Going Giant

I'm getting closer to assembly of my first giant scale RC plane. It is a Yak-54 by Great Planes. I will be running a DLE 55cc gas engine that will be arriving soon in the mail :) VERY EXCITING! Still have to decide on servos, batteries (4v or 6v). Truly cannot wait to get that bird in the air!

The bigger they are the more stable they fly so this plane should fly pretty stable. I will do what I can to keep wing loading down for easier flight. Over the next couple months I will be posting about the progress with this project.... Stay tuned

Oh S#&% Dead Stick!

A dead stick is when you are mid flight and the engine quits. It is a situation that you will most likely find yourself in at some point in R/C flight.Today marks the second dead stick I have experienced. So what should you do to survive a dead stick? How about screaming, freaking out, and going crazy on the control sticks to get that plane back down safely... I don't think so. More like staying cool, calm, in control, and quickly thinking of a plan to execute.
I believe three major factors play a role in successful dead stick landings: 1. Altitude- the more of it you have the better off you are. As logic would lead you to believe the higher your plane is the longer it will take to come down, you can glide your airplane safely back to the runway or a safe landing zone. 2. Heading- your initial heading when your engine turns off will also dictate what you will do next, what is the shortest turn radius you can take to get that plane back to a landing zone. The reason I mention turn radius is because your engine is off and every second counts. You will want to point that plane back at yourself in the shortest amount of time possible. It's always better to land your plane closer to yourself. Lastly you must take into account your speed. 3. Speed- once again the faster you were moving when your engine shut off the better you will be. If your plane is moving faster you have more energy to expend and get that plane back safe.
So now that we have discussed these three important factors (altitude, heading and speed) of a dead stick lets keep our cool when it happens. It is OK to let out a curse word and have a brief moment of internal panic, but that must all be over quickly (in the blink of an eye, remember no power, every movement is final) and back to cool and calm. When you are cool and calm your brain will control your hands better and give you the ability needed to safely land your dead stick.
When your back to calm think quickly. Assess your altitude? Are we high or low? What direction are we pointing? Towards or away from us? and how fast are we moving? Think of what path to take. Is our plane headed away from us? Turning which direction will result in the smaller radius to get it facing us? Is our plane headed towards us? If so is it moving to quickly to descend and land right away? Do we need to burn off a little speed first to not over shoot the landing zone? What ever you do make sure to get that plane pointed back at the landing zone.
All these questions and variables will zip through your thoughts and you will be able to land your plane safely if you remember to stay cool, calm, and in control. If you have a flight Sim you may want to practice some dead sticks every once in a while. This flight training will be invaluable and can very much save your plane and all that time and money you put into it.

The Wankel

Wow a Wankel! Yep it is a working rotary R/C engine produced by OS. This engine was bought second hand used. It is truly an interesting piece of engineering whether R/C or full size. This particular model is a .30 but puts out as much power as a .46 2 stroke.
So you ask if this Wankel is a two stroke or a four stroke? Well it is neither, it is rotary, it's a Wankel! It is its own class of engine and has a semi triangular cylinder that rotates around its axis. This engine is begging to be put on a plane and truly wants to be up in the sky. There are a few things about Wankel engines you should know.
These engines normally use smaller propellers than their two or four stroke counter parts. The Wankel will run extremely rich in mixture and therefore is a gas hog. Also since it runs rich it does make quite a mess and will run at much higher RPM than your normal two stroke. The engine mount is a small triangular piece of metal that uses three screws to mount and goes directly on the firewall. Therefore the back of the engine is mounted almost directly on the firewall and does reduce the clearance of hoses or anything else you may have thought of behind the engine.
Rotary engines do run with much less vibration and that is a major upside to this sweet little gas guzzler. It will run very smoothly, make a unique growl at the field, and provide great power to weight ratio that will get you up and move you fast!
All in all I love this little engine. I am looking forward some day to finding the correct pairing for it, maybe a .40 size stick, or a WWI bipe? We will see what the future holds for our Wankel.

