Self teaching - Looking for my next steps in learning please guys
 

Hi guys,

Its been a while now since I started learning how to fly with my friend and we are both fairly competent as far as take off and landing goes. Okay, maybe the odd aborted approach and perhaps stalling at two feet instead of two inches but I always (touch wood) get the plane down in one piece these days.

I've messed with aerial video and now just find myself flying around aimlessly until I need to land. More often than not trying to make low passes and basically things I should probably not be doing yet.

What I would like from you guys is some direction as to what I should learn now. I fly mainly with the aileron and elevator but I do also use the throttle sometimes. I am currently flying about at around 30% throttle just trying to get better at flying slow as its all quite easy on full blast. I also increase throttle if say I want to loop or climb quickly. I sometimes, on windy days lower throttle on the downwind leg to keep the speed down.

At this stage what should I be trying to learn?

What sort of maneuvers is my high wing trainer capable of? If you guys can tell me which moves then I can look them up on youtube and learn them.

I do also have a Seagull PC-9 but I find thats a little fast and has quite a high wing loading for my level of skill. DOn't get me wrong I can fly it about and land it okay but I want to try and learn as much as I can with the trainer before I progress to the PC-9.

All replies much appreciated guys.

Do touch & goes. At first, just "shoot approaches" and control altitude with the throttle. Gradually get into a rhythm that allows the plane to touch. Don't try to make it happen too hard. You will see the perfect opportunity when the time comes. A slight breeze in the plane's "face" is nice to have for this.

If the plane has a good glide and you have a nice field, do not be bashfull about doing dead stick landings. I gain altitude towards the end of the flight and then the plane is in good position to circle the field once the engine quits and look for the best chance to land into the wind. I like to fly with some "down trim" while gliding. This is good training to have.

Carl

Try doing figure 8s. Sounds easy but try and get them a nice symmetrical shape every time, with the crossing point right in front of you and in the middle of the 8. With loops try and get to the point where the loop starts at the same point every time and is the same shape. All up try and get to the point where you can put the plane consistently at any point on your circuit.
Nice thing is you can do this with any plane.

Terry

Download the SPA novice sequence and start practicing those moves. Focus not just on doing them, but doing them right. Get the loops nice and big with no left/right deviation and ending on the same path you pulled up from, do the rolls with as little altitude and heading change as possible, get the uplines straight on the stall turns and time the turn so the plane comes back down on the same line. The novice pattern can be flown with a well-trimmed trainer no problem. It will be easier with a sport plane or a pattern plane, but don't let that stop you.

Straight lines, as in flying a really straight pass. no climbing, diving, getting closer...

Horizontal circles in front of you. Try to make them round and level.

Horizontal eights with intersections in front of you. Round and level, Then do them in the other direction.

Learn how to use the rudder.

Thanks guys,

I'll try all the above.

I'm curently doing a lot of touch and go landings and practicing nice slow approaches and as previously said, trying to use throttle to control decent. More specifically trying to land on the same piece of turf over and over again. My main reason for this is that I'm going to look at joining a club over the coming weeks as I just want somewhere I can fly when ever I want. My usual fields have recently been used by football (soccer to most of you boys), or the grass has been allowed to grow that long that I can't take off on it. Gets a bit frustrating and I usually end up on a field that is too small or too close to houses.

So I need to be able to land on a runway. I guess my biggest obstacle will be landing in a cross wind. Any tips on this? Should I be using rudder (with aileron correction) to get the plane tracking straight?

You need to be .......so proficient with the rudder that it is as instinctive as using the elevator. The only way to get there is by using the rudder as you "shoot approaches" at a safe elevation. With a cross wind approach the model can be given a "blip" of rudder at the last moment before touch down to get it on the straight and narrow path. The worst thing is to have the wind grab the upwind wing panel and roll the plane over as you are making your final approach. For this reason it is good practice to have the model banked with the upwind wing panel low.
This sounds like a bunch of twisted and convoluted advice, but that is what piloting in bad weather is all about...being able to compensate for bad air. It is amazing to watch the jumbo jets on Youtube doing the bad weather landings.

LOL! If you "sometimes" fly at less than full throttle you're finessing more than many long-time pilots I know.

Line up your approach for landing and work he throttle down. With some models you can drop to idle and glide in (I'm very guilty of that), but a good approach is flown in and throttle is lowered gradually as the model settles. If you ever move to a high-drag model that is a good skill to have in your toolbox.

Horizontal figure-eights are a great learning tool. If you are doing them right and keeping them symmetrical it teaches you to work both upwind and downwind.

