simple but a ton of fun!

-Bill

Couldn`t agree more on the touch and goes and or repeated landings and takeoffs. Everything between takeoff and landing is just gravy. Getting up and down in one piece is the REAL important stuff in the final analysis. If you can`t do that, then all the fancy aerobatics are just empty show IMVHO.

From the sounds of it, the past 4 years spent shooting touch n go's have'nt been wasted time for me then? I like doing them, I thought I was sport flying!!!!

Thanks for all the advice. So seems like the consensus is that I can't do enough touch and go's which I plan on continuing to do. How about the times when the field is a little busier (which it seems to be when I can get there right now) and touch and go's aren't really the best with the traffic. I think one thing I need to learn/work on rudder control. What are some good drills I can do to help me learn to use that left stick a little bit more. Flat turns? Also we often have crosswinds at my strip so I'd like to learn how to land in the crosswind a little prettier and I know rudder with help.

We have the constant crosswind too, One thing we found that helps the guys that fly with just one stick, is to have them try to fly straight down the runway heading using only the rudder to stay on course. You can do this in heavy traffic because you can do it at any altitude you deem neccessary for safety. With the strong crosswind that we have there are only two ways to achieve this. You either use the ailerons & come straight down the runway heading at a strange looking lean into the crosswind, or you can use the rudder to stay on your heading & come right down the runway nice & straight & flat!! It is very easy to do & a good simple way to get used to flying with both sticks.

Sounds good. I have an LT-40 trainer and it doesn't take much rudder to start to bank the plane with the dihedral it has. I guess next time we have a good crosswind day I can just try fly down the runway centerline/shoot approaches using a little rudder with opposite aileron to keep the wings level. Then once I'm comfortable with that I can try setting her down.

There ya go. Anything that reminds you that the right stick isn't just for the throttle is a good thing imo. I use the rudder the most during my landings, & once you start playing around with the aerobatics it will be nice to have the use of the rudder as a normal function & not one you have to force yourself to remeber to use. No rudder=no Knife-Edge & many other manuevers as well. If you have a sim you can get all sorts of rudder experimenting in for free if you know what I mean. You can get just as stupid as you want seeing what different effects rudder inputs will have on the plane in any situation without the ol'$400 trip to the LHS.[:@]

Rudder....the OTHER right-stick