Originally Posted by coreman

I think the phrase (it's my first glider) (and he said it was bought this week) answers that question.

As a power pilot, what is your first task once the trimming is done? WOT passes.

What does the peanut gallery chant? Lower! Lower!

Spot on Coreman it was just a total lack of glider experience on my part. Definitely my fault and not the gliders.

For the naysayers yes I DID examine slow speed characteristics & trim etc first and to be honest it was lovely. Very peaceful, very relaxing.

And why do a WOT pass with this plane? Because I have never flown one before and was trying to learn what it can and can't do.

Damage done: fuselage broken in 3 places, elevator & rudder servos rooted, minor damage to left wing.

Originally Posted by turboparker

Actually - as a power pilot, the first task after trimming should be to explore the plane's low-speed handling qualities, stall-behavior, and power-on/power-off glide characteristics up high. I've been doing it that way for 28 years so far. It tends to greatly extend a plane's service life.

Joel

and after 43 years, I do that also, BUT I can remember my FIRST years, before I matured to that point where it was all about the rush of a high speed pass (just to make sure the trims truly were neutral)

And I do consider throws and low speed performance part of the trimming process. And the trims do change within the flight envelope and speed range. Remember, these are the beginners that also show up at the field with a P-51 as their trainer and that was much more common 28 years ago, or 43 years ago than it is in this day of flight simulators

Originally Posted by coreman

Remember, these are the beginners that also show up at the field with a P-51 as their trainer and that was much more common 28 years ago, or 43 years ago than it is in this day of flight simulators

I have to admit I was one of those guys who bought a P51 as their first plane. There is something about that Mustang that really hooks people in. Even this summer I was out in the school yard flying the micro Corsair and a kid came up to me and asked all the usual questions.

He was serious and wanted to know where I bought it so I gave him the web address and he said he was going to order a Mustang. I tried to talk him out of it but no way. I was trying to suggest an Ember as an ideal beginner plane. He ended up with the Mustang and he crashed it and fixed it and never looked back.

A local RCer in my hometown taught me to fly. He's one of the guys who rolled his own radio gear back in the 50s & early 60s. He was a great instructor. Great scratch-builder, too. Still gets in some stick-time & he's now in his early 90s. He encouraged me to use a structured approach to advancing my skills. He also stressed proper flight-trimming & he was really big on the 'three mistakes high' thing. I can still hear him telling me to get the plane 3 mistakes high before trying anything fancy, as he put it. Thanks to him, my trainer was still airworthy when I sold it. I'm sure he saved me a few planes over the years.

Back to the RP. I'm pretty much done for the season, I think. We got 1.5 feet of snow last Sunday. The club field & road aren't plowed during the winter, and I don't have quite enough open yard to comfortably land this bird. I might have to go on a winter soaring spot hunt & see what I can find around here.

Joel

Originally Posted by turboparker

Back to the RP. I'm pretty much done for the season, I think. We got 1.5 feet of snow last Sunday. The club field & road aren't plowed during the winter, and I don't have quite enough open yard to comfortably land this bird. I might have to go on a winter soaring spot hunt & see what I can find around here.

Flying in winter is sweet. The more snow you have the softer the landings. You can go out to a lake and walk out on the ice. There you have all the room in the world without any obstacles. Flying in town is also fun, because the whole town is a thermal-generator.

Nice shots! Love the first one where you can see the fuselage track in the snow, Nice paint job, too. I need to do something similar. My eyeballs aren't quite what they used to be. Also - nice scenery! Not much of that around these parts! I'm familiar with the heat island. I've thermaled a few planes off parking-lot lift over the years. It can be very strong in the winter due to the large temperature differential. Was a lot of fun. But now I live in the country, 25 miles out of the metro. There is a big lake just a couple miles from here. I may be able to fly the RP from the same beach where I fly my UMX Carbon Cub on floats during the summer. At least I won't have to worry about the beach being crowded this time of year!

However, I'd think that it would be pretty tough to find useable lift over a frozen lake. I did a lot of lake-flying with my dad in a Super Cub, Cessna 180, and Cessna 185 when I was younger, and I remember than the air would always get glassy-smooth as soon as we were over the lake - even in the winter. On the other hand, I bet I could get some great on-board video in that smooth air. I think I'll take a drive over there this afternoon & check it out.

