Crashed my first flight
 

Hi,

i have a 4Ch plane. yesterday was my first flight and it crashed. But no harm was done except for the motor shaft which was displaced.

I gave around 50% throttle and the plane automatically took off. It started climbimb vertically and stalled it self in mid air. I tried to bring the nose done but as soon as release the control, it stalled again.
I even tried to decrease the throttle but again the same stalling problem.

Can this be becuase the plane is tail heavy ?
I have checked the CG , it is 60mm form leading edge as given in the manual.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

is this an electric motor or nitro plane? what plane is it? what size engine are you using?

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Its an electric plane (Dynam I can fly)

http://www.nitroplanes.com/newdyicanfl4.html

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

make sure your Elevator is centered IE (trimmed)?

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

when in a stall you need more power not reduced power......sounds like a couple of problems......only 50% power on takeoff, always takeoff and go around with full power...better to have the power and not need it than to need the power and not have it.
Elevator trim as mentioned above....ensure your elevators are centered when the elevator trim knob is centered and the stick is at neutral.
CG.... is measured up from the leading edge of the wing then aft 60 mm not back along the the fuselage from the leading edge 60 mm.....if you measured back along the fuselage 60 mm, then you are tail heavy.....
Lastly thrust angle of the motor.......if your motor is pointing up it could cause you to lift off early...most motors are set slightly down .....the thrust angle should be set in by the manufactuer.....or called out in the instructions.....
hope you find the problem.....remember power on takeoff then reduce power once a positive rate of climb is established......good luck

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

I just looked at that plane at the link you provided. Being a tail dragger your wing is starting out at a positive angle of attack. This is causing the premature take off. If you are taking off from the ground you have to get the tail up so the wings get level and build up some speed while you are on the ground then gently pull back on the elevator to slowly lift off. As simple as that sounds it can be a lot to manage and takes a lot of control for a beginner. I recomend you hand launch this plane for now untill you get used to the controls. Run the throttle up to full power and toss the plane into the breeze at a slightly upward angle, maybey 10-15 degrees upward. Only toss it as hard as you would throw a nerf football to a 5 year old standing 20 ft away from you. Don't throw it as hard as you can.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Hi chasni
Welcome to a great hobby. Learning to fly can be very difficult and I suspect that many drop out of this wonderful hobby after they crash and crash and crash. That is sad. I learned in 1972 and was not even aware that there were R/C flying clubs. I just knew a friend who flew an R/C plane and I asked him to help me learn to fly. I had 2-3 short lessons from him and then learned the rest myself. I still crashed a lot but my friend had given me the confidence to believe that I could learn. Like anything else, some people learn to fly right away; I did not.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

After all of the excellent advice given above...I can only recall my first time getting a plane into the air. I did what many often do....I immediately gave it too much UP elevator and it stalled.

Every time I got the plane into the air..I repeated the SAME thing. Must be a natural, though incorrect...reaction... When I cured myself of that habit...my planes flew. Rich

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

If your worried about the balance move it forward a bit. I would say the trim and you might have over controlled it.If it starts climbing too much you might have to push forward to hold the nose down UNTIL you get it trimmed. Don't hand launch, keep both hands on the stick. When I was first starting 75% of my hand launches started with the ground. it is too hard to get your hands back to the TX and find the sticks. Hand launching is still a pain unless it is a 3D plane or somebody else is doing it.Even that dosen't always work out.Sorry Mr67Stang I just can't agree with you there.-BW

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Today, I tried to take it for another flight.....again the end was bad.... CRASH!!!!!

Before starting to i checked everything and the neutral position of rudder and elevator..

I increased the throttle and the plane wouldn't move and i feel that the tail wheel is very small and it is having problem moving on the runway ( I am flying it at my college airstrip which has a asphalt runway)
Can i do smthing about it replace it ith larger wheel.

When i increased the throttle too much it moved with a jump start and started drifting right immediately in circle.
So i decided to hand launch it and i think it was my mistake.... It took off fine but started tilting towards right and crashed on its nose....
Propeller broken and motor shaft displaced....

now i m getting frustrated, it takes a lot of time to prepare for flight and i haven't been able to manage more than 2 mins of flight.

And my town doesn't have any RC club and I dont know anyone who knows RC flying.. I guess i m on my own now..


@ Bonified Wingnut - I wish u had given me this advice earlier.... :(

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

A taildragger is not a good first plane.....for anyone.

A High Wing Trainer would be much more suited to your experience level. They are more forgiving andless prone to sudden movements. Regardless, it sounds like your problem is trying to yank the plane in the Air before it's ready to safely take off, givingyou a "torque roll" that can be difficult for a beginner to compensate for.Let the plane gather speed on the ground until it just aboutlifts itself off. Then, very gentle elevator to slowly climb out. This is one of the more difficult things for a beginner to learn.

