Im bout to maiden my .36 spitfire nitro plane. I Have flown this plane electric and have found it very simple and easy to fly. Yet everytime i flew, i nosed over in an "unexpected landing" and hurt the motor everytime. Now its a nitro and a lot strudier ( yet dirtier [&:]), but im nervous about the maiden. My trainer stalled on takeoff justa week ago, and all my planes except this one are grounded. Motor repeairs, new props, etc. So how can i overcome maiden anxiety?! please help!

If you are really nervous, I would suggest having someone else maiden and trim it for you. Maybe even fly it on a buddy box the first time.

The buddy box is a REAL GOOD idea. Get your club hotshot pilot to get it of the ground and trimmed out then pass control to you.

I am not familiar with the version of the Spitfire that you have but with a scale UC position most Spits tend to nose over especially on grass. You need to hold up to prevent this. I had a Kyosho Spit and despite having extra up elevator available for take off and landing still nosed over from time to time.

If it has wire landing gear can you bend them a little farther forward? Not as scale but helps prevent nose-overs.

okay! im gonna try and bend the gears! any other suggestions for a windy day, or rocky runway..or dead stick landing!

Do not maiden this airplane yourself, as some of the fellows have suggested find a mentor with appropriate skills and let him do the test flight without any buddy cord many times it will take a number of flights to get a ship properly tweeked. Its a bad idea to pressure the test pilot with a buddy cord on this flight(s). What happens whey you do this is they may never really get the airplane well tweeked.

John

"WHEN IN DOUBT DON'T GO OUT" Anxiety makes recoverable mistakes or problems alot harder for the less experienced. Last weekend while flying my OMP Edge 540 profile I had a aileron glitch, for some reason my left aileron didnt re-center after some manuvers. Hands off the plane wanted to roll left very hard, well I didnt panick, so I just leveled the plane with my controls and landed her right away. I landed with the aileron stick almost all the way to the right. Im sure that a beginner pilot would have freaked. Get a buddy to maiden or buddy box.

I'm not trying to be mean, but if you're stalling a trainer on take-off you should get more stick time behind you before maidening your new plane. IMHO.

Ive been flying rc for bout 4 years and i still get nervous on the way to the flying field almost everytime i go, not just on maidens. I think its fine because it helps keep me focused and not think im too good and crash. Also play some music on the way to the field like some nice limkin park or something that will get you pumped up and ready.

I've been flying 7 years and built 6 ARF aircraft and I still get nervous, my heart wants to leap out of my chest, and my legs get weak. I was told that the kit and scratch build flyer gets the jitters on the maidens worse.

It's normal, your OK.


Pete

Yup.

I've been flying R/C for about 40 years and my hands shake so badly sometimes that I truly have trouble controlling the model. I asked someone else to maiden my Edge 540 for me, not because I can't fly it but because I knew I would probably faint clean away from the stress!
Truly, there's no shame in getting someone else to maiden ne models; the chosen pilot may even get a little frisson knowing that one chose him (or her!) as being "of superior skill".

i stalled the trainer due to some overlooked cg problem that was fixed bfore takeoff lol. That and i was pressured into flying with a extremely UNDERPOWERED motor.

I've been flying just about 9 years and still get nervous. Happens to the best of us. If you're too nervous, ask a pilot you trust to help get the maiden out of the way for you, nothing wrong with that. The second flight is usually just as good as the first without all the trimming needed.