LAZERTOYZ
Pre-Flight Directions
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YOU
will learn how to fly if you follow a few
suggestions! Some
say that you need an instructor to teach you how
to fly RC airplanes. You may not! The guy who gave
you that advice probably learned to fly all by
himself like I did. You DON'T need an instructor
if you choose the right airplane to start with.
There are plenty of true "beginner"
airplanes. They are usually Easy flying High-wing,
Foamie Parkflyers and powered gliders. And these
beginner airplanes are such good flyers that most
of them are bought by long-time RC experts, not
beginners! These are fun airplanes to fly. Flying
your LAZERTOYZ parkflyers. 1.
Understand how your
plane
flies.
Here’s how airplanes fly: When the wing moves
forward the air lifts it. Too slow, no lift and it
falls out of the air -- it stalls. So, it needs
flying SPEED either from a motor and propeller, or
by descending and gliding. The wing is lifting all
the time it's moving forward -- whether it’s
upside down, in a turn, inverted, or doing
acrobatics -- there is always lift from the wing
even though the lift might not be straight UP as
it is in level flight. The airplane makes right or
left turns by tilting in the direction of the turn
so that some of the wing’s lift is angled partly
to the left or right. To turn an airplane you tilt
the wings with the ailerons or with the rudder in
the direction you want to turn. To make the
airplane go UP you give an UP command to the
elevator. The elevator surface angles UP and the
air that’s hitting it blows the tail DOWN and
the nose UP. When the airplane goes UP it slows
down. If it goes too slow the lift stops and the
airplane falls -- stalls. You
turn an airplane differently than
a car or a boat: when you tilt the airplane’s
wing in the direction that you want it to turn,
the airplane will continue to turn as long as the
wing is tilted in that direction. But you will NOT
be holding the control stick in the direction of
the turn (as you would on the steering wheel of a
car) -- you will have the control stick near
NEUTRAL during the turn. To STOP the airplane from
turning you move the control stick in the opposite
direction from the turn so that the wings level
out. "Beginner's" airplanes have a
built-in tendency to automatically come back to
level flight if you let go of the control stick. 2.
Pick out an airplane that can fly all by itself
without you controlling it.
Don’t pick a low-wing, extremely fast airplane.
The best choices are slowflyers, parkflyers, or
gliders that use electric motors for power.
Gliders can glide straight ahead all by themselves
(if they do not have a warped wing -- see below)
without you doing any controlling from the radio
transmitter. If you want to fly without an
instructor these glider type airplanes will fly
themselves while you are trying to figure out how
to make them go some other direction. You need
this stability while you learn how to fly. The
second best choice is a non-glider (powered
airplane) that has the wing on the top of the
fuselage and which is advertised to be a good
training airplane. 3.
Make SURE that these following things are correct
BEFORE each flight: A.
The balance point MUST be where intended. On the
L-3 high-wing it is about 1" back from the
leading edge . On the LAZER Delta wing it is at
the front edge of the servos. Don’t be afraid to
add lead weights to either the nose or the tail to
MAKE the airplane balance where it is supposed to.
If you think that the required weight to achieve
the correct balance point (sometimes called
"CG" -- Center of Gravity) is too much,
you’re wrong -- You can relocate the battery to
balance out or add weights to make the plane
balance where it is supposed to balance! B.
The wing must not be distorted or warped, and it
helps your flying if the wing should have
something called "washout". Fasten the
wing onto the airplane. Set the airplane on a
table and walk off to the rear of it. Look back at
the airplane from an eye position where you can
see just a bit of the BOTTOM of the entire wing.
If you see MORE bottom wing surface on, let’s
say, the left wing, then your airplane will tend
to turn left even when you have the aileron or
rudder control in neutral. Remove that warp before
you try to fly the airplane. "Washout":
this is an intentional and desirable warp of the
wing near each wing tip. Usually this warp is done
to the outer 20% of the wing toward each wing tip.
From the rear of the airplane you should see a
little more of the BOTTOM of the wing near both
wing tips. Why is this "washout" good?
It helps the outer parts of the wing continue
flying straight ahead during the beginning of a
stall. This means that your airplane will stall
straight ahead instead of rolling over on its back
or side when it stalls and that rolling over might
be impossible to recover from. 4.
IMPORTANT! Choose a BIG flying field for your
first flights. Don't try to fly in your street even if the
airplane is capable of flying in such a restricted
area. You will need lots of open and unobstructed
space for your first flights. 5.
If you hand launch your L-3 High-wing plane throw
it hard and
throw it straight ahead, not up. 5a.
With the Delta wing Lazer plane
hold the plane from the top at the cockpit and at
full throttle launch it at 45 degrees throwing it
up with an underhand motion. Insuring you hand
clears the prop that can cut you easily. 6.
If you take off from a ground roll let
the airplane build up so much speed on the ground
before you signal "UP" elevator, that
you KNOW that the airplane has enough speed to
fly. When it leaves the ground try to climb at a
very small angle, not abruptly upward which could
cause loss of airspeed and a stall. 7.
Give very little UP elevator
as your airplane starts to take off. Most
beginning modelers try to climb too steeply which
makes their airplane slow down, stall, then crash. 8.
Don’t try any turns until the airplane is very
high but still in clear view.
Mostly climb straight ahead with only gentle
turns. 9.
Practice gentle turns high
in the air before you try to land. Practice
"landings" while high in the air so you
get a good idea of the airplane's stalling
(fall-out-of-the-sky) speed. If the airplane
stalls just give a bit of DOWN elevator and the
airplane will be flying again. 10.
When the airplane flies TOWARD you, turn your body
a bit so you can imagine "right" and
"left" from the airplane's point of
view. This will prevent you getting confused about
which way to turn your airplane. 11.
Don’t try to land in a specific spot, avoid
turns when the airplane is low. Just
let your airplane glide into the ground
straight-ahead. The bigger the field for your
first flight, the greater will be your chances for
success. 12.
With the delta wing Lazer at about 10 feet
kill the engine and give it some up control. it
will gently glide to the earth Have
fun and Enjoy your Lazertoyz product. |