I am new to the flying side of the hobby, i have had planes for 3 years but never flown them... I have been taking lessons and have only had 2 so far. i have the FMSsim to pratice on and have been using that alot.

1) SO.. I had my second lesson yesterday, first lesson was going up and doing left, right turns and keeping altatude, I did some figure 8s, leaning how the plane turns,the instrutor askedme if i want to try take offs.I saidnot yet, only becouse we didnt have a buddy box. not many2.4ers at the field. How long before you guys started learning take offs? is there any thing that i shouldlearn first? ie: stall recovery...

2) when I was flying it sounded like the enginewould skip acycle, but never died.Is thisnormal? andalso I ran a tank of fuel though the plane to day and inoticed at full throttle the RPMs where not constant. is thisnormal?

3) at idle there is a loud rattle comming from the motor and mount, both are metal. but as the RPMs increase the rattlegoes away. is this also normal?I also timed the plane from the time that i started it to the time that it ran outa gas. 30mins.<span style="font-size: smaller"></span>im happy knowing that i can get 20-25 mins of flying time outa one tank.
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On take offs make sure you can keep it straight down the runway before lift off.you need to be able to control it on the ground beforetrying to take off. sounds like you need to tune the engine some more, sounds a little rich, Make sure everything is tight around the motor mount. the mount to the firewall and the engine to the mount. .

I tried taking off on my second day. I practiced taxiing up and down the runway a lot on my first day. I also practiced just driving around on the strip when everyone was gone, making lots of  turns (kind of like skiing) to get used to the orientation and learn how the plane handles at different speeds.

Remember there is no rush. Do things as you are ready. It is your hobby and there will be years of flying to come, so do not hurry yourself into things just because you think you are supposed to.

Also, use your rudder to turn when taxiing and to make corrections as the plane is lifting off. Use ailerons to keep the plane level. If the plane starts to veer to the side after it leaves the ground, you don't want to bank hard with the ailerons to correct it, just use some rudder.

Practice using your rudder on your sim. Most people wait WAY too long to start using it, if ever! It is part of the control system of the airplane, so use it.

Whatever you do when taking off, do it gently. We have a tendency to over correct things when we are starting out and there is much less time to recover when the plane is only a few feet from the ground.

By the way, it sounds like you are off to a very good start. Nice job

In Trainning everyone is differant and shouldn't consider what everyone else took. but since your askin.
From person experiance and teachin allot of guys to fly I find
kids 10-13 the really interested and attentive ones I usually have them solo in a weekend.
I've have a couple high school kids solo in 1 3 hour flight day
most 20 somethings about 3 weekends
acual pilots 2-6 weeks they have a really hard time coping with the "these are only toys" sydrome and consider this a whole new thing
your mid life crisis crowd usually takes 2 months taking off on there own in 2 weeks and a couple really old guys 60+taken over a year.
seriously the older we get the longer it takes to learn. I'm finding that out myself everyday.

you take off and solo on your own when your instructor thinks your ready

I taught myself to fly gliders over a month in my young teens. 2 sessions a week 2-3 hours a day. I had an indestrucable flying wing so repairs were almost none existant.

when I got to power I got an instructor and it took me 3 flights to solo


remember on take off you got 4 forces driving that plane left. so when the wind is calm the plane is going left. prepare for than and hold a little right rudder and realese the right rudder as it gains speed


on the engine it sounds like
in the air

the engine isn't fully broke in yet and your too rich. also check that the tank nipple is even with the center of the barrel of the carb.

the idle problem
1 balance the prop
2 tune the low end needle. There are several ways to tune the low end. I use the pintch method. At idle pinch the fuel line. If the engine dies right away it's lean. if it speeds up and dies it's rich. Retune the high end needle. then go back to idle and pinch it again. It sould run for 10 seconds or so and die with no speed up. At that point richen the low end about a 1/4 turn. It'll die on you on final approch after a full tank run if ya don't.

eveyone teaches differently.....me I want to see nice level tutns before I teach a take off......the ratlle sound is normal if your running an LA series engine

RegFlyer:

Take your time to learn first skills first, and properly.

It is very diificult to re-learn something that was learned wrongly in the first place; hence, avoid that.

