The Second Part of my Journey - The Diary

mayan

Legendary member
Yesterday I went out to the field again and took my fixed Simple Scout and TT, considering my Mini Edge is RIP. I want to master ground take offs and landings so I started practicing. My take offs have gotten better, they calmed down a bit and are no longer vertical shots into the air like my first ones were. Yesterday’s take offs were more of a leveled climb which I was happy with, but some how I can’t get lined up on the runway for the landing :(. I either came in too high or too fast or both, bottom line is I didn’t manage to get not even one landing that I was happy with. One time I almost hit myself, I had to duck to avoid crashing directly into my head.

Check out my last video practicing take offs and landings with the Simple Scout. It’s long and includes some talking so please bare with me. My talking in the video is mostly explaining what I was trying to achieve and what I thought to have been doing wrong. I kinda wish @FDS would have posted the video earlier :).


After I crashed the Simple Scout beyond any logical repair, I pulled out my TT.

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The TT is a plane that by now I feel great flying. It’s a plane that I feel so comfortable with that I can do this.


Hope you enjoy my videos :), any tips about my landings is more than welcome.

@Arcfyre whats your thoughts.
 

kilroy07

Legendary member
Hope you enjoy my videos :), any tips about my landings is more than welcome.

Try power off landing.
Set the plane up high and down wind.
(So that it’s flying towards you into the wind.) then chop the throttle and just let it glide. Let it glide all the way to the ground.

As it gets close it should enter ground effect (about it’s wingspan above the ground) it’ll look like it suddenly has lift and will stop sinking. Don’t pull up, but let it settle and it’ll naturally plop in. Don’t worry about where it lands. Just start learning how the sink rate and the flair. After you have a couple good landings work on power management so it lands where you want it.

Don’t try it with the Dr.1. That one needs some power all the way down.

Also try longe more stabilized approach (start a bit higher and let it settle into that glide. )
 

mayan

Legendary member
Try power off landing.
Set the plane up high and down wind.
(So that it’s flying towards you into the wind.) then chop the throttle and just let it glide. Let it glide all the way to the ground.

As it gets close it should enter ground effect (about it’s wingspan above the ground) it’ll look like it suddenly has lift and will stop sinking. Don’t pull up, but let it settle and it’ll naturally plop in. Don’t worry about where it lands. Just start learning how the sink rate and the flair. After you have a couple good landings work on power management so it lands where you want it.

Don’t try it with the Dr.1. That one needs some power all the way down.

Also try longe more stabilized approach (start a bit higher and let it settle into that glide. )
Thanks for the tips will try them the next time I go to the field, have to rebuild a new Simple Scout first though.
 

FDS

Elite member
Ouch. I still crash on landing sometimes.
I now start my approach at 60 ft, then power off, use throttle only to gain height, fly in long at relatively low altitude then set up my final approach, usually that needs the odd throttle blip, then as I get 6” off the deck with the power off I flare.
 

Arcfyre

Elite member
@mayan, first of all, your takeoffs are looking great! Very nice work. If you are interested, there is a very simple and lightweight steerable tailwheel mod that you can make with a scrap pushrod piece and a small tire. It greatly improves ground handling if you want to practice taxiing.

As for landings, let me share some tidbits I picked up from my CFI when I was earning my private pilot's license.

First and foremost, a good landing starts with a good approach. You should always be taking off and landing in the same direction, into the wind, as this increases the lift of the aircraft and lowers the ground speed. To that end, you want to practice pattern flight, which is a deliberate set of maneuvers to help you get back to the runway after taking off:

After take off, climb straight ahead until you have enough altitude to make a safe turn. You should be holding a course that is an extension of the runway centerline. At this point you are flying your upwind leg, as you are heading directly into the wind.

Next, make a 90° turn either to the left or the right, whichever you are more comfortable with once it's safe to do so. This is your crosswind leg, as you are now beam on into the wind. Depending on whether you turned left or right, the plane will drift either closer to you or further away due to the wind. This becomes somewhat important later on.

After maybe 5-7 seconds, make another 90° turn in the same direction as the first one. The aircraft will now be flying downwind, and parallel to the runway you took off from. At this point you should no longer be climbing, and it's time to reduce throttle to cruise power, or even lower if you climbed a little high. Establish a comfortable cruising speed and continue your downwind leg parallel to the runway, past where you took off, and past where you are standing.

Your next turn is called "base" in pilot vernacular, and is another 90° turn, this time towards the runway. It's the opposite of your first turn in the sense that if the wind was hitting the left side of the plane before, it's hitting the right side now. As such, the plane will drift either closer to you or further away, which will increase or decrease the length of your next leg. The base leg sets you up for the last, or final leg. You should be reducing power now to begin your descent to the runway. If you have flaps, now is the time to deploy them.

