prop hanging

[SCOOT]

Whats the best way to learn how to hover a plane? I have tried on the sim and cant seem to work it out.

[dongle]

pain in the arse isn't it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I've been practicing this on the sim for a few weeks now and slowly getting the hang of it. What Sim you got? If you can change the plane set up on the sim I started by increasing the power to weight ratio to stupid amounts so that you can go virtical from about 0 mile an hour forward speed then gradually decreased that as I worked out what was what. I am also finding rudder is a very important element!

Try stuttering the throttle as well - probably not the right way of doing it but gives you a much better idea of whats going on and you can control the hight alot easier without it suddenly slipping into a dive.

Dont think I'll be trying it on a real plank for a long time though...

[hank]

take it up nice and high, slow down to just above stall, flick your elevator up, and slowly apply more power as it hits vertical. you will have to work the rudder and elevator to keep it in one spot. and an easy out if you start to get into trouble, is just to give it full throttle and let it fly out, with you correcting it for orientation.

[SCOOT]

thats what I have been trying, coming it at virtually stall speed and then banging in up elevator and power on. Its a very fine line between nosing over or back or dropping out to one side. Ok so I am in the right area just need to practice more. Makes you appreciate how good the guys are that can actually do it.

RealFlight is what I am using, its actually Loz's.

[dongle]

I'm sure you can adjust the power of the motor in real flight, so give that a go - makes it a lot easier to find that line as you dont need to bang in the power as hard and you get a chance to find out what you are doing wrong before it's all over. If you try it with one of the 3D planes and put the power to 4 or 5 time normal you can almost prop hang on no throttle and you really get the chance to forget that part and concentrate on the other controls for a while.

[soundman]

Just to offer a slightly different opinion.

I have no sim being a Mac head.....so the real world is my only option.

I've got an EPP 3D type Bipe. I'm learning to hover on it at the moment.....On it's first proper outdoor maiden I had a kind of hover out of it, after 5 more flights I had hovers up to about 15-20 secs.....i can now hold a hover for 30 secs or more if the wind lets me - I'm not saying that it's perfect, but it's a pretty steady hover.

So I'd say just build yourself a plane that has enough power to hover, get the cg back a bit & go for it. The way that I've got into it (read it on rcgroups somewhere)... go into vertical & slow down so that you're still going up, but very slowly....this teaches you all the needed inputs but makes it a little easier....then when you get the hang of it drop the throttle a touch more & you'll be hovering - also it helps to pump the throttle a little....like revving at traffic lights.

It's really not as hard as you think, this plane was my first that had rudder & I've only really flown wings before this. Remember that height is your friend & keep a good 3 mistakes high. These foamy 3D planes are so light & responsive that if it does go wrong you have loads of time to recover....generally get the nose pointing above the horizon & apply full throttle - trouble is gone.

[nchadbourne]

I have to agree with soundman, I bought an Adrenalin 3d to learn to hover and can now keep it up for quite a while /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif tail touches are also no problem.

But i'm still rubbish at hovering on realflight G2

Nige

[SCOOT]

yep it was much easier in real life. Maidened my 3DX last night (man that thing flies slow), anyway probably the first plane I have had with a decent rudder. Was knife edgeing quite well and tried a few prop hangs and managed to hold them for 5-10 seconds no problem. Much better that i have ever done on the sim.

Now, how do you do a rolling circuit? How do you get the turn in, I can roll quite happily in a straight line but couldnt work out how to make it turn into a circuit.

[soundman]

I can't do rolling circuits myself....but in theory it's careful use of the rudder & elevator to get you round the circuit - think about it too much & your brain will probably hurt /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

From what my brain can fathom, you need to move the elevator up & down in sync with the roll & the same goes for the rudder......think how you would do a knife edge circuit (inside & out) & a normal rudder circuit (upright & inverted).....combine all that while it rotates.

I let a proper 3D pilot have a go on my bipe at Sandown on Saturday night - he was doing every move in the book with it, it's amazing when you see it all done a few feet in front of you (sometimes inches)....great stuff.

[guinea_pig2]

im gonna try and prop hang my slowstick tommorw /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[guinea_pig2]

and if anybody thinks 'yeah whatever guinea_pig you idiot'

then think again this on a 12X6 will produce over 450g of inflight thrust and my plane weighs less than 400g and i can give it ailerons if need be /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

http://guinea.rchomepage.com/images/powersys.jpg

[napstr]

Re Rolling circuit - can be bodged only using elevator just need to hold elevator in longer or put in earlier (depending on circuit and roll direction) idea is to be using the elevator while in knife edge right the way to inverted/upright - use up elevator as well to avoid rapid height loss.
most important thing is to set a roll rate which isn't too fast for the pulses or too slow -which leads to very open and ugly corners.

[JJ]

LOL Christopher, quick reply there, still beat me to it though..
I'm about to enter the wonderful world of prop hanging, having just got the Shockflyer tested. I accidentally pulled into a vertical hang at Halesowen, the model is balanced at 59mm and seemed quite stable there, I just froze and usually botched the recovery though.
If you can do consecutive rolls without losing heading, timing the elevator input correctly, then you are most of the way to a rolling turn, you just have to deliberately mis-time the elevator and the rolls go off heading. I find it hard to do consistently though, usually get a rolling letter"G" - hehe.

[napstr]

Yeah first time venturing over this side from the pic forum.
A 'G' sounds difficult I tend to get a spiral with height being gained or lost - noticible by change in roll rate.