Flight Techniques Archives - Page 4 of 7

RC Aerobatic Flight Techniques FLY THE VERTICAL S

The vertical S combines a half-inside loop with a half-outside loop to perform an S-shaped figure. This maneuver is one of many that are also performed by full-scale aircraft, and it is used to climb or descend at a consistent speed. The airplane should be balanced in a manner that when rolled to inverted and […]

RC Aerobatic Tips Keeping Loops Round

Guard against making the common mistake of releasing too much elevator, aka “hunting,” during the float and thus creating a flat spot on top of the loop. This occurs for the same reason people over-control at every skill level: they want to see their inputs doing something. Instead, you should concentrate on smoothly reducing the […]

RC Model Aerobatics: Conquer the Three-turn Negative Spin

In the early days of aviation, spins were often fatal because most pilots did not understand how to properly recover from a spin. While in an upright spin, the pilot would pull back on the elevator stick in an effort to save the airplane (and their life!) and only make the situation worse. Since the […]

Prevent Ground Loops with a Gyro

Like many of you, I have a few different planes, and enjoy flying most of them. However, I do have one or two that are just plain nasty in their ground handling and take offs. You probably have seen these – some Piper Cubs, Beavers, and especially some of the narrow under carriage warbirds. Strangely, […]

Snappier aerobatics with upline & downline maneuvers

There are many good reasons to learn to fly advanced aerobatics, but the most compelling is the personal satisfaction that always comes from overcoming each maneuver’s particular challenges. If you’re like most aerobatic pilots, your initial learning curve was steep through basic looping and rolling maneuvers, but it went flat relatively quickly with stick time […]

RC Aerobatics: Negative Snap from an Inverted Climb

For this maneuver, the pilot enters from inverted flight and pushes to establish a 45-degree climb then he performs 1½ negative snaps. After the snap, another line segment (equal to the first line) is then executed. Once the maneuver is complete, the pilot must pull 135 degrees to exit in inverted straight and level flight. […]

Landings with a Twist — Master the Inverted Approach with a 1/2 Roll

For the extreme aerobatic enthusiast, there is nothing like performing hotshot maneuvers inches off the ground. One unexpected way to take the crowd by surprise is to add aerobatic moves to your landing. During a normal landing approach, the airplane is in upright level flight and flies downwind parallel to the runway, turns 90 degrees to […]

Fly a Positive Snap Roll

At the start of their flying careers, some pilots can only perform certain maneuvers from a particular direction. The proficient pilot, though, must be able to execute figures in all directions. Being able to apply corrective inputs in all directions, no matter what orientation the aircraft is in, is a critical skill. The positive snap […]

Master the 4-Point Hesitation Roll

Traditionally, the 4-point hesitation roll is a maneuver that is a struggle for many pilots. The reason for this is because most fliers attempt to perform the 4-point roll the way a highly proficient pilot would. Consequently, the pilot is so overwhelmed, he’s unable to identify what mistakes he’s making and how to correct them. […]

Get ready for fun-fly season!

For almost forever, RC model clubs have cooked up all sorts of ideas to keep their members interested in attending flying-field events. These outings bring the members and their families together and promote the growth of the hobby—and the club—while offering some weekend summertime fun! Thus, the fun-fly was born. (Above) Typical Sportsman and Intermediate […]

3D Aerobatics Made Easy

I’m far from being a 3D aerobatic expert — 3D hacker would probably be a more apt description of my skill level. I enjoy flying all sorts of airplanes and regardless of their design, I usually try some sort of aerobatics with the model. I do this to fully explore the model’s performance potential and […]

Stall Recovery 101

One of the hardest things to learn when you see a stall starting on a straight-ahead landing is that you should push on the elevator stick. This is difficult because all your instincts tell you to pull up! But to save the plane, you need a lower angle of attack, and you can get that […]