MontanaCowboy

Well, Being my first post, I'll start off by giving a quick summary of me.

My name is Christian, I am 14 years old, I have had four days of RC experience, I work at Central Hobbies (not selling RC stuff, but plastics), I am a Student Pilot with three years flying a Cessna 172. I know next to nothing about Radio Control, and all of it is very frustrating. I am very knowlegable about airbrushes and plastic models, which is why Central Hobbies hired me in the first place.

Now my problem. I got the aerobird swift, and I am pretty good at flying it without any aide of any kind. But when I crash, I crash hard, and I am dropping about $50 for wings and tails so far. I just can't afford it between paintball, plastic modeling, and flying lessons. What is happening is that I am launching it by hand fully charged into the wind, fairly hard and even, keeping the elevator trim pretty far back so it starts to go even though I'm not on the stick. As soon as it leaves my hands it seems to stall out and wing over at about 15 feet up, going straight down into the ground despite full back elevator. Now I'm out two sets of wings and a tail, and I am really starting to consider selling it all and forgetting all about it.

What am I doing wrong?

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

You want to launch the plane straight out and away from you, not at an upward angle. You want to trim the v-tail to be neutral at launch, and when you let go of the plane you only want to give the aircraft partial up elevator. Don't yank the stick all the way back. It's more important that the plane picks up speed rather than altitude. The lift of the wing will carry the plane higher as it picks up speed, you shouldn't need to crank back on the elevator.

Does it seem like the battery is charging fully, or does the plane lose power right after you launch it, causing it to stall? I had problems with the 12v charger that came with my Aerobird Challenger. It would "false peak" and tell me my battery was fully charged when it was still way down on power. I bought the AC charger and would charge the batteries with that, then only use the 12v DC charger to "top up" the battery on the way to the field.

Lastly, you mentioned that when the plane stalls, it tends to "wing over" and then crash. Is the stall always to the left or to the right? This could indicate a trim problem that also needs to be addresses so that all of the control surfaces are even.

Not that you want to hear this, but I never did learn to fly very well on my Aerobird Challenger. I went and joined a flying club and trained on glow planes. After I learned to fly my Nexstar, I found I could handle my Aerobird a lot better, too.

MontanaCowboy

Thanks for the advice and congrats on 1000 posts. It always stalls to one side, making me wish I had a rudder. Thanks again and I'll try it out tomorrow.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Once you crash one of the Hobbyzone "stick and pod" style planes, they're very difficult to keep trimmed out with everything aligned the way they're supposed to be. I spent a lot of time before each flight wiggling the tail boom and rocking the wing back and forth in the wing saddle trying to get everything lined up so it looked just right before I launched it.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Welcome to RC flying. I fly electrics and gliders. I have a LOT of experience with the HobbyZone RTF planes. Here are a few points:

1) Swift is NOT recommended as a first plane for a self trainer. Says so on the box. HobbyZone considers this a Zone 3 plane. That means they expect you to have experience on Zone 1 planes, then graduate to Zone 2 planes, then you go to Zone 3.

2) Never trim in up elevator on the launch. Do you start you trip down the runway seated in your full scale Cessna with the yoke pulled all the way back? No.

3) Pick up an Aerobird Challenger, an Aerobird 3, or a Super Cub. While these are Zone 2 planes they are excellent first planes for learning to fly on your own, especially if you have knowledge of flying.


these threads will also be helpful.

Six Keys to Success
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18

Throwing up will make you sick - read from the first post
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_32...tm.htm#3708346

Teaching Someone To Fly - Tools and Techniques
Knowing how people teach will help you learn
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5767

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

The Hobbyzone Super Cub is actually ranked as a zone 1 plane by Hobbyzone. Along with the Parkzone Slo-V RTF, this is the entry level electric RTF that I recommend most for beginning pilots who want to learn to fly on their own rather than getting involved with flight instruction at a local club.

The Super Cub has a traditional "t" tail configuration and appears to be easier to keep trimmed properly compared to my old Aeroturd Challenger. The Slo-V is really slow, and can be handled outdoors by a beginner pilot without getting too far ahead. The fact that the Slo-V can be flown indoors when the weather isn't good for outdoor flying is also a nice plus for the Slo-V.

I am curious if you have flown the Hobbico Flyzone Ventura or Mini Ventura, aeajr, and how you think a new pilot would fare trying to learn on one of those airframes?

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I have seen, the mini-V, but not flown either of the Venturas. What I have read is that they planes need to be flown "fast" which makes them less desirable as first planes for self trainers.

With guidance from an experienced pilot, they may be fine.

Bill Lowen

sounds like my experience with one of those. The thing flew for a couple of seconds then crashed. The boom broke and I fixed it. It would never fly again no matter what I did. I finally gave up, bought a nitro trainer and joined a club.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I bought an Aerobird and joined a club. I still crashed but I had help to extend the time between crashes and to help with the fixes. Loved that plane. Flew it at the field, thermaled it and learned to slope soar with it.

I still have an original Aerobird. However for daily flying it has been replaced by

1Aerobird Challenger
5 other electric planes
6 thermal duration sailplanes
2 slope gliders
2 hand launched gliders
1 fold up/into the suitase electric
an aerotowed sailplane
and 2 electric gliders.

What a great hobby!

MontanaCowboy

Wow, I didn't know I was hand launching it so wrongly. I'll see if I can get a flight in tonight if the battery charges in time.

Thanks for all the helpful advice.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Tossing the plane "up" into the air seems like the right thing to do, but that might be your problem. Toss it out straight and level and let the motor create the lift. Let us know how it goes!

MontanaCowboy

It went perfectly, I only had one bad crash, but some CA remedied that. It took off like a dream, and when it was trimmed out, it flew very nicely. I had some very nice landings, as well, no tips or stalls, perfect. I'm so glad I came here for help, without your guys' help, I'd still be stuck dropping $20s for wings.

Thanks a lot!

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Wow! That's terrific to hear, MontanaCowboy. I'm going to show this thread to my wife so she knows I'm not completely useless.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Big Ed,

To us you are a gem and a half.

To your wife .... completely useless!