Sitting in the plane or not ?

[David Lockhart]

Another thought -

Anytime you are not using the rudder, and need a rudder input - you have at
worse a 50/50 chance to get it right.  Anytime you are using the rudder it
is either the correct rudder (yippee!) or the wrong one (oops!).  Assuming
the rudder input being used is correct, you either need more of the same, or
less of the same (and who cares what direction the stick is moved or what
attitude the plane is in).

So, I'll make the assumption all reading this list know what rudder to use
on takeoff, and follow with this suggestion - After taking off, never stop
using the rudder and don't think about left/right or attitude of the plane,
just use more or less, or switch the direction.

An aside on how I arrived at the above suggestion - With the help of a
friend on the other end of a buddy box, I tried flying a trainer with the TX
behind my back - meaning thr/rud moved from the left to right hand (and
became reversed), and ele/ail moved from the right to left hand (and became
reversed).  I found it was relatively easy to fly horizontal eights
(continuous inputs) and much harder to fly rectangular boxes (intermittent
inputs).  Pretty entertaining and a really good reminder of what it is like
to not have "automatic" pitch/roll/yaw correcting.

Regards,

Dave Lockhart
DaveL322 at comcast.net




----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Black" <tkeithb at comcast.net>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: Sitting in the plane or not ?


> 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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> > >
> >
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