What would you recommend for dual rates for a trainer beginner pilot. Also explain exponential settings and when to use them

Thanks
John

Dual rates on a trainner would be mild. I would think on the elevator no more than 20% throw on low rates and max it out on high. The reason being is once you are comfortable flying wiht tuned down rates you will want to get the most throw when attempting some entry level aerobatics which any trainner should do providing your throws are maxed and you have a powerful enough engine. But for the beginning I would suggest no nore than 20 % on all throws Maybe a little more in rudder to help with steering on the ground. As for expo I dont belive you will need it for a trainner but let me try to explain what it does. Expo increases your dead point at the neutral point of a throw. For example your elvator and aleron stick. If you have extreme throws for each you would use expo and I mean like 40% or more for 3D flying. Or you have a real touchy plane that responds at the slightest little movement of the sticks. When you dial in expo it creates a percentage what ever you want it to be of dead space around the center of that particular throw weather it be aleron elvator rudder or yes even throttle. Then as you move the stick off of neutral space that percentage you set as expo it will move that control surface further and faster until you reach its maximum throw you previously set. Let me give you an example. Typically I have my elevator set for 45% throw max with 65 % expo so when I pull back on my elevator stick say anywhere from dead neutral to almost 3/4 full throw it will start the movement but only a very little bit. Then the last 1/4 of the throw it will jack the surface the rest of the way to my full deflection. Now as long as I know thats how my plane is set up I can fly very very mildly with out over controling the aircraft. At high speeds this is important because your aircraft can react rather violently if you yank on the sticks with that kind of throw. Expos kinda lessen that throw until a certain percentage has been used then it applies the remainder of it. It also helps you in cases where youre using your elvator in a hover and it places like a dead space in the middle of the sticks so you dont accidentally deflect your alerons while working the elevator and have the plane do someting you didnt want it to. With no expo and throws in the 40% range your alerons become very very touchy when you are trying manuvers with extreme elvevator movenents or vise versa. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi John,

For a beginner you may want to set your dual rates to 40 or 50%. The tendency to "overcontrol" is very strong in a begining flyer, and if this much is not needed you can always make adjustments from here.

Exponential is set to provide less movement around center stick, but becomes increasingly stronger as it approackes 100% of the stick movement. This is used mostly in Aerobatics but is also helpful in "trouble" situations as it will give "softer" movement at center stick.

I hope you find this information helpful. You can also reach our Futaba support technical team at 217-398-8970, or via fax at 217-398-7721.

Sincerely,
Krysta
Lead Futaba Customer Service and Programming Technician