I have a real hard time judging how far my plane is away from me especially during my landings, seems I am always on the far side of the field. I'm wondering if anyone has a suggestion to help me out.

I'd suggest two things. First, pick out landmarks when on final that put you on the centerline and use them each landing. Second, fly it closer than you think it is.

Actually, I'm only half kidding on that last remark. I've flown (behind) into trees twice early on because I thought I was closer than I was. It made me realize I was further out than I thought, and made me consciously think about how far out it might actually be.
Dennis-

You might be doing the same thing I still find myself doing at times, concentrating so hard on the plane that everything else loses perspective.
Try shifting your focus breifly to the end of the field during the landing. I think this tends to open up your field of vision making landings a lot better/easier.
I still have to do this when flying a new plane for the first couple times or if I am flying at a new field.
Ed M.

When nobody is flying stand on the runway centerline and pick a landmark that you can line up with. Then from your flying position, fly over the landmark and head directly for yourself. You will be lined up "almost" perfectly. Let the plane pass just in front of you and it should be over the runway.

Tom

Make runway markers with cardboard and florescent paint. That will get you some thing for reference point. '''any thing to get your attention!

When you can, make a few low and slow passes past yourself. Do this as if you were going to land, but just pass by. As you do work the plane into the area you want to land and gain a good perspective of what the plane looks like as it approaches. I use the amount of "side" I can see to aid in judging how close I am, when I'm well out the plane appears to be coming directly at me.

I had the same problem and worked out the above system to get me past it. I will use this at a new field to help me adjust to the background. Once I have the line figured out I find I'm using landmarks to guide me on my approach. Good Luck

It's extremely common to think the plane is closer than it actually is and about the only way to solve this is to practice with lots of landings and fly-byes as has been suggested.

It even confuses really good experienced flyers, especially of larger models, as size is all you really have to go by.

There are three main ways we all normally judge distance, stereo vision, size comparison and absolute, remembered size, and the first two aren't available with something that is in clear sky, and is so far away that the tell- tale angle difference between the eyes is too small to give stereo vision distance.

All that's left, then, is the remembered size, and this only comes with experience.

It gets particularly noticeable if you move to a large scale model from a smaller one when it seems a lot closer than it is

(doesn't it Basinbum?)

It'll get better (a bit!!)

Good luck!

-David C.

What I do is turn on final and have the plane flying towards me and when I begin to approach the runway, I give rudder to ling up with the runway and land. It works very well with crosswinds but It works for me all the time.

Dennis said: This could also apply to a plane that has crashed into a non-visible area like an Indiana corn field. (don't ask me how I know about this). If you think you have an idea how far out it is..... go out further. It is usually further out than expected. I was out with just my son and I crashed. We looked for an hour in corn over our heads. He had to leave... I went out on my own and found it in 15 minutes. I simply went over in my mind the direction it went down. I followed that straight out into the corn about 100 yards. This is about the distance my son and I stopped on the first search. I kept my same straight out line but went out about 50 yard further, kept moving the sticks, and heard my "wounded" bird rattling the control surfaces!!
The 2 tips mentioned... moving the sticks and going out further was told to me about a week before and boy did it help me!!! ..lownslo..

Bob

_________
If you think you have an idea how far out it is..... go out further
_________

Unless you are flying at night. Then just the reverse is true.
Ed M.

OPPPS. I read your post incorrectly Ed.....
so I edited this reply. (Can't cancel it out completely ..lownslo

This is one of the things you can't learn on a sim. What the others said about experience is absolutely correct. I had the exact same problem (maybe all newbies do). My instructor would say things like, cut throttle when you pass over that fence, and I had absolutely no idea when that was. I had no idea if the plane was lined up on the runway or not. Over time, you get better so slowly you hardly realize it.

My recommendation is to learn one thing at a time. Concentrate on speed and height and timing of the landing, and don't worry too much about where you touch down (assuming there are no huge holes or bushes you have to avoid). If you're way off, just goose the throttle and go around.

One day, when there was nobody at the field, just for fun I had my wife wander around and yell at me when the plane was directly overhead, or when it was lined up with the runway. It was kind of fun. I can't say it sped up the learning process, but it did give me an idea of what I should be looking for.

hi there TWO , here is a thread with the same problem the info helped me a ton.http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...anding+problem]

Ok heres my two cents. May be a bit off subject but I used to fly a small electric plane in the middle of 4 soccer fields that were seperated by outdoor statium lighting, so if you can picture 4 fields seperated into 4 rectangles by the rows of light poles that was the setup. I crashed into the very very top of one of the poles one day which sent my plane to the ground and in need of a new wing. While driving to the hobby store to get another foam wing I devised my plan to deal with the light poles and it went like this. No matter where I am or where my plane is as long as I can see sky between the top of the pole and my bird I will always clear no matter where the plane is in relation to the pole. I had a hell of a time with the depth perception at first so this simple rule will always keep you out of trouble with verticle obstacles such as a light pole or tree. Just my two cents hope it helps. Then again why was I flying around stadium lighting in the first place hehe

Zachary Kirby
LTJG USN

Hi twostroke,

When you were taught to fly, I bet that your instructor was very clear that you need to keep the plane out in front of the flight line. I bet that there was an emphasis on staying out pit areas. This is all understandable and appropriate.

The problem is that it can teach you to be afraid of flying the plane in close enough to land. In particular, I watch students all the time set up their approaches much further out than the runway centerline and then fly roughly towards themselves. This results in a final approach where the plane is coming in diagonally to the runway - getting closer and closer to the flight line as the plane comes in. The usual result of this is that the student figures out sooner or later that they are going to cross the flight line. When they figure it out sooner, they turn away from the runway - usually well past the centerline, or even the far end of the runway. When they figure it out later, there is often a pretty aggrssive turn to keep from hitting the fence (our field has a short fence separating the flight line from the runway).

You've got some good advice in earlier posts about using landmarks to figure out where to line up on the runway. I'd like to add one more suggestion that's helped me in cases where I'm not familiar with the field, or where there are no convenient landmarks.

As it turns out, the right plane to turn from base leg to final is when the airplane looks like it is just about lined up with the flight line. This is because you are standing close enough to the runway that, from the plane's point of view, the angle between you and the runway is very, very small. If you are worried about getting behind the flight line when you turn from base to final, try standing with your shoulders parallel to the runway. You probably can't turn your head past 90 degrees, so as long as you can turn your head and still see the plane, you shouldn't be behind the flight line.

I hope that this is useful,
-Wade