Model Airplane News

Intro to 3D Flying

high rates. If any control is too sensitive, switch to low rates, land, and increase the expo percentage (on high rate) for that control. The goal is to adjust the expo percentages to enable you to fly with the “feel” of normal rates when your control inputs are less than half, but then rapidly ramp up beyond that.

Don’t hesitate to reduce the expo on a control if it feels sluggish. Flying with too much expo causes a lag or sluggish control response that will allow deviations to grow larger before your corrections take effect. (Too much expo will cause you to feel disconnected to the plane.) The objective is to use the least amount of expo and still feel comfortable. Put another way, the proper use of expo is to make a 3D airplane comfortably controllable on high rates, not to make it docile! Remember, dedicated 3D airplanes with large control surfaces are designed to fly at slower speeds. The trad-eoff is that if a dedicated 3D airplane is flown too fast, almost no amount of expo will prevent the controls from becoming too sensitive on high rates. It’s important to keep track of your speed and avoid flying too fast when evaluating your plane’s control responses.

causing you to do a lot of backtracking as your repertoire increases.

Knife-edge Mix 2

Airplanes will also often pitch or “tuck” toward the belly during a left rudder knife-edge. Whether your plane tucks toward the belly or the canopy, land. While holding in left rudder and watching the control surfaces, mix the appropriate elevator correction with left rudder.

Foamies sometimes twist and distort so much while maneuvering that they don’t conform to the normal tendencies. Nevertheless, the process of observing the plane’s tendencies and implementing a mix is the same, only the direction and percentages may be different than the stock examples provided here.

Perform several steep knife-edges heading in the opposite direction using half right rudder. As you detect your plane’s

PULL RIGHT

at a positive angle of attack. If your plane exhibits a tendency to drop the left wing during tight inside loops, land. While holding in full up-elevator and watching the control surfaces, mix some right rudder with up-elevator using the 5-10% (15% max) mix rule.

Next, climb to a safe height and perform several tight outside loops on high rates to see whether your plane falls off to one side. Do not attempt any corrections yet. Whereas P-factor is a left turning tendency during inside loops (pulls), P-factor is a right turning tendency during outside loops (pushes). If your airplane consistently drops the right wing during outside loops, land. While holding in full down-elevator and watching the control surfaces, mix some left rudder with down elevator using the 5-10% (15% max) mix rule and fine-tune as needed.

If you’ve added a significant left rudder

PUSH LEFT Knife-edge Mix 1

;e inside-outside partial Cuban 8 is a great maneuver to fine tune your rudder mixes and flying skills on pulls and pushes. ;e slogan to remember is, “pull-right, push-left” (pulls require right rudder and pushes require left rudder).

tendencies, address each using the mixing procedures described above. Note that the effects of torque, propwash, and P-factor (asymmetric propeller thrust) can vary a lot depending on the circumstances. You will therefore very likely end up using different mix percentages for left and right rudder knife-edges. Once again, the numbers displayed on the transmitter aren’t as important as how the airplane actually handles in the air.

mix (10%+) and the plane still drops its right wing, you’ll have to take the initiative to start inputting left rudder on pushes. The inside-outside partial Cuban 8 is a great maneuver for checking your rudder mixes and flying skills on pulls and pushes. The slogan to remember is, “pull-right, push-left” (pulls require right rudder and pushes require left rudder). When you can consistently perform tight inside-outside Cubans without dropping a wing, you’re ready to attempt some basic 3D maneuvers.

Loop checks and mixing Perform several tight loops to see how straight your plane tracks and whether you need to implement another mix. Do not make any corrections yet. You will likely observe the plane veer to the left during inside (up-elevator) loops due to propwash and P-factor left turning tendencies

Conclusion

Although aerobatic flying done well looks easy, 3D flying is as challenging as it looks. Take confidence in knowing that you’ve taken steps to minimize the obstacles and learn at the fastest rate possible. Until next time, good luck. ;