Primary Training

The propeller produces thrust and pulls the model airplane through the air, but what makes a model turn to the right or left, or rotate its nose up for a climb or down for a dive? The control …

What Goes Up Must Come Down, Safely What a day! You got your brand new airplane to the local field and psyched yourself up for your first flight. After watching tons of videos online and reading everything you …

Flat spins are a spectacular maneuver in which the plane spins in a flat attitude while descending slowly, maintaining altitude or in some cases even gaining altitude. They are not especially difficult to perform, but require finesse to get a truly flat spin. The key to success in this maneuver is having a plane that is setup properly and capable of performing the maneuver.

Learning to fly a model aircraft is a fun and rewarding accomplishment. For many people, it is the closest they will ever come to piloting a real aircraft and it is a hobby/sport that can be enjoyed as …

I would love to be able to tell you why fully grown adults gave this maneuver the name Humpty-Bump. To tell the truth, I have absolutely no idea. As best as I can tell, it must have something to do with an egg, a wall, and all the king's men. It is also commonly referred to as a Humpty. In its simplest form, the Humpty is a 1/4 loop to a vertical line up, followed by a small half loop to a vertical line down, finishing with a second 1/4 loop back to level.

As 3D flying becomes more common, I see pilots from every conceivable realm of RC flight expressing a guarded interest in learning how to fly some of the more basic 3D maneuvers. Damping this enthusiasm is a misconception that only the best of the best RC pilots can fly 3D. That isn’t the case at all. With a little understanding and the right airplane, I find that even the most hesitant 3D pilots can be successful and have a lot of fun exploring 3D flight.

With more and more folks chasing RTF and ARF park flyer aircraft, I increasingly hear guys at the field discussing various 3D maneuvers. I kept thinking of ways to help people understand the basics behind flying certain maneuvers. Most of these entail giving proper inputs while the plane changes its attitude in the air.