Always, always do a long takeoff roll(until you have more experience) and get a Trainer.This should fix at least 50% of your problems.</p>

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

My first 5 flights were about 3 seconds each, all ending in crashes and repair. That was 2 years ago and I now have 6 airplanes (5 electric and 1 Nitro), 2 helicopters (1 FP and 1 CP). Dont give up!

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Crashes are just part of the learning curve & you will get better if you try to understand why you crashed. Beginning to fly RC teaches you a lot about how to repair & modify planes, hang in there.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Thanx everyone for the support. I have ordered a new prop and will be doing repairs when i get it.

Tail wheel is around 15mm and raises the height of tail by 25mm . It is also very thin and doesn't work properly on asphalt runway at my college. It works fine on concrete pavement.
Today, my plane wasn't moving at all even when i gave more than 50% throttle.
Can i do something about the small tail wheel ??

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Get some help. You can learn to fly no problem on a tail dragger. I have taught many. You keep trying by yourself with no help, you will crash many more times and quit because it gets old.

Get some help and you will enjoy it a lot more.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

@ flyboy - I live in a small town where there is not rc club or anything like that. I also dont know anyone who is experienced rc flyer in my city.  I have looked for help but i couldn't find any in my town

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

I did a little searching and found this website.

http://www.indiarc.com/

If you do some searching I'll bet you can find another flyer within driving distance of your home. It would be a great help to at least have someone fly your plane to do the setup and trimming and show you how to do the basics. Even if you have to drive 2 hours to meet someone that's better than 2 hours repairing over and over.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Chasnl-

Sorry about your situation. I agree with Jester, but if you can't get some time on a flight simulator and if at all possible get some good video of you trying to fly it. It is the only way I can think of to train somebody on the other side of the earth. If we see it I can almost garantee we can help you a lot more. That plane sounds like it's getting pretty banged up. If you can afford to it might be a good idea to park it for a while and get something like a GWS SlowStick.Don't give up flying is a blast. And if you can't get help there keep asking here on RCU. The only dumb question is one that isn't asked. If you don't like the tailwheel change it, it's your plane and GWS and others make a ton of small ones.

As far as...

"Today, my plane wasn't moving at all even when i gave more than 50% throttle"

Does it seem to have the same amount of power or are you just talking about it not rolling?

Pictures- video- if at all possible.-BW

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

I also agree with Jester. Find someone to help you. I'm sure there is another R/C flyer within reasonable driving distance. You just have top search them out. A hobby shop would be a great source of information. Don't give up as it is a great hobby that can give you many hours of enjoyment. Plus along the way you will meet some really neat people that share the same interest.
K.O.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

With a tail dragger if you have to force the tail to rise on takeoff you can bet the plane is tail heavy. A properly balanced plane will raise the tail about 1/3 way through it's takeoff roll. If it's tail heavy your elevator response will be very quick making the plane porpoise. When this happens chop the throttle and drop the nose to regain airspeed and set it up on short final and land. Re balance the plane per the plans or instructions. Usually 1/3 of the wing cord measured at the fuselage center will get you into the ball park.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Bump!

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Hi chasni
With your complete lack of experience and no possibility of any help, I would consider hand launching the plane with the motor OFF. It would be nice if the motor battery can be removed to reduce weight, but still allow the receiver and servos to work. The CG would have to remain the same. I would take the propeller off but add something in its place that weighed about the same. You can land the plane safely if it is properly balanced and trimmed and you do very little with the controls. I have seen gliders launched this way prior to a full launch, to check things out. Since the plane will be going very slow you may learn something without doing more damage to your plane. Are you certain that the control surfaces are moving in the correct direction? It is very common to have them moving wrong. I will let others help you with this because I am not familiar with your plane or radio. There are others here from your country if you want to do some searching.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

You said the plane will not move until you reach 50% throttle. Make sure the propeller is on the right way. Make sure the flat side is facing the motor, not the nut that holds it on. I think you need to balance it. Pick up the plane with your left & right fore finger under the wing along side of the body where the wing sits on top of the fuse. When you have your fingers located at the 25% of the wing, measured from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The nose should drop 15º. If it doesn't drop at least 15% below level, add some weight to the nose, under the motor until it does. Let me know how this works out.....

