Originally Posted by cale10

bottom o the plane and my dumb thumbs. gunna make a pencil balencer tomorrow and get some pics of it too.

good, thumbs work just great on these planes, no need for pencils or expensive "balancers" , I think you are over thinking it and I also think the manual is a bit wrong, my 2200 sits about 1/2 way under the cowl, but you have remember, these are planes than need to be flown all the way to the ground (not into) you can't just line up and kill the throttle

Ben wrote a good landing write up, I'll see if I still have it

Originally Posted by quadracer

Another handy tip is to mark the recommended CG point with a Sharpie, then cut a toothpick into 1/4" lengths and lay 2 of them on the marks and CA them on. Then you have a point you can feel for under the wings. A lot cheaper than a CG machine, and a LOT easier to use.

good idea, never thought of that

this helped me tremendously,


Written by Ben Fisher (3DHS)

1. Landing is a maneuver, like any other. You are the pilot, not the passenger. The very first step to making good landings is to take responsibility for them. If you are at the field, and you see a pilot make a bad landing, and he turns around and says "the plane did..." then you can be pretty sure he's never going to be a landing expert. Once a pilot can say "I screwed that up, I need more practice" (about any maneuver) he is on his way to being an expert.

2. CG

CG (Center of gravity) is important for landing. When you are landing, you should (if you are doing it right) be flying slowly on final approach. We are all aware that if we go too slowly, our wing will reach a speed at which it no longer works and will stop flying. We call this a stall. When we stall, we lose lift, and the plane will fall out of the air.

However, our aircraft has two wings (if it's a monoplane)...one in front, and one in the back (the horizontal stabilizer with elevators). In flight, the main wing holds the plane up, and the tail wing provide up or down lift to hold the plane stable. This is why a nose-heavy plane requires some "up" trim and why a tail-heavy plane requires some "down" trim (and why expecting your elevator to always end up perfectly in line with your stabilizer is not correct).

When you slow way down for final approach, the smaller tail wing stops flying first. As the tail wing loses efficiency, the balance of the plane takes over. A nose-heavy plane will drop its nose (the heavy end) and a tail-heavy plane will drop its tail (the heavy end). Dropping the nose is not a problem...dropping the tail causes the plane to slow down more and we may stall. This is why a tail-heavy plane is more difficult to land, because the pilot has to use elevator to push the nose down to maintain flight speed.

You might want a tail-heavy airplane for 3d tricks, but first be sure you can land it. To help:

3.Throttle

Do not glide down to landing. Your throttle is a speed *control* and if you set it correctly it will help to keep your plane at the proper speed on landing, not too fast and not too slow.

If you learn to fly a full-size plane (or learn to fly an RC plane correctly) you will be taught at some point to fly a "stabilized approach". This means that your landing approach is stable, in that it has no time limit. You could start your approach at 20 feet high or 2,000 ft high, and you can fly in this mode as long as you want.

The opposite of a "stable approach" is a "decaying approach"...this is an approach flown without enough throttle or too slowly which has a time limit. The plane is slowing down (because there is no throttle) and the pilot is trying to get it on the runway before something bad happens.

To fly a stabilized approach, put the nose down about 10-15 degrees, use 1/8 throttle or so, and point the airplane at the spot you want to land. Start high enough and far enough away that you get a chance to fly a stabilized approach down to the runway. Don't "flare" or do anything else until you are very low. If you cut the throttle and pull back on the stick, make sure you're only ankle-high. Too many pilots want to have a dramatic flare at the end of their approach...leave that to the experts. Just fly down to the ground and close the throttle for the last foot or so. Done.

4. Elevator

The elevator is the important control for landing. DO NOT land on 3D rates. Use your low rates. First, fly a pass down the runway about 2 feet high on low rates at about half throttle. Can you do it? For most of us, probably not. Lower your low rates and increase your low rate exponential until you can smoothly fly just above the runway consistently and smoothly. When you are flying a stabilized approach, having the correct elevator response will allow you to actually pilot the aircraft in a straight line, rather than fighting a bucking bronco. Get your elevator response right!

5. Observe

Watch people who can land. Watch people who cannot. See their habits.

What we do not want to do is to go up really high, cut off our motor, and dive at the runway, then pull up and glide along the runway, bouncing up and down, hoping to be able to smack the runway on a lucky bounce.

Instead, we select low rates, select low throttle, point the nose 10-15 degrees down toward the end of the runway and fly a smooth straight line. When we are very low we cut our throttle and bring the aircraft to level and let it touch down.

If we mess it up, we make any necessary repairs, change our CG or transmitter as needed, and try again. Once you know how to land, your repair bills go way down.

I have learned rectally, at the Ohio huckfest that landing on a paved runway is a lot harder than grass. I messed up every landing at the huckfest but when I fly at the aeros which has a grass runway I nail it every time. anyone have any tips so I can improve my landings on a paved runway so I do not bust up any props at the 2013 huckfest?

I'm much the opposite... I prefer pavement ANY DAY. I think I overdo it on grass, scared the gear will snag and flip it.

