Tips, Techniques & Info

Basics

• All instructions should take place with the aircraft flying as slowly as possible. If you have an instructor who only knows fast, dump him. If you have very severe perceptual problems practice taxiing around an unused runway or parking lot without the wings on before trying to fly! R/C flight simulators are great tools to try out my rules.
• Learn to automatically go to panic mode - "PULL BOTH STICKS". If Upright, this puts the aircraft into a low speed stall attitude so you can collect yourself and figure out what to do next.
• Beginners should ignore the Throttle and Rudder stick initially, and concentrate on just the aileron and elevator stick until after several successful flights.
• My vocabulary now consists of "MOVE the STICK" (Sideways) , "PULL the STICK" (towards yourself), and "PUSH the STICK" (away from yourself).

Pre-Solo Flight Training

The instructor should test and trim the aircraft, and take the aircraft up to a safe but very visible altitude. Then he should FLY the AIRCRAFT AWAY from himself and the student while holding the transmitter high in a visual line from the student to the aircraft. The instructor then announces that he is going to "MOVE the STICK" in the SAME DIRECTION that he wants the aircraft to turn. The student must clearly perceive the cause-effect relationship of direction of stick motion and the direction of flight change! The instructor should lower the transmitter from the sight line, bring the aircraft back, and again raise the transmitter for the student to see the effect. The instructor should perform this exercise several times, "moving the stick" in both directions for the student to see the effect on the aircraft.

After getting across the idea of control while flying away from yourself, then comes the fun part. The instructor now teaches how to "MOVE the STICK" when the AIRCRAFT is COMING TOWARDS himself. This time the instructor turns the aircraft and points out the LOW WING! Now the instructor holds up the transmitter and "MOVES the STICK" towards the LOW WING and lets the student perceive the cause-effect relationship of this action.

The instructor should then put the two together while flying an oblong oval with the long axis oriented to the line of sight, not too close, but not too far out. The instructor should continuously hold up the transmitter in the visual line so the student sees the complete flight path control. The oblong oval should be flown both clockwise and counterclockwise, on both sides of the field, to show the student that these 2 simple rules fit all directional orientations. The instructor must continuously point out to the student what is happening at the transmitter and the aircraft.

Perceptually challenged seniors have a very difficult time with precise and tiny stick movements. It often helps these students if the instructor uses the words "BUMP the STICK" so that the student can overcome a tendency to over control the aileron. The instructor should point out how much & how long he has to move the stick to achieve the desired directional change & recover directional stability.

I initially trim the aircraft elevator and throttle so that the aircraft is very slightly gaining altitude, so that the elevator control is not an initial consideration.

After the student has seen the effect of "MOVING (or BUMPING) the STICK", I then take the airplane up to "2 CRASHES HIGH" and start to fly a large counterclockwise oval with the long axis parallel with the active runway. If the student is left handed, make the initial flights clockwise. I try to keep the line of sight angle between 30 and 60 degrees high, pointing out the facts that flying overhead or behind the flight line is not only dangerous, but gives the instructor neck pains, making him mean! The instructor should take a high overhead pass, pointing out not only that the wing angle can't be seen, but even the fuselage climb/sink angle can't be seen, and the growing neck pain.

I usually land the aircraft at this point, and adjust the clevises for centered trim control. I discuss what the student has seen up to this point and have him repeat the basic flight stick motions.

I trim the aircraft for a very slight counterclockwise (clockwise for lefties) turn and take it up to "2 crashes high" on the next slow flight. This time I point out that when turning, the aircraft will usually lose altitude, so I will "PULL the STICK" very slightly to maintain altitude. I hold the transmitter up in the visual line and make a fairly sharp turn without any "PULL the STICK" and point out how the aircraft lost altitude. Then I make another turn and this time show how I am "SLIGHTLY PULLING the STICK". I usually also demonstrate the effect of jamming the stick into a corner to seniors learning to fly.

Next I get on the right side of the student and start to fly a counterclockwise (clockwise for lefties) oval, pointing out the aircraft orientations, aircraft orientation transitions, and my stick moves and pulls & by how much, as they occur. Finally, as the aircraft orientation transitions to going away in front of us, I put the aircraft in a very slight upward climb and hand the transmitter to the student warning the student that I may want it back IMMEDIATELY at any time (Recently a young student wouldn't give it back and spiraled it right into the ground!) Most of the instructors at our field use buddy boxes, but I don't care for them, as I feel the student needs to learn total flight control responsibility from the start. Personal choice.

