All us newbie pilots, lets share..

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I've used it before on several scrapes on different planes and it always dried rock solid, so I thought since I'm looking for a solid repair, it couldn't hurt.  Looks like it did the trick.

Grossman56

[Rocketeer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings,

Sweetness!!!


Bill L.
In Okla.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Hey Bill, how's that Waco of yours doing?
Haven't heard anything about you flying it lately, you seem to have had great success with it.  I got a whole lot better with mine since the course and after having figured out how to put a gyro in it, she handles the Cody breeze very well.
The next step is to wire the gain to the knob on the radio so I can control the amount of gain that the gyro has with an external control.  See how that works, cables are on their way as we speak.

[Rocketeer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings GMan,

I'm not sure if you're referring to the RocHobby, or the Dynam.

But, either way they are both on my top 10 flying favorites.
On relatively calm days I'll lean toward the RocHobby but, if i need i bit more umph to cut the wind I call on the big boy!!

Both are super stable flyers.


Bill L.
In Okla.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I was referring to the Rochobby but I forgot you are one of the lucky guys with both.  ne of these days I'll pick up the Dynam as well as its a pretty cool aircraft as well.  There is just something about a biplane...
I'm just waiting to see if the 1400 mm P40B shows up next month before I go Christmas shopping.......

Grossman56

[Rocketeer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings GMan,

Like I mentioned they are both awesome flyers.
If you do eventually pick up the Dynam, I think you'll really enjoy the size differential between the two.

I am anxiously awaiting the Albatros do in a couple of weeks.



Bill L.
In Okla.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of the Albatross, it looks pretty cool.

We were off flying today, it was a pretty good morning with minimal wind, but a series of storms kept just missing us and heading north east.  Anyway, had BBD and P-1 and Diane had her Apprentice.  As mentioned she hit a plateau last week and was struggling with her takeoffs, we discussed it afterwards and again before flight.  She went out and nailed the takeoff, played around with it for a bit then got serious, getting her parallel lines down, which can be a challenge with the Apprentice in any kind of wind, not hard but demanding of your attention.  Brought it around on base to final, we discussed altitude at a landmark we use for turn to final as she brought it around, and she lines it up and plunks it down on the runway.  Then proceeds to do it again.  I walked away so she could do it on her own.  She took off did the circuit and landed four more times without a hitch.  Another couple was watching and one of them remarked that she must be using the panic button, I told them she wasn't as you could see her corrections as she was lining up for landing.

For those who are flying an Apprentice and have minimal time on it, here's a couple of tips that work for us.
1)Get familiar with how the plane handles on the ground.  We took it over to the school grounds and Diane taxied it around to get the feel for ground handling.

2) If no one's ever mentioned it, take off into the wind if possible. Smoothly advance the throttle to full and steer it down the runway as straight as you can.  When you have speed, bump the elevator back, just an on /off motion to get her to break ground and she takes off so scale like, you'll love it.

3) Land into the wind.  Do your turn to final and approach the runway, depending on your altitude, either chop your throttle before your turn or right after, make a level turn to final by the way. Use small bumps of aileron to keep the wings level.  This plane will glide for a long time, ease the elevator back to increase the length of the glide, but unless you are extremely low, you won't have to worry about that.  Keep the wings level and the plane approaching the runway and she'll eventually get the hint.  Just above the runway, give it a bump of back elevator and she'll land as pretty as you please.  If you forget the bump. likely it will touch on its nose wheel first and crow hop a few times, no biggie, just hold in some back elevator and steer her down the runway.  Once all wheels are on the ground, push your elevator stick forward to keep the nose wheel on the ground ( this throws me off because I fly tail dragger on everything else, so you pull the elevator back to keep the tail on the ground)

4)Use the high rates after one or two flights as its painful on low rates.  After a couple of flights of high rates, I changed the control rods to the next nearest hole on the control horns, to give it a little more throw.

All in all a great little bird to fly and to learn on.
As an observation, and take it or leave it, because that's all it is.
The new gadgetry coming out on some new trainers, to me, is more psychological than useful.  Even the panic button is something that I'll bet most pilots never touch unless its just to see what it does.  Once you've flown a few times, you never use them again.

Grossman and Mrs. Grossman

[Rocketeer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings GMan,

I ordered the Albatros the minute it became available.
(of course, I'm sure they were listed as "In Stock" before they actually left the dock so it will more like be a few extra days before delivery)

I have been doing a ton of research on it as the reviews all seem to indicate that the specified CG is way off and the need for any where from 2 to 11 oz. in the nose has been required to achievd some degree of balance.

