Help me Take off!!
 

Hi there,

I've had 2 planes now. A LT-40 and a Duraplane Trainer 40. I'm using an eclipse 7 transmitter and an OS 40LA motor. On both of these planes as soon as it gets in the air after a run the left wing will drop and the plane will just go hard into the ground either cartwheeling or totally inverted. What could be the problem? They were both balanced properly. Thanks!

Help me Take off!!
 

One thing you might want to check. Are you're ailerons level? If not, set them both in the same position ( that is, level with the wing surface ). If the ailerons aren't set the same, it would ( could ) cause the plane to roll in one direction or the other when the sticks on the transmitter are centered.

If you have a local Club in your area, ask one of the instructors to help you learn how to fly and to check out your plane for you.

Have fun!

Mike

Help me Take off!!
 

Hi Mike,

Yeah I've checked the ailerons and they're level. I am a newly joined member of a club but none of the members are ever free when I want to fly. Today in South Dakota it was a perfectly calm day (we have a very nice field too, huge grass runway) with plenty of sunshine so I thought it would be perfect to try to take it off. The funny thing is, as soon as she gets in the air she rolls HARD and gets upside down and lands on her (high) wing hard with a strong thud. I've even tried trimming the ailerons to bank right and that hasn't helped. This problem is getting me so frustrated. I'm thinking it might be a problem with the direction of thrust from the engine but i've tried keeping it centered and also a little to the right. The model is balanced left/right as well as front/back. It's the strangest darn thing. Thanks.

Help me Take off!!
 

how about your rudder trim? that can bank you just like your ailerons.

Help me Take off!!
 

Hi Raptorflyer,

Yeah I've checked the rudder visually. The rudder looks perfectly straight with the fin. I haven't gotten the plane in the air yet so I don't know if it's actually trimmed properly lol. The second it gets in the air it'll roll and I apply both ailerons and rudder the opposite direction but I always hear that thud none the less. Quite sad actually. Thanks for the reply.

Help me Take off!!
 

I had a simmilar problem found the wing had a warp in one panel causing the same problem. Just one more thing to check. Hope this helps.
Good luck Mike

Help me Take off!!
 

Sounds like you are trying to take off to soon( the elevator is working, but the wings arent flying yet} practice high speed taxiing, and on your take off run get more airspeed before rotating. if you have a trike gear, set it so that the wing is at a
small NEGATIVE incidence, so that you can go as fast as you need on the ground, and the model wont rotate until you put some up elevator. Good luck.


Rick

Help me Take off!!
 

YES. Do not put in up elevator unless you are up to really good speed and then just slightly persuade it to take off. Do not haul it off the ground. You wiil be like a kite unattached to the ground if you do. Sounds like that is what is happening. Surely someone has time. Try to get help.

Help me Take off!!
 

Ok, thanks a lot. I think you guys may be right about the fact that I don't have enough speed. If tomorrow holds good weather I'll try to run it faster and letting it drift in the air itself.

Help me Take off!!
 

I know this has to be a stupid question, but are you sure the ailerons are set up properly? If you are trying to correct with the ailerons on take off, and they are reversed, it will roll hard into the ground. I have seen it happen, even on smarter people. You may even try trimming the ailerons a little the other direction.

Help me Take off!!
 

Shuohan;
Where in SD do you live. I'm here north of you I may be able to come down there or you come up here.

Help me Take off!!
 

Duane, good question, but yeah, I did make sure that the ailerons were tilting the right way.

Scorpionjack, I live in Huron, SD. I wouldn't want to make you go to the trouble of driving down though.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Help me Take off!!
 

Well! Your 367 Miles away. hmmmmm Since I have 3 Day Weekends every weekend I can plan on a road trip in the future. If you still need help.

Help me Take off!!
 

When I help a student on their first few take-offs, we stand out
in the runway directly behind the plane. This helps for a straight
run and no delayed over-correction.Since you're at the field alone
this will not cause problems with other flyers. If your plane is
heading right before liftoff, you might still be holding left rudder to
cause the left roll in the air. Not to insult you, but are you sure
the right aileron goes up with the aileron stick to the right. I've
had several new pilots setup their ailerons reversed.

Randy

Help me Take off!!
 

Scorpionjack: That would be too nice of you to drive down just to teach me. I'm sure I can drag one of the club members out there (don't really wanna hassle them). If you were to come down I'd hope that I'd be able to fly by then lol.

rreiss: This is so embarsassing. Upon inspection I noticed that, like you said, I had my ailerons reversed. The day I set up the throws I actually reversed the aileron servo input because for some reason I thought the right aileron should go down. Well that solves that problem, and it also solves the mystery of it just wanting to roll harder and harder as much as I tried to correct.

Today it's another beautiful day here in desolate SD and a friend and I plan to go try out the plane with the ailerons unreversed. Again, thanks for all the input you guys have given out.

Help me Take off!!
 

Sometimes it's the most obvious. I was at the field adjusting push rods the other day and checked with a guy with 25+ years of RC. He agreed I did it right to adjust trim. Before I took of I double checked my screwed up logic and he agreed sheepishly that I had indeed adjusted the aileron trim incorrectly. Would have been a spectacular uncontrolled take off, also! :)

Help me Take off!!
 

Well my friend and I went out and flew this afternoon but the wind got too bad. We then went out again later into the evening and tried again. Running my beat up plane (from the 10 or so inverted ground striking thuds) w/o nosegear control I took off into the 15 mph wind. I was so excited because thanks to you guys' input I actually had roll control of my plane. I flew her around for a little while but the wind was scaring me too much and it was getting dark so I landed her in the tall grass (20 feet from a corn field :S). I've spent probably a grand on this R/C plane stuff (wasted money on electrics) and now I actually got somewhere. If the wind dies down tomorrow I'll try to actually fly it around for a while and then *attempt* a landing lol. I'm pretty sure that nasty takeoff problem was solved. It must have been due only to reversed ailerons and not takeoff speed because when I took off tonight I wasn't going too fast. Again, thanks to all of you for giving me your prompt feedback.

Help me Take off!!
 

Shuohan:

Tomorrow when you come in for landings, try to make several
20 foot high passes over the runway so you can get used to the
final turn line-up to the runway. One trick that I tell my trainees,
is that when the plane is coming toward you is to put the aileron
stick toward the low wing to correct to level flight. When you're
10 ft. high and going slow you don't have much time to correct a
wrong input. Take her slow and keep it straight and smooooth.

Randy

Help me Take off!!
 

One last update: Today I went out again. Wind was about 16 mph gusting to 26 or so but I had confidence. I took it off with a short run and lifted her into the air. I noticed there seems to be a LOT of turbulence from the ground to about 30 feet in the air but past that it's smooth flying. I flew her around in big circles, rolled, barrel rolled, and did some loops. It was such a great feeling knowing that I was able to do it w/o the help of a trainer and only with you guys/other online resources. One abnormalty I noticed was that of my 6 or 7 flights today, none of the landings were powered. An engine flameout cut each flight short, usually 5-10 minutes into the flight. I glided her back each time but this seems really strange. When the plane is tilted up it causes the engine to slow down (at least make a much different noise). Also if I'd go at a very high angle that would cause the engine to cut as well. What could it be caused by? Perhaps too lean? I richened it but this caused the engine to stop too. Anyways thanks for all the help. I can't wait to get more time with my duraplane and then move on to my 4 star 40.