Larry

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Your problem, if I am reading the specs on your plane corectly, is with a high lift high wing your aircraft will nose up when you increase throttle and pich down when you decrease. The web site also says 3D capable which only aggrevates the problem. Trim is the most likely cause of the pitch and turning problem. A good technique for trimming a small light aircraft is to go a field with tall grass and hand launch with the motor off and adjust the trim for a straight moderate descent. It may take many throws but it will be worth it. Remember also that when you change the throttle in flight it will change pitch as well.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Propeller is installed in the right way because when i take the plane in my hand and increase the throttle, i can feel the force but on the asphalt pavement it doesnt move. It moves well on concrete pavement..

Next time i ll surely make a video of it.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Read this very slow:
Make sure your CG is a little heavy. In other words when you lift the plane at the balance point given in the manual ensure the nose of the aircraft is just tilting down. What this will do is make the airplane more stable for you and more forgiving. Next thing to do is taxi. if it takes a little throttle to get it going just back it down before it gets light on the wheels. It appears your airplane is right aileron heavy. The fix is to turn your turnbuckle on the right aileron a turn or a couple of clicks to the right with the trim on your radio.

Here is the best advice I can give to you. If you have access or can get access to the realflight simulator this is the best training aid out there right now in my opinion. If you can find one that is less expensive go for it. Train on the simulator first then go fly.

If I can help you out with anything feel free to e-mail me personally.

Glenn Williams
[email protected]
Fort Worth, Texas
AMA# 938050

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Not enough throttle...go wide open, and only reduce throttle once it has gained quite a bit of altitude...

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Not enough throttle...go wide open, and only reduce throttle once it has gained quite a bit of altitude...

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Sims are good for learning flight control but they don't teach you anything about airplane setup. You really need to park your airplane until you can get some help in person from an experienced flyer. I'll wager that in one day of instruction, you'll walk away with a properly set up airplane and the knowledge to take off and land without breaking it. Everything else you can learn on your own.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

I have clearview flight simulator and i flown few times on simulator. I find it very easy to fly on simulator than in real life. In simulator, plane doesnt makes unexpected move.....

I feel that my plane is trimmed and setup properly thats why i m having problems...

I guess i m in luck.. an experienced flyer is coming to my campus for some kind of competition... I will surely talk to him and see how it goes..

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Thats great to hear chasnl..take your plane with you when you meet him.._BW

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Hi, I just start flying two months ago, I use a Trainer plane and a friend's help, but practice is the only way to learn so I bough a flight simulator the G4.5 it is great i really recomend you to do this because you can crash as many times you want, also you can add environmental stuff like high cross winds and simulate problems with the plane and controls, and the best is that you can fly every day as much as you want, i trained a lot and yesterday was my first fly by my self and i was very confident, I hope this can help you too.

Keep trying

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

AMEN TO THAT, I have three guys flying now that were trained on my real flight sim. It is a valuable tool for teaching dumb thumbs.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Hi chasni
What are you studying in college? I'm a retired Mechanical Engineer. I hope you will believe the following and learn something from it. When I was a young engineer I made a mistake with the cooling propeller on an engine driven air compressor I had designed. I had purchase the wrong propeller (In that application it is called a cooling fan, like in a car) and it cost my company a great deal of money, but I learned something that almost know body flying R/C plane knows. So I'm telling you an open secret. The propeller on our R/C planes can be mounted in one of two ways. In this discussion DO NOT CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF THE MOTOR. In each of the two ways the air will blow in the the same direction. Please read this again because you stated this wrong in one of your earlier posts and that is why I am writing this. When mounted correctly the propeller will give 100% performance. When mounted backward the air will blow in the same direction as before, but the amount of air will be greatly reduced. I cannot remember the correct figure but I believe the performance drops to about 60%. I am writing this in consideration that English is not your first language so forgive me if I am writing this exceptionally clear and simple, and repeating things. If you look at the end of your propeller from the tip toward the center you will notice that one side is more rounded than the other. The rounded side is similar to the top of the wing on your plane. This rounded side must be toward the direction of travel of the plane. The more flat side is similar to the bottom side of your wing. The propeller will also have a rounded leading edge (LE) and a sharp trailing edge (TE), just like the wing on your plane. The rounded LE must lead the propeller as it rotates, and the sharp trailing edge must trail the propeller, just like the wing on your plane. Now you know more than maybe 95% of the people flying R/C. You do not have to know any of this to fly R/C. If you see a plane that cannot get off the ground, the propeller may be mounted backward. Please do not judge correct propeller mounting, as I have seen many others do, by the location of the lettering on the propeller. Not all propeller manufacturers put the lettering on the same side. Let me know what you think about what I have written. This is not complex, but it is possible I wrote something wrong. If you or someone else sees a mistake I made, please let me know.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Usually the printing is on the Front of the propeller..or in the case of plastic..the raised lettering.-Much simpler to remember-BW

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Wouldn't moving the right trim lever to the right make the right aileron more heavy? Are the controls moving in the right direction? When the right stick is moved to the right, does the right aileron move UP? I think the throws need to be cut down. I would start off with 1/4" throw each way on the elevator and ailerons. Too much throw will get you in a stall real fast. If you reduce the throws, you might have a better chance of understanding what is happening....

