Flying straight lines-a special technique
FLY RC's chief test pilot, Dave Baron, notes: "the author is an expert on habit formation and cognitive psychology. This is not one instructor’s favorite method, but something with some science behind it." It also works great in practice and many instructors have used this method for years. - Editor
Unlike when climbing trees, the higher you are flying (so long as the model is clearly visible), the safer it is. If you work with instructors, they will fly the airplane up to a safe altitude and then let you be the pilot. We often say that beginners should fly “three mistakes high”. This means that you have time to make a mistake or two and correct them before the plane is so low that the instructor feels compelled to take over and correct the third mistake.
If you cannot fly a model in a straight line, you will find safe landings nearly impossible and takeoffs difficult. Beginners are often surprised at how a model plane will try to turn this way and that even if you don’t make any movements with the controls: it is your job as a pilot to keep the plane flying in the direction you want it to go.
Here is the special technique: always face in the direction the plane is flying (this method also works for boats and cars). At first, it is hard to remember to turn your body to keep aligned with the plane. It works a lot better if you have a friend with his or her hands on your shoulders, gently guiding you to always face the way the plane is going.
Here’s why it works. After a while, turning with the model becomes a habit, and instead of thinking about making the plane turn, you are psychologically in the plane. There is none of the “left-right reversal” problems you may have read about. As you continue to fly this way, you will eventually stop physically turning. If you find yourself having to think about which way to move the stick to turn the plane when it is coming toward you, or if you make a mistake when it is, then you have stopped physically turning too soon, and you must go back to it.
Very soon, you will fly from “in
the cockpit” without having to think about it.
HOW TO TURN AN AIRPLANE—
THE WRIGHT BROS.
GREAT DISCOVERY
When the Wright brothers figured out how to control an airplane once it was airborne (it was relatively easy to see how to get something into the air) they knew that they had found the secret to manned flight.
Now it is time for you to learn the secret: Birds and planes do not turn flat, like a car, but gracefully bank.
But first, it is important to think of the transmitter as being horizontal. I strongly recommend using a transmitter tray or neck strap to hold the transmitter, by the way. For one thing, you never drop the transmitter.
With the transmitter horizontal you can rock the main stick RIGHT and LEFT , and you can PUSH it away from you and PULL it toward you. NEVER describe the stick’s motion as “up” and “down” because this will cause problems when you get to be an advanced pilot. Besides, it would be a lie as the stick doesn’t move up and down.
With most kids and some adults, I have them practice making the correct movement when the instructor tells them what to do. So I say “pull”, “push”, “right”, and “left” repeatedly in random order and until the student does the right thing every time. I have seen too many beginners crash a model by doing the wrong thing after the instructor tells them the correct thing to do.
Making a left turn has three steps:
1. Bank a little in the direction you want to turn by moving the stick left.
2. Pull a little on the stick until the airplane has nearly reached the direction you want it to go.
3. Move the stick to the right to unbank the airplane.
Nobody can tell you how much you will have to move the stick, as even the same airplane re-quires different amounts of stick motion depending on a host of factors. This is where practice comes in. You have to make the plane fly the way you want it to. If it banks too much, you must unbank it. If it comes out of the bank on its own before the turn is done, you have to add the bank back in. The amount of pull changes also.
There are few pilots who learn to fly RC without at least once losing their model in a “graveyard spiral.” This happens when you bank for a turn, but don’t take off the bank soon enough, and the plane spirals in. When this happens, it is turning too fast for you to keep facing in the same direction as the plane. Applying opposite bank (if you can remember which one started the spiral) or, on some trainers, just letting go of the controls can sometimes return you to level flight. An instructor will usually catch this kind of spiral dive early and save the plane.
To become a good pilot quickly, learn to fly in straight lines (parallel to an edge of the field), try to make right-angle turns, and then try to fly straight again. Avoid flying aimlessly around. When you can fly a large rectangle in the
air with smoothly rounded corners (both right- and left-turning rectangles), you have learned the basics of controlling a model plane. Now you are ready to learn to take off and land.
In PART IV we will discuss takeoffs and landings.
