Apprentice 15e S - Pulls up at Level

[dbbyleo]

Hey folks... first year flyer wanting to get some advice on what may be a problem or not on my Apprentice. I notice whenever I get the wings level, the plane wants to pitch up.

This happens at take off...
As soon as I leave the ground... with throttle at 3/4, it just wants to pitch up. I actually have to put down elevator to keep a steady accent.

This happens after a bank turn...
Im banking and turning... plane is descending... and as soon as I level off... it pitches up. If I want it to track more naturally and straight coming of the turn, I have to give down elevator.

At half throttle... place flies level and maintains same altitude - no pitching. And I do notice it climb when I add throttle... and I do think that part is expected. But is the rest also expected? Is this just what you expect from these trainers with the dyhedral (sp?) wings? Or it is my CG? I've got my battery as far forward as I can, but I've yet to try shifting the CG a bit with lead, etc.

Anyway, just wanted to ask around first before I started messing around with it.

 

[pgerts]

The plane will normally get up if more than half throttle is applied as you will see on some YouTube vids when they just put the transmitter on the ground and let the plane start all by itself. It will also land by itself if when the throttle is low.
If the plane gets to sharp up you will need to trim the elevator slightly down.

 

[Joker 53150]

If you are flying the Apprentice with the SAFE technology, it should climb with power, but not like you are describing. Are you letting the system calibrate properly so it knows what "level flight" should be before taking off? I've read that is a common problem, people holding the plane upside down, at an angle, etc while it calibrates. When the plane takes off it immediately crashes.

After helping my dad set his Apprentice up, the only time I recall any need to adjust the trims was if the control surfaces were "off" when the plane was sitting on the ground. Example: he crashed his and had to replace the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. When the new ones went on with new pushrod ends he had to adjust the ends to make sure the elevator and rudder were centered. Otherwise, the plane should work to avoid unnecessary climbing under throttle.

 

[brian79cj]

My Apprentise will climb with anything over about 50% throttle. It doesn't seem excessive. I trimmed down elevator in to fly faster but when you slow down it will start to sink. I think you can set it where you are comfortable in flying.

 

[dbbyleo]

I have the stock radio setup with the RTF, so yes, SAFE and AS3X is onboard, but what I describe above is in advance flight mode.

Yes, I'm familiar with the natural climb that it will do with >50% throttle.

 

[PHerder]

The SAFE programming requires the plane to be still (i.e. not moved at all) until it is initialized. It does not care what orientation the plane is in. The RX HAS to be installed with the switches and pins vertical and the switch end of the RX towards the front of the plane (there is an example of having the RX upside down and backwards and will work that way but other requirements need to be met before flying. There is a video on RCGroups (and a complete LONG thread on putting the Apprentice SAFE RX in other planes and the necessary configurations needed to make it work... I even flew a SAFE RX equipped mid-engine "jet" with elevons!) that shows a plane with the SAFE RX in it initializing upside down and all systems work as needed after the initialization. The BIG problem is moving the plane around while it is initializing such as turning the receiver switch on and picking up the plane to take it out to the runway and then having it crash due to the SAFE programming being confused. The programming knows what is supposed to be "up", it just needs the gyros initialized with no movements.

 

[brian79cj]

I have the stock radio setup with the RTF, so yes, SAFE and AS3X is onboard, but what I describe above is in advance flight mode.

Yes, I'm familiar with the natural climb that it will do with >50% throttle.

I'm sorry my post sounded like you didn't know that. I meant to say that mine does it in advanced mode also.