First time flying inverted! On a cub!

[Foamforce]

Today was about 25f in Madison, WI with reasonable wind. The field was covered in icy snow which was really nice, like a paved surface. I cut ailerons into my Simple Cub last night. I have a gyro in this plane and I was wondering how much better it would work with ailerons. The answer is “quite a lot”.

So while I was there I decided to try inverted flight. The first few attempts involved rapid unplanned descents, but no ground contact (I was 5+ mistakes high!).

Eventually I figured out that I needed FULL down elevator to keep my nose up, along with nearly full throttle. After I figured out that out, I was able to flip over and fly inverted for quite awhile! It was so much fun, I was laughing out loud in the middle of a desolate field in Wisconsin. Full on crazy man style. 😂

While flying inverted with the cub, it was twitchy! It really wanted to right itself. I expected that since I essentially had an anhedral wing that was top heavy. It was surprising to me how quickly my brain adjusted to reverse elevator but normal aileron. I don’t think I ever tried rudder.

So anyways, that was stupid fun. My Tutor build is almost complete and I expect that to be a lot of inverted fun. Then maybe I’ll try out a 3D or 3D XL.

There’s no end to fun things to try in this hobby. 🙂

 

[Merv]

...I have a gyro in this plane...

Flying a flat bottom high wing trainer inverted is a great next step. Most people move away from the trainer too soon. Once you master inverted flight you will have the skills to fly almost any plane you want.

My only concern, how much gyro are you using. They are great for learning but I’ve seen some who become dependent on them and never learn to fly without one.

 

[Foamforce]

Flying a flat bottom high wing trainer inverted is a great next step. Most people move away from the trainer too soon. Once you master inverted flight you will have the skills to fly almost any plane you want.

My only concern, how much gyro are you using. They are great for learning but I’ve seen some who become dependent on them and never learn to fly without one.

I turned it off for most of my inverted flight. I learned to fly this far without one and I installed one for my sons, but it’s also fun to play with it and tune it. I’m pretty happy with how it works now, particularly the auto-level. The only thing that doesn’t seem optimal yet is that it doesn’t snap out of a dive in training mode fast enough for my liking, unless I’m applying a lot of throttle. I think the Cub has low elevator authority unless it has prop wash. Today I set my elevator end points up to 120 percent and that helped, but I think my next step is to cut the swing opening for the elevator a little wider and move my linkage out a couple holes.

I’m really looking forward to trying out the Tutor’s sport wing. I anticipate that it will fly inverted a lot more easily.

 

[Merv]

... move my linkage out a couple holes...

To increase throws, move the linkage outward on the servo and/or inward on the control surface. I recommend you do this slowly, one hole at a time. In addition, try moving the CG aft, slowly, a little at a time until you reach the maximum around 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch. Increase the throws one hole then go fly. Next flight, move the CG a bit. Go back and forth, throws, then CG, one flight at a time a little at a time. At some point your plane will get squirrelly when it does just back off a bit. Make it fly the way you want it to.

 

[Bricks]

Job well done.

Have friend that has a 1/3 scale Cub he does all kinds of stupid things with it knife edges down the runway, hovers it, low passes inverted. You should here the bitching about your not suppose to fly a cub that way.