Teaching My Children To Fly - The Diary

Wildthing

Legendary member
buzzbomb I think is correct, if you get to technical you will lose them . Get the planes balanced and gliding nice. So you can adjust it with ease you could use the V bend rod with two control horns so when you are glide testing it and you need to adjust pitch or roll show them what you are doing and which way the surface is moving that way they can learn to adjust it.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I was going to suggest a set of tail feathers with the movements done buy actual sticks with a simple mechanical linkage.

That way they also learn and start developing the early muscle movements.

Put the sticks on a base behind the tail mock up so they also start basic orientation.

Simple popsycle sticks should work fine. Wouldnt have to be elaborate.
 

mayan

Legendary member
I was going to suggest a set of tail feathers with the movements done buy actual sticks with a simple mechanical linkage.

That way they also learn and start developing the early muscle movements.

Put the sticks on a base behind the tail mock up so they also start basic orientation.

Simple popsycle sticks should work fine. Wouldnt have to be elaborate.
Not sure I completely understood care explaining a bit more? :)
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
Something to think about, if you build them so you can add servos to them and hook up your control surfaces , throw a 1s or 2s battery in it and a rx so you then can teach the kids to steer the plane . Definitely the bungy launcher will be needed
 

SlingShot

Maneuvering With Purpose
You really can't go wrong with the TT. I also think that you will find the Simple Soarer a useful tool. You can get it up high, cut power and let it glide. All the while being able to see it well.

Unless you are using a collapsible propeller, I would recommend turning the brake on in your ESC. That way you won't get all the drag from a windmilling propeller. It will make landings better as well.
 

mayan

Legendary member
Something to think about, if you build them so you can add servos to them and hook up your control surfaces , throw a 1s or 2s battery in it and a rx so you then can teach the kids to steer the plane . Definitely the bungy launcher will be needed
I only have 3S 800mah batteries atm for this, that is until I fix my 2S 1000mah battery balance connector.

I also think that you will find the Simple Soarer a useful tool.
I had that model didn't work well for me personally with a motor, kept entering a never ending loop, I had to use full down elevator to get it up high not fun.

This was a better try.

I then converted it into a 2ch chuck glider and had my son try it until I broke it :(.

I liked gliding that model hands down but since it gave me some problems I moved on to keep the good vibes going. I should actually rebuild it, and do it the @Arcfyre way: https://www.flitetest.com/articles/this-community-member-just-built-an-xxl-soarer
 

L Edge

Master member
I taught my 6 year old how to fly by doing this exercise which leads to a lot of understanding of flight.

First establish pitch and direction for either up or down- like pull back or down on transmitter stick
Then do the same for aileron roll giving direction like left or right.
Quiz:
Child stands, ask I want to go------up and child reponds verbally and shows with right hand motion of pull stick back(slow of course)
Then try left roll,right roll and down. Do over an over.

Learning to fly is reactive where flying is proactive. You need to teach how to correct his/her mistake.
Game now, what do I do?
Have the child walk and you behind them will introduce a problem and the child will react by telling you and moving his hand to correct for his mistake.
Example:
The child is walking(and you) and you push their left shoulder down(your going left and I want you to go straight talking), so the child responds by moving his left shoulder up and the hand goes to the right. You say stop when he is level and you take the unequal pressure off the shoulder.

So the left or right shoulder are the ailerons and pushing forward or pulling backward on both shoulders is the elevator!!!!

Game 1 -- trying to keep the plane level only. After mastery--
Game 2 -- now explain right and left turn where the aileron needs some up elevator.
Game 3-- now you explain what a cross wind does and how you correct in each of the 4 conners.
Game 4-- fly in a circle and maitain the same height.

Kids at that age should go for it using a buddy box and time in the air. If they adapt, then you will move thru each game.
If it doesn't come together, try 6 months or a year later.

At our club, a totally deaf person wanted to learn how to fly. So I came up with this approach and he soloed in a short time.

Ailerons pressure were the shoulders, elevator was pushing forward or pull aft on shoulder, rudder was turning of the head and throttle was thumb on the back of the head either up or down.
 

SlingShot

Maneuvering With Purpose
I had that model didn't work well for me personally with a motor, kept entering a never ending loop, I had to use full down elevator to get it up high.

Yeah. You need to adjust the power pod with down thrust. They tell you to do it, but they don't tell you how much, nor do the plans have the down thrust drawn out.
 

mayan

Legendary member
I taught my 6 year old how to fly by doing this exercise which leads to a lot of understanding of flight.

First establish pitch and direction for either up or down- like pull back or down on transmitter stick
Then do the same for aileron roll giving direction like left or right.
Quiz:
Child stands, ask I want to go------up and child reponds verbally and shows with right hand motion of pull stick back(slow of course)
Then try left roll,right roll and down. Do over an over.