On this first flight "BUMP the STICK" is often better than "MOVE the STICK" in avoiding over control. I constantly call out the aircraft orientations and let the student figure out & apply the correct stick movement. I loudly commend the student when he makes & implements good control decisions.

On the 4th flight I reverse the direction of the oval. On the 6th flight I change the oval to a horizontal figure 8, and continue this for a number of flights. I call for ovals occasionally in which I expect the line of flight to be exactly parallel to the active runway. This prepares the student for the line discipline needed for landing.

First Takeoff

Every trainer I have seen except the Kadet series has too much nosewheel control. I tell the student to reduce the nosewheel clevis settings so that the aircraft will make a 360 degree circle in half the runway width. Instead of the usual 3' turning circle, I want to see a 20' circle with the motor running slowly and the rudder stick "MOVED HARD OVER". Then the student with good oval flight discipline can easily just point the aircraft into the wind on the runway, advance the throttle, "MOVE the RUDDER STICK" in the direction desired, and give a slight "PULL the ELEVATOR STICK" to lift off. I have him reduce the throttle @ 40' altitude, and very gradually vector outward and upward and finally enter the oval pattern. I land the aircraft a couple of ovals later and let the student repeat the takeoff. I point out the fact that the student's takeoff goal is to have the nosewheel tracking down the yellow line on the middle of the runway.

Landing

Ah, yes, Landing! Very quickly the student perceives the real bane of flying. The aircraft is not only low but coming right at himself. Big trouble! Most students get so up tight that they cause that which they fear to occur. My approach is, "if you don't know it's going to happen, you don't have time to be afraid of it."

After the student has achieved precise oval control, demonstrated by flying perfectly parallel to the active runway and the ability to make precisely controlled turns that do not gain or lose altitude and are not over or under corrected, and has several great takeoffs under his belt, it's landing practice time. I DO NOT WANT THE STUDENT TO TRY TO LAND ON THE RUNWAY AT THIS POINT!

I explain to the student that landing is really quite simple but there are a number of gotchas. When an aircraft lands, the throttle is decreased to near minimum on most trainers, slowing them down, and losing wing lift. To offset this loss of lift the pilot "GRADUALLY PULLS the STICK" to make up for the lost lift, referred to as "FLARING". This only works for a while until the wing stalls and the plane falls out of the air. The whole trick to landing is to keep the wings flat by "MOVING the STICK" towards the down wing (since landings are TOWARDS YOURSELF), and "KEEPING 50% of your ATTENTION on the SLIGHTLY INCREASING ELEVATOR SPRING TENSION." The elevator stick has a centering spring. What you want to occur is a very gradual PULL against this spring to accomplish a smooth flare when near the ground. Watch other pilots land. Most jump up & down above the runway until they finally plop onto the asphalt. What they are doing is pulling, releasing, pulling, releasing, even jerking the stick, instead of EVENLY PULLING to achieve a smooth flare.

Landing practice starts as a landing approach 25 yards out in the field. The student comes in with a low throttle setting, maintaining a parallel path about 25 yards out from the runway. When about 20' high, I tell him to throttle up and climb back to the oval pattern. If he maintained a reasonably parallel path, then he next comes in with a 5 yards closer approach. As he gains in experience I get him to start slightly but evenly "PULLing on the STICK". After several times he will accidently be flying on a path leading over the runway. This time I tell him to NOT THROTTLE UP. He winds up landing by mistake, often breaking a prop, BUT HE LANDED HIMSELF! After that thrilling experience he takes off, and practices the approaches with more 50% attention to the flare control to avoid that broken prop.

At some point I take the student onto the middle of the runway to sight down the runway's yellow line at some high object in the distance. This is to be his sight line object in future landings. Most landing problems are caused by pilots coming in from an outward vector meaning that they have less runway to hit and they are flying right towards themselves. Now I stress precision landing - touchdown right in front, wheels straddling the yellow line, no bounce.

Preflight Checking

• Before attaching the glow plug battery, wiggle either transmitter stick and look for some response from the aircraft.
• With the engine idling, step between the elevators to hold the aircraft. Looking towards the engine, move the aileron stick to one side, and the aileron on that side should lift. Move the aileron stick to the opposite side, and the aileron on that side should lift.
• Pull the elevator stick and both elevators should lift.
• Move the rudder stick to one side and the rudder and nosewheel, or tailwheel, should move to that side. Move the rudder stick to the opposite side, and the rudder and nosewheel, or tailwheel, should move to that side. Look for equal movement on each side, especially the nosewheel.
• Check that the dual rate switches are properly set - I like dual rates on high for takeoff & landing, and prefer saving low rates ONLY for guest fliers of my planes.
• Make sure all Trim controls are centered and Auxiliary channel controls are centered. One Quickie race I took off to find that my racer was way out of trim and actually flying sideways! I landed & found out that some small kids had gotten into the impound, and pushed the transmitter trims into the corners.