Another common theme is that aileron/rudder mixing is a must.
We shall see.


Bill L.
In Okla.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

there's some pretty good videos on the Albatross, I'm sure you've seen them, it seems to me that she turns better one way than they other.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Hi all, just posted some pictures in The Hangar of the maiden flight of the Pitts, we took her out to Cowley this morning, about a fifty mile trip one way, but well worth it.  Diane had the Apprentice with her and it's a great field to really concentrate on your skills as its so big, you can fly patterns over the field.  Nice!
As you can see, there's not much difference in the size of the planes, but there is in your skill set

The Girls

As you can see, the Pandora has about the same wing span and maybe half the height.  Mind you, the Pitts has twice the wing area, so...

The Club Fly in is at this field next week, so we'll be off again!

Grossman56 and Mrs. Grossman
 

[Loneflier]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Very nice Mr. and Mrs Gman! I really like the paint jobs you've done with the Pitts and the Pandora. So obviously the Pitts flight went well, but what are your impressions of it?

Enquiring minds want to know!! :D

[Flygirl]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Boy GMan! I had no idea the Pitts was that big and beefy.... Kinda makes the Pandora look smallish even.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

yeah Lauren, she's really about the same wingspan but with two wings, she stands taller.  Also the fuse is much wider.  The thing being that as the real Pitts is not a big plane in the first place, so when she gets scaled down to a 1400mm, she's actually a bigger scale plane.  I just call her a 1400mm that thinks she's a 1700mm as she has the same motor as the 1700mm FMS

[Hippie 64]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Way to go team Gross !! What really cool place to fly 


Bryan 

[retiredflyer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Pitts looks nice Gman. Nice paint job. I've been sitting on the fence about getting this one, the extra expense of those big batteries is one big reason. I have nothing else that would use them.

[doctormike]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I really like your paint job, Gman. Doc

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Thanks all, she's a little difficult on her take off run, as you can see in Matt's video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq-q4Puxxnw
She tends to wander off to the left, which is why I wanted a great big field to fly from at first.  Since I have all next week off, I'll probably head out there a couple of times until I've got her dialed in.  Once in the air though, she is sweet!.  If you've got your cg right and your control surfaces set properly ( as we all do, right?) she handles very smoothly, there were no surprised, mind you, I can honestly say that about all my FMS birds.  I have a gyro in her but flew all flights without it, I'll leave that 'til later.  She rolls and loops very well, yes I tried it on the second flight as we had lots of altitude and she was just performing that well.  As stated before, she's heavy so the landings are a little bouncy, but I'm pretty sure I've got that figured out.  I've watched just about every video available on the Pitts and most guys seem to line it up just get her moving and then gun it.  Personally, I'm looking for a little more scale.  But hey, at the price they're marked at, I you were thinking of getting one, I'd go for it.  The only drawback is the battery price, but if your are considering going into a 1700 mm FMS plane, you'll need them anyway.  I picked up three from Motion,
  http://www.motionrc.com/admiral-3300...-lipo-battery/
$60 per battery and I was getting some decent time on them.

