Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off I have just bought and made a Ripmax Nova Trainer and am going to fly it for the first time tonight, it will be my first ever flight with this plane and my first ever rolling take off! I have a cheap electric park flier that is hand launched and rudder and elevator controlled wich i can fly and land pretty well , but i would like any tips from u lot on rolling take offs please!!!!

oh yeah i live nowhere near a club or model shop and allthough it is against most peoples better judgement i am determined to be a self taught pilot , so please feel free to give me any tips on anything regarding flying , setup and building it would be very much appreciated ,

Thanks , Stedge 2000

If You Insist
 

I have neither the time nor the resources to change your mind. I don't know what advice to give as I don't know what level you are. The only thing I would insist on is that you have your insurance! Do you have your AMA?

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

carry a big trash bag!
Have a goodun,John.

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

some advice.

once you have got the engine broken in (you did run the engine through break-in right?) get it tuned right running a tad rich but not hesetating

first you want some taxi practice.

first practice slow speed taxiing by giveing the throttle short bursts. if the model is a tail dragger you will want up elevator to keep the tail on the ground if it is a "trike" gear you may want a "touch" of down to put pressure on the nose wheel.

move the plane around until you are comfotable with manuvering it around and turning.

once you got that down you will want some high speed taxi practice.

taxi the plane out to the "runway" and line it up into the wind.

now apply power smoothly

with a tail dragger you will now want to hold up elevator until you start rolling then let go of the up elevator and let the tail rise.

with a trike gear you want to keep it center from the start

with both gear you will notice a bit of "pull" to the left... feed right rudder in to correct this and keep it straight before it lifts bring the throttle to idle and let the plane slow.


do this until you get it going straight and are used to the rudder for steering on the ground.

now for a takeoff.

repeat the above steps until the plane gets "light" on the wheels.. feed in a *small* amount of up until the plane lifts. then level out a bit to gain more airspeed... you can now climb out as normal.

for landing you will have to remeber that the plane will roll farther than your hand launch so make sure you set it down with plenty of room to "roll out"

during the high speed taxi runs you should get an idea of how far you need.

hope this helps and remember.. be safe above all else... if there is any doubt... dont fly.

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Bob_nj,
are you saying that anybody at any level of experience, including none, who decides to put a plane in the air anywhere they want is covered by AMA insurance (if they have paid their dues)?? If he is not near any clubs, and is covered when he goes to try to fly the thing, that explains why AMA dues are going up to cover those insurance costs!!!

Not Really
 

I'm just saying that I cannot control the situation. Most pilots that decide to learn on their own are strong willed and will either do it, or move on. The only thing I can control is my responsibility to this board and the hobby to set an example. If nothing else, please get your AMA_bob

Help if you want it
 

Hey Stedge 2000

I have a Nova 40 and fly in the Nottingham area. It is a pretty good flying plane, that has taken allot of abuse from me over the past 6 months.

Couple things ... the landing gear is pitiful. I ended up replacing mine with a pretty sturdy double wire mounted main gear, and changed it over to a tail dragger. Two main reasons, first the mains would bend up every landing (finally broke) and I had a real hard time with the nosewheel steering. It was way to sensitive for me, and I had a hard time controlling it.

Also, get some triangle stock and rebrace the firewall and fuel tank braces. I also rebraced the floor area around the gear mounts. I have had some pretty tough landings with this bird, and have busted allot of the bracing out.

So definately take the advice on spend good quality time on the ground with it before you even think about taking off.

As for help ... come up and fly with us for a day and we will get you sorted out. Good folks and instructors at our club. You do have to join the BMFA before you come and play though. Give me a post and I can give you directions and contact points if you are interested. Trust me, it is worth it.

Here is a picture of my Nova that shows the landing gear and tail setup.

Good luck ... Bo

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Stedge 2000 ... get on the internet and check out www.bmfa.co.uk They have a searchable listing of clubs by counties and in your county there are a dozen listed. Save yourself some frustration and broken airplanes and visit one of those fields, at least to get yourself started.

Bo

Thanks
 

Thanks for all the "POSITIVE" REPLIES AND THIS IS REALLY GOING TO HELP LUCKILY IT WAS RAINING LAST NIGHT SO LIFT OFF WAS PUT BACK , THANKS FOR THE TIPS BGORHAM ABOUT THE TRIANGLE INSERTERTS IN THE FIREWALL I READ THAT SOMEWHERE ON THE NET AND AS FAR AS I CAN SEE IT SEEMS VERY SOLID AT THE MOMENT. WHEN U TURNED YOURS INTO A TAIL DRAGGER DID YOU USE SAME WHEEL MOUNT UNDERNEATH OR DID U NEED TO MOVE IT SLIGHTLEY?