The more you develop reflexes by flying very high and correcting mistakes yourself, the better prepared you will be to learn maneuvers like take-off and landing, that will create higher danger and fear of ruining your model due to normal mistakes.

Be honest to your instructor, if you feel you are not ready for the next step.

You can also make the practice in FMS more real, by using wind and gusts, in different directions and speeds.

What engine are you running? Engines knocking isnt a good thing and can usually be tuned to get rid of that kind of stuff. Cheaper engines are harder to do this too sometimes. Also inconsistancies at full throttle is also not a good thing(usually it means its lean). You'll find yourself getting alot of dead sticks. Your instructor "should" be able to help with this stuff. And if he cant......I question his experience. Dont be afraid to play around alot tuning your engine on the ground. This is how you learn to tune. Also always have someone hold your plane straight up in the air at full throttle once you think you've got it tuned. If the high needle is lean.....you'll find out when you point the nose up usually.

And some engines will miss a beat in the air at times,but again......you should try to tune it out. But some engines are hopeless,but better engines should work pretty good. Let us know what engine you are running,and we might be able to give you more specific advise.

And yes,you are learning the right way,but be carefull if your not on a buddy cord. Take your time and only do stuff when you feel comfortable.

Im running a OS.40LAturning a 10x6 prop. Its all pulling a Superstar 40. Also i tryed playing with the nedle valve. when I point the nose up 45* the RPMs increase and the exaust smoke gets thicker. what do i need to do to get the engine turn correctly?

A couple of things, the engine is on a metal mount, so the noise you hear is each power stroke being resonated through the fuslage, now that brings up another issue, especially if you have an out of balance prop, fuel foaming. You stated that it runs ok and then the nose up at 45 degrees is gets richer? this might be your problem, when you run it level, the clunk in the tank is picking up airaited fuel possibly, running ok/lean, tilt it up and it should go over lean but now the clunk is in solid non airated fuel, so it goes rich. Just check the fuel line running to the carb as it's running, see if therre are airbubbles running through it, and when you tilt it up they go away is a sure sign of fuel foaming.

i had seen there where airbubbles in the line when it was running at idle but there where not that many (3-4) the engine ran good. if i am getting are is the line how do i fix this? do i have to remove the tank? I hope not lol as this was the fisrt ARFi build and used wood glue to glue the tank in. should Iget a prop blanncer or is it easyer to get a new prop being they are a couple dollars, and the wife is already trying to understand where $500 has gone into 2 planes.



****EDIT**** Iran the plane and looked at the line going into the carb, there are no air bubbles. but i also held the nose up for a long amound of time. you can hear the RPMs increase then the engine will start to stall. but when returned to level the rpms lower and the engine runs smother. also in the 45 seconds the engine was running it got very hot, i know that they do that but that fast???? Ihave never tuned an engine and have moved the nedle so much i have no clue where it needs to be anymore.

the LA series engine has no bearings.....bushings instead...to me an LA compaired to AX or FX sounds like a rattle...also the the LA series does not have a low end I believe it has an airbleed adjustment......tune the high end to max RPM by sound...now once you have found the peak richen it up a 1/4 of a turn......

It's too lean, when you tune the engine on the ground, level, open it up for full throttle, and adjust the high needle for max rpm, then back it off (enrichen) about 3 or 4 clicks on the needle valve. Now do the nose high test, it should pick up to the point where it was maxed out before enrichening the needle. If it sppeds up and slows down it's lean, the hot engine temp verifies it. If you set the high speed needle but the engine dies after sitting for a few seconds at idle, lean out the low speed needle and retest the nose high adjustment. It should be able to hold an idle for at least 4-5 minutes and got to full throttle with little hesitation. When in doubt richen the mix up a few clicks, the pinch test is best for setting the idle, another test that works for idle is the glow driver, when running up the engine to peak rpms, bring it back down to idle, let it sit for a few seconds so the rpms stabilize, put your glow ignigtor on the plug, if it speeds up in rpm, it's rich, if no change takes place, it's on the money or lean. To test with lean, open the throttle, does it sluggishly get there or just die, if so open the low speed needle about 1/4 turn and try again. I also noticed that you glued your tank in, not a good idea, it needs to be wrapped in foam/rubber  to protect from vibration, start by isolating the tank and repeat the tunning, you'll be suprised that it will be more managable to tune when everything is isolated from vibrations.