First flight

[lngarner]

I tried flying my SC 3 times. Failed terribly. I have never flown at all. I did a nose dive on all of them. I now have to get more props, a wing, and a cowl. What do you suggest?

[zeta30]

Welcome to the club and I'm sorry to hear about your luck. Definitely stock up on props and buy a few cowls too.

If you explain what led up to your crashes we may be able to help you out and give some advise. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on this board.

[lngarner]

I did a complete nose dive. Also, I had someone trow by hand.

[flydiver]

There are people that "claim" to fly the Cub right off the bat with no help and no instruction. I learned to fly with a mentor and have now helped 4 people learn to fly. Absolutely none of them could fly worth a d**n for more than a month and their first couple of flights would have been absolute disasters if I had not been there helping.
Frankly I don't believe those folks. My real life experience does not bear it out.

I think a mentor is the best route to go. If you can find no one to help, then get a flight Sim and practice on that. The price will quickly pay for itself in parts not crashed.

Or, go for it and be prepared to buy a LOT of spare parts. You'll have to do this anyway-even with help. At some point you have to do it yourself. Flying is easy----landing is hard.

BTW-turn off ACT. It sucks! Miserable marketing lies.

fly

[lngarner]

Thanx so much. I just checked my landing gear, and it wasnt snapped in good enough.

And when I bought this plane today, I asked the guy if they had replacement parts. I will be seeing him tommorow.

[frazer1981]

I disagree fly? Its a trainer plane, I had no experience at all and yeah we all have a few dodgy landings but the plane is so easy to pick up. I would say i had an intrest in how planes fly etc and that helped my flying eye?! its well worth getting a few extra props as these can bring a flying day to an abrubt end!!!

[keya]

get a flight simulator i went from no experience at all to simulator and then to the super cub and then to the T-28 Trojan with no help from anybody. no crash so far.....that's my 0.02 $

[flydiver]

May 28, 2008 8:42:05 GMT 1 frazer1981 said:

I disagree fly? Its a trainer plane, I had no experience at all and yeah we all have a few dodgy landings but the plane is so easy to pick up. I would say i had an intrest in how planes fly etc and that helped my flying eye?! its well worth getting a few extra props as these can bring a flying day to an abrubt end!!!

Yep, those kind of claims. If that was your experience, that was great. I have not actually seen anyone with that learning curve. My buddy who started last fall is coming over today for a marathon repair session since everything he has is trashed. Now, I admit, that one is a slow learner.

But, the original guy is having trouble. He either has mechanical trouble or 'normal' talent. Since you can't give him your talent how can we help him out? I stand by my suggestions-get a mentor, get a sim, and get a lot of parts, and keep at it.

fly

[frazer1981]

One of the main reason i had to go that way was that a lot of clubs in the uk seem to be 'anti super cub' and still to this day will not let me join there 'club'? It seems they look down on the super cub? this i stress is the only problem i find over here and i dont know if anyone else has had similar problems?

[flydiver]

Some (not all) of the nitro clubs everywhere are not fond of electric. There's a recent thread started in one of the forums. Nitro has gone up even more than gas. A lot of the people who fly either are thinking about dropping nitro completely and I expect a bunch more will now come over. The quiet (relative), ease, lack of fuel and fumes, etc. is mostly in our favor.

But if you can find ANY RC'er that can successfully fly electrics I think you can talk yourself into a mentor. Flying something as basic as the Cub, once you get it, is not hard. Those first few flights can be pretty harmful and discouraging though. Most people are helpful. If not this kind of forum would not even exist.

BTW, got 2 of my buddies' planes flying. The Cub needed more extensive work than we had time for (lousy battery box-real poorly thought out weak spot on that plane; that and the struts).
Then he went and lawn darted his Easy Star on his 3rd battery. Broke it in half for the 4th time.

For all those of you not able to fly the Cub, the Easy star is REALLY tough with a protected motor. It's actually my first choice for teaching/learning. Some folks can't deal with the design and look.

fly

[lngarner]

Wife flown the plane for me fine. We used the simulator last night. she handed the controller to me and i ran it into a tree, 35 feet up. now, whats a creative way to get it out?

