Spring training for Stunt fliers
By
Bob Hunt [email protected]
It's spring, and it's time to start honing our patterns again for the competition season. But wait — let's not jump right into flying our top aircraft with our just-out-of-hibernation reflexes. (Those who live in climates where year-round flying is possible must be laughing at this.) Instead, let's do a bit of spring training.
As in any other sport where, at the beginning of a new season, the athletes/participants work up to full capabilities with a regimen of exercises designed to safely and gradually rekindle their skills, we Stunt fliers need a program that does the exact same thing for our required skills.
The model that felt slow going through the pattern at the end of last season with a 5.3-second lap time will probably initially seem like a Combat flier at that same lap time during the first few flights in the spring. Don't attempt a competition Reverse Wingover as your first maneuver on your initial warm-up flight!
Weighted-bat equivalent
Baseball fans are aware of the practice that batters have of swinging a bat fitted with a weighted donut in the on-deck circle before going to the plate. The donut makes the bat more difficult to swing, and the batter has to use more muscle to accelerate it through the swing motion. When the batter removes the weighted donut and swings a normal-weight bat, the result is a much quicker bat motion through the strike zone.
What would be the equivalent of a weighted bat in our world? I have two suggestions.
- Build (or buy) a Slow Combat airplane and equip it with an engine and propeller combination (or an electric motor and propeller combination) that will yield an approximate 60–65 mph flight speed (4.0 to 4.2-second lap time) on 60-foot lines.
- Start out by flying the pattern maneuvers in sequence, but don't initially try to put the bottoms at 5 feet or keep the 45° elevations. Simply fly the pattern big and smooth.
- After you adapt to the speed, try flying lower bottoms and closer to the 45° elevation. Keep doing this until you can fly a very recognizable pattern at that speed.
- When you start flying your regular Stunt model that travels in the 52–56 mph range, everything will seem as though it is in slow motion. Your timing will be better, your shapes will improve, and you should have no problem flying tight 45° maneuvers.
In the 1970s, I started doing this with a Riley Wooten-designed VooDoo. I wasn't trying to train myself; I merely enjoyed flying the Fast Combat model and decided to try performing a pattern that looked decent. I like challenges and this certainly provided one! My Stunt flying noticeably improved after having flown the VooDoo through a lot of patterns, and that's when I realized that this was a great training tool. I haven't been using this type of reflex training device in my spring training in recent years, but I plan to do so this year.
Flapless models
Another training aid that is similar to the one just discussed is to fly a flapless model. This is especially helpful for those who are new to Stunt flying. A flapless model is generally easier to trim to fly well. Sometimes a flap-equipped model can be so difficult to properly trim that you can spend all your allotted flying/practice time simply getting your model to properly turn, lock, and groove. A simple, flapless model can help you to build flying time quickly and efficiently.
The best flapless models are those that have fairly long nose and tail moment arms. They seem to groove better than short-coupled models, and they simulate how a well-trimmed, flapped model feels, especially in the round maneuvers. Good examples of this type of flapless model include:
- Dick Mathis' Coyote (published in the October 1968 issue of Flying Models; plans listing CF-140 is still available from Carstens Publications)
- Mike Pratt's Primary Force
- Ted Fancher's Doctor (full-size plans are available from the Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association (PAMPA) plans service as plan PPN010)
- The Joe Nall Cadet, a model I designed to teach new fliers aerobatics
These models initially look like full competition Stunt models because of their length and ample wing area.
Flap-equipped models
Flap-equipped models yield more lift for a given wing area and allow tighter corners. They generally have no tendency to stall, no matter how hard or quickly the handle input is made. It is here where a flap-equipped model may be less effective as a learning tool and a spring warm-up airplane: it forgives too much.
There is a difference between "piloting" and "flying." When a model goes where you point it without any stalling tendencies—like a well-trimmed flapped model—it is easy to become lazy and simply "fly" the model without the need for finesse. A non-flapped model will probably have a point at which it will run out of lift in a tight corner and stall. It will force you to do more piloting and focus more on the track of the model through the maneuvers—especially the squares—to prevent stalling.
Another way of looking at this is to consider the aircraft's cornering ability and compare it to the difference between the steering feel of a sports car with rack-and-pinion steering and stiff suspension and a typical family sedan. The sports car will "flick" through corners effortlessly and with little steering input, while the sedan will require more steering input and effort.
Nearly anyone can go fast through a corner in a sports car, but it takes considerable driving experience to put the sedan through the same corner at anywhere near the same speed as the sports car without squealing a tire or two. Those who develop the skills to make a sedan turn the corner well will ultimately go faster and more smoothly through the corner in the sports car.
I bounced most of these thoughts off Ted Fancher and Dean Pappas—two individuals for whom I have great respect. They agreed that a non-flapped model is a better learning tool, and perhaps a better spring warm-up airplane.
After your spring training is completed, a flapped model will take you the rest of the way and put the trophies on the shelf, but the simpler model will get you to the point where the full performance of the flapped model can be better realized, utilized, and optimized.
SOURCES
- PAMPA
- www.control-line.org
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
