Thought youd get a kick out of this.

I recently started getting Dead sticks while teaching my son. Three in a row to be exact!

I got really worried that maybe Id somehow damaged the motor when I retuned a while back for the new fuel.
Each time, it would die at the top of a loop I was walking him through to get the boredom out so he'd not loose interest.

Well, it dawned on me while I was tinkering, trying to figure out what the heck was going on after the last one what caused it.

You see, when I taught him the loop, I taught him to chop throttle at the top, to prevent engine overspeed and keep airspeed down as it comes back down the backside of the loop. Well, guess who didnt check the throttle trims on the buddy box??[:@]

Tunrs out the trim setting on his box was significantly below the idle setting on the master, so each time he chopped it closed the carb, and the motor obediently stopped running.[:'(]

Ahh well, I needed the practice landing without power right??

Sounds like your son is really coming along there - doing loops already How old is he?

Being a flight instructor for our club, I've done that a couple times myself.

Actually he's VERY new, cant even really get him to do a full lap withouttaking it. I use the loops and rolls as the "fun stuff" to keep him interested. He tends to want to do advanced stuff and gets bored if all he is allowed to do is cut circles. So, I taught him the basic loop and a roll my way (I'm not so good at these with my trainer so I put it in a gentle climb first, this way by the time she is right side up again Im level or a slight down angle instead of a power dive[:@]) I told him for every time he gets what I want him to do right, or makes three REAL attempts at it, I will let him play a bit.

Oh, hes 13, my youngest daughter is 8 and she's learning too!! Wierd thing; I asked her if she wanted to do the loops and rolls and she goes "Nah Im good". She's just happy with basic flight. Maybe because her turns look like a half loop with a 90 degree attitude change in it [>:] Man she scared me first time she did that! But it was going up, and she basically had it so I let her go...

Now I dont feel nearly so dumb LOL!! I figured that was a n00b instructor mistake!

Adui, I grew up right across the river from you in St. Paul. I live in Portland now, but where do you fly around there?

That's cool that your teaching them that young and that you have your own trainer box. I just ordered my stuff for my first plane and included in the list is a buddy box and buddy cable so I can teach myself first then eventually my two daughters who are 25 and 26 years old and are interested - they say they are anyway. We'll see I'll remember that about the trim settings though. Thanks for the tip!

Throttle management on a buddy box can be hair raising. When I was learning, we found that the buddy box didn't follow the TX on the throttle, IE if I could get full throttle on the buddy box, I couldn't get it to idle or vise versa. We finally came to compromise and all went well until one day I had made a great landing and taxied it back to the start line and ask my instructor to kill the engine. He released the trainer switch but had forgot to cut the throttle on the TX and the Mag 91 jumped instantly to full throttle and into the netting. For the next couple days, I would aske if he had the throttle down on the taxi back to the line. I soloed just after that so it wasn't a problem for me for long.

Just some advise to the new instructors. Once the plane has landed, chop the throttle on the TX if the student still has the plane.

Don

Well, Im sure you are aware there are several choices LOL! However, I am basically lazy. Add to that that I live 5 minutes away from what IMHO is the best airfield around these parts, and you will see why I fly off the Evergreen Aeromodelers field behind the Museum.

Quote from the egam webpage:"DeAlton Field offers one of the finest model aviation facilities. RC flyers enjoy a 500 x 24 foot paved runway, 500 x 20 grass runway, paved taxiways, 6 flying stations and a fenced pit area with frequency board and individual pit tables. The Control-Line area includes one paved donut and a grass circle with paved takeoff strip. Both fields have electricity on-site with underground irrigation systems and feature safety fencing and attractive landscaping. Beautiful oak trees between the flying areas allow for picnics and shady relaxation."

The field is located on the grounds of the Evergreem Museum complex. They maintain it all for us free of charge, (So far). All they ask is that when they have something going on with the kids, (Boy scouts and other groups) we do educational fy ins up to and including Buddy box events for the kids to get some stick time.

The host club is the Evergreen Aero Modelers, our website is [link=http://www.egam.org]The Evergreen Aero Modelers[/link]

RE caapja:
Im really new myself, and technically probably not qualified to teach yet in terms of flight skill and experience. But Im the only regular at our field willing on a regular basis, so I have taken it upon myself to teach my kids, and once Im successfull there I will start teaching any who want to learn, (maybe sooner since we've a couple of new guys joining the club and hungry for flight time. Who knows!) I have to check with the club on the particulars for this, but since the club president was not only OK with me teaching my kids there, but encouraged it, I do not expect any issues.
As for the gear, well a hazzard of owning a trainer outfitted with JR Radios in an area that almost exclusively flies Futaba. One must have ones own buddy box to learn with! Fortunately for me, a good friend in Arizona had this nice JR 6102 that he didnt use due to xmitter issues. (Lost planes to it) Works great as a buddy box, and all I owe him is shipping. Which I really need to send to him!

Gee whiz! I knew I was eventually gonna teach, but I had no idea it would be this soon after my own solo!! (I sure wish we had more regulars at the air field then findign a more qualified instructor wouldnt be an issue..)

Side note: one of the competitions we will be having this Saturday is a "Touch and go" event. I started practicing Sunday, in a gusy crosswind..
Who knew Touch and Goes would be this difficult!! Plenty of Touches, not so many go's[:@] (My plane dont go so well off the grass no more..)
BUT!! Other than rebending the gear, and maybe replacing the prop, the plane is still flight ready!

Sounds like a nice field - especially for $20 annual membership - my club's is $55 and there are no paved runways. Beautiful museum next to it too. Is that the spruce goose inside?

Wow, I did not even know that they had a flying field back there. I have been to the museum before my RC flying started and it is really cool. The field sounds really good too. I might have to check it out someday that I am down in the area. Thanks for the link!

Cappaj:
Yes, the Spruce Goose is in that museum.

cappaj1: Yep, that be the Hughes HK-1, AKA the Spruce Goose! Also got all kinds of other stuff, and rumor has it the new space museum is getting a Space Shuttle, dont know when though.

Allfat: Yep, its been there since I think the mid 90's. Never got much use till recently from what have seen. We even have members of the club that STILL drive out to the MAM field, and some of them are closer to this one. I personally think its the trees around us. Behind the pit area and between the line control and RC fields is a wooded picnic area, about 75 yards or so deep and the entire length of the flying site. Also sme nasty trees about 3/4 runway length (educated guess from looking at aireal pics) from the right end of the runway.

Even now there is almost never more than 3 pilots there, and usuall only one or two at any time unless a club event is going on. I am out most Sundays, and try to get there sometimes durin the week. Come join us Id love to meet you!

I personally LOVE the field, though I could understand guys not wanting to fly realy big stuff there.

Thanks!

Our field is all grass but it's still very nice. The guys in the club keep it mowed very well.
Here's an picture of it from the air.

You've got about the same problem as us. DON'T DEADSTICK low/slow or you're screwed. [:@]



Pick your poison, water or trees.