THANKS AGAIN AND KEEP ALL THE TIPS AND HELP COMING, CHEERS TO UNSTABLE TOO THATS THE KIND OF INFO I NEED .

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Bob,
I agree with what you are saying in principle. I am just saying, if I was in a gun club, and some guy told me he had never owned a gun, but just bought one and was going to go out in the woods and shoot things up, I wouldn't say to him, "whatever you do, join my club first, then go have at it".
I think it would be in the best interest of the AMA to have members that stick to the principles of the association, not those that pay dues and then go do their own thing, now with the additional belief that whatever happens they are protected by the AMA.
Thanks though, for moderating this great board, and for working to set an example for the hobby.

ama
 

i'm not sure what the AMA is but as i am from the UK i assume it is the equivalant to BMFA of which i am in the process of joining. I can't wait till thats all sorted to fly , but i am flying in a huge area known locally as the tac prob 2 miles square flat grass no one or thing in sight, i hope this puts your mind at rest a bit.

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

bgorham : where did you get the black tint for your windscreens??

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

If you insist on teaching yourself to fly go right ahead. Just get your platinum card ready, because its going to cost you.

I am 1 of our instructors at our field. We don't make people join our club to learn how to fly. It is an unwritten policy that, we will gladly take up anybody that is willing to learn. They just have to have AMA if they are flying their plane.. Our club is willing to give about 5 or XX days of flying before we ask them to join. But we dont' make them pay their club dues before the instructors start w/ them. If they haven't joined the club in 2months and are still flying. we require them to join the club or go somewhere else. Our annual membership dues are a big $50.00 so is really no big deal. But I have read that some clubs dues are in excess of $200.00/year

Our club has people show up all the time wanting to learn how to fly, but don't have a plane yet. Most of the time we give them the flight instructions, etc, then hook them up on a buddy box, and let them fly. We let them fly on several differant days, to see if they are going to like the hobby before they go spend hundreds of dollars on something they might not like.

I think our unwritten policy is fair.

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Find someone to teach you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You already got the best advice and I believe a fellow modeler has offered to help teach you.

Is your plane Pretty????
Did you take several photos???

Cause, if you try to fly it yourself chances are pretty good that it will never look the same again!!!!


BTW: maybe you could post some pics of your post crash - I mean flight.

Sort of a before and after look :D :D

I'm not trying to bash you. I was "determined" like you to teach myself to fly also. Had same reasons you did no clubs close by impatient etc.. Let tell you 8 trainers later I decided to get help
drove 120 miles round trip to club every thusday for 5 weeks... Guess What? Learned to fly and didn't even break trainer number nine wish I did that in the first place whould have saved myself a lot of money and time!!!!

But Hell each gto his own

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Stedge,

As another self taught pilot, good luck. At least you have successfully flown a hand launched plane.

I started with a Falcon 56 back in 1974, and buried it each time I went out for the first 10 times. It was fly, crash, fix, fly, etc., but I did learn. However, I never really learned to fly well until I joined a club 4 years later. Once I joined the club, my abilities increased at a fast rate, was flying with the best of them within months.

Something to think about......

Later!

Chuck.....

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Yesterday evening was flying my edge when a trainee showed up to practice ground handling,fellow had been on the buddy box about 10 flights but never landed or taken off,said he didn't need help,about the third trip down the runway he got a little fast,brought it to his attention that he was approaching flight,said he didn't need help,fourth trip down the runway he was airborn and screeming for help,took only a few seconds to get the radio, but he was over the road with traffic,upside down,killed the engine and was rolling into a stall,l was able to land in the neighbors plowed field with only loose landing gear. Many thank you's from him and his wife,I now have another flying friend and student on the buddy box.If I Hadn't been there his plane would be hurt, and possibly a car as well,flying is tons of fun and it looks so easy,but things can go wrong so fast,not to long ago a flyer lost his plane in the sun,plane hit him in the chest and killed him.

Have a goodun,John.

Couple of more shots
 

Stedge .... here are a couple of more picutes of my Nova. First, I need to mention the reason for the covering change from yours is the five times this poor baby has met terra firma in an unkind way.

