Plane destruction

[Heavy313]

I have a problem. Whenever the plane is coming at me I keep rolling the wrong way. I've crashed this plane twice do to my inability to intuitively reverse my control actions when the plane is flying towards me.
This was a re-maiden as I had re-did the control surfaces, I was trying to trim out the plane and had an issue.... well just watch

 

[rockyboy]

I had this problem for a while too - the thing that helped me remember is when its coming at you, point (with the stick) to the low wing.

And time on a simulator always helps too- there are great free ones out there if you don't want to shell out the big money.

 

[razor02097]

Orientation is the biggest hurtle when it comes to piloting remote controlled aircraft. Never think in the way of regular control vs. reverse control... That is an active thinking technique takes way too much of your concentration away from flying your plane. You need to learn a passive technique. The stick to low wing technique is a really good one. I would teach that to anyone.

The way I've learned though is perspective. If you always imagine yourself in the pilot seat your controls will always be the same. If the plane is coming toward you just imagine yourself behind it you could even turn your body slightly to point to the path of the plane. This technique isn't for everyone...maybe for no one.

Either way if you practice over and over eventually you'll develop key muscle memory that helps every pilot overcome an adverse change in direction these darn airplanes seem to love to do.

 

[abieex]

I had a guy tell me to point my toes in the direction the plane was going and your always flying from the pilots seat! Try a cheap simulator and you'll get past this soon. I think it took me about 4 airplanes to become automatic. Good luck

 

[kacknor]

I experienced the same issues years ago with RC cars. I still had some with aircraft. X2 on what rockyboy said. move the aileron stick to the low wing, and sim time if you can...

JD

 

[CMS_1961]

Razor above said it already, but....
The "key" is to imagine yourself in the pilot seat as stated. In addition, when I was learning I would also turn myself in the direction the plane was flying for some additional assurance!! I would also stand behind the plane (with wheels) during takeoff to keep orientation and keep the plane straight. I also learned to fly on a Gentle Lady glider which flies slowly. If you are staring out with a fast plane there is a tendency to lose orientation very quickly and you will get discouraged. It's all hand/eye coordination and the new simulators also do a real good job of helping with this as well.

All that stuff about moving your stick to the low wing just confused me...not to belittle anyone's comments or style of teaching/learning. Picture yourself at the controls in the plane and turn yourself with the plane and this should help!!!

So you will not feel too discouraged--I recently got into quads and a now a 250 racing quad and I still have issues with orientation on them--not sure what the trick is with a quad?? They act different so imagining yourself at the controls of a quad has not worked like it did for a plane.

If all else fails you can find someone (I hope) that knows how to fly and use the "buddy box" method.

 

[abieex]

The key here is very stable forgiving plane (Storch maybe) and stay with it. We all go thru this same thing. Buddy box is great if you can and fly two mistakes high at all times.

 

[Tench745]

What prop and motor are you running on this plane? It might just be the video, but that prop sounds like it's either really out of balance or has way more pitch than you need.

 

[JimCR120]

The way I've learned though is perspective. If you always imagine yourself in the pilot seat your controls will always be the same. If the plane is coming toward you just imagine yourself behind it you could even turn your body slightly to point to the path of the plane. This technique isn't for everyone...maybe for no one.

Razor above said it already, but....
The "key" is to imagine yourself in the pilot seat as stated. In addition, when I was learning I would also turn myself in the direction the plane was flying for some additional assurance!! I would also stand behind the plane (with wheels) during takeoff to keep orientation and keep the plane straight. I also learned to fly on a Gentle Lady glider which flies slowly. If you are staring out with a fast plane there is a tendency to lose orientation very quickly and you will get discouraged. It's all hand/eye coordination and the new simulators also do a real good job of helping with this as well.

All that stuff about moving your stick to the low wing just confused me...not to belittle anyone's comments or style of teaching/learning. Picture yourself at the controls in the plane and turn yourself with the plane and this should help!!!

So you will not feel too discouraged--I recently got into quads and a now a 250 racing quad and I still have issues with orientation on them--not sure what the trick is with a quad?? They act different so imagining yourself at the controls of a quad has not worked like it did for a plane.

If all else fails you can find someone (I hope) that knows how to fly and use the "buddy box" method.

I agree. I don't think about. I just do as if I'm in the seat, the same for RC cars and boats. Keep the flights easy with simple patterns of flight, a couple of mistakes high.

I'm still game for a meet up sometime. You can fly my UMX Radian. It's very forgiving and resilient to crashes. I have a DX6 and a cord if you want to try the buddy box thing though I've never done that yet.
—Jim

 

[TooJung2Die]

I know this orientation problem well. After 9 months of flying I still get it wrong occasionally. On my first Tiny Trainer I colored the left and right sides of the airplane green and orange. It worked! My brain couldn't figure out left or right but for some reason it could figure out how to turn green or orange. The brain is a strange thing.



