Flight Report

Good idea on marking out a circle rusty.  On his first flight he came close to me. He didn't understand what I meant by "back up"  and instead was moving towards me!  He finally successfully moved back out away but almost hit the flight box before he did. In his defence he said he was getting dizzy lol!
I can loop this one but it's a real big circle and it comes out about a foot from the ground. More like a number 9 lol!  I'm still getting a bit dizzy myself but I'm getting over it quickly

Need to get my stunt trainer put together!  I did get some of it glued up this morning alone Sith a second trainer. This one has the rubber band engine mount like the first one and I also reinforced the fuse from the bulkhead to about an inch past the trailing edge of the wing with 1/32" ply on each side. Much sturdier for sure!

Hopefully next time out I can try and get him to try a wing over. Oh and he successfully took off from the ground his last flight. I had been hand launching the plane for him up till then.

Yes, the wingover. After he's done it, point out to him that he actually just flew his first loop. It is. Just a loop with a flat bottom. Then when he's ready for his first round loop, all he has to do is fly just as high to the top of the loop and begin pulling out higher, giving him the opportunity to make the bottom of each one a little rounder until he can shape it into a circle.

Most people learn the opposite way and just yank UP and hope it's tight enough to clear the ground on bottom, with no thought of guiding it through a circular loop. Starting with the wingover results in a pilot's first loop being a properly planned path, rather than a radical try with no thoughtful guidance. Many times, depending on the plane, sudden full up blows the lift off the stabilizer causing it to suddenly have little effect on the flight path. Especially in planes that have a lot of built-in UP deflection. That's a tail stall. The same type stall can happen at the wing too. Think of it as trying to bite off more air than it can chew.

When I was learning to do loops during my early pattern flying, I used to be so forceful at the handle, I would stall the wing. Observers who know what to listen for can hear it on larger planes(especially quiet electrics). The wing makes an audible whoosh as the plane passes. If you listen standing near the stunt side of the circle, and the pilot makes too tight of a turn, the lift gets torn off of the wing and it goes quiet. You may see the plane flounder as if it's suddenly lost, even well above flying speed at the time the stall occurs.

Cant wait to watch him progress.
Rusty

Way to go Michael!!!

Sounds like it's time to adjust the CG. On nose heavy jobs I just take it up real high, almost overhead and then bring it around.

Good times.

I can't wait to see both of us progress. Hopefully we have some calmer weather this summer and not have to fight the wind so much. This little trainer seems to pull good and strong during a wing over. Just a little sluggish pulling out. The trainer I'm building now that was cut at the same time, I reversed the stab and elevator so the the elevator has more surface area. Hopefully it with respond more deliberately.

Yea. I left this one a little nose heavy. Part of it was the fact that I added the rubber band engine mount and didn't remove a 1/4" from the fuse to compensate for the 1/4" of plywood. The one I'm building now has the enginge back 1/4" in closer to the leading edge of the wing. I think it will perform a tighter loop. This one,, I start a loop a good ten feet off the ground and it's trimming the grass as it comes out of it. LOL!

I understand the dizzy thing Roger.  My first "reunion" flight ended with me dumping the plane and me landing flat on the ground.  No big loss on the plane though, a sacrificial bent and busted Cox PT-19, which is now back together just a little more bent and busted.

Looks like Michael is about the same age that I started my son flying C/L.  He never got dizzy though and at 51 still doesn't.

Michael has great action for a newbie Roger. Good to see him holding his elbow tight in to his body and and keeping his hand low, not flailing his arm around like you see so many young folk do. Heck, even I do it a bit due to panic setting in. He started to look a little dizzy, but it looks like you're running pretty short lines. Maybe longer lines (with less wind ) will help slow down the spin a little.

Made it out for a few flights today. It was more windy than yesterday but determined to get out as much as possible. Michael took the first flight and it ended in a slack line wing over nose plant snapping the engine off again. LOL!I then explained what happened and what to do about it next time. While the epoxy was curing I took his brodak mustang for it inaugural flight as he has been wanting to see it fly. I think it will be a pretty good flyer in calmer weather. It quite a bit heavier and slower flyer. Think I may try a 5x4 prop on it as well. I'm pretty much over the dizziness as well.  Hope to have a second trainer complete in a couple days and my stunt trainer done a few days after that.  
Reports and video to follow. Any suggestions on line length for my little stunter with a black widow?


Thanks for all the comments, compliments, encouragement and suggestions

35'. Reasonable speed and still safe in the wind.
If you can get some relative calm air, try to watch when he flies low level laps(if he can), and see if the straight line of the lines continues on through the plane as a straight extension. If the outboard tip is angled up or down from that line, adjust tip weight accordingly. It makes a big difference on windy days. Do that on the first flights of all of your planes.
Rusty

RknRusty wrote:35'. Reasonable speed and still safe in the wind.
If you can get some relative calm air, try to watch when he flies low level laps(if he can), and see if the straight line of the lines continues on through the plane as a straight extension. If the outboard tip is angled up or down from that line, adjust tip weight accordingly. It makes a big difference on windy days. Do that on the first flights of all of your planes.
Rusty

that makes sense. longer lines= more drag and balanced. thanks for the long forgotten info rusty. hopefully we start getting some calmer days.

Flying in the wind is good for you.
Practice using the wind to your advantage when you're flying flat laps. Before you fly, toss some grass from center circle and pick an upwind and downwind landmark so you know where you are. Then learn  feed in some slight Down input to compensate for the extra lift into the wind, and ease in some Up input to compensate for the loss of lift in a tail wind. It's a great exercise for mastering precision inputs. I still have big trouble with my landing descent because I have not been able to master this during the deadstick glide. My Oriental is extremely floaty when the power cuts

This exercise will help you tremendously when you start learning loops and other stunts. You'll then be familiar with working the air. I've had to learn when thermals come through and change the direction for a moment, not to get flustered and trust the prevailing wind. Sometimes you'll have to fly an extra lap to wait out a thermal.

I know I'm getting ahead of you with this, but maybe after having heard it there'll come a time where it rings a bell and you'll benefit from it. It's never too early to start learning these little tricks of piloting. And don't get too frustrated, this is all much harder to do with your small planes than it will be with big heavier models.
Rusty

thanks rusty.  

other than taking off into the wind, i had not really thought about it too much.  with the wind we had blowing the other day i was looping kind of at the transition point between the heavy tail wind and head wind,  seemed to help the trainer to loop while it had a bit of push and then the extra lift of the head wind to turn a bit smaller loop.

as a kid i did lots and lots of touch and goes (on calmer days) and would say that really helped me control wise when i started flying larger planes. i can't wait to get something built that will stunt! and yes...the extra weight and lift of a larger model goes a long way to nice landings.