Larry

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

I have always taken into consideration what the plans and manual show for the center of gravity... although, I feel that any time I check the balance on a straight wing aircraft, the balance point should be on the main spar of the wing(the thickest part of the airfoil). If the balance is set there, you should just need to trim the plane out. make sure that the plane is ready to fly when you balance it... i.e. battery installed, all radio equipment mounted and not allowed to move and you should be ok.

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

my first crash.  Destroyed 3 planes before I flew for a continuous 2 minutes!!<div>
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</div><div>[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_FZNoKPO0U[/youtube]
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RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Whatever you do, don't hand launch the plane! I have been flying for 30+ years and that is about the worst advice I've heard. Everyone knows that unless you're flying a sailplane or glider that you cannot hand launch a plane above stall characteristics of the wing. This usually ends up with disasterus results. The only way you're gonna learn to fly RC is to get help from an experienced flier or go buy yourself a 3 channel electric glider like the Parkzone Radian. My son successfully flew and landed this plane WITH ME ADVISING HIM, the first time. There are to many issues with control reversals when the plane is coming toward you for the brain to comprehend without help from an experienced pilot. Trust me, I have seen many a full scale pilot try to fly RC after landing their Delta passenger planes thinking they are too good to get help from someone and they end up pile driving their planes nose first right into the ground! There has got to be someone locally that can help you, just do a little research. Don't feel like an idiot because you cannot fly by yourself, RC is VERY challenging until your brain can deal with the motor skills necessary to handle right is left and left is right when the plane is coming right at you. There are a FEW self taught RC pilots out there but with the available flight sims these days this is a LITTLE more attainable than it used to be. RC can be a very rewarding hobby with a little patience. Please GET HELP and you will enjoy the hobby for many years to come, if not it WILL end in frustration and you will miss a lot of good times. Heck RC is as much about building relationships as it is about flying anyway, so go find someone to help you! The thing that helped me the most when I was learning to fly was to think, LOWWING, if the plane was coming back at me, which means move the aileron stick to the LOWWING side of the plane to level the wings especially upon landing. Flying the plane is not really that hard, the challenge is getting it back on the ground safely and where you want it to be.If you really want to be frustrated ,go buy yourself a helicopter! OH, just now noticed where you were from, INDIA,! may be a little hard to find an instructor over there. Good luck anyway!

RE: Crashed my first flight
 

Don't know if it will help or not, I’m self taught at flying RC Planes and have been flying them since 1983. Most of the time I bring the birds down in the recommended number of pieces (Glitches aside!).

My best advice, like many others here in the forum;

1. Get a flight simulator/Instructor. (You already have the SIM)

2. Make sure when you check the CG (Center of Gravity) that the aircraft is slightly nose heavy. Check the CG balance point which is usually at the main spar of the wing, approx 1/3 back from the leading edge of the wing. If the aircraft is NOT balanced slightly nose heavy, you will be fighting to keep the aircraft in the air (too touchy). When learning to fly, nose heavy is good, because it makes the aircraft less sensitive to control inputs.

3. Make sure to check all control surface throws and that they are going in the right direction (you might need help on this one). Once in the air, use small inputs and take it slow when flying.

4. If you can't/won’t get an instructor (got to do it on your own!), these are some of the tricks I have had success with while I was learning: One of the most difficult tasks flying an RC Aircraft is when you start to turn the plane around to come back towards you, most (if not all) beginners get disoriented and loose control. (The aircraft controls are now reversed).

With plane is coming right at you, move the control stick towards the dipped wing, this will level the plane out. Practice this allot, it works like a charm.

Another method controlling the plane while coming towards you, turn your body in the direction the plane is traveling and look at the plane over your shoulder. This might work.

Last thing I remember that helped me in my learning to fly RC is I made imaginary flights where I would practice a flight and simulate what inputs I would need as I flew the imaginary plane through it’s paces. (By the way, I taught myself to fly RC back before there was flight sims!) It helped me.

Hope this help’s; the people who succeed in flying RC Aircraft are those who are persistent. If you can get it an instructor it will ramp up your learning curve, save you allot of time, money and frustration. If you go it on your own, a lot of money, patients and C.A. will help! Good luck, Steve
[8D]