Your final turn is called, fittingly, "final". It is, as you guessed it, another 90° turn. This takes some practice, but with some work and a good understanding of the approach process, your final turn should set you up to be facing into the wind, and directly in line with the runway. Don't be afraid to fly a long final approach. A long, stabilized final will allow you to make adjustments to land where you want to. Add and/or reduce power as needed to set up a steady glide towards your touchdown zone. Use your elevator and throttle together to slow your aircraft, and shortly before you touch down, chop the throttle and add up elevator to flare for a nice landing.

Skip to about 3:45 in the following video to watch me fly downwind, then base, and then final. Note how long the final leg is as I set up for the touchdown zone! You'll see that the final takes me over a small pond, the corner of a building, and a patch of trees before I'm able to set her down. The advantage of a long final like this is you can really get a feel for the aircraft and learn how to land it exactly where you want to.

 

Jimun

Elite member
Yesterday I went out to the field again and took my fixed Simple Scout and TT, considering my Mini Edge is RIP. I want to master ground take offs and landings so I started practicing. My take offs have gotten better, they calmed down a bit and are no longer vertical shots into the air like my first ones were. Yesterday’s take offs were more of a leveled climb which I was happy with, but some how I can’t get lined up on the runway for the landing :(. I either came in too high or too fast or both, bottom line is I didn’t manage to get not even one landing that I was happy with. One time I almost hit myself, I had to duck to avoid crashing directly into my head.

Check out my last video practicing take offs and landings with the Simple Scout. It’s long and includes some talking so please bare with me. My talking in the video is mostly explaining what I was trying to achieve and what I thought to have been doing wrong. I kinda wish @FDS would have posted the video earlier :).


After I crashed the Simple Scout beyond any logical repair, I pulled out my TT.

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The TT is a plane that by now I feel great flying. It’s a plane that I feel so comfortable with that I can do this.


Hope you enjoy my videos :), any tips about my landings is more than welcome.

@Arcfyre whats your thoughts.

Looking better then me at trying to land with landing gear, I haven't tried it yet. I like that you are confident it the TT and are having a good time with it. It is fun watching you.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Mayan! Ouch! That poor Simple Scout. It seemed like you already had it in your head that you couldn't land it, and so you couldn't. The difference in your confidence level plays such a huge role in how well you fly. The Simple Scout to the Tiny Trainer was like two different pilots.

Why not build another, sacrificial TT with landing gear, and learn to land and take off with that? Once you get the hang of it, that knowledge and experience would readily transfer to other planes, with only the difference in a particular plane's handling to contend with.

That being said, your commentary in the videos was greatly appreciated. Each flight had a background and meaning that would not have been apparent with video alone.

Not only are your flying skills getting better, your vlogging skills are getting better as well! :)

*EDIT* Quick edit. I forgot to mention that seeing you catch the TT in first person was EPIC! (y)(y)(y) *EDIT*
 
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mayan

Legendary member
@mayan, first of all, your takeoffs are looking great! Very nice work. If you are interested, there is a very simple and lightweight steerable tailwheel mod that you can make with a scrap pushrod piece and a small tire. It greatly improves ground handling if you want to practice taxiing.
I will defenatly try this on my next build, espically since I have one small tire left after losing one tire with the Mini Scout in mid air, and couldnt find it :).

@mayan, first of all, your takeoffs are looking great! Very nice work. If you are interested, there is a very simple and lightweight steerable tailwheel mod that you can make with a scrap pushrod piece and a small tire. It greatly improves ground handling if you want to practice taxiing.

As for landings, let me share some tidbits I picked up from my CFI when I was earning my private pilot's license.

First and foremost, a good landing starts with a good approach. You should always be taking off and landing in the same direction, into the wind, as this increases the lift of the aircraft and lowers the ground speed. To that end, you want to practice pattern flight, which is a deliberate set of maneuvers to help you get back to the runway after taking off:

After take off, climb straight ahead until you have enough altitude to make a safe turn. You should be holding a course that is an extension of the runway centerline. At this point you are flying your upwind leg, as you are heading directly into the wind.

Next, make a 90° turn either to the left or the right, whichever you are more comfortable with once it's safe to do so. This is your crosswind leg, as you are now beam on into the wind. Depending on whether you turned left or right, the plane will drift either closer to you or further away due to the wind. This becomes somewhat important later on.

After maybe 5-7 seconds, make another 90° turn in the same direction as the first one. The aircraft will now be flying downwind, and parallel to the runway you took off from. At this point you should no longer be climbing, and it's time to reduce throttle to cruise power, or even lower if you climbed a little high. Establish a comfortable cruising speed and continue your downwind leg parallel to the runway, past where you took off, and past where you are standing.

