First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I got my pts off the ground today. I dont know why instructors are against this thing. I flew her at about 1/2 throttle all though the training session we had some 10 to 15 mph winds and no problems. The only thing that is a bit bad is the color can make it hard to see somtimes.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Cool tfarmer, Glad to hear ya had a good time! You'll be doing it by yourself in no time, I'll bet. Keep at it, & keep us informed on how it goes, I think there are still alot of folks waiting to hear more reviews on that plane. I know I'm still interested. I'm starting to hear more positive, & less negative about this plane as time goes on & more ppl get a chance to actually fly the thing, instead of just repeating what they may have heard about it. Have fun!!! That's the real purpose of any plane for me!:).


Mark

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I have the same experience with the color scheme, and that's why I mentioned before, keep it in close circuit so you don't loose it's orientation, if you don't it may come down faster with very little time to do any correction, most of the time this happens to new flier but if you survive your doing the right thing, I learn this from experience, I had the P 51 in winds from 25 to 35 mph but the more wind the harder is to control, but it's a great plane in windy days.

Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.

roltech

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Congratulations. Actually, I don't know any instructors who are "against this thing". There are some stereotypes who disapprove of anything not done "their way", but I wouldn't lump instructors in there.

If you check the posts, you'll find that plenty of people who instruct appprove of this model.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Ya i guess your right. I have just heard the grumbling from some of the guys at our field.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

the PTS P-51 flies in the face of conventional wisdom in regards to traditional trainers. many have learned with gliders, powered gliders, 3 channel equipment (very popular in the 70's) and high wing 4 channel planes for good, sound reasons.for some this may still be the best route. keep in mind the PTS P-51 has some major mods to tame it down a bunch. Ive seen the plane fly & it is VERY slow compared to a similar "normal" p-51 & this helps plus the slow stall.there are those who might say its not even a Mustang since its "fun scale" its not too much different in some respects from SIGs 4 star 40 in the wing loading department & that model is a fine 2nd plane but again NOT perhaps for every flyer.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

People like that put everyone around them in their own box. It drives me crazy.

Some people can pick up the controller and just fly without an instructor, others need months of training. Lumping everyone together is just silly and stupid.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Im proud to say that on the 6th flight my instructor unhooked the buddy box and told me i didnt need it and he would just take the box when i was ready to land.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

thats how it was with me flying my PTS. The plane is very easy to fly.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I've been happy with the flight performance as well, especially after taking off the air brakes it's not quite a squirrely in the wind. It's now pretty good in the wind, in fact it didn't get blown around quite as much as two alphas that I saw at the field... I've only had the instructor take control from me 3 times on the buddy box... once was a complete brain fart where I got the sticks messed up for a sec and was using the rudder instead of the ailerons, and the other two times where for my 2nd and 3rd landing attemps which were in a 8-10mph crosswind... I greased my first ever landing attempt with this plane!! a three point landing with no bounces or anything!!! that was definately my highpoint in the hobby so far, it felt kinda like hitting in the winning run in a baseball game ;) I'm still on the buddy box because it's been pretty windy out here lately so I haven't been getting much take off and landing practice... but I hope to solo pretty soon... I think I would've soloed already on a high wing trainer, but i still think that PTS is worth it, it's easy to fly and hopefully, if i keep it in one piece, it'll perform as advertised as a second plane too.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I've been instructing a teenager on one and I like it, it seems to need more power on landing than a real trainer. Next time I plan on removing the wind brakes on the gear, I think that will help the landing. I think it makes good sense to train on this plane, a student gets the hang of tail dragger right away and with a few minor adjustments he has real fun plane with flaps.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

My instructor had me raise the flaps and remove the brakes from the landing gear from the get go. You right it does land a bit hot.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Yup, I believe if I had begun training on the PTS instead of a high wing trainer, I would be farther along in this sport. I actually had to "unlearn" a couple of things that the high wing had me drilled into. This, of course, is from the perspective of a relative newcomer to rc.
No air brakes, no droops, no 3-blade training prop, no deployed flaps----great fun!

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

You will find that on windy days when the top wings are watching you will be flying. Its interesting watching a P-51 crab at 200 feet and you will find that when you change the prop, even to a 10 x7 Master Airscrew that P-51 becomes a bullet and your thumbs really have to work.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I have been hearing that with this plane you should immeditly take off teh speed brakes because they are held on by zipties and if they get moved slightly they will act as an uncontrolable rudder. And for the flaps, install the extra servo and if there is any wind dont use them, no wind much easier to land with them. Someone at my field has one and i gave it a try, i just love it. easy to manuver, stable in the air, can do alot of aerobatics. o and the engine is unbeatable .46 evo so easy to tune. I have a nexstar and to me this is the next step up thats why i am going to buy one myself.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

From those who have flown this plane, is what "stunner" said true. Should the brakes be removed right from the get go to keep it more stable??? From what I've heard in here there's a lot of talk about the brakes just making the plane harder to control. Installing the servo for the flaps, I have already done. I won't be flying this plane for quite a while. Snow will be with us around here for another 3 months.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I say remove the brakes because they slow the plane too much, especially if you are faced with a deadstick landing. But, if installed correctly, they shouldn't be able to move.

