first flight
 

i flew my avisar with my anstructor and everything went well i got a hand of loops and turns had a problem with finger 8s so if anyone had some suggestions that would help

RE: first flight
 

The best advice I can give you is not to try and fly without an instructor until he thinks you are ready, even if you think you are. Listen to his advice and make sure he gives you a variety of tasks to accomplish, INCLUDING PREFLIGHT.

RE: first flight
 

well im using his advise just if anyone else had an idea and i wont be soloing in a while

RE: first flight
 

or not having lessons

RE: first flight
 

how do you like your avistar?...i loved that plane to death. As for the figure 8's....practice makes perfect

RE: first flight
 

I found for myself that If I understand what I and the instructor are trying to acomplish it makes it easier, meaning are your banks too steep? taking too long on the turns etc. Then work on the stuff you need help with.

HTH

Jon

RE: first flight
 

well overcontroling and banks but the banks got better

i love the plane too it flys perfectly

RE: first flight
 

I'm still trying to decide what "a hand of loops" consists of.:D "finger 8s" seem rather odd as well. Do you use a plane for these manuevers? I'm going to need to break out my Captain Midnight secret decoder ring if I keep reading your posts so I can understand what you are saying.

RE: first flight
 

i got a hang of loops and when was Captain Midnight around im pretty sure it was before i was born

RE: first flight
 

oh yah not finger 8s sorry

RE: first flight
 

Some of us never stop watching saturday morning cartoons, eh bruce?

although wouldnt hurt to use a spellchecker

try doing a hand of touch and go's (sorry, couldnt resist) and make sure you can do everything in the flight routine (pre-flight, takeoff, circuits, finger/figure 8's, landings and whatever else you can do) also, maybe you could get some practice in the wind with your instructor so that your better prepaired for when you fly in the wind on your own

jsut a thought :p

RE: first flight
 

well im not practicing touch and go's any time real soon

RE: first flight
 

To say that Captain Midnight was before your time is just a bit of an understatement. It was almost before mine but I was old enough to watch and enjoy it over 50 years ago on Black & White TV.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046585/ And NO, not a cartoon. But I don't think anyone ever should totally outgrow cartoons. I feel sorry for the ones that do. A bit of imagination and creativity is good for everyone. So is spellcheck.:D

RE: first flight
 

As far as figure 8s goes.
A figure 8 is nothing more than a right hand circle followed by a left hand circle or vis-versa.
first off practice circles for a while until you can get a smooth and fairly tight circle in each direction.(ie.. do a bunch of right hand circles for awhile then do a bunch of left hand circles)
Then start your figure 8s with BIG circles, use up the whole flying area and gradually work your way in tighter with steeper banks and more elevator. (keep your airplane up high so you have room to recover if needed)
I am by no means an expert and am only on my second year of flying but I still do figure 8s almost every flight, especially the first flight of the day (I find it gives me a feel for the way the plane will handle that day and makes me more comfortable with it)

RE: first flight
 

thanks misselman but it seems i am banking to soon what can you say about that

RE: first flight
 

Picture the figure 8 as 2 clockfaces.
It doesn't matter where you start the first circle but it does matter where you transition to the other one.
lets say you are flying a figure 8 so the the center of the 8 will have the airplane coming at you.
You are to your left in a right hand bank making a right hand circle, when you get to about the 1 o-clock position you start coming out of your bank so that when you are at 3 o-clock your wings are level, don't let go of the ailerons yet, you will roll into a left hand bank so the you are into the bank by the time you get to the 7 o-clock position of the right hand clock face (strait accross from the 5 oclock position of the first circle) the positions will vary slightly according to how fast your plane can transition.
trainers are a bit slow on the ailerons, I can wait till the 2 oclock position to start transitioning in my RV-4.
I hope that makes some sense and helps you.

RE: first flight
 

Wait longer? My guess is your instructor wants you to make bigger circles at a slightly greater distance from you. Maybe he can draw you a sketch of what he thinks you are doing now and what he wants you to change it to look like. Would that help you understand? Picture worth a thousand words and all that.

RE: first flight
 

thanks bruce and misselman