Inverted Flying

You just don't look cool, if you don't fly upside down sometimes, right? Well, again, there is a major gotcha! When inverted, DOWN is UP. Perceptually challenged fliers, like me, have a very tough time overcoming this one if taught using "UP", "DOWN", "LEFT", and "RIGHT". Some time ago my boy took a whole year building me a perfect pattern airplane. I demolished it the 4th time out while doing an outside loop. UP and DOWN does not work with me. I have developed a different system that completely solved the problem.

When the airplane is "UPRIGHT, I PULL to CLIMB". When the aircraft is "INVERTED, I PUSH to CLIMB". Doesn't sound like much, but it has made a radical improvement in my flying. I also trim all my planes so that they have a slight sink trim when flying upright. I am now used to constantly putting a little pull pressure on the stick, and when inverted, I put about the same amount of push pressure on the stick. Sink trim helps considerably on landings during windy conditions, because I always have a natural sink and never have to "PUSH the STICK" during landing, just relax a bit of elevator spring tension.

Rudder

Most pilots are really not sure why GOD invented rudders. Must have been a punishment. I am still working on perfecting rudder control. Getting one stick correct is bad enough, but two? Again, I have come up with a few simple rules for the perceptually challenged (most of us).

Suppose I am doing a nice big round loop right in front on the main East-West runway. I am flying towards the mountains (West), and a slight wind came up from the direction of the pits behind me (from the South). The result will be that the airplane will drift outward with the wind, especially at the top. Boy, I wished I knew how to correct with my rudder! Well, it's easy. "MOVE the RUDDER STICK in the DIRECTION of FLIGHT to make the aircraft turn TOWARDS yourself". The corollary is "MOVE the RUDDER STICK OPPOSITE the DIRECTION of FLIGHT to make the aircraft turn AWAY FROM yourself". In the above example, I am flying towards the WEST, so I "MOVE the RUDDER STICK" towards the WEST to vector the aircraft inwards to compensate for the outward blowing wind. If I turn around and try a loop while going EAST under the same wind conditions, I then "MOVE the RUDDER STICK" to the EAST to compensate. Like my previous flight rules - I avoid thinking Right or Left.

You may wonder what happens at the top of the loop. Should I reverse the rudder stick? Nope. Unlike the Aileron Stick which just has 2 modes to consider (going away from yourself or coming at yourself) whether upright or inverted, the Rudder Stick has 4 modes.

The Rudder Stick Movement follows this pairing rule. Upright Going away and Inverted Coming at you both have the SAME direction control. Upright Coming at you and Inverted Going away both have the OPPOSITE direction control. That is why the loop example above did not reverse the rudder stick at the top when coming back inverted. Think about it. Try it out, simulating the loop with a small balsa glider.

SNAPS and SPINS

Getting Snaps and Spins to look right is also simple if you use this direction of movement system. If the aircraft is "UPRIGHT, MOVE BOTH STICKS in the SAME DIRECTION". If the aircraft is "INVERTED, MOVE the STICKS in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION". Which direction is usually a matter of preference.

INSIDE snaps and UPRIGHT spins are accomplished by also PULLING on the Elevator Stick, and OUTSIDE snaps and INVERTED spins are accomplished by also PUSHING on the Elevator Stick.

Point Rolls

Until I formulated the following rule, I always guessed wrong about which way to move the rudder stick. You'd think that I would accidently get it right sometimes. The 2 rules are the same whether going away from yourself or coming at yourself.

• When flying UPRIGHT, Move the Ailerons for a 1/4 roll in a GIVEN direction, and Move the Rudder stick in the OPPOSITE direction to maintain the aircraft on knife edge.
• When flying INVERTED, Move the Ailerons for a 1/4 roll in a GIVEN direction, and Move the Rudder stick in the SAME direction to maintain the aircraft on knife edge.

Conclusion

I have been flying model airplanes since 1948. I think I wasted most of my practice time until I formulated these rules 5 years ago. Last year one of my son's pattern flying friends came up to me and said that my flying had improved so much he didn't recognize my flying. Getting rid of "LEFT", "RIGHT", "UP", and "DOWN" was better than 100 gallons of 15% practice fuel. The hours of directional orientation analysis and practice were worth it!

Permission to use and reproduce my sytem is granted to anyone. Please credit this Website.