Second, yes the BMFA is the british equivalent to the AMA. That is the registration and insurance that you need to fly.

Third, on the build. If using a tail wheel, the main wheels need to be located so they are even with the leading edge of the wing. I installed a piece of plywood in the floor of the plane to mount the landing gear in their new position. The tailwheel is simply installed on the end of the plane with a rod epoxy'd into the rudder for steerage.

I definately recommend that you do allot of bracing on this plane. Every suspected weak spot on this plane has broken for me including the mount points for the wing, main and nose gear, firewall and fuel tank. I have also completely broken the tail off, and the nose (twice).

Shoom ... you give me much more credit than is deserved. The canopy stuff is just covering cut out in the shape of the windshield and ironed on.

Here is a shot showing the relationship of the mains and the wing.

The inside
 

Here is a shot of the inside showing the plywood insert and some of the bracing

Last one ....
 

Here is the tailwheel assembly.

PS ... Listen to these guys, go check out one of the clubs in your area, fly a couple of times with an instructor and then play in your personal wide open area. Trust me ... of all stubborn people .... get some help, and increase the life of your airplane.

Bo

OK .. I lied .....
 

Here is what happens if you try without help ......

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Stedge there are plenty of clubs in Gloucestershire, not all listed by the BMFA, so unless you live in the deepest parts of the F.o.D. near the Welsh border you are close enough to a club. Even at UK prices the petrol for the round trip to a club is cheaper than trashing the model and possibly the engine too.

Harry

Help Wanted for Rolling Take Off
 

Thanks Bgorham those pics are a great help, I flew for the first time last night . The plane comes as a trike and I had fixed the nose wheel straight ahead (dunno why read it somewhere) . The field has really short grass and is huge but it is covererd in sheeps mess ( sheep were not present at time of flying) So i mowed a large strip with my mower mainly to collect the crap up lol . I ran the plane up and down the runway a few times , then i thought i'll go for it ! I took off with a little elevator and flew straight for about one hundred meteres turned right slowly and went in a continuos large kind or circuit around me flying steady
I took a few circuits then lined it up to land I missed the runway but did not panic i landed eventually steady in the corner it came to a stop kind of tipped forward to the right wing (as its a trike nose down) but ah releif no damage what so ever !!! yipeee . So then I went to take off again ( by the way I had not trimmed the plane at first flight i forgot in the excitment but only had to battle a bit against the plane) as i went down the runway the nosewheel snapped (shocking) and the prop hit the groung luckily it was at the start of the runway and everything was ok but the nose wheel arm had snapped clean just above the coils. I now want to turn it in to a tail dragger like BGHORAM's plane so does anyone know of any good mail order or internt order UK sites as i am itching to go up again!!!!!!!!!

thanks for all the replies keep em comeing !!!!!!!

Clubs
 

To those of you who have said join a club etc i really do appreciate your help and i am not ignorring you as obviousley you all know a lot more about this hobby than i do , but I basically just want to teach myself with tips from books and the internet.( sounds stupid i know ) but i got the time the space and the money so why not !!!! as i said before i appreciate all your help and info also i do realise that you have my best interests at heart THANK YOU !

tail dragger conversion.
 

first off glad to see that you had a good and *safe* first flight.

the best way to convert into a tail dragger is to just take the exsisting main gear and move them forward so that they are about even with the leading edge of the wing.

you will want to epoxy some hardwood to were you are mounting the gear so that the fuse doesnt colapse under the wieght.

for a tail wheel you have several options.

you could put one on and have it "free" so that the rudder does all the steering,

you can attach the control arm of the wheel to the rudder so that it is steerable.

you can run a control rod to the tailwheel off the rudder servo, or rudders control horn

or you can do like i do on my Somthin extra and just not have one (not suggested for beginners as there is nothing to absord the shock for the rudder and might crack the rudder.)


just remember... keep it safe and take your time.

Model stores
 

Hey stedge ....

Pretty work on getting her in the air. I snapped my nosewheel off a couple of times as well, and it is another reason why I went with a tail dragger. Actually mine was when I was learning to land ... what is with all this flare business anyway LOL!

I have never ordered from these folks, but their prices look ok, and they have a lot of items in stock through their ecommerce site. I luckily have a fantastic LHS here in Nottingham so I always go there and order through those guys (besides they really enjoy them taking the piss out of me as their token American customer). But try these folks out www.inwoodmodels.co.uk and let me know how well they do for you. Or if you find another decent UK site let me know ok?

Bo