You guys will love this flight.....I took my Alpha 40 off with at least a 5 mph wind which is no problem, I flew a couple simple oval patterns and decided to do a loop. I had the plane doing fine till I got up on top of the loop....then the engine died! Oh...great! Don't panic just turn her over and fly down wind a bit and turn around and land....should be easy....right? Well I got her turned over easy and glided down wind so I could approach the strip easy....what a handful that was! [X(] My plane dropped faster then I wanted and with the crosswind gusting up to 11 mph now I thought sure enough this trainer is history. I came in about four feet above the runway but all my gliding speed was almost gone so I had to nose down quick while keeping the wings level and I made one of my best landings and no one was around to see! [&o] I rolled off the runway quick and put the rudder to her and she did a 180 right back onto the runway not more then 10 feet away from me! Excellent!

Then I readjusted the carb and flew one more time and the engine just didn't sound right so just kept her level and flew simple oval patterns till I landed with the engine still running but that landing had a hard bounce which broke my prop but I fly with only wood props anyway so no big deal. I called it quits after that flight....

Good to hear the landings went so well. keep working on that tune-up.

when you are pulling that maneuver, try to use the rudder, and not the ailerons. Actually, use a little bit of opposite aileron to try and keep the wings level as the plane "swings" around. this produces less drag, and, therefore, slows the plane down less on the turn to final. This will also help to prevent a nasty tip stall problem when you graduate to tougher planes. Banking and yanking a deadstick plane is a recipe for disaster. you will bleed off speed much quicker than you think

I think my best landings are when I am deadstick... Probably because I know I only have one shot at it

2 slow - you still complaining about getting that thread shut down?

2slow, thanks for the tip! Never thought about drag when I was coming around....just seems to be so much to consider when you fly with power and even more when there isn't any.

My best landings are when I deadstick and when no one is around too.

I am sorry and I know that I am going to be shot down for making these comments, but you are completely wrong by saying that using rudder will cause less drag than ailerons; in fact what you are saying will create a greater problem and chance for stalling. The best way to reduce drag is to make coordinated turns - use aileron to bank and small amounts of rudder in the same direction to counteract the adverse yaw caused by the ailerons. Trying to keep your aircraft level and ruddering it through the turn as you are suggesting is more commonly know as slipping in full size aircraft and creates large amounts of drag and loss of energy and airspeed, and is most probably one of the greatest causes of people spinning in and killing themselves while close to the ground in full size aircraft during emergency situations.

When conservation of energy is important as when you get a dead stick the following things are important: Maintain airspeed by keeping the nose of aircraft down, do not fly the aircraft at a speed just above the stall, in terms of energy conservation it is better to fly the aircraft to fast than to slow. Try to make as little turns as possible and when you have to turn try and make them as coordinated and shallow as possible. By shallow I mean long wide turn’s not flat ruddered turn. The last two things that one should be doing when trying to conserve energy is stretch the glide out by holding the nose up or ruddering the aircraft through a turn.

I know that I do not have much experience in RC aircraft but I have spent a fair amount of time in full size aircraft and although there may be a lot of things that RC aircraft can do that the full size ones can not do, they still have to follow the same laws of aerodynamics. Full size aircraft have a turn and slip indicator or a yaw string to ensure that a pilot always makes coordinated turns. (I have attached a image from wikipedia indicating the function of these aids in a engine out conditions)

Cheers
Pups

Dang, I saw the title of the thread and thought you found some willing babe in the Wal-Mart parking lot Glad you got your plane back in one piece.

Yeah, Stang put it well. Most of my best landings have been dead-stick.

Last week, when flying my Tiger 120, I had just completed a stall turn (hammerhead), was idle throttle on the way down, then leveled it out when the covering on the top of my right wing came off. Panic time. I was headed upwind but no where near the runway. So, I did a quick turn, kept the engine a little above idle until I got lined up with the runway, then intentionally killed the engine and landed dead stick. Very nice landing, in spite of the missing covering on the top of the right wing. So, yep, dead stick landings are pretty awsome... most of the time.

On one deadstick, I just ran out of airspeed and had to put it down, and lost landing gear, but that was about the worse of them.

Pupmeister, Now that there are two different points of view about what to do and what not to do.....I really got lucky since I did just what you advised. I didn't use any rudder, not because it was right but because I'm not experienced enough with it yet.

I love this hobby!

likely you got a way with this manuever because trainers are very docile & forgiving. in a higher performance pattern or scale ship you would have had less options & much less time to excecute them.
its hard to really damage trainers too much if when landing into the wind you over shoot . stalling due to steep turns close to the ground in heavy winds will cause lots of airplane parts to break.