How to Get More

So what is one way to get much more out of this hobby you ask? Plain and simple join a club! Joining a club was the best move I made in RC flight. It has opened so many doors and allowed me to meet numerous individuals who all have a similar passion for the hobby. The picture posted with is entry is an event at our club (Aeromodelers of Perrine or AMPS) named Aero fest. This was summer last year and it was honestly as much fun as a real air show!
I have never seen so many R/C airplanes and helicopters at one time. The event went for 2 days and hosted well over 100 fans. There were many WWI and WWII planes, along with turbine powered models and 3D demo's, helicopters, and even gliders. Individuals from all over the country attended and shared many ideas.
When your part of a club you will learn about all these events and they will open up many doors to R/C flight for you. Besides the events there are always the members of the club that are the most important reason for joining. Members that are always willing to give a hand with the engine that is hard to tune, or the radio that you just cant figure out how to work, or maiden your new beauty safely, or give pointers on a perfect landing... the possibilities are infinite and the friends you make are life long in a club. Do your self a favor, join AMA and find a club to be part of. Trust me it will be the best step you take in this hobby!

After the Crash?

So what did I do after I watched my old faithful trainer come down in a shameless, wingless spiral? Well I went and found it! Luckily it was not far since the flight did not last even a minute. The fuselage was right across the runway but the wing was another story.
The wing had fluttered down on its own path so it was quite a hike to find it. The wing was in one piece like it never had even come off the plane. Pretty much all the parts of the plane were in good shape, obviously except for that fuselage that turned into a lawn dart. The fuse was busted up in a few parts and was pretty much trash, even for a foam airplane.
Later on after returning home and facing the fact that my trainer was gone I figured I would take an inventory and see what was working and what was not. To my surprise everything was working! Yea the prop was broken in half and the motor rattled when given throttle but I disassembled it and found only a loose set screw was te culprit of the rattle on the outrunner. All the servos worked perfectly and had not even been stripped. I removed the horizontal and vertical stabs with control surfaces attached and continued to salvage.
Before I knew it I had pretty much the entire plane disassembled in front of me and all I need to get it back in the air to my surprise was another fuselage that usually for foam airplanes are not very expensive. Now the other concern I had was the lipo battery that came with the plane. It had taken a beating in the impact and has a corner that is bent, but after some controlled testing it does still hold its charge and work properly with out the dreaded lipo fire.
All in all I do believe that after a crash there is always salvageable parts, even if it's just the tail of the plane to be hung as a memorial. At least I had a feeling of relief after finding so many parts were still working and that it was not pilot error that caused the crash but could be better described as "pilot oversee". I can easily get this plane back up in the air for a fraction of what the entire kit cost. And when I do, I will be checking the rubber bands!

Lesson #1 check your rubber bands

The plane I learned to fly on (besides the flight sim) was an E-flight Apprentice 15-E. It is a beauty of a plane for any beginner or even the more seasoned pilots. It has duel rates, full 4 channel function and all the bells and whistles right out of the box... including a set of rubber bands that hold the wings onto the plane itself.
Well after learning to fly and putting at least 40 flights on my Apprentice I had never changed the rubber bands and noticed one day at the field that one of the rubber bands had developed a small nick. That day I had left my nitro powered plane and electric aerobatic at home, I just wanted a smooth, slow, relaxing flying day at the field like so many others like to have to unwind after a long week.
Like I said I did notice a nick in a rubberband as my brother and I strapped them on the wing, but in my enthusiasm and anticipation of flying I thought nothing of it. I had not been flying all week and was really dying to get my plane up in the air and soar with the vultures around our field. So we got our plane ready, plugged in the battery, ranged checked it... and up we went.
My brother had been wanting to fly as bad as I did so I let him have the 1st flight of the week as we both were anticipating it just as much. Every thing went fine for about 35 seconds and then the dreaded SNAP! That was about as long as it took for that nicked rubber band to give way and allow all the others to pop right off in sequence. They popped off the wing like you had just flung one off your finger, then the wing came off... and that was all she wrote.
My sweet, forgiving, never been crashed before trainer went into a wingless dive, it reminded me of a bomb headed to the ground with no chance what so ever of recovery, the point of no return had been passed. I stood there hoplessly and watched as it just came down in its own death spiral crashing to the ground as the foam wing peacefuly fluttered over head like bufferfly on its own path. I felt a deep sence of guilt.. I had let down the plane that had given me so much. But it was not in vaine. I learned to check my rubber bands.
To me "check the rubber bands" is a metaphor for do a good preflight check. Do not take for granted that all the parts on your R/C plane will always "just work" like I used to. Make sure you go over your plane, inspecting it, looking at it like a NASA engineer looks at the Space Shuttle before a launch. The smallest little nick in a rubber band may be the coup de grace on a plane that has never been inspected properly.