Jon

 

[Ross]

I know this orientation problem well. After 9 months of flying I still get it wrong occasionally. On my first Tiny Trainer I colored the left and right sides of the airplane green and orange. It worked! My brain couldn't figure out left or right but for some reason it could figure out how to turn green or orange. The brain is a strange thing.

View attachment 69000

Jon

I really like this idea, brain already knows green is go. I am building a trainer in the near future and will try Green and Red.

 

[mikeporterinmd]

I'm color blind-ish But, I've done a yellow and black paint scheme, so we'll see if that helps.

Mike

 

[TooJung2Die]

I really like this idea, brain already knows green is go. I am building a trainer in the near future and will try Green and Red.

On boats and aircraft green is starboard (right ) and red is port (left). Another idea imparted to me by BobK is to get a cheap RC car for practice. Same orientation issues with less chances of crashing. I like to practice on Desk Pilot using my transmitter as the joysticks.

Jon

 

[Heavy313]

Thank you for all the comments and advice! I've flown my tiny trainer several times, and if I roll the wrong way I usually have a chance to save it. This plane is just too fast for me I think! That prop sounded horrible to me also! It's a 10x5.5, I'll double check the balance

 

[rockyboy]

If it's a little too fast and crazy, try reducing the prop a bit - I'm running an 8x4 on my tiny trainer and love the mellow experience. It'll do a loop if I dive for speed, but generally speaking it's pretty calm.

 

[JimCR120]

Props sound different with prop savers.

 

[HilldaFlyer]

My Solution - ALWAYS fly away from yourself!

Just kidding... you'll lose too many planes.

I had a real difficult time learning how to fly a plane flying towards me. The simulator was a real help, but all things learned on the simulator seemed to go away when I was at the field. So while at the field I would stand near one end of the runway so that during the approach the plane would be flying towards me and final would be flying away from me. I also am a proponent of the "point feet the way the plane was flying". My approach was a little different, I kept the transmitter pointing in a similar direction to the direction of flight and used shoulders and neck to look at the plane. This kept my hands (mind) oriented with the direction of flight. After awhile, it just clicks - your brain will self adjust and the stance tools will become less needed.

Now - I'm working on flying inverted, however, I'm finding it really difficult to stand on my head and keep my hands on the transmitter.

Any help for that?

 

[rockyboy]

Now - I'm working on flying inverted, however, I'm finding it really difficult to stand on my head and keep my hands on the transmitter.

Any help for that?

http://hangupsidedownmachine.com/

 

[makattack]

Hah, I remember reading this a few days ago thinking "yah, hope this doesn't happen to me" but the other day after coming home early from work and finding a nice calm (no wind) day, I charged up a small 2S battery and grabbed my UMX Icon A5 to bring to a pond a short walk from home. I find a group of folks wrapping up a day of fishing, and a mom and her two kids (one mobile, one in a stroller).

They all end up interested in watching a guy fly a micro flying boat around this little pond surrounded by trees.

I was more than happy to oblige, but how my legs shook on takeoff!

It had been a while since I flew this plane, and I just love it, except it requires a bit of maintenance before and after every ROW flight. The comments from the spectators were classic: ranging from "I've never seen a drone like that" to "why's he putting that drone in the water mommy? When I did that, you said that's why it doesn't work anymore!" Ha...

So, it was a little hard with the tight space, the conversation and all to fly as I normally would. There were also little lily pads starting to grow and weeds/reeds in the pond I needed to avoid so I decided to land nose-in, directly towards me. Of course, not having flown this plane in over a year, and with that orientation, I couldn't judge the airspeed as it neared me. Of course, I misjudged and the plane pretty much plopped onto the water from a height of about 4-5 inches up instead of the normally graceful landings that this plane is capable of.

Of course, the folks fishing (who had already packed up and were just watching at this point) said "hey, you'll scare away the non-existing fish in the pond!"

So, while the plane did stall and plop into the water vs. a smooth landing, it stayed upright. More water splashed on the servos than usual, so when I got home they weren't working well. Some deoxit D5 & F5 (AV equipment fader cleaner/lube) solved that problem.

 

[Hai-Lee]

To train your brain to cope with the orientation issues try to practice a set of deliberate and planned maneuvers with at least half of them being towards you. Get into the routine of refreshing the "Memory" with your first flight of each day.

Finally when flying the remainder of your aircraft for the day try to fly to a plan or by planning your maneuvers and their direction prior to reaching the point of execution.

Fly predictive not reactive!! Save reactive maneuvering for when you need it to stop a crash or reduce damage and not for causing crashes because of indecision.

Mind you I still make the same mistakes but less frequently than I used to.