Great Planes Giles G-202 46 Kit - GPMA0238 - Manual (Page 47)

the model down. This will make everything happen a little
slower and allow yourself time to think and react. Add and
practice one maneuver at a time, learning how the Giles
behaves in each. For smooth flying and normal maneuvers,
use the low rate settings as listed on page 43. This low rate
elevator setting is intentionally very soft and smooth, and
was selected specifically to provide clean snaps and loops
and a smooth, fluid flight performance overall. High rate
elevator was selected specifically for low-speed aerobatic
maneuvers such as torque rolls. High rate aileron and/or rudder
may be required for crisp snap rolls and spins. For good
knife-edge performance, including gorgeous knife-edge
loops, high rate rudder and sufficient flight speed are the keys.
Sometime well before it’s time to land, you should climb
your Giles to a safe altitude, cut the throttle to an idle and
check out the model’s low speed characteristics. Do this a
few times so you know what to expect upon landing.
When it’s time to land, fly a normal landing pattern and
approach. Be sure that you are using low rates. Keep a few
clicks of power on until you are over the runway threshold.
For the first few landings, plan to land slightly faster than
stall speed and on the main wheels, as this is the easiest
way to land your Giles. Later, with a little practice you will
find you can make slow 3-point landings.
Have a ball! But always remember to think about your
next move and plan each maneuver before you do it.
Impulsively “jamming the sticks” without any thought
is what gets most fliers in trouble rather than lack of
flying skill.
COMPUTER RADIOS
As you prepare to fly the Giles for the first time, there are
a few features on computer radios we’d like to mention.
There are many others, of course, but these are
commonly used features on most computer radios. If you
are using a non-computerized radio, this information may
still be of interest to you for future installations.
ATV or Travel Volume: ATV is a wonderful feature of
computer radios which allows you to make minor
adjustments to how far a servo travels at its extremes. For
example, you install the throttle pushrod, and it’s almost
perfect, except you have some binding at wide open.
Instead of struggling with the clevises to try to keep full
throttle but not have the binding, you can turn down the
ATV slightly until the binding is gone.
Why only adjust ATV slightly? Control linkages are really
just a lesson in leverage. The less distance the servo is
moving for a given throw at the surface, the less leverage
you have given the servo to do the job. Thus the lower
you set the ATV the less power you are leaving for the
servo to apply to the surface. Additionally, a servo has
only so many points within its range of motion. By cutting
its range in half, you’ve also diminished the precision of
the servo by 50%. Because of both of these issues, we
strongly recommend setting the high rates as close as
possible to 100% on the ATV.
Dual Rates: Setting dual rates helps make your model
easier to fly in a variety of situations. For example, an
expert pilot who wants to do torque rolls will need a large
amount of control throw. However, he does not want that
same huge volume of throw when he is trying 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.
APPENDIX
FLIGHT TRIMMING
Note: The following article has been reprinted in part for future
reference and also as a guide for your flight instructor or experienced
flying partner to help you with trimming your model. If further
information is required, please contact your local hobby dealer, local
flying club or call Great Planes at (217) 398-8970.
A model is not a static object. Unlike a car, which you can only hunt
left or right on the road (technically, a car does yaw in corners, and
pitches when the brakes are applied), a plane moves through that
fluid we call air in all directions simultaneously. The plane may look
like it’s going forward, but it could also be yawing slightly, slipping a
little and simultaneously climbing or diving a bit! The controls interact.
Yaw can be a rudder problem, a lateral balance problem or an aileron
rigging problem. We must make many flights, with minor changes
between each, to isolate and finally correct the problem.
Landing
47