Learning to land

[flipper]

I am fairly new to flying R/C planes. I am having trouble with landings. When I come in for landings I tend to bounch it a few times. Can anyone give me some pointers to landing?
Thanks for the help,
flipper

[Jackson P.]

First and most important, is make sure you are trying to learn on a "TRAINER" not Cap232 or anything else. Try to come in slower, at a lower angle and flare (give up elevator) just before touchdown. If you are bounceing you are comming down too hard and too fast. You may start to flare too early and "fall" the last 5 or 6 feet. You should be trying for something in between. A nice landing is as pretty as anyother manouver. keep on trying.

[flipper]

Jackson, Thanks for the reply. I can land the PT 40 and Cesna and SpaceWalker. I have a low wing tail dragger that I want to be able to fly without crashing on the first flight. I have been thinking of buying another plane like the
PT 40 to learn on. This is one reason that I bought this Realflight G2 is to learn on first. Thanks for the help any more tips would be appreciated. Flipper

[Jackson P.]

Practice on the RF hundreds of times until you can land everytime. You might want to make sure that all of the wind is off so you don't have to fight that while your're learning. Get a Duraplane trainer about $50. They land nice and Don't break. Repeat DON'T BREAK. I used RF to learn on for about a month and then soloed alone first time. I also crashed 45 deg. angle half-power into the ground and only broke the prop. It was my fault tried looping after 3 minutes of experience. Did three and then didn't know how to stop it. Crashed once more with the Duraplane. Caught a wing on a very low right turn at about 30 mph. A little damage to the wing but I'm still flying it. I have now put my duraplane aerobat in the air. very nice to fly. Tight turns, loops and quick almost axial rolls. It's a good step to take before the Cap 232 that I have almost finished.

Good luck.

P.S. Practice, practice, practice landing. That's the only thing that will make you better

[Jerry]

Flipper,

Try slowing the plane down as much as possible. Then use the throttle to control your altitude and elevator to flare slightly just before the wheels touch. Make sure you don't flare too much or you'll bounce.

Remember that the throttle controls altitude and elevator controls airspeed. You can't use up elevator to hold the plane in the air--this just doesn't work.

I'm also a new R/C flyer and find that RF G2 is execellent for landing practice. It took me several hours of practice before I could land the PT40 reliably. I'm now practicing landing in the wind. Believe me, landing a light trainer with a 20 MPH 90-degree crosswind is very challenging! If you haven't paid much attention to rudder yet, you will use it when landing in crosswinds :eek:

[Jerry]

Flipper,

Try slowing the plane down as much as possible. Then use the throttle to control your altitude and elevator to flare slightly just before the wheels touch. Make sure you don't flare too much or you'll bounce.

Remember that the throttle controls altitude and elevator controls airspeed. You can't use up elevator to hold the plane in the air--this just doesn't work.

I'm also a new R/C flyer and find that RF G2 is execellent for landing practice. It took me several hours of practice before I could land the PT40 reliably. I'm now practicing landing in the wind. Believe me, landing a light trainer with a 20 MPH 90-degree crosswind is very challenging! If you haven't paid much attention to rudder yet, you willuse it when landing in crosswinds :eek:

[Jerry]

Flipper,

Try slowing the plane down as much as possible. Then use the throttle to control your altitude and elevator to flare slightly just before the wheels touch. Make sure you don't flare too much or you'll bounce.

Remember that the throttle controls altitude and elevator controls airspeed. You can't use up elevator to hold the plane in the air--this just doesn't work.

I'm also a new R/C flyer and find that RF G2 is execellent for landing practice. It took me several hours of practice before I could land the PT40 reliably. I'm now practicing landing in the wind. Believe me, landing a light trainer with a 20 MPH 90-degree crosswind is very challenging! If you haven't paid much attention to rudder yet, you willuse it when landing in crosswinds :eek:

[flipper]

Thanks again Jackson. I have been landing better today, slowed my speed down, well pulled the throttle all the way back. Can land most of the planes now. I like flying the Biplane want one of those but will wait till I am flying this one. The plane I have now is a Mid-West Star Duster, built it in three days while I was in the hospital last year. You should have seen some of the looks I got from nurses for having it in my room. It was good therapy for me got my mind off being sick. Thanks again.
Flipper

[Slider]

Flipper,
When it comes to the real thing, I'd say, for safety's sake, get in touch with an experiened
rc flyer in your area. Your local hobby shop should be able to steer you to one. Also, if you haven't already, check out the flight lessons in G2. Good luck. :rolleyes:

Adlai

[Bob_Mintus]

Flipper, I agree with Slider. RealFlight G2 will give you a good feel for what to expect, but I would also recommend a little help from an experienced flyer for the following reasons:
1) Double checking your plane pre-flight - things like servos, slop in controls, center of gravity, reversed pushrods, just to name a few. All of the planes in RealFlight are built and set up correctly.
2) He may have sharper reflexes, or at least, more nerve, when flying your plane in case something does go wrong (anything missed in 1).
3) He can advise where to fly/not to fly (so you don't end up flying near an existing site accidentally, potentially crashing your plane due to interference).

I don't know how much free time you have, but these days I treasure the time I have in each plane more than the money. Getting some help from an experienced flyer is good insurance on that investment.

I'd hate to see someone soured on the RC hobby because of a bad experience in trying to fly by themself.

More than likely, you'll be flying soon on the real thing. I don't know where you live an TN, but I met some good guys about 10 years ago when I was working on a job in Chattanooga.

Good luck!

[flipper]

Bob, Ilive on the TN river between west and middle TN right now. The field that I have been visiting is in Columbia. Monsanto built a club house and paved landing strip for the R/C club there. Really a nice place they are having a Gaint Scale Fly in the first weeek end of May. In July We will be moving to Knoxville for me to finish up college at UT. Areospace Engineering if I can get in the program. That is one reason I got back into flying R/C planes. Worked in a hobby shop in 90 91 in Chattanooga anf built several planes just never really got into flying them. Still like to build them. Thanks for all the help and suggestions they will be note and observed. Flipper

[Bob_Mintus]

Flipper, was that Red Top? I was down there in the summer of 1989. I think I drove past the store once but never got the opportunity to visit, just met a couple of the local guys who flew.

Anyway - sounds like you are going about things the right way. I haven't used simulators heavily, but I'm going to try and see what effect it has on my flying. For now, G2 is a nice way to practice the more spectacular stuff without risking my plane. It feels about right as far as the responses are concerned. You should be soloing fast if you spend much time on G2 prior to flying your trainer.

[Slider]

One of the things I did that when learning to fly that really helped me was. First I was lucky enough to have access to a large paved area with no one else around and I used a trainer type plane, somewhat simular to the PT 40. Anyway what I did was disconnect the elevator and carefully put some weigth in the plane so that it couldn't possibly take off. I then taxed around for a couple of hours on the pavement until controlling the plane was almost second nature. I also practiced with switching the rudder and steering with the aleron control sticks to mimic how it would be flying in the air.
Be careful to keep in mind things like not leaning over the engine while its running just in case the prop for some reason breaks etc. etc., never can be to safe. I still recommend getting in touch with a dependable and experienced RC flyer in your area to give you a hand.

Adlai