[Grossman56]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Had the Freewing P51 up yesterday, finally have all the bugs worked out of her.  A great flying airplane once she's dialed in and it looks so real.  This is not a beginner airplane, but let me explain that.
It's not that any of these airplanes are harder to fly.  As a matter of fact, you can dial them in to fly virtually like all your other birds, assuming you're flying a trainer with rudder, ailerons and elevator.
I've spend hours and hours in the air with my Pandoras.  Learning to take off and land, fly level flight patterns, doing level turns and  basically making the airplane do what I want it to do, rather than letting it do its own thing.  Like training a dog in a way. 
I put flaps on my Pandoras to give me another step towards flying my Mustangs.  I had my first Mustang since day one and she was my inspiration, my goal was to fly her safely.
Now, here I am. 
My wife, as you know, has an Apprentice which is a wonderful first plane! She's up in intermediate mode now and will probably stay there for the rest of the season (snow on the mountains and up in Yellowstone already, dang). Next year, she'll get through normal mode on the Apprentice (I like normal rather than advanced, its a psychological thing) and onto the Pandora.  We'll buddy box a few times and I'll have a gyro with level mode on it (Eagle A3)as more of a mental thing, although she'll probably never use it, she'll know it's there.
The thing is that she'll put hours in on the Pandora, learning some simple aerobatics and building her confidence.  The beauty of it is that I've been there with this plane and can pass on the knowledge to her, so find a buddy if you can or join a club, anything that can help you along.
If the wind is up, I have no problem taking the Pandora up, its actually fun!, you can almost make her hover.  Of course, there is a limit as to how much wind as they aren't exactly heavy!
Anyway, the point is that I know that plane inside and out (having rebuilt both of mine) and was ready, with a great knowledge base, to proceed to the next level.
Because of that, the Mustangs were a thrill to fly, but not hard.   My mental program kicked in and I had no trouble trimming her out and adjusting control throws and mixes so she flew like I wanted her to.  Personally, I found the biggest difference is that they the fly faster and the FMS birds have a tip stall tendency.  But landing is the same, albeit a little faster to keep above the stall (Not so critical in the Freewing Mustang) and of course, you have retractable landing gear.  Then it gets down to personal choices.  I like the feel of the A3L gyro, the controls are crisp and react just the way I want them to.  I have one in all my birds as a personal choice.  I also like Aileron/Rudder mix.  Some don't, it's a personal choice.
There are lots of people who rush out and get a plane far above their skillset and learn to regret it.  As I was reminded, this thread is, hopefully, for newbies seeking information.  I realize now that I'm not a newbie anymore, but I need to pass on the knowledge gained to get me hear to hopefully help others.
Fly on my friends and enjoy every moment, even repairs!!

Grossman56

[Flygirl]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Had the Freewing P51 up yesterday, finally have all the bugs worked out of her.  A great flying airplane once she's dialed in and it looks so real.  This is not a beginner airplane, but let me explain that.
It's not that any of these airplanes are harder to fly.  As a matter of fact, you can dial them in to fly virtually like all your other birds, assuming you're flying a trainer with rudder, ailerons and elevator.
I've spend hours and hours in the air with my Pandoras.  Learning to take off and land, fly level flight patterns, doing level turns and  basically making the airplane do what I want it to do, rather than letting it do its own thing.  Like training a dog in a way. 
I put flaps on my Pandoras to give me another step towards flying my Mustangs.  I had my first Mustang since day one and she was my inspiration, my goal was to fly her safely.
Now, here I am. 
My wife, as you know, has an Apprentice which is a wonderful first plane! She's up in intermediate mode now and will probably stay there for the rest of the season (snow on the mountains and up in Yellowstone already, dang). Next year, she'll get through normal mode on the Apprentice (I like normal rather than advanced, its a psychological thing) and onto the Pandora.  We'll buddy box a few times and I'll have a gyro with level mode on it (Eagle A3)as more of a mental thing, although she'll probably never use it, she'll know it's there.
The thing is that she'll put hours in on the Pandora, learning some simple aerobatics and building her confidence.  The beauty of it is that I've been there with this plane and can pass on the knowledge to her, so find a buddy if you can or join a club, anything that can help you along.
If the wind is up, I have no problem taking the Pandora up, its actually fun!, you can almost make her hover.  Of course, there is a limit as to how much wind as they aren't exactly heavy!
Anyway, the point is that I know that plane inside and out (having rebuilt both of mine) and was ready, with a great knowledge base, to proceed to the next level.
Because of that, the Mustangs were a thrill to fly, but not hard.   My mental program kicked in and I had no trouble trimming her out and adjusting control throws and mixes so she flew like I wanted her to.  Personally, I found the biggest difference is that they the fly faster and the FMS birds have a tip stall tendency.  But landing is the same, albeit a little faster to keep above the stall (Not so critical in the Freewing Mustang) and of course, you have retractable landing gear.  Then it gets down to personal choices.  I like the feel of the A3L gyro, the controls are crisp and react just the way I want them to.  I have one in all my birds as a personal choice.  I also like Aileron/Rudder mix.  Some don't, it's a personal choice.
There are lots of people who rush out and get a plane far above their skillset and learn to regret it.  As I was reminded, this thread is, hopefully, for newbies seeking information.  I realize now that I'm not a newbie anymore, but I need to pass on the knowledge gained to get me hear to hopefully help others.
Fly on my friends and enjoy every moment, even repairs!!

Grossman56

This should be a sticky as a perfect example of how to learn to fly... Kudos GMan!

[Rocketeer]

RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings GMan,

I am glad to see that you have recognized that this thread has long passed it's intended purpose.

Perhaps, if you are now feeling the need to teach, you might consider finally letting this one go and start a newer thread.

I'm just saying.  :)

Bill L.
In Okla.