Sitting in the plane or not ?

[Keith Black]

I'll weigh in on this conversation from the viewpoint of a fairly new
pattern pilot that's had to learn to fly with rudder in the last year and a
half.

When I first learned to fly RC I was also told to "get into the cockpit",
however for me personally I couldn't make this work and had to resort to
mentally remembering to push opposite ailerons when the plane was coming
towards me. After enough hours it became natural and I stopped thinking
about which way I move the ailerons.

When I started pattern 1 1/2 years ago I began flying rudder for the first
time ever. Initially it was difficult even right-side-up due to the lack of
mental coordination with the left hand, however since the controls were the
same direction as ailerons I got the knack of it pretty quickly. However,
inverted flight with rudder was a total mind boggler for me. I read all the
forums and found multiple schools of thought. 1) Get inside the plane, 2)
practice flying a helicopter inverted on a simulator, 3) push the tail when
going away, push the nose with coming at you.

Once again I attempted #1, "get in the plane", and I absolutely could NOT
get things straight in my mind when inverted (without standing on my head).
Flying away, flying towards me, up, down, etc. was just a total brain teaser
for me. A funny side note is when this thread first started I did the mental
exercise again as I was reading one of the replies and thought I had it
right, until I mentally got "out of the  plane" and realized I was applying
wrong rudder, and this was with time to think about it (not sure what that
says for my spatial mental abilities).

What finally worked for me was none of the above. Actually it was a
modification of #3. The "push the tail" immediately gave me a mental tool
that I could easily "think through" when flying and it worked great when
going away or uplines with the belly facing me. And the "push the nose"
worked when the plane was clearly coming at me. However, both of these rules
together had two down sides for me. One, I had to remember when to apply the
correct rule. Secondly, when the plane was directly in front of me, like
doing a centered loop for example, I would get totally confused if I should
be driving the tail or the nose.

To resolve this I dropped the drive the nose portion of the rule and now use
only the "push the tail" part of the rule. This means that mentally I always
have to be thinking from behind the plane which is actually similar to
getting into the cockpit. However, I never "mentally" roll upside down, I
just remember to push the tail if I'm inverted or use normal rudder if not
inverted. Now when flying past center or doing centered maneuvers, like a
loop for example, I don't have any mental transition points at least
relative to pushing the nose of the tail. Granted I have to mentally
transition from right side up to inverted but I can handle that.

At this point rudder control is beginning to become more instinctive and I
don't think about the rules as much, but they're still there to help out
when I get confused.

As I said initially, this is from a new guys point of view and may not be
the best approach, but it was definitely the method that helped me the most.

Keith

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JOddino" <JOddino at socal.rr.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 11:47 AM
Subject: Re: Sitting in the plane or not ?


> Ron,
> Thanks for the straight scoop.  After reading they should put themselves
in
> the cockpit, I wonder how many guys went out and tried to visualize the
> earth above them when they flew inverted.  Everyone should forget that
idea
> and do what Ron does.
> Jim
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <ronlock at comcast.net>
> To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 6:15 AM
> Subject: Re: Sitting in the plane or not ?
>
>
> > If "sitting in the cockpit" means visualizing the view the
> > airborne pilot would have - I defintely don't do that.
> >
> > I watch the model in general- for a constant visual and
> > cognitive lock on pitch, roll, and yaw.
> >
> > I also try to watch a big picture that includes the horizon,
> > box center and box end end comming up.   That's required to
> > establish size, positioning, and wind correction of maneuvers.
> > Really prominent box marking, stripes on ground, or large
> > poles that contrast with background are an obvious help.
> >
> > Somewhere in here we also need a cognitive lock on airspeed for
> > aircraft handling characteristics, and ground speed for positioning.
> >
> > Later,
> > Ron Lockhart
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > =====================================
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> > # discussion-request at nsrca.org
> > # and put leave discussion on the first line of the body.
> > #
> >
>
> =====================================
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