Low and Fast Made Easy
09-06-2011 | 09:50 AM
#1
Low and Fast Made Easy
Just a quick tip. Most of you probably already know this, but I have never been very good and therefore not very comfortable with performing a wide open pass right on the deck. It seemed I was always fighting the elevator and over adjusting either too much up or too much down[:@][:@][:@]. My passes were always pretty jumpy to say the least. One of my buddies at the field on the other hand could take any of his planes 2' off the ground wide open the entire length of the runway everytime and make it look so easy. He was spotting for me on Saturday and I brought this up. I did a couple of my usual passes with the plane never really settling into a smooth nice pass and then he told me his trick. He puts 3 or 4 clicks of down elevator into his radio when he is going to do a low pass. This causes him to always be pulling a little up while doing his pass and he doesnt have to control the plane past neutral which can cause a bit of over correction. It works. The rest of the afternoon my planes were wide open and on the deck. It was great fun.
09-06-2011 | 11:12 AM
#2
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RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
Not sure that adding down trim is a good idea. If your plane is trimmed you should be able to make it fly straight and level at any altitude. I have planes that I can do touch and goes with at full power because they are trimmed out completly. I fly alot of scale planes so flying to the runway is almost always a needed skill for landing. The down side to high speed touch and goes is I buy more wheels than most RC flyers and I usually have to clean rubber chunks of the bottom of the wing. Practice your approaches and good luck, Dave
09-06-2011 | 11:26 AM
#3
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From: Arvada,
CO
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
ORIGINAL: Flyin Beagle
Just a quick tip. Most of you probably already know this, but I have never been very good and therefore not very comfortable with performing a wide open pass right on the deck. It seemed I was always fighting the elevator and over adjusting either too much up or too much down[:@][:@][:@]. My passes were always pretty jumpy to say the least. One of my buddies at the field on the other hand could take any of his planes 2' off the ground wide open the entire length of the runway everytime and make it look so easy. He was spotting for me on Saturday and I brought this up. I did a couple of my usual passes with the plane never really settling into a smooth nice pass and then he told me his trick. He puts 3 or 4 clicks of down elevator into his radio when he is going to do a low pass. This causes him to always be pulling a little up while doing his pass and he doesnt have to control the plane past neutral which can cause a bit of over correction. It works. The rest of the afternoon my planes were wide open and on the deck. It was great fun.
Just a quick tip. Most of you probably already know this, but I have never been very good and therefore not very comfortable with performing a wide open pass right on the deck. It seemed I was always fighting the elevator and over adjusting either too much up or too much down[:@][:@][:@]. My passes were always pretty jumpy to say the least. One of my buddies at the field on the other hand could take any of his planes 2' off the ground wide open the entire length of the runway everytime and make it look so easy. He was spotting for me on Saturday and I brought this up. I did a couple of my usual passes with the plane never really settling into a smooth nice pass and then he told me his trick. He puts 3 or 4 clicks of down elevator into his radio when he is going to do a low pass. This causes him to always be pulling a little up while doing his pass and he doesnt have to control the plane past neutral which can cause a bit of over correction. It works. The rest of the afternoon my planes were wide open and on the deck. It was great fun.
I don't know if it's true or not but the guy who suggested this to me said that this is the way the Blue Angels trim their planes.
You should definitely give it a try.
09-06-2011 | 11:51 AM
#4
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
David, I see what you are saying, but I have to disagree. I do not trim my planes for level flight at wide open throttle. All of my planes seem to have a comfortable speed at which I typically fly them. This speed varies from model to model, but that is where I trim for hands off flight. Typically at wide open throttle the planes are wanting to climb a little. Not having to push the stick back and forth through neutral position gave me a great deal more feel for the plane and made it much easier to make those very minor adjustments needed low to the ground. Plus I had a pretty hard time forcing myself to push forward on the elevator while only a couple of feet from the ground.
09-07-2011 | 01:35 PM
#5
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
Through CG location and other techniques, I try to get mine to fly level, hands off, at pretty much any speed above stall, up to and including full bore. I also run a significant amount of expo and find it quite fun to do 100 mph passes down the runway for a high speed "touch and go".
09-07-2011 | 07:02 PM
#6
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
Similar setup...I trim my planes for straight and level or very slight dive at full bore, which trim usually works down to half throttle. I don't want the plane climbing when it is trimmed out because then I need more down input for level inverted flight. I like just the slightest down pressure on the stick to maintain level inverted flight. Jon
09-07-2011 | 08:30 PM
#7
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
One of my favorite planes - a SK 50 - was lost when I did a low pass at full throttle. Inverted. After rolling from eye level to get inverted. During the post-limbo full throttle second half of the roll back to level I caught a wing tip. Absolute explosion of balsa. Now Ikeep them level when I'm below belt level.
We had a JetAfueled IMAAlegal jet do a low pass at our Fly-In and he did a dip that put grass stains on his wings (retracts up). By the white of his face with all the blood drained out it wasn't even necessary to ask him if that was intentional.
Low will eventually get you. Especially when mixed with testosterone.
We had a JetAfueled IMAAlegal jet do a low pass at our Fly-In and he did a dip that put grass stains on his wings (retracts up). By the white of his face with all the blood drained out it wasn't even necessary to ask him if that was intentional.
Low will eventually get you. Especially when mixed with testosterone.
09-08-2011 | 04:24 AM
#10
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
ORIGINAL: Flyin Beagle
I do not trim my planes for level flight at wide open throttle. All of my planes seem to have a comfortable speed at which I typically fly them. This speed varies from model to model, but that is where I trim for hands off flight.
I do not trim my planes for level flight at wide open throttle. All of my planes seem to have a comfortable speed at which I typically fly them. This speed varies from model to model, but that is where I trim for hands off flight.
In other words, for a low level pass, you temporarily trim your plane for descending flight at wide open throttle.
Next, while doing your pass inverted, you will not need the temporary trim, because the regular trim will cause you to always be pushing a little down elevator.
10-11-2011 | 10:07 PM
#11
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From: Tacoma,
WA
RE: Low and Fast Made Easy
Also - and very important - experiment a bit with the neutral setting of your ailerons. You may find that your plane will track better (and not tend to balloon up on landing approaches) if: Both ailerons are definitely not drooped down past neutral whatsoever even a tiny bit, and your landing approaches and? high speed passes (upright) may be cleaner if they are reflexed (just baaarely brought up past neutral) just slightly. Do not ever use a Y-cord to the ailerons servos. Wire them separately so that you can use one click at a time of sub-trim in the radio to find your best neutral setting whether you are trying for smooth landing approaches without ballooning up or for high speed passes....
Ernie Misner
Ernie Misner