Your next turn is called "base" in pilot vernacular, and is another 90° turn, this time towards the runway. It's the opposite of your first turn in the sense that if the wind was hitting the left side of the plane before, it's hitting the right side now. As such, the plane will drift either closer to you or further away, which will increase or decrease the length of your next leg. The base leg sets you up for the last, or final leg. You should be reducing power now to begin your descent to the runway. If you have flaps, now is the time to deploy them.

Your final turn is called, fittingly, "final". It is, as you guessed it, another 90° turn. This takes some practice, but with some work and a good understanding of the approach process, your final turn should set you up to be facing into the wind, and directly in line with the runway. Don't be afraid to fly a long final approach. A long, stabilized final will allow you to make adjustments to land where you want to. Add and/or reduce power as needed to set up a steady glide towards your touchdown zone. Use your elevator and throttle together to slow your aircraft, and shortly before you touch down, chop the throttle and add up elevator to flare for a nice landing.

Skip to about 3:45 in the following video to watch me fly downwind, then base, and then final. Note how long the final leg is as I set up for the touchdown zone! You'll see that the final takes me over a small pond, the corner of a building, and a patch of trees before I'm able to set her down. The advantage of a long final like this is you can really get a feel for the aircraft and learn how to land it exactly where you want to.

Thanks for the detailed explaination and the video :), great flying like always.

Looking better then me at trying to land with landing gear, I haven't tried it yet. I like that you are confident it the TT and are having a good time with it. It is fun watching you.
Thank you happy you enjoyed it like I enjoyed flying it :).

Mayan! Ouch! That poor Simple Scout. It seemed like you already had it in your head that you couldn't land it, and so you couldn't. The difference in your confidence level plays such a huge role in how well you fly. The Simple Scout to the Tiny Trainer was like two different pilots.

Why not build another, sacrificial TT with landing gear, and learn to land and take off with that? Once you get the hang of it, that knowledge and experience would readily transfer to other planes, with only the difference in a particular plane's handling to contend with.

That being said, your commentary in the videos was greatly appreciated. Each flight had a background and meaning that would not have been apparent with video alone.

Not only are your flying skills getting better, your vlogging skills are getting better as well! :)

*EDIT* Quick edit. I forgot to mention that seeing you catch the TT in first person was EPIC! (y)(y)(y) *EDIT*
I thought about adding landing gear to the TT but today I will need to buy a new set of wheels for it because the only ones I have left is the big ones. So now I am really debating if to build a new Simple Scout or go with the Simple Storch.

What's your thoughts?
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
I will defenatly try this on my next build, espically since I have one small tire left after losing one tire with the Mini Scout in mid air, and couldnt find it :).


Thanks for the detailed explaination and the video :), great flying like always.


Thank you happy you enjoyed it like I enjoyed flying it :).


I thought about adding landing gear to the TT but today I will need to buy a new set of wheels for it because the only ones I have left is the big ones. So now I am really debating if to build a new Simple Scout or go with the Simple Storch.

What's your thoughts?
I haven't built one, but a lot of people like the Storch's easy handling and slow flying ability. Also from what I've read, most everyone uses low rates to land. Since you don't currently have that option, slow and forgiving seem the next best alternative.

@sundown57 has a thread concerning slow flying planes. He's found some really good designs for airframes that would allow for a slower, more controlled approach that would give you time to line up the way you want to. I'm hoping the wind will soon be slowing down for the summer here. Then I intend to build a slow flyer (probably the modified Old Speedster) and practice my landings.
 

kilroy07

Legendary member
most everyone uses low rates to land.
Low rates are actually typically used at high speed (reducing the throw so you don’t rip the wings off at 90+ mph. ) 😜

You want high rates or a lot of throw on landings. With less speed you need a bit more movement to keep authority.

@mayan I think you’ll really like the storch.
It’s my pick for transitioning from 3 to 4 channel. I put flaps on mine as well and it REALLY floats in (you can check out my video).
 

mayan

Legendary member
Wow thanks for all the tips I need to decide what to do. I have the long term plans for the Simple
Scout which is a huge time saver especially because I’d like to go out to the field quite a lot next week on mornings that I am not working and the kids are at school. So building that could take me a night shift (8 hours). Anything else would mean making plans etc. The one reason why I thought the Storch can be a good choice is that the wings are removable allowing easier transportation.

@buzzbomb thanks for sharing that thread.
@kilroy07 where is you video at?
@Hai-Lee thanks for throwing in another option :).
 

mayan

Legendary member
If you were to get a decent radio, you could program in some flaperons to reduce landing speed even more. May help.
Ohhhh don’t worry I am on it, just need to wait a few more days or 2 more weeks you never know what to expect from the post office here :(.