Learning to fly is reactive where flying is proactive. You need to teach how to correct his/her mistake.
Game now, what do I do?
Have the child walk and you behind them will introduce a problem and the child will react by telling you and moving his hand to correct for his mistake.
Example:
The child is walking(and you) and you push their left shoulder down(your going left and I want you to go straight talking), so the child responds by moving his left shoulder up and the hand goes to the right. You say stop when he is level and you take the unequal pressure off the shoulder.

So the left or right shoulder are the ailerons and pushing forward or pulling backward on both shoulders is the elevator!!!!

Game 1 -- trying to keep the plane level only. After mastery--
Game 2 -- now explain right and left turn where the aileron needs some up elevator.
Game 3-- now you explain what a cross wind does and how you correct in each of the 4 conners.
Game 4-- fly in a circle and maitain the same height.

Kids at that age should go for it using a buddy box and time in the air. If they adapt, then you will move thru each game.
If it doesn't come together, try 6 months or a year later.

At our club, a totally deaf person wanted to learn how to fly. So I came up with this approach and he soloed in a short time.

Ailerons pressure were the shoulders, elevator was pushing forward or pull aft on shoulder, rudder was turning of the head and throttle was thumb on the back of the head either up or down.
Good idea! Will trying using some of the things you mentioned.

Yeah. You need to adjust the power pod with down thrust. They tell you to do it, but they don't tell you how much, nor do the plans have the down thrust drawn out.
True! I had no idea at that time about the effect of down/right thrust angles.
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
I only have 3S 800mah batteries atm for this, that is until I fix my 2S 1000mah battery balance connector.


I had that model didn't work well for me personally with a motor, kept entering a never ending loop, I had to use full down elevator to get it up high not fun.

This was a better try.

I then converted it into a 2ch chuck glider and had my son try it until I broke it :(.

I liked gliding that model hands down but since it gave me some problems I moved on to keep the good vibes going. I should actually rebuild it, and do it the @Arcfyre way: https://www.flitetest.com/articles/this-community-member-just-built-an-xxl-soarer

I would say you were very tail heavy if you had to use full down elevator . Seeing where you had the battery right up front would be a larger one or add a little ballast to the nose.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Make a set of elevator and rudders. Mount them on a stand.

Instead of running control rods forward to servos run them out the back side.

Make another stand with a popsycle stick. Connect the elevator control rod directly to the stick.

Then take the rudder control rod and connect it to a 90 degree pivot. A piece of balsa shaped like a boomarang. Then connect that to your stick in the orientation that makes the rudder turn in relation to stick movements.

The kids will see the mechanical operation as well as learn how the sticks function and you also have a model to show how control syrfaces work.
 

mayan

Legendary member
Make a set of elevator and rudders. Mount them on a stand.

Instead of running control rods forward to servos run them out the back side.

Make another stand with a popsycle stick. Connect the elevator control rod directly to the stick.

Then take the rudder control rod and connect it to a 90 degree pivot. A piece of balsa shaped like a boomarang. Then connect that to your stick in the orientation that makes the rudder turn in relation to stick movements.

The kids will see the mechanical operation as well as learn how the sticks function and you also have a model to show how control syrfaces work.
Great idea! Thanks!
 

mayan

Legendary member
This morning the kids were on vacation, we woke up late (at least I did) and went shopping for a few things, on the way back we also visited the play ground. We arrived home in time for lunch, quickly hooked up something, and sat down to eat. After lunch we decided we'd finish building the plane, and so we did.

Getting prepared.
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Joining the wing halves.
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Gluing the wing spars
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Folding up the wing (taking a break)
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What's missing?
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Hmmm? The nose building...

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AND WALLA WE FINISHED :)
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Technically we are still missing the servos, I haven't decided yet what I'll use. They were short today and didn't stay focused for long so I cut it short. Any how I want to finish that with them tomorrow, and decide how to have them practice some thumb muscle memory.
 

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mayan

Legendary member
Quick update. Tomorrow I want to go look at the price of pvc pipes I am thinking of building something like this.

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Where a fan would be blowing wind like a prop on a motor and then the kids could use the Tx to control the plane. Don’t know if it will work. Also want to build a bungee launcher.
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
Totally awesome, well done kids :) .

Ok, I don't think the drawing will work, the plane will just blow all over the place . My suggestion would be like a ball joint pivot which would be attached to the center on the bottom of the fuse on the cg point. Plane will have to be balanced laterally also, now when you turn the fan on they will be able to adjust pitch and roll.

Do build the bungee launcher.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
mayan, you may be overthinking this. Lord knows, I'm guilty. How about you just sit in the grass with your kids, have your son bungee launch the plane and show them what you're doing to control it. Then let them try it.

It's the same lesson you had to learn. Crashing is OK. It's even fun! Rebuild it, and do it again. I bet they get the hang of it pretty quickly.
 

mayan

Legendary member
@Wildthing I am starting to think it won’t work either plus my wife would get mad for having just another thing stuck in our small house :).

I think I’ll just build the bungee launcher like @Hai-Lee has and take @buzzbomb ’s advice about letting them crash. I might be trying to over protect them from a crash and that might just be a mistake.