Joel

one last OT I promise

Originally Posted by turboparker

A local RCer in my hometown taught me to fly. He's one of the guys who rolled his own radio gear back in the 50s & early 60s. He was a great instructor. Great scratch-builder, too. Still gets in some stick-time & he's now in his early 90s. He encouraged me to use a structured approach to advancing my skills. He also stressed proper flight-trimming & he was really big on the 'three mistakes high' thing. I can still hear him telling me to get the plane 3 mistakes high before trying anything fancy, as he put it. Thanks to him, my trainer was still airworthy when I sold it. I'm sure he saved me a few planes over the years.

Joel

I got a Testor's Skyhawk .049 rudder only galloping ghost as my first RC. All the locals were flying Control Line and I was the trend setter. I think that plane lasted the summer before it was too many repairs to fly. I built a radio kit and a Senior Falcon and over the next 2 years I learned how to fly in through crash and burn. I have my paper flight log notebook and can see the 45 second flights, the 2 circuits of the field and the first complete flight and the first day I brought home a flyable plane. I do get jealous of the guys now that never crash their first plane through simulators and buddy boxes. It was an expensive experience for a high schooler. I did fly the Sr Falcon into the 80s with tons of repairs until a blown aileron servo did it in.

it seems I'm not alone
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_17...tm.htm#1711396

Those are great pics Jovanx! Your flying site looks awesome!

Actually I'm not against an Aluminum spinner, I just looked at the failure of those on this thread of the spinner and it seemed a pretty cheap improvement was to add fiberglass.

Originally Posted by coreman

They are, the pilots refuse to see the light and swap them out!!

Originally Posted by jrtubb

Actually I'm not against an Aluminum spinner, I just looked at the failure of those on this thread of the spinner and it seemed a pretty cheap improvement was to add fiberglass.

Well, it's pretty much a must do if you are going to use an alternate prop because the stock spinner is fitted to 6.5mm hubs and almost all the alternate blades come with 8mm hubs

The stock spinner fits Graupner 10/8 and 11/8 just fine, is way lighter and with 'soft start' setting is strong enough. But if you bash your nose a lot it is a good idea to change them. I fly a lot, but I have a couple of spare new spinners in stock all the time and change them when I suspect a problem. With CG at 3.5" I do not like adding lead to the tail.

Originally Posted by ddruck

The stock spinner fits Graupner 10/8 and 11/8 just fine, is way lighter and with 'soft start' setting is strong enough. But if you bash your nose a lot it is a good idea to change them. I fly a lot, but I have a couple of spare new spinners in stock all the time and change them when I suspect a problem. With CG at 3.5" I do not like adding lead to the tail.

+1 I absolutely agree with everything you are saying here. If you want, you can take the soft start to the next level by putting the ESC into heli mode. That will give you a gradual 5-second wind-up.

Will the graupner prop fold in ok? It looks a little shorter in the hinge area in the photos I've seen. Is it a direct replacement without any mods? Thinking of ordering the 11x8 for some more climbing power to get me out of a jam like what happened recently in the wind. Or would you all recommend the 10x8?

Originally Posted by campbellj

Thinking of ordering the 11x8 for some more climbing power to get me out of a jam like what happened recently in the wind. Or would you all recommend the 10x8?

I would recommend keeping the plane upwind of your location or at least not letting it get too far downwind. Once you have allowed the plane to drift too far downwind, no amount of power or ballast will help you.

Originally Posted by campbellj

Will the graupner prop fold in ok? It looks a little shorter in the hinge area in the photos I've seen. Is it a direct replacement without any mods? Thinking of ordering the 11x8 for some more climbing power to get me out of a jam like what happened recently in the wind. Or would you all recommend the 10x8?

I haven't played around with a lot of the props I bought and my season has moved indoors until spring but the 11x8 prop gave me a lot more performance on launch. For getting back from downwind, learning to use reflex and not being shy about putting the nose down to gain speed unpowered will help you there also, as well as speeding through sink to get back upwind on not too windy days. The plane has a lot of capabilities without using power you need to explore