Flyzone HCAA2511 - Manual (Page 18)

18
Landing
To land, fl y down-wind past the landing area. Reduce the
power to about 30% and let the airplane slow down and begin
to descend. Turn gently to line up with the runway. Reduce
the power more to establish a comfortable glide slope – this
is usually about a 30-40 degree descent angle. By holding a
little bit of power, you can make the glide slope shallow. By
cutting power completely, you can make it steeper. The glide
slope is a combination of power and pitch attitude. You’ll fi nd
that the best pilots learn that throttle controls descent rate
and pitch controls speed during landing. You’ll learn how
to maintain this delicate balance to achieve soft and slow
landings. Try it out – shoot a landing approach using power
to descend and pitch (elevator) to tune the speed. Then, try
the opposite. Try controlling your descent angle solely on
pitch – you’ll quickly notice that you pick up too much speed
and the airplane will naturally want to pitch up. This will force
you to push down on the stick more and will make the model
gain more speed. You’ll hold the airplane off but it won’t want
to settle in. By this time, you’ve reacted by cutting the throttle.
Speed will drop off and the airplane will fall out of the sky as
you’ve run out of runway. Take these things to heart when
you’re learning to land.
Some Things You Will Learn
About R/C Flying
Flying radio control is quite a bit different from “sitting in the
pilot’s seat.” When the plane is fl ying away from you, moving
the aileron stick to the right will make the plane bank to your
right. However, when the model is fl ying toward you, moving
the aileron stick to the right will make the plane move to
your left. Of course, the plane is still responding the same
way, it’s just that your orientation has reversed. This must be
kept in mind while learning to fl y and is also why having an
experienced R/C pilot training you is necessary.
Turning an airplane is accomplished by rolling the airplane
into a left or right banked attitude. The experience is quite
different from riding a bicycle or driving a car – to maintain the
turn you will not hold the stick left or right, but will return it to
nearly neutral. Holding the stick will make the airplane roll.
When you make a turn and the model is in a bank, lift is not
acting directly opposite to gravity. As a result, you will need
to pull up on the elevator to pitch the nose up and maintain
your altitude. You will need to hold up elevator while in the
turn and gradually release it when you roll out of the turn
back to straight & level fl ying.
Controls become more sensitive as you pick up speed. They
become more “mushy” and ineffective as you slow down.
When you are fi rst learning, you don’t have to use the rudder.
Rudder can help you coordinate your turns when you become
more advanced – you’ll be able to make tighter turns and
you’ll have an easier time maintaining altitude in a turn. This
is because you can get the nose pointed into the turn better.
Avoid making turns that make the model fl y behind you – this
can be very diffi cult to track and you can lose control of the
model while you’re turning to watch the model. Plan your
maneuvers out so that you will always stay in the fl ying area.
Take the time to learn how the airplane stalls – that is how it
reacts when the wing stops fl ying. By being familiar with the
airplane’s stall characteristics, you will learn how to avoid
dangerous conditions that may cause your plane to crash or
become unrecoverable.
Practice landings while you have plenty of battery power left.
Don’t accept a landing that you have to continue fi ghting or
one that looks like you’re going to land too late and run out
of room.
Always have a fl ight plan and stick to it. Your goal may be
to practice landings, or precision fl ying or some maneuver.
Keep in mind that you have not mastered an airplane until
you can place it exactly where you want it at any given time
– you must be in control.
AFTER EACH FLIGHT
Disconnect the LiPo battery and remove it from the airplane.
Then, turn off the transmitter. Allow the battery to cool before
recharging, or allow the motor to cool before installing another
battery for the next fl ight. Inspect the airplane to make sure
nothing has become loose or damaged. Take a look at the
control surfaces and make sure that the hinges have not
pulled out or become damaged. Check the linkages and make
sure that the pushrods are secure and that the clevises are
fastened and the retainers are still in place. Check for bent
pushrods or loose pushrod retaining screws. Check to make
sure that servo arm retaining screws are installed and that
no servo gears have become stripped. Check the condition
of the propeller and the motor for secure attachment.
REPAIRING YOUR MODEL
If your model becomes damaged, it can be repaired using
regular medium CA. If you need to separate the wings, use
clear packing tape to re-join the wing halves. Spare parts are
available – please see the parts list earlier in this manual for
more details of what is available and how to get new parts.
CA debonder (GPMR6039) is available if you ever need to
dissolve the CA adhesive you used to build this model.