farminred

Up untill now I have had some one else take my new planes up and trim them out for me. I am about done with #5 and I would like to trim it out myself. What do I need to check and do prior to flight and during taxi, and flight. I don't want this to do an instant new 3D move called the garbage truck.

thanks for your help

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

Take one of your other planes that's been trimmed out, put it 3-4 mistakes high, then intentionally adjust one of your trims out of trim. Fly the plane in that condition for a few seconds as you try to readjust the trim. Do this with ailerons and elevator both.

Double, Triple, and Quadruple check your center of gravity. If in doubt, leave it a little nose heavy. Tail heavy is the number 1 killer of planes on a maiden flight.

Make sure all your control surfaces are correctly centered per the instructions.

When the plane takes off, if it seems really squirrely and you can't control it, don't be afraid to abort the flight and land the plane in the closest tall grass.

Get as much air under the plane as you can as quickly as you can. This gives you more room to make adjustments. If its grossly out of trim, don't be afraid of large trim adjustments quickly.

Normally on a maiden flight, the second most likely thing to get you in trouble after the center of gravity is the aileron trim. To get the plane up will require you to add elevator anyway, so you're already pulling up. Be ready to respond quickly to any roll condition that develops. If it does start to roll, don't add the aileron to quickly, as your roll may just be a tip stall.

Get the aileron trim adjusted first, and then trim the elevator. Its easier to hold the nose level than maintain the wings level, so get the wings level done first. Its normally best to have someone else standing by to help you add the trim adjustments. That way you can continue holding the sticks to correct the flight as the trim is adjusted.

Good Luck!

Brad

bruce88123

1. Have a trusted person look the plane over for balance and rigging mistakes. Direction of control movements and things like that. A second opinion is valuable. Make sure you can kill the engine in flight too. You've been too close too long to be objective at this point.
2. If possible have another person with you to operate the trims while you keep the plane in the air. Brief him on what you plan to do and how you will ask for certain things. Does "UP TRIM" mean "nose up" or "move the trim lever up", result will be opposite.
3. If alone and you have to look down at the radio to find the trims, try to do it while the plane is in a slight climb. Gives more time before impact for you to relocate the plane in field of vision. Of course you should be practicing finding the trims without looking for them.
4. Most important - slow down. You don't have to do all of this at full throttle. Lower power settings give you more time to get things done (usually).

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

Being a hard head, I have Maidened & Trimmed all my own planes since the NexStar. The Tower Trainer is the only plane I own that was Maidened & Trimmed by someone else. I would agree with eveything said so far. Especially the second person standing by your side. I did one plane that was so squirrely it was all I could do to keep it in the air. I didn't dare glance away for even a second to look at the radio. If I didn't have Gary right there giving me the trims I needed as I called for them I would have lost that one for sure! Have a friend standing by ready to give you whatever trim adjustments you need, that will free you up to just fly the plane. Good luck.

bruce88123

I forgot to mention:

Altitude is your best friend!!!!!!! Climb for life!

One thing I like about the older radios is the mechanical trim. You can give a bunch of trim in a hurry instead of having to hold down the button.
One thing I hate about the older radios is the mechanical trim. It can be accidentally bumped out of center. Just need to be careful.

gjeffers

if your on plane #5 as mentioned above then you shouldnt have a problem, you should have mastered the trim levers by now.just check all the control surfaces over and over to make sure that they are moving in the correct direction,i think this is the #1 reason for the garbage truck 3D move.do as mentiond above and relax,for i as Grumpy have maidened all of my planes, including my first trainer,you will be fine

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Everybody has given great advice above. Follow it and you'll do fine!!!

I want to add, or actually just emphasize what was already said. Don't be afraid to have somebody else check over your plane before you fly it. The human brain has a way of overlooking things that they have seen many times before. So when you're putting together a plane you look at something so often that you will miss it when you are on the flightline doing pre-flight checks. It's only human nature, and somebody else will look at it and catch the problem immediately. Case in point, the last review plane I did the elevators were reversed and my buddy caught it. I've been flying for 10 years and I know better than do have elevators reversed, but that's the nature of the beast. Silly stuff like that happens all the time.

The other thing is to take out a trusted pilot to stand with you for the trim flight. This has nothing to do with your flying skills at all. He's there for a few reasons. First of all, sometimes a plane can be so out of trim it's all you can do to just fly it let alone take your fingers off of the sticks to adjust the trims. He can make those adjustments for you. Second of all, with a new plane it's hard for you to see everything going on with it at once. This is just human nature, it's a new plane and you're nervous/scared to death and you may not see everything. It's nice to have an extra pair of eyes out there to help spot anything going on with the plane. And lastly, pure and simple moral support. I don't care how much experience you have flying everybody gets nervous for a first flight. This is a plane that you have a lot of money in, have spent hours working on, and many nights dreaming about seeing it fly. You're scared that you're going to not be able to handle it, that you missed something in the build, or the plane gods are going to recall this plane to heaven. For whatever reason your knees are going to be knocking and brown stuff will be running out of the bottom of your pant legs. Having somebody there to help calm you down actually makes it go easier, trust me. 10 years now and I still get nervous every trim flight.

Hope this helps

Ken

bruce88123

It also helps if you are the only plane up there. No mid-airs to worry about and you can hear the engine better. Even engines in the pits can be distracting.