Some of us have cut the air brakes to resemble gear doors, turned them 90 deg and have had some issues with keeping them secure. That might be what stunner is referring to.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I removed mine because our field get a great deal of wind and I felt that they could also be used as sails if the wind hit them the right way. As far as turning is concerned, the brakes sit against the wing at the top and even if you try to turn them is hard to get them to move even a few degrees. I made dead stick landings with them on and off and really didn't notice any difference in how the plane handled.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I saw one at the field last week, the owner was still afraid to fly it,, the instructor was doing fine and he only has about 6 months of flying under his belt, but he said with the air brakes and 3 bladed prop he was scared to fly it a second time, so with those gone he took it up and did fine,,then a very good flyer took it over (still had the wing things on it) and flew the heck out of it...nice looking plane I didnt notice its visablility, but I wasnt the pilot...Rog

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

I started out with the brakes on mine and flew about 10 flights that way... one flight the engine leaned out and the instructor successfully brought it back it for a deadstick landing... I didn't have problems with them moving in flight but the biggest issue was the plane would really crab in a headwind. We took off the brakes on a mildly windy day (less than 10 mph) and it really improved the flight characteristics, the plane was much more stable, a little faster so just don't use as much throttle. It still slowed down nicely for landings though. I didn't have any problems with them, but I think that it's a good idea to take them off from the get go. It also give the plave more oomph if you need to throttle up and get over some trees, like what we have at my field

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Landing whet well today. On my 9th flight i landed her multiple times. I got lucky today the winds were a average of 3.4 mph with gusts up to 17 mph. You cant ask for better then than in January.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Glad to here it tfarmer! Our winds ranged 5-10mph with a few gusts, but much better than the last month or so----with no crosswind.

Today I began lowering flaps for landing. I installed the servo day one, but had never used the flaps. Landings are a piece of cake! Also, I removed the gear from the wing and bent them back a bit and re-installed them so the wheels are not so far forward.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Hi there all,

Well, when it comes to P51 Mustang PTS with Evolution .46 2C engine, JR XF421EX, I read about it and comment on it as its my first trainer and precious gift of my wife. I had it in december 2005, and had first maiden flight in january 2006. I took it to the field after nearly 2 months of SIM flying. At the field nobody was ready to believe its a trainer, everbody said, its not a trainer, some said it's an advanced trainer. First thing I heard is to remove air-brakes and make the flaps straight for better flying. First flight was done by scale models expert and gave me the radio, I couldnt control it, so I had to give him back the transmitter, in second flight with brakes removed and flaps straight, I flew with help of senior flyer and did good, similary I did good in 3rd flight, people told me at the field get 40 size high wing trainer, you would crash it and certainly I cannot afford to crash my wife's precious gift. I bought a Trainer, switched servos engine successfully to trainer, got servos and throttle calibrated by most senior expert, then had flown it, took control and flew very good, in second flight of my high wing trainer, all were busy, so I took a chance and flew the trainer, I gave much elevator on take off which made plane straight on 90 degrees, that was my first solo flight, somehow I controlled it, didnt let it crash, until fuel ran out and I landed with dead stick, and broke nose gear, I felt so confident but upon telling senior flyers, I did my solo flight, everybody said, u should not fly solo, unless we feel comfortable, well, different people different views. Ofcourse for the first time U would crash, after 6 or 8 flights Im sure one can handle plane solo like I did, and fly it good. Well, I love my mustang and hopefully after doing nearly 20 to 30 more flights, Im going to fly my P51 Mustang again solo hopefully in the end of March.

Wish all people good luck who purchased P51 Mustang, cos its a beautiful flying beauty.

Mody

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Armody, get whatever experience you think you will need before flying the PTS. Maybe you can "buddy box" on your next few flights. Once you are comfortable flying it, add the flap servo (won't allow you to buddy box), adjust flap servo throw to 40-45% and land with flaps down (make sure power is reduced before lowering flaps). I promise, with flaps, it lands like a trainer--just adjust your ground handling since it's a tail dragger.

RE: First PTS P51 flight that i got to fly
 

Thanks stallwart,

Well, with Buddy box, I won't be comfortable, as I have control over airplane and Im still gonna do 20 to 30 flights on my high wing trainer, I do have senior flyer standing by me while flying, so in case of any nose dive or if plane gets outta control I can hand the transmitter to the senior flyer and get it corrected. I have a Simulator which came with P51 Mustang of Hangar 9, sim is cockpit master, should i continue to fly with it or should I do the real flight and stop using sim?

Mody