Great Planes Extra 300S 1.60 ARF - GPMA1365 - Manual (Page 22)

No matter if you fly at an AMA sanctioned R/C club site or if you
fly somewhere on your own, you should always have your
name, address, telephone number and AMA number on or
inside your model. It is required at all AMA R/C club flying sites
and AMA sanctioned flying events. Fill out the identification tag
on the decal sheet and place it on or inside your model.
Follow the battery charging instructions that came with your
radio control system to charge the batteries. You should
always charge your transmitter and receiver batteries the
night before you go flying, and at other times as
recommended by the radio manufacturer.
NOTE: Checking the condition of your receiver battery pack is
highly recommended. All battery packs, whether it’s a trusty
pack you’ve just taken out of another model, or a new battery
pack you just purchased, should be cycled, noting the discharge
capacity. Oftentimes, a weak battery pack can be identified (and
a valuable model saved!) by comparing its actual capacity to its
rated capacity. Refer to the instructions and recommendations
that come with your cycler. If you don’t own a battery cycler,
perhaps you can have a friend cycle your pack and note the
capacity for you.
Carefully balance your propeller and spare propellers before
you fly. An unbalanced prop can be the single most significant
cause of vibration that can damage your model. Not only will
engine mounting screws and bolts loosen, possibly with
disastrous effect, but vibration may also damage your radio
receiver and battery.Vibration can also cause your fuel to foam,
which will, in turn, cause your engine to run hot or quit. We use
a Top Flite Precision Magnetic Prop Balancer
™ (TOPQ5700) in
the workshop and keep a Great Planes Fingertip Prop
Balancer (GPMQ5000) in our flight box.
If the engine is new, follow the engine manufacturer’s
instructions to break-in the engine. After break-in,
confirm that the engine idles reliably, transitions smoothly
and rapidly to full power and maintains full power—
indefinitely. After you run the engine on the model, inspect
the model closely to make sure all screws remained tight,
the hinges are secure, the prop is secure and all pushrods
and connectors are secure.
Ground check the operational range of your radio before the first
flight of the day. With the transmitter antenna collapsed and the
receiver and transmitter on, you should be able to walk at least
100 feet away from the model and still have control. Have an
assistant stand by your model and, while you work the controls,
tell you what the control surfaces are doing. Repeat this test
with the engine running at various speeds with an assistant
holding the model, using hand signals to show you what is
happening. If the control surfaces do not respond correctly, do
not fly! Find and correct the problem first. Look for loose servo
connections or broken wires, corroded wires on old servo
connectors, poor solder joints in your battery pack or a defective
cell, or a damaged receiver crystal from a previous crash.
Range Check
Ground Check
Balance Propellers
Charge the Batteries
Identify Your Model
PREFLIGHT
to do smooth loops or slow rolls. Low rates give your
model a soft feel, with aggressive responsiveness just a
flip of a switch away.
Exponential, the best of both rates: Exponential is a
feature which modelers tend to either love or hate. The
benefits of exponential are that they make the elevator,
for example, feel like it is on low rates when you are
moving the stick near center; however, when you get
farther from center the model gets progressively more
responsive. The reason this is helpful is that it allows you
to make soft, minor adjustments when small corrections
are needed, but still allows you sufficient throw to make
major changes at full stick. For example, you can
smoothly level the wings while flying along straight and
level without over-controlling, yet still have enough
aileron throw at full stick to complete a one-second roll.
Idle Down and Throttle Kill: Idle down allows you to
have a switch set for a high idle, ideal for most
aerobatics where you have little or no risk of dead
sticking, as well as a lower idle setting for, say, landings,
taxiing, and minimum throttle maneuvers such as spins.
The throttle kill setting on most computer radios will idle
your engine down whatever percent you set it so that
your engine will shut off when the switch is thrown and
the throttle stick is in the idle position. This is an
excellent safety feature to shut off your engine in
emergency situations.
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