LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

I do not have any method to landing before fuel runs out. Dead stick is common for me.
What do you guys do to prevent this.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Pick up a cheap digital kitchen timer. Time your engine to see how long it runs on a tank, then set the timer to a minute or two less. You can clip the timer to your radio while you're flying. Some radios have timers built in that count when the throttle is off idle.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Most all computer radios these days have a countdown timer on them. Set that for the time you want to fly and then land when it goes off. If your radio doesn't have a timer on it pick up a cheap kitchen cooking timer (as mentioned above) and use that. To find out how long you can fly run a tank on the ground at full throttle and time how long it takes to run out of fuel.

Hope this helps

Ken

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

I learned on parkflyers and 1/2a (.049 engines) so I always came in deadstick....but now I always do it anyway, its more fun for me...even my .65 big stick...Rog

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

With a Nitro plane, after the engine is broken in I fill the tank and fly it as I normally would for 8 minutes. My Spektrum radio has a countdown (or up) timer. I then bring it in and check out how much fuel I have left, usually about half a tank if I'm not WOT the whole flight. I then know I can push it out to roughly 14 minutes of average flying and still have a small reserve in case conditions are not good for landing and I have to go around a couple of times.

With electrics, same sort of system using a charger to check out how much a fully charged battery has drained. I fly them wherever I want for the first 8 minutes and then keep them close to me but at a decent altitude for the last few minutes, in case the battery hits reserve and loses motor power.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

My radio is a Tower Hobbies 6ch.     Correct me if I am wrong, I do not have a timer.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Radio Shack and Walmart sell digital timers that can count down. Flight times of 8 to 10 minutes is good if not flying full throttle the whole flight.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

hmmm, just sounds strange to fly a plane untill you run out of fuel... as been said get a timer and have fun landing under power so if you need to go around again you can :) . you might be suprized when it saves you from a "crash landing" .



bass

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

timers only work IF you remember to set them:D don't ask

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Or if you remember to refuel the plane before the next flight.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

ES generally you dont get a timer in a radio until you get up to 7 channels, and no your tower radio does not have one....Bass, I ususally fly alone so I dont have a go around problem and I have lost 2 planes in 10 years, one was a .25 trainer and I was too low, so it actually fell out of the sky, thats when I learned that could actually happen, the other was a .15 stick that stalled and it was either come in too fast and nose in and hope or "the swamp",,funny thing is I fixed the stick and then crashed it in that swamp the very next flight, dont really know what happened......but when I do fly around the regulars they know and I just yell out deadstick...I personally think it sharpens the skills, you can stall and fall a plane if your up high enough, which is usually where I am flying,,at the 1/2a funflys one of the contests is to landing closests to the circle...it takes practice to do ,,,some guys stall and fall, and other guys spiral in and slingshot out to come around, you should try it....Rog
Oh and I fill with a syringe so usually only 2 oz go in my tanks..

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

This is an odd situation. This brings up a question about how the OP was trained to fly RC.

Most qualified and competent RC instructors have a routine that they teach. Part of that is a discussion and demonstration about what to do before flying. A list would look like this:

The pre-flight. Checking controls checking that the prop is tight, checking that the servos are ok - snug - and that the linkage is intact and secure, checking the battery to make sure it is fully charged or, if a second or third (whatever the number) flight of the day, fueling or refueling - whatever the case.. add to the list as you see fit.

Prior to start up: Turn on the TX then the RX (note the order here), performing either a range check if not done in a while or a standard check for correct movement of the control surfaces and throttle, overall over-look of the plane to make sure it is ready to start and fly.

Start up: Starting the engine, tuning the engine, then performing a range check if necessary or a control check to make sure that the plane controls are ok and ready for flight.

And we can go on and on about what to do and what the instructor should/would teach the student to do before flying.

My instructor had a wrist watch that had a timer. He would set the watch to 10 minutes. It would give him a beep at nine minutes, then a couple of beeps at nine minutes thirty seconds, and a series of beeps at nine minutes 50 seconds, then at 10 minutes, a long beep. All this warned him/me that it was time to set up for a landing, that the fuel level was down, and it was time to get the plane down, under power... not dead stick.

So, where I'm going with this is that if the OP had the correct instruction, he should know what to do prior to the flight and how long to fly the plane in order to set his timer (if he has one) so that he is not forced into a situation that his back is against the wall.. to do a dead-stick landing.

It's easy to do, as Ken pointed out, most, if not all modern computer radios have timers incorporated in the menu system. The thing to do here is to learn to use it and use it. If the radio is a basic non-computer type, then a cheap cooking timer is probably the best investment that the flyer can use to prevent the necessity to dead-stick landing because he ran out of fuel.

Simple common sense, I believe.