Mr. Canadian

Just simply double or even trible check everything to your satisfaction. As stated already you may want to have someone beside you to move the trims, if alone I used my left hand to move the trims and keep my right hand flying the plane. Definately check the CG. I made that mistake last time I maidened a plane from doing something stupid but, luckily it was just a trainer. I will say though that a tail heavy plane is a hand full to fly- it will want to takeoff very steep for no reason and it will have some stalling tendencies when landing. So all you really have to do is stay high, keep your speed not high but good and ask for help if needed. Maidening a new plane is alot of fun. Good luck and happy landings.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Bruce is correct once again. Unless you have a field with tons of pilots there they shouldn't have a problem with giving you the field to yourself. Most places I've ever been will do that for a trim flight. Besides, they all want to see your new beauty fly too!!!!! We all like watching them almost as much as flying them!!!!

Ken

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

Agreed on the field to yourself movement!! While it is not in our by-laws, it is sort of an un-written rule among us regulars that when someone calls out new airplane, we land & let him have the field to himself, the pitts remain quiet, & as Ken said, we all enjoy the show ready to applaud the success. I don't have experience with a lot of different fields & clubs as Ken & some of the others do, but I know we would give you that common curtesy at our field any & every day!!

You're gonna do great & nothing we can say or do is going to make it less nerve-racking than to just go & get er done.

rlipsett

Yes I would agree with having another person check your plane before flight. I have a bad habit of compressing the clevises arms together and sticking the pin in the control arms while I am roughly setting up a plane. This saves me all the agrivation and time from unhooking the surface when you are adjusting that half turn or so to get your plane mechanically adjusted. I had one of my birds ready to fly with the clevis just pressure fitted into the control arm when one of the people who I usually have give my planes the once over spotted it. It saved me an airplane due to the fact it was on the underside of the elevator that I didn't fully connect.

parrthd

everyone that has posted a reply to this question has been dead on,

however i didn't see the one thing that i'd like to add. almost cost me a plane due to this.

check and recheck your control throws. my plane in question only called for 1/4 and 5/16 inch for low/high rates respectively. i forgot to set the throw on the elevator and ...... well let's just say it wasn't being a "nice plane" to fly. every time you pulled the elevator past 1/4 back the plane would go into a hybrid snap roll and level out inverted and 90 degrees to the direction it was flying.

good luck, hope all goes well, and most importantly, enjoy your new plane.

da Rock

I don't think anyone has mentioned one little detail.

When you are ready to take her off that first time, resist the urge to firewall the sucker in one JAM of the throttle. I fly a lot of first flights for people and when it comes time for the first liftoff (I spend a lot of time checking out stuff beforehand) a lot of patience has been used up. It's so very easy to take this last step too fast.

And I learned the idea watching guys do their own maidens. It was like they thought if the got through the takeoff fast enough they wouldn't crash. Or that if they threw enough power at it in the shortest amount of time less could go wrong.

Take that first takeoff slower, not faster. No lie.

ClarkFlyer

Another little trick.....when I adjust my trims inflight, I hold the TX out in front of me so that I can see both the plane and the TX, rather than just looking down....too much can happen in that second or two.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

If your on your 5th plane, you should be okay. You'd be surprised how many planes just take off with little to no problems and very little trimming needed. Out of all my planes I have ever had, only 1 plane got me to a point on take off that i kissed it goodbye, but I got lucky and it came around. Turned into a smooth plane for a few years.

My spotter was next to me and I was at that point where I was going to just "stuff it" to keep from going into the parking lot but we got it turned around. That phrase "Go fast Turn Left." It did right after the wheels left the ground and I was not expecting it.

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

This is a great technique which I have not yet mastered. I do try to do it but I can never seem to not have to look away at the radio for at least a second or two, & as ClarkFlyer said, a lot can happen in those two seconds.[:@]

WMB

My Feedback: (1)

All great advice!! I have one to add. If the plane is so far out of trim, it can't be trimmed for straight and level- fly it for awhile before trying to land. I maidened a small P-51 that had a twist in the wing and it rolled to left. The trim was maxed on the Tx. I felt if I tried to land right away, I would destroy it. Came down ok in the end. Of course, the twist should have been taken care of before flight.
Have fun, MikeB

bruce88123

And take care of any ground handling problems before you even attempt to fly. Don't just pile on the problems.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I'm not going to give any advice, since so much great advice has already been offered, However, I would like to make a comment that has not been addressed....

Congratulations!

Aside from your first Solo, this is one of the big milestones in this sport. It was when I could confidently maiden my own planes that I really considered myself a "Pilot" and no longer a "Rookie".

The next Milestone was when others would ask me to maiden THEIR planes!

Good Luck!

bruce88123

That's when it's really scary, when you've got several hundred (or thousands) dollars of someone elses dreams in your hands.[sm=confused.gif]

parrthd

won't be going down that road for a while!!! LOL

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

This is why I do not maiden or fly anyones plane for any reason. Seen it happen to others too many times. If I were flying another plane and somebody blew it out of the sky like a 12 guage on a sparrow, i would still have some sort of a guilt trip and somehow it was my fault. Don't need that.

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

I hear ya Cyclic, I refuse to fly anyone elses plane these days too. I did fly a 30yr old Trainer for a guy but that was different & I made it quite clear that I didn't want to be responsible for his plane. He insisted that it would be ok & there would be no hard feelings if anything happened so I did it for that one guy. My buddy & flying partner Gary, was trying to get me to fly his Cap just Sunday after the meeting. I refused over & over. Later that day he burnded it in at full throttle. The engine & pilot were found at least 60 or 70 yards away from the scene of the crime. I am so glad I wasn't holding that radio!![&:]

I'll continue to maiden my own planes, but no-one elses!!