As someone stated above don't worry about 2 CGs for different styles of flying. That gets too complicated. IMO this plane does almost everything better with the CG around 80mm give or take a mm or 2. I have a piece of hi density foam in the very front of my battery tray to keep the battery from hitting the ends of the motor mount bolts. I trimmed it so that getting my preferred CG is a no brainer with my 2200 batteries. Just insert the battery until it touches the foam and strap it down. This is what works for me. It takes a lot of flights and tinkering to get it the way you want it and what feels good to me may be terrible for you. On the subject of dual rates, I don't have low rates. I have medium rates and high rates. My cheap DX6i only has the 2 settings so I went with 70% aileron, 70% elevator, and 85% rudder with expo at 55 for all three for my so called low rates. High is per the manual except for expo on the ailerons which I recently bumped to 80. This has worked great for me. Oh and turnerm you really will love those Savox servos!

I'm with Quad I hate grass.

Just as a matter of mentioning...a trick I use to check my CG using my thumbs or fingers is to stick some of those little silicon rubber feet (about 1/4" in diameter) that are used on the bottom of jewelry boxes etc. on the bottom of the wing at the CG that I want...Then put your fingers on the feet and pick it up. The feet will keep your fingers from influencing the CG with your fingers.

SteveT

Originally Posted by SteveT.

Just as a matter of mentioning...a trick I use to check my CG using my thumbs or fingers is to stick some of those little silicon rubber feet (about 1/4" in diameter) that are used on the bottom of jewelry boxes etc. on the bottom of the wing at the CG that I want...Then put your fingers on the feet and pick it up. The feet will keep your fingers from influencing the CG with your fingers.

SteveT

Ha that is close to a trick I used to use too. At a craft store I bought a package of Teddy Bear Eyes that have a sticky back. They are domed and work nice on the fingers. I just tried a new method on my 47" SHP that I liked even better. I use the plastic barrel looking push pins. It's easy to calculate the amount of taper if the leading edge of your wing. Just subtract that from the recommended CG from the leading edge at the root and make a small dot on your wing tip. I push in those pins and just lift. When done remove the pins and the small hole is still there if you need it again.

I know this is the wrong thread.... I am looking for a 3DHS left wing for a 47" Edge
green preferred. I know some of you guys upgraded to the 48" thought I would try my luck here. PM me with any info
sorry for the interruption

Flight 200 on this third Edge passed uneventfully this morning. Yes I log every flight just to keep track of wear on the components. I picked up the habit from flying helicopters. I'm still more of a sport/aerobatic pilot who can do some 3D tricks, rather than a hardcore 3D type. KE is now very easy after getting the mixes worked out, Pop Tops and KE spin are almost effortless. Harrier and hover are getting better all the time. Not bad for an old former speed plane guy I guess. It makes me happy and always puts a big silly grin on my face. Hope all of you enjoy your Edges as much as I do mine.

Originally Posted by MARCOELDRAGON

Flight 200 on this third Edge passed uneventfully this morning. Yes I log every flight just to keep track of wear on the components. I picked up the habit from flying helicopters. I'm still more of a sport/aerobatic pilot who can do some 3D tricks, rather than a hardcore 3D type. KE is now very easy after getting the mixes worked out, Pop Tops and KE spin are almost effortless. Harrier and hover are getting better all the time. Not bad for an old former speed plane guy I guess. It makes me happy and always puts a big silly grin on my face. Hope all of you enjoy your Edges as much as I do mine.

That big silly grin is what keeps me in this hobby. If it ever stops doing that to me then I'll stop flying. I don't think I'm gonna stop flying anytime soon.

On the topic of 3D versus sport. Over the past 10-12 months I've been SO focused on learning 3D that somewhere along the way I just quit any form of sport flying all together (for the most part). But recently I was flying with a friend who is almost solely a sport flyer and very limited 3D and I remembered how cool some of that stuff looks - especially when strung together. He really impressed me! So... lately I've been getting back in touch with some of the sport flying side of things while still mixing in plenty of 3D and I'm just having a blast.

And THAT my friends is what this hobby is all about!

Originally Posted by turnerm

That big silly grin is what keeps me in this hobby. If it ever stops doing that to me then I'll stop flying. I don't think I'm gonna stop flying anytime soon.

On the topic of 3D versus sport. Over the past 10-12 months I've been SO focused on learning 3D that somewhere along the way I just quit any form of sport flying all together (for the most part). But recently I was flying with a friend who is almost solely a sport flyer and very limited 3D and I remembered how cool some of that stuff looks - especially when strung together. He really impressed me! So... lately I've been getting back in touch with some of the sport flying side of things while still mixing in plenty of 3D and I'm just having a blast.

And THAT my friends is what this hobby is all about!

one word, osiris

Originally Posted by Inverted-I-Fly

one word, osiris

I've just wrapped up a plane buying binge. I need to detox for a bit or I'd take your post more seriously.

I can relate, I keep telling myself I don't need another plane, yet I keep buying them, I promised the wife last night I would only buy one more plane this year, the byper, but it is going to be hard.

It's easy to stop buying them when you run out of cash