Carl,
I'm about where you are in terms of experience. I've got the take-off, fly around, and land thing down pretty well. I even do loops, rolls, and stall turns. Of course, I do them at least 2 mistakes high. But like you I've found myself sometimes just flying around chasing buzzards who get within range until the timer on my TX tells me it's time to come down. What I started doing this past weekend is trying to add precision to my flying. First I established fairly small mental boundaries on the field and stayed within them in spite of a 10-12 mph breeze. Then I created a mental box and flew from corner to corner in a straight line without allowing the plane to gain or lose altitude and turning the corners at the chosen spot. It was harder than I thought it would be. Finally, I pushed a short stick into the dirt on the field and worked on seeing how close to it I could make the wheels touch. It may not sound like much but it has put some challenge back into flying.

As someone else mentioned, start using the rudder. You will need it if you ever decide to fly scale or semi-scale models. I'm flying the larger Park Zone Albatros WW-I biplane and it really needs the rudder to initiate a smooth turn. It tends to wallow if I do a bank-and-yank.

Take care across the pond and try to not have too much fun!
John

Add making those loops and rolls technically perfect, Stormrider, and you'll have plenty to keep you engaged for the next few months. You're going for no deviation in heading, perfect roundness for the loops, perfect rate on the rolls, no altitude changes in the rolls, etc. A funny thing happens when you truly start working on precision flight. You mention the 2 mistakes high practice which is good as beginner. Your mistakes today are likely things like pulling the elevator when you are inverted or pushing the rudder the wrong way- major errors that you have to do a recovery to fix. When you get into working on precision flying, a mistake is allowing a 5 degree drift to the left during a roll that you have to fix with the rudder or coming up to long on a loop and having to pull the elevator harder than you would have liked. It brings a whole other level of comfort to your flying.

I wish I could get out and practice but the 30mph gusts are making sure I'm well and truly grounded right now and I just get bored on a simulator so quickly.

I think I need to find a kit to build. :)

If you are going to join a club you may want to learn some proper pit etiquette first because you may have picked up a few bad habits without even knowing it, and this could surly ruin your first outing with the other club members. Most instructors I know teach this as part of learning to fly so you might just spend a little time with one prior to joining.

Bob

You need an Ugly Stick Carl. 30 mph gusts are considered a slight breeze when flying one. A Kaos is excellent in the wind too, but it doesn't fly as well at slow speeds as a stick does.

Bob,

I was hoping I'd get the pit training when I arrive at the club as its not really something I can get from anyone else.

Are you able to offer me some basic pointers please?

Here is a couple,

1. If your going to run your engine for an extended period of time, move way out of the pit area, others hate listening to long extended engine runs in the pits. 2. when firing up in the pit area for flight, do not run up engine with the tail of your airplane pointed at other members airplanes, transmitters, or whatever, this will surly get you some adverse effect from others. 3. Do not fly even accidently over the pit area, this will place you on the wall of shame real quick! There are other things you will need to learn, and you can pick those up at the field, Just consider others first and you will do real fine.

Bob

IMO the most important thing about club flying is to communicate your intentions to the people near you.

Terry

To the O/P

communicate,communicate & communicate with all of the club members, you will learn who will give you good info and those that just do the talk.

Good luck

Cheers Bob T
AMA13377

The best thing you can do is make friends with a club officer, which you will probably do when you pay anyway, and ask what the safety and etiquette rules are. That simple act of decency will distinguish you as a desirable member right off the bat. Believe it or not, there are some goofballs who join clubs who think that the fact they paid means they can do whatever they want to because they approach it like they are paying for a service instead of cooperating with other equals to build and maintain a flying site. And don't get me started on the entitled goons who think they shouldn't have to pay...

Thanks guys. I've got my application form filled out. I just need to hand it in and agree a day to go down and get my A license which then allows me to fly my plane solo.

Just a question. When approaching for landing in a cross wind should I come into the approach on an angle down wind of the runway, or should I be totally in line with the runway and using rudder to keep tracking straight?

The "right way" is to make your flight path straight with the runway. Your plane will actually be yawed into the wind so you'll be flying a bit sideways, but the travel path is in line. The idea is to rudder the plane straight with the runway the instant before the wheels touch so you don't have to slide the wheels on the ground. If you haven't already, there are good youtube videos demonstrating nearly every flight maneuver you can think of, which is much easier than figuring it out from written descriptions. Now all that said, most pilots don't bother actually learning to do a proper crosswind landing approach. Most will just point the nose into the wind and do an approach that is angled to the runway and try to time it to set the plane down somewhere near the middle. That's the easy way, but there's no bragging rights to be had from it.

a lot of good advice already givin here, the one point I can add, is, "be smooth" practice flying the plane, do not chase it!

altitude and speed, horizontal 8's with out loosing or gaining altitude, slow roles are a lil harder with a high wing trainer, but beautiful when done right!

and touch and goes till you cant stand it no more! you should be able too do em without thinking about it!