Practice for "head on" situation

[aesmith]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, just downloaded the s/w today (and got it working nicely in Windows 7 64 bit).

I've done a bit of R/C flying with slope gliders, first rudder/elevator and then aileron/elevator. I want to learn to fly an electric plane or glider for flatlands flying. When slope soaring I never really came to terms with the head-on aspect, when the model's flying towards me and the roll controls reverse (or feel like their reversed). I always fudged it and usually managed to land the plane heading away from me or to one side.

Now I can use this sim to practice - what's the best sort of training exercises to get this aspect sorted out?

Thanks in advance,

Tony S
By the way its a TW-742 Sky Hawk that I'm getting - four channel.

[KEW]

Hi aesmith,

I have been flying RC since 1956. In the last thirty years I have taught many beginners how to fly. The standard exercise I give is to take off and do several large left hand circuits of the field followed by lots of large figure eights. Using your throttle, try to keep at about 1 1/2 accidents high to give yourself time to recover and try to make the cross-over of the eights in the middle of the field (overhead). You will usually need a little up-elevator on the turns to maintain your height.

Use the Transall for practice. It is rudder/elevator but has very little dihedral so it needs opposite rudder to correct its roll. If you prefer it, you can switch the designation of the rudder to the aileron stick in the setup screen. At the same time, check the "exp" boxes opposite the elevator and rudder/ailerons. This will make the surfaces less sensitive to stick movement in the center, and more at the extreems. Once the plane is in the air, set the elevator trim for level flight at 2/3 throttle because it is a little nose heavy.

Before you take off, notice where the landmarks are. Trees are a great help. Then you will know where the runway is when you want to land. I recommend that you set the wind speed to 2 or 3 meters per second, straight down the runway (from the West, 270 deg.). This will make the take-offs and landings much easier.

Once you are used to to the plane coming towards you, it is really worth working on your landings. Try varying the wind speed to see how it effects the approach. Very few fliers (even good ones) can land properly. They usually either grease it in and overshoot or finish up dumping it in a very ungainly way.


To land the plane, do a left hand circuit, gradually loosing height until you see your landmarks. Keep circling until you can fly down-wind, parallel to but way off to the side of the runway. when the plane is well past the end of the runway, reduce the throttle to about half and gently turn left in a large enough arc to line the plane up with the center of the runway. reduce throttle to about 1/3 and aim the nose of the plane at the beginning of the runway. As it approaches the ground, pull gently back on the elevator to raise the nose a little. This will slow the plane down. Gradually reduce throttle as you come over the end of the runway, keeping the nose level and the plane will land. If you slow down too much, the plane will stall and drop. If you do not slow down enough, you will overshoot so go round again and give it another try.

Good luck and have fun.

KEW

[aesmith]

Thanks for the tips Kew. I've already been having a go at figure-eight, I think I follow what you mean. Fly the model away from me, medium rate turn then roll level when its head on, fly it right overhead and away, then another turn in the opposite direction back to overhead again.

I'll try some of your other exercises. When you say "left hand circuit", do you mean flying around me, or fly the circuit entirely off to one side?

I wonder how accurate the models are? I've been using the included "Diamant" model - winch launch then fly it down. That one will go into an incipient spin if I'm rough with the elevator! I also tried a downloaded "Easy Glider" which is probably a bit more docile than I'll be flying for real, but the simulation seems real easy to handle. It never occurred to me to try any of the scale transport planes, but I'll give the Transall a shot. I'll need the rudder on the aileron stick as you say, because that's how I learned on my rudder/elevator glider. Also I'm using the PC joystick which has a twist rudder that's meaningless for RC simulation.

Thanks again, TonyS

[phildc]

Good morning,
If you practice for RC flying, it may be better not to fly overhead, as this is not recommended in reality, for security reasons.
Kew wrote about crossing at the terrain center (my understanding). Pilots should stay on the border.
Phil.

[KEW]

Hi Tony,

As you have found out, all of the planes fly differently. The ones that come with the FMS program are set up to react fairly violently to stick movement. There are some much better planes available for down-loading. Check the Models section of this forum. Ggunners has designed some of the best flying and most realistic ones I have found.

You are using a PC joystick so you can not tame it down by using low rates. I was not sure what you would be using. That is why I recommended the Transall. It is a big, slow plane with relatively sluggish reaction time. This gives you time think about which way to move the stick and to correct any mistakes. When you have practiced enough, you will no longer have to think, you will automatically move it in the right direction.

In a left hand circuit, you fly down the middle of the runway and then, well off the end, do a large left 180 degree turn. Fly back down-wind, parallel to the runway and then do another left half circle to point the plane straight down the runway again. I suggested this because it is the normal pattern for most model fields and all full size ones.

I agree with the point that phildc made about flying overhead. This is not allowed at a flying field but I still recommend it in the sim to speed up your orientation learning curve. Overhead is the most difficult position because you suddenly change from "coming" to "going".

Good Flying,

Keith.

[aesmith]

Thanks everyone. I'll try all these suggestions.