Test Glides Before Landing As soon as you achieve some comfort in the air, start preparing for the landing while you still have plenty of battery. Before attempting a landing, you should get acquainted with the glide characteristics of your plane and simulate the experience of leveling out to the ground or flaring at a safe height. Off 1/4 Full 3/4 1/2 If any wind exists, set up your test glide by flying slightly downwind of your position and turning around. Point the airplane directly into the wind and reduce power to start a descent. When the plane reaches 10 or 20 feet above the ground, pull and hold in a little up elevator to simulate smoothly landing on an imaginary runway. After a few seconds of keeping the plane level with the elevator, reapply power and go around for another try. parkzone Half throttle 1/4 throttle Note: Light airplanes tend to decelerate and descend steeply when the power has been cut, especially into a wind. During your first test glide, pull the throttle all the way back. If the descent is slow and gradual, great. If, however, the descent is uncomfortably steep, leave in some power next time to maintain a shallower descent which will provide better control as well. Power off A-27 KPTR: Try different throttle positions and stay with the one that provides the most comfortable descent angle.
Simulated Landings and Go Arounds When you flare, smoothly pull and hold in a small amount of up elevator to shallow your descent, then keep adjusting the elevator to maintain the same height for about 3 seconds. Most importantly, make certain that the wings are level before you pull elevator to avoid turning the airplane. Since lower altitudes mean less room to recover, if you must make course corrections while flaring, be careful to use only mild banks. After a few seconds of flaring, advance the throttle to go around for another attempt and use the elevator to manage a gentle climb. Note: If you repeatedly have to use up elevator to prevent the plane from descending during the go around, the plane is likely too slow and you need to add more power and/or shallow the climb angle. Upon reaching a comfortable height, throttle back to half and resume level flight. Resume level flight @ half throttle Wind Flare: Smoothly pull up elevator to shallow the descent, then adjust the elevator to maintain the same height. A typical flare requires increasing amounts of up elevator to maintain the same height as the airplane slows. Then start releasing the elevator early during the go around to keep the climb shallow and avoid stalling. KPTR: Level the wings before flaring and initiating the go around. A-28
Landing Approach Odds are that your first landing will be the result of continuing one of your better test glides all the way to the ground. If the plane is always too high to attempt a landing, you ll have to fly lower and/or start your descent earlier (possibly on the downwind leg). Note: You can fine tune the descent angle with elevator, but trying to force the airplane lower with large amounts of down elevator will cause the airplane to accelerate (downhill) and will actually end up extending the glide. Thus, reducing throttle is the preferred method to lose altitude. The lower you approach the landing area the easier it will be to achieve a specific touchdown location, since the plane won t have far to go after you cut the motor. Thus, as you gain experience, practice spot landings by progressively lowering your approaches and cutting power just before the spot where you want to land. Half throttle If the plane gets too low and you have to keep adding more and more up elevator to prevent it from hitting the ground, you will need to add more power or else the plane will stall. Approx. 1/4 throttle Under-shoot Pull elevator Pull more elevator Add more power A-29 KPTR: Use up elevator to stretch the glide if the plane gets too low, and add power if the elevator isn t enough.
Landing Flare When you decide to land, the standard practice is to shut off the motor to shorten the glide and protect the propeller. Or, you can just leave the throttle where it is and concentrate on your flare with a little better control. Instead of waiting until the last moment to start flaring, start shallowing your descent angle at 2 or 3 feet using a small amount of up elevator, then adjust the elevator as needed to hold the airplane about 3 inches above the ground. If you still have power on, and you are not too busy, cut the motor at this point. As the airplane slows and settles, increase the elevator to touch down softly. (Unless the grass is very short, the plane will probably stop abruptly, but that s minor compared to the reduced potential for damage landing on soft grass.) Finally, if the plane gets too slow and the flight controls start becoming sluggish or unresponsive, you ll have to add a little power to regain or increase control. Initiate flare at 2 or 3 feet Continuous adjustments Hold the airplane a few inches above the ground (cut motor) Cut motor? Flare at 2 or 3 feet Hold the airplane a few inches above the ground (cut motor) Landing area Flare KPTR: A small amount of elevator can always be increased, whereas pulling too much is harder to recover from. A-30
Full Simple Loop Aerobatic flying greatly increases the drain on the battery. Therefore, when performing aerobatics, fly high in case the motor shuts off. If you are forced to make an off-field landing, get the airplane pointed into the wind and keep the wings level all the way to the ground. Most planes can handle a rough landing with the wings level and not be damaged, whereas a banked cartwheel will probably end your day. Know that you are almost always better off to keep the airplane under control and flare normally, even on rough terrain, than to try to land a lot slower than normal, but then end up losing control of the plane. START Full throttle Wings Level Sustained dive Hold Smoothly pull and hold in full up elevator all the way around Most Park Flyers are capable of performing a loop. Begin the maneuver by leveling the wings and applying full power. parkzone Put the airplane into a steep dive to build up enough airspeed to complete a loop. After a couple seconds of diving, and only if the wings are level, smoothly pull and hold in full up elevator all the way around a loop. Then quickly neutralize the elevator at the bottom. Note: If the wings are not level, the plane will corkscrew off to the side during the loop. If the plane stalls before reaching the top of the loop, you ll have to hold the dive longer. Hold Neutral END A-31 KPTR: Keeping the wings level is often the most crucial requirement for takeoff, landing, and looping success.
Tail Slide START The tail slide is set up the same as a loop, except the elevator is quickly neutralized at the exact moment that the plane is pointing straight up. Once established on the vertical upline, cut the power and watch the plane run out of airspeed and start sliding backwards. Not long after the slide starts, the nose will flip back toward the ground. Level the wings and smoothly pull out. Wings Level As you gain experience, try making rudder and elevator corrections to keep the plane pointed perfectly straight up. A perfectly vertical fuselage will lead to a longer-more sensational rearward slide. Cut power Neutral elevator If the wings are not level when you pull vertical, the plane will not slide straight back, but will instead fall off to the side and perform an amateur stall turn. END Neutral KPTR: A good slide will be the result of pulling vertical with the wings level and maintaining a perfectly vertical upline. A-32
Lazy Eights (Canyon Turns) Lazy eights are fun maneuvers to improve your elevator-rudder coordination. This maneuver starts with applying full power. The plane is then gradually pulled up into a near vertical climb while simultaneously inputting a little rudder to angle the climb a little to the left or right. Just before the plane stalls, apply full rudder in the direction the plane is leaning to pivot the nose around back toward the ground, then gradually pull up into another angled climb and repeat the process. You can repeat the process as many times as you like (or have enough altitude for). Full left rudder Remove rudder Pull out Gradually pull up and bank With experience, you may want to start reducing power when the nose is pointed down to conserve a little battery, and then resume full throttle as you start to pull the nose up again. A-33 KPTR: When performing a lazy eight, it helps to mentally break up each arching turn into the climbing phase, and then the pivot over the top. Put another way, the pivot will be easy if you first establish a good climb angle.