[zeta30]

May 28, 2008 3:14:58 GMT 1 lngarner said:

I did a complete nose dive. Also, I had someone trow by hand.

If it is possible try a ROG, (aka Rolling On Ground), take off especially when you are learning. They are much easier than a hand thrown take off. Give the plane full just give it very little, if any up elevator, (meaning don't pull back on the stick). Don't try to slowly give it throttle, give it full throttle all at once.

If you can't do a ROG take off, then give the plane full throttle and wait for a few seconds for the motor and prop to build up, throw the plane level to the ground, not at an angle up. When the plane gains some speed then you can give it a little up elevator.

If the plane is trimmed right it will slowly climb with out any input from the stick at full throttle.

When the plane gets in the air don't try to turn the plane until you get at least 50' up because the plane will loose altitude when you turn, especially when you're first learning.

Important!! Altitude is your friend. A lot of new fliers are nervous to fly 100-200' up there because they are afraid that they will damage the plane in a crash. (I certainly was and still am with my Heli). But if you get 200' up there if you get yourself in a dive you have more time to pull out of it than at 50-100'.

One more very important note. Turn the ACT off! Very few people have actually said the ACT has helped them. I was told at my Hobby Store that the ACT below 50' may cause the motor to cut out even at level flight.

I do agree with the other posts that if you can get yourself a simulator. They are a tremendous help.

[mararra]

I had to get my 2 cents in

Let me say up front that Mr. Fly gives GOOD advice, however I must take exception with " There are people that "claim" to fly the Cub right off the bat with no help and no instruction. I learned to fly with a mentor and have now helped 4 people learn to fly. Absolutely none of them could fly worth a d**n for more than a month and their first couple of flights would have been absolute disasters if I had not been there helping.
Frankly I don't believe those folks. My real life experience does not bear it out. " I'm with Frazer on this. The SC can be mastered without a mentor or even a computer sim if you have a basic understanding of how planes work and how the RC controls work. My 20 year old son and I both learned last summer on my SC. We had no mentor and no sim time. We both have played a little with some of the computer flight games, but very little indeed. We did however armor the Cub prior to begining training; taped the wing and reinforced weak spots that we learned about on the many SC forums, bought some xtra props and batteries and took to the skies! It wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible either. After about 6 or 8 flights (attempts anyway) we were able to stay up for an entire battery pack ;D. Let me tell you , THAT was quite an accomplishment and very rewarding.
Anyway, what I am saying is NEVER never, never, Ever give up !
Ingarner, YOU CAN DO IT By all means if you can get help, DO SO, but if not, armor up and git out there and fly... even if it's a few feet. The good ole SC can take it, and before long you too will be grinnin from ear to ear when ya fly out yer first battery pack.

FLY HIGH and FLY WELL,

M

[flydiver]

I didn't say it was impossible. I'm just trying to be clear that it's MUCH easier with help and the carnage is significantly lower-for awhile anyway. You still have to learn to land. Now that causes additional problems.

You did say [ It wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible either. After about 6 or 8 flights (attempts anyway) we were able to stay up for an entire battery pack]
That's a pretty good learning curve. So, fess up, what was the damage on the first, oh say 20 flights? No prevaricating now....

To get out of tree pay neighbor kid $5. Worked really well for a friend of mine until one of the kids told his Mom.
OTOH, one of our group is a Comcast installer. We have a plane eating tree. I've been in it 2x-luckily within climbing range. He got his stuck WAY up there on some skinny branches. He called one of his buddies. The guy came down with a cherry picker on the truck and easily got his plane out. A bit excessive but pretty sweet.

Other options: stacked PVC poles, fishing poles with a small sinker and abundant casting, chain saws, waiting for wind, long line on something to throw, that kind of thing.

Stay away from trees.

fly

[lngarner]

I got it out it out with many different things taped together. and I tried to fly aagain today. failed. sorry fellows. but i have given up and am moving on to rv trucks. i will be passing my plane onton my wife. she will be contacting you guys soon. just keep in mind, her name wil be (husbands plane, mine now).
by the way, she flew the plane perfectly.