RC Airplane World flight school
- lesson #8: flying your RC airplane
Following on from lesson 7, this rc flight school page will get you flying your rc airplane gently around the sky.
The first thing you might notice when flying your plane is that you're nervous, your heart is thumping and your hands feel shaky - this is completely normal! I've been flying radio control planes for a while and I still get the shakes now and again. It's all part of the fun and exhilaration of the hobby, but I'm not sure of the precise explanation; I guess it's the fear of crashing that causes the adrenalin rush inside!
The important thing is to not let your pounding heart and shaking hands get the better of you; stay calm, relaxed and focused on the job in hand - flying your rc airplane!
Take things slow
Once you've taken off or hand launched your plane, climb out to a safe height. It's hard to judge distances of any kind so telling you to fly at around 100 feet high might not mean much, but that's a safe altitude to be at. If there are any mature trees or 3-storey houses around you, treat the height of those as a minimum height to be flying at this stage.
Don't fly too high though because you might become disoriented with what the airplane is doing. You need to retain a very clear view of your plane at all times, don't let it become a small dot in the distance.
Before the airplane gets too far away from you after take off / hand launch, you need to turn it one way or the other. Which direction you turn in depends largely on where you're flying, but you need to turn it towards open space and well away from any obstacles (trees, posts, pylons...).
As you turn during the climb out, reduce power to somewhere around three-quarter power; once you've taken off and gained height there's no need to keep the motor going flat out, the plane doesn't need this amount of power for general flying. That said, the amount of power you need to apply is going to depend on the airplane that you have as well as flying conditions (i.e. weather) for that day.
The badly scaled picture below shows approximately what you need to do...
Above: climb out steadily and turn before the plane gets too far away
Keep the climbing turn gentle. As you apply rudder (or aileron) also apply a small amount of up elevator; this prevents any altitude loss during the turn, and with ailerons is essential to pull the airplane round in a turn and not just roll in a straight line.
When you've turned enough to get the plane flying straight and level and back past you, try another turn but this time in the opposite direction to the one you've just done. Keep turning and straightening, turning and straightening in all directions and just fly the plane around the sky, all the time getting used to how the plane responds to your stick movements. You'll very quickly get an idea of how much stick input you need to make to get the plane to do what you want it to.
Below is a short video of how you should be gently turning your rc airplane, getting used to the controls...
Once you're used to how the airplane responds to your stick movements, you can practice circuit flying whereby you fly a large rectangular pattern in the sky. This takes some practice to get it tidy, but it's worth taking the time to do it because it's this pattern you should use when landing. Get used to flying the circuit in both directions.
Above: practice this circuit pattern in both directions.
Trimming your RC airplane
'Trimming' is the term used to describe the action of fine-tuning the airplane so that it flies straight and level on its own, with the transmitter sticks in their neutral positions. Advanced permanent trimming might involve adjustments to motor thrust angles, for example, but in the early days of your new hobby you can trim your plane in-flight using the transmitter trim functions to act on the control surfaces.
While flying your rc airplane around the sky you may find that it has a tendency to turn one way or another when you aren't steering it, or that it wants to climb or dive without you making it. Use the appropriate trims on the transmitter to fine-tune the control surfaces during flight, to try and iron out these tendencies. For example, if the plane wants to steer to the left, apply a small amount of right rudder trim.
After you move a trim, let the airplane fly on its own for a few seconds in a straight line and then re-adjust the trim as you need to. The aim is to get the plane flying straight and level with the transmitter sticks centered, and no input from you.
If you don't bother to trim your airplane then you'll be working unnecessarily hard to control the plane, so take the time to trim it correctly.
As you become more experienced and familiar with how rc airplanes operate, you'll be able to make more permanent trims if necessary, like changing the thrust angle of the motor or slightly adjusting the Center of Gravity. But even with these adjustments done it's still perfectly normal to have to use the transmitter trims now and again; outside influences can alter the way a plane flies, no matter how well trimmed it is in the workshop.
Important points to remember when flying your rc airplane:
- Don't fly too far away from you; if you do, you can very easily lose sight of your airplane - not completely, but enough to not know exactly what it's doing, which way up it is etc. This is the quickest way of becoming disorientated with the plane and when this happens there's a good chance of losing control and crashing.
- Similarly, never fly directly over your head. This will also disorient you as you look directly upwards while turning your head to follow the plane, and you lose all reference to the ground and the plane in relation to it. Always keep the plane in front of you and to the sides - never overhead or behind you.
- Remember that when flying your rc airplane towards you, the turns are reversed; left becomes right and right becomes left. This is going to catch you out in your early days of flying but with practice you will get used to this 'reverse control' or 'reverse co-ordination' as it's also called. Tip: if you get disoriented when the airplane is flying towards you and turning, move the stick to the side of the lowest wing as you see it. For example, if the plane is coming towards you and turning to its right, the right hand wing will be lower than the left. Move the stick to that lower side as you see it and you'll be moving the stick left, which will correct the turn.
- Always keep flying your rc airplane in open space, well away from people, animals and property.
- Don't fly too low - the closer you are to the ground, the less time you have to recover from bad situations.
- Keep all your turns gentle and don't over-correct. The majority of rc airplane crashes for beginners are caused by over correction i.e. too much movement of the transmitter sticks. Keep things slow and steady all the time!
If things start to go wrong
If you're being as sensible as you should be and flying gently and slowly, just getting used to turning your plane and normal flying, there's no reason why anything should go drastically wrong.
But if you do suddenly find yourself in trouble, don't panic! Panicking usually only makes the situation ten times worse and you need to try and keep cool but at the same time act quickly.
The first thing to do is cut the motor. This is immediately going to decrease the airspeed of your plane (so long as it's not in a vertical dive) and hence decrease likely damage if the plane decides to impact on anything.
If you are in a dive apply up elevator, so long as the plane isn't inverted! Up elevator is going to pull the plane out of a dive and give you time to recover. Once the plane has recovered to a normal attitude, add motor power and calmly return the plane to straight and level flight.
If in doubt of your airplane's situation keep cool, cut the motor and centralize all control surfaces - just by doing this alone gives you a couple of seconds to get your head together and assess the situation as your plane returns to a better flight path, albeit in a direction you probably don't want!
The bottom line with flying your rc airplane for the first few times is to just stay cool and be sensible; don't try any crazy stunts at this early stage. Keep things simple, and you'll be fine!
Next up: Lesson 9 - Landing your rc airplane - yikes!
Or skip to the lesson appropriate to your current situation...
- Lesson 1: Buying your rc airplane
- Lesson 2: Know your rc airplane
- Lesson 3: Preparing your plane
- Lesson 4: Weight and balance
- Lesson 5: Where to fly your plane
- Lesson 6: Pre-flight checks
- Lesson 7: Take off / hand launch
- Lesson 9: Landing your rc airplane
Got a question about flying your rc airplane? Join the forum!
