What is Crow? (Besides being a big, black, noisy bird?)

Yeah, I'd like to know also - what is crow, besides a big black noisy bird, or something you sometimes have to eat after a faux pas?

Crow? In reference to what? Is it model related? If so, I would like to know also. I've never heard of it in reference to R/C .

It surprises me that with an avatar like yours this is heavy on your mind. It is a term and function used primarily by sail plane fliers that aids in altitude and speed control. Most modern radio manuals reference it these days (check yours). With the advent of the Ultra Stick type models and the four flap setup it's become quite a buzz word. I'm sure the purists will correct me where needed but basically your plane will have in essence barn door ailersons (towards the wingtip) and inboard flaps (at the wing root) These can be used as one long aileron, just barndoors, flaps and ailerons or CROW. Crow is usually when the flaps go down and the barndoor ails go up. Makes for some interesting flying. Try it and let me know_Bob

Bob,

The Avatar is what I aspire to, not a plane I own or that I'm anywhere near ready for.

Thanks for the explanation.

CptCrunch

I'm not a sailplane enthusiast, but my understanding of crow that it is a mix of flap and aileron positions used in landing. In crow, when flaps are down, both ailerons are up. It is a complicated mixing function requiring a computer transmitter. I use a MicroPro8000 transmitter and on it to set up crow, you need a 4 servo wing. The flaps are plugged into the throttle channed and channel 5. The ailerons are plugged into the aileron channel and channel 7. When you go to low throttle position, the mixer on that channel makes the flaps drop and both ailerons go up, as well as mix in some elevator to compensate in pitch changes. When ailerons have this crow mix on, they must still be set up to operate as ailerons while in the crow position. So it takes a high end computer to accomplish all this.

I would also be interested in a treatise on the subject from someone with some indepth knowledge of the subject.

The descriptions of crow so far are correct. Flaps down and ailerons up, with just a dab of elev.

With crow activated and just a little power (play with it) you can fly around in about 45 deg angle, harrier style.

Now, if you go into a dive you can use crow to slow you down, then pull up just above the ground and land in a short distance.(try that a little high to get the hang of it before actualy trying to land it)

ON a windy day you can activate crow and sit motionless in the air, correcting heading with the rudder. If the wind is strong enough you can even land the plane backwards!!!! Kinda fun!

Yep, flaps down, ailerons up. Sometimes called butterfly (JR manuals).
I use this on my 4 servo-wing sailplanes, makes precision landings MUCH easier. I (and most of the guys I know) use only a small amount of up aileron, maybe 1/8", with 90 degrees of flap. I've experimented with more "up" aileron, but my ship came down TOO quick, without as much roll control as I would like. But that's just me

I agree with R Carver in that full crow (that is with the ailerons full up and flaps full down) causes too much loss of axial control. At least with my sailplane I much prefer full down flaps (90 degrees) and neutral ailerons. It slows the ship beautifully and I still have full control. Full crow does look kinda neat though! I've tried it all different ways and personally prefer neutral ailerons. This may vary from design to design though.