You turn an airplane differently than a car or a boat: when you
tilt the airplane's wing in the direction that you want it to
turn, the airplane will continue to turn as long as the wing is
tilted in that direction. But you will NOT be holding the
control stick in the direction of the turn (as you would on the
steering wheel of a car) -- you will have the control stick near
NEUTRAL during the turn. To STOP the airplane from turning you
move the control stick in the opposite direction from the turn
so that the wings level out. "Beginner's" airplanes have a
built-in tendency to automatically come back to level flight if
you let go of the control stick.
2. Pick out an airplane that can fly all by itself without you
controlling it. Don't pick a low-wing, aerobatic airplane. The
best choices are slowflyers, parkflyers, or gliders that use
electric motors for power. Gliders can glide straight ahead all
by themselves (if they do not have a warped wing -- see below)
without you doing any controlling from the radio transmitter. If
you want to fly without an instructor these glider type
airplanes will fly themselves while you are trying to figure out
how to make them go some other direction. You need this
stability while you learn how to fly. The second best choice is
a non-glider (powered airplane) that has the wing on the top of
the fuselage and which is advertised to be a good training
airplane.
3. Make SURE that these following things are correct BEFORE each
flight:
A. The balance point MUST be where the airplane's designer
intended. Don't be afraid to add lead weights to either the nose
or the tail to MAKE the airplane balance where it is supposed
to. If you think that the required weight to achieve the correct
balance point (sometimes called "CG" -- Center of Gravity) is
too much, you're wrong -- USE WHATEVER WEIGHTS ARE NECESSARY TO
MAKE THE AIRPLANE BALANCE WHERE IT'S SUPPOSED TO!
B. The wing must not be warped, and it helps your flying if the
wing should have something called "washout". Fasten the wing
onto the airplane. Set the airplane on a table and walk off to
the rear of it. Look back at the airplane from an eye position
where you can see just a bit of the BOTTOM of the entire wing.
If you see MORE bottom wing surface on, let's say, the left
wing, then your airplane will tend to turn left even when you
have the aileron or rudder control in neutral. Remove that warp
before you try to fly the airplane.
"Washout": this is an intentional and desirable warp of the wing
near each wing tip. Usually this warp is done to the outer 20%
of the wing toward each wing tip. From the rear of the airplane
you should see a little more of the BOTTOM of the wing near both
wing tips. Why is this "washout" good? It helps the outer parts
of the wing continue flying straight ahead during the beginning
of a stall. This means that your airplane will stall straight
ahead instead of rolling over on its back or side when it stalls
and that rolling over might be impossible to recover from.
4. Choose a BIG flying field for your first flights. Don't try
to fly in your street even if the airplane is capable of flying
in such a restricted area. You will need lots of open and
unobstructed space for your first flights.
5. If you hand launch your airplane throw it hard and throw it
straight ahead, not up.
6. If you take off from a ground roll let the airplane build up
so much speed on the ground before you signal "UP" elevator,
that you KNOW that the airplane has enough speed to fly. When it
leaves the ground try to climb at a very small angle, not
abruptly upwards which could cause loss of airspeed and a stall.
7. Give very little UP elevator as your airplane starts to take
off. Most beginning modelers try to climb too steeply which
makes their airplane slow down, stall, then crash.
8. Don't try any turns until the airplane is very high. Mostly
climb straight ahead with only gentle turns.
9. Practice gentle turns high in the air before you try to land.
Practice "landings" while high in the air so you get a good idea
of the airplane's stalling (fall-out-of-the-sky) speed. If the
airplane stalls just give a bit of DOWN elevator and the
airplane will be flying again.
10. When the airplane flies TOWARD you, turn your body a bit so
you can imagine "right" and "left" from the airplane's point of
view. This will prevent you getting confused about which way to
turn your airplane.
11. Don't try to land in a specific spot, avoid turns when the
airplane is low. Just let your airplane glide into the ground
straight ahead. The bigger the field for your first flight, the
greater will be your chances for success.