CGr.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

I have always used a timer the one from Radio Shack its loud and easy to use.

for those who run there planes out of fuel and deadstick it in thats not a option for flying scale planes, if your flying a 1/2A floater or a big wing trainer then sure, but a mustang that would be a no.

for the OP just run a tank of fuel out and time your run then set the timer for a couple of min short of that time its easy.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

I have a new student that started today, I don't have CGs check list but as I go along he will learn it all before he solos. I took the plane up and got it into trim then had another friend trim out the buddy box. I had no idea about how long of a flight I was going to get so flight one ran out of fuel and I just dead sticked it in. After that I had my radio timer set for 10 minutes. As long as I remembered to turn it on all was OK. It beeps at 10 and it allows a couple more minutes to get the plane landed. When the last flight was over I took out the fuel and we had maybe enough for another minute. Those little kitchen timers are great. You just glue a clothes pin on the back if it doesn't have a clip and snap it on your radio handle.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

No kind of arguement there...but I deadstick in my extra and there are few 1/2a planes that are floaters, most are for pylon racing, well I guess its might be a 50/50 thing, but even with the racers you just have to learn to bleed off speed and flair at the right time...Rog

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

you dont need a timer and never will....if you know your engine.
your engine will give you warnings that its running out of fuel
it will rev higher all of a sudden without throttle input, aka lean out due to the fact the engine is now sucking air and fuel. when this happens you usually have around 1 min of fuel
it wont spudder like most would think, if it does sputter, its to late and your out of fuel.

the best way to learn the engine is put a small amount of fuel in the engine and start her up, then listen as it starts to run out of fuel. its more noticible in the air due to the fact your throwing the plane all over the place. or just put her in the air and guess when she will be out of fuel, when you hear a throttle spike land and you should be fine

that being said
you should be able to land 90% of planes deadstick without any damage, some of them really need the power or they drop like a rock

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Many of my crashes have been when the engine stopped unexpectedly. Wrong place, wrong altitude, wrong wind direction, wrong angle of attack, did not immediately notice the engine had stopped. I like to land with fuel left so I am always in control; I then taxi the plane back to me. I always use a kitchen timer. When I flew my Pusher/Puller I sometimes waited for one engine to stop and then immediately landed using the second engine to taxi the plane back to me.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

I started with gliders, I could do a clean no walk landing before I knew how to feed and care for a glow engine. Dead stick practice is part of my flight training for any newby.
Go high, but not higher than you can see well, and fly your plane dead stick. Do it on a buddy box if your new, to get a feel for how it handles dead stick. This is good practice for every plane you get. Beats the heck out of crashing.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Get one of these

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...odsInSession=1

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

The OPs question was how to not go dead stick, timer!!;)

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

Timers are a good idea. Often the pilot will experience a compressed or distorted sense of time while flying. So its very difficult to judge 10 or 15 minutes. And waiting until the engine coughs is a bad idea. By then, there might be someone on the field. Its better to call the runway and land with enough fuel remaining to delay for 1 minute, especially at larger events.
However, your deadsticks are great training.You can still simulate them from time to time. Just randomly cut power and pretend the engine has failed. Its not 100% realistic. Airplanes actually glide better when the engine is dead rather than at an idle. But its close enough for practice.
Landing with the engine running does take a more sophisticated technique. You aren't simply controlling your energy with elevator and your path. You will use your throttle to control your rate of descent. You will use your elevator to control speed. So once the airplane has been slowed down, the elevator input changes very little, almost none at all. At that point you are controlling the "sink rate" with throttle. If it looks like you will be short, add a small about of power. It might just be a momentary increase of power and then return to idle. But the adjustment is made with throttle and not elevator. The elevator is used again when you are flairing to land. At this point you are inches from touching your wheels to the ground. Power is completely off. You are trying to hold the airplane off the ground as long as possible and you gradually squeeze in more and more up elevator. Then, Errrk, you've landed. Some heavier airplanes will actually require that you carry a click or two of power all the way until touch down.
I hope this helps you. Good luck.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

This is a interesting subject. When I learned to fly from a veteran flyer 25 years ago, if I lhanded him the transmitter (yes no buddy box) before the engine quit he wouldn't take it. And after it went dead, there was always a couple of turns left if I was high enough. When I got back into flying this was one of the biggest changes I noticed was that everybody landed with power. I always try to land with power. I've had to many mishaps dead stick

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

HI A DEADSTICK LANDING IS NOT SAFE OR ADVISED ON A REGULAR BASIS YOU DO NOT HAVE THE CONTROLLED LANDING THAT A RUNNING ENGINE AFFORDS SAFETY IS EVERYONES RESPONSIBILITY-YOU ARE RISKING YOUR PLANE AND INVESTMENT IN IT-NOT A GOOD IDEA !! ENJOY REGARDS TONY

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

I fly my sons Kadet MK2 to deadstick almost every flight for the last 4-5 years. I really do it for him; he is not really interested in flying so I keep it up as long as it has fuel, while he does turns and loops. I think the only power on landings I have done were when it was the only flyable plane, and I had to go fly. A flyer needs to be able to do both because the plane acts differently. I started with 049s so that was the only way then. A guy at the club does 50% of his landings deadstick with his 30% Extra; climbs up high and does inverted spins, loops and rolls, down to a real pretty slip and lands at his feet.

How do I know it is time to land? When I get relaxed and into the moment, the plane is low.

RE: LANDING BEFORE EMPTY ?
 

All you dead stick pilots are to much for me as a lot of planes are in the air at same time from our field and any dead stick is considerd a emergency as they cant make a go round if needed for any reason- why put your fellow flyers in a difacult positinon cause you wont buy a 10.00 timer from Wally World and fly safe and make all your fellow field flyers not have to worry they will come in for a power landing and you shout DEAD STICK and they have to get out of the way and poss run out of fuel while you land and walk out on the field to retrieve your plane as it sits smack dab in the middle of the run away - Dont tell me you always manage to make it to the side out ot the way