Trouble with the T-28

[lafkev]

First time posting so please bare with me. I began about a year ago with the apprentice. After many of days trying by myself, finally got with an instructer within my local club. After flying with him and also on my own we thought maybe I was ready for for a second plane. After several weeks decided on the t-28 trojan. Began to fly,did ok, but have never been able to fly it like the apprentice. (Lots of crashes and repairs.) Would appreciate any tips or hints on this matter. Because of our beautiful Indiana weather flying has been on hold and so have the instructors. Tired of fixing and being frustrated

[JetPlaneFlyer]

Which brand of T-28?
I've found the Parkzone (parkflyer size) version to fly almost like a trainer, but some of the other brands are much heavier and faster flying. If it is the Parkzone one I'm surprised that you are having problems. Maybe you just need to get a few more hours in on the Apprentice?

I guess a general piece of advice that goes for anyone learning is to set low control throws and only use gentle inputs, many crashes are caused by over-controlling. Planes like the Apprentice (and Pz T-28) are very stable and once trimmed will fly themselves perfectly well. It takes ham fisted human intervention to make them crash. Also it important to take time every time you fly to adjust the trims so that the plane flies straight and level 'hands off'.

[lafkev]

It is the parkzone t-28. Im sure alot of my trouble still is operator error. Want to get another plane up and going ASAP not taking the time to check everything out first. Just need to slow down. Might have to put it away until spring. Thanks for the input

[flydiver]

If you can't fly it without crashing and getting frustrated----don't. If you aren't taking the time to make sure everything is right, it shows you aren't actually ready for the plane yet.
Spend more time on the Apprentice. Fly it faster, and more aggressively. Try things out. Make sure you are better than 'getting by', get confident. Then try the T-28 again.

Altitude is your friend. Check with your instructor on setting up your TX with dual rates and EXPO. That can help tame down the plane.
If your TX does not have that capability....time to upgrade that too.

[mattman0182]

Instead of starting a new thread, I figured I would ask my questions here.

I can now fly my UM P-40 comfortably. I do not try anything fancy, and my throws are all set up at 70%.

On the next good day I'd like to once again try my PZ T28. I need to learn heavier planes if I am going to advance my skills.

Last winter I crashed the T28 on takeoff. Probably because I did not give enough throttle, then pulled up to hard at the end because I was running out of room. I am confident that I know what to do to takeoff.

My question concerns landing. Is the Trojan okay to land in low grass or will it tip? Also should I land it under power or is it okay landing with no power?

I usually hand launch the Warhawk because I have few places that are smooth blacktop or concrete. I keep the landing gear on though and cut power and glide it to soft landings in grass.

The Trojan I want to learn to actually land on.

[xmech2k]

One thing I always do with a new plane, once I have it trimmed out and still on the maiden flight, if it feels right (Not tailheavy, way underpowered, or anything weird like that) is take it up to 3 mistakes high, then cut the power and start adding up elevator to try to keep her at the same altitude. Wait for the stall, and you get a feel for how slow she can fly and how she'll behave in the stall.

As for landing with or without power: I guess you haven't read much on RC or full scale flying techniques? A good landing starts with a good approach. That means a good setup to landing where you have to make minimum corrections on the final approach. On almost any plane, the technique is to use throttle to control your descent rate to landing. It's too much for me to write here. I guess you don't get the AMA magazine? They just had an article on the subject. It's also in many other RC flying books. Probably out there on the interwebs somewhere, too.

Sorry I can't help with the grass, I've only flown from paved or packed dirt runways.

Takeoffs are the easiest part, especially on tricycle gear planes. Like you said, make sure you have plenty of airspeed before lifting off. For that T-28, full throttle should be no problem. Then like I said(And was taught!), get way up high before you test just how slow your plane can fly!

Good luck!

[xmech2k]

Oh, and here's a link to some good reading if you're really into flying. It's about full scale planes, but most of it is relevant to our 'toys' as well.

Aerodynamics in flight

[dahawk]

I had a similar experience transitioning from a high wing trainer to the T-28. Actually put her away for a while then came back to her. She really is a great airplane and I'll guarantee that at some point she''ll be you're best friend again. I fly off grass too. A big weakpoint to the PZ T-28 is her nose gear. The plastic piece for the servo rod breaks often. She'll also nose over on landing on grass. Comes with the territory I'm afraid. Try using the thin wheels. They cut through the grass alot better. I actually ended up converting mine to a tail dragger. Looked a little wierd but at that point, she wasn't going to win a beauty contest. I also hopped her up with an Emax 2820/07 920KV 570watt motor from headsuprc. Was running her on 4S and she really came to life big time. She became my experimental platform. Was having a blast. Unfortunately, one day , while testing a new gyro stabilizer, I was focused on the behavior of the plane and not paying attention to my heading. Smacked into a tree head on. She had lived a good life though. Miss my T-28 !

Don't give up on her. She'll be there ready to take orders.

As other have mentioned, learn to master the circuit. Establishing a good final from downwind and base should be routine. Once established on final, you can adjust throttle to maintain a nice smooth glideslope. Flare near ground level. Once on the ground, keep her rolling and taxi off to the ramp. Grass runways can be difficult even for experienced rc pilots. Just depends on the conditions.

Hang in there. I've learned that most of the time it's not the plane rather it's the planee !

-Hawk

[fhhuber]

T-28 is usually a forgiving aircraft... for a low wing scale military type.

A minor mis-adjustment that can turn a docile plane into a monster is having the ailerons droop a very slight amount. You may not even be able to see it! So for a misbehaving T-28 apply 1 turn to each aileron clevice pushing the ailerons UP. (assuming 2-56 thread or similar... some ARFs have very coarse thead on the clevice and 1/2 turn is a lot) Test fly and see if things improved. You might need a second turn...

Ailerons being drooped acts as flaperons and/or washin. With many designs drooping the ailerons can cause the plane to have very bad stall characteristics. A tendency to snap into a spin any time yo slow down for example.

Raising the ailerons a slight amount is never dangerous. If it doesn't help all it will do is require a slightly higher speed for flight. (very slight speed increase with a small amount of raising the ailerons)

I often put the ailerons on 2 channels mixed for "flaperon" mode with very low flap value on a knob an dial in the best aileron centering. Once I find the right setting I tend to make the mechanical adjustments and go back to a Y harness.

[JetPlaneFlyer]

The PZ-28 lands on grass no problem at all. My flying buddy has one , it was his first low wing plane and he actually prefers it to the trainer. It really is a very easy plane to fly once trimmed out, every bit as easy as most high wing aileron trainers in my book. Once it's trimmed you can take your hands off the sticks and it will fly itself perfectly well, you have to make it crash, it wont crash by itself!

Back to the grass... of course it depends on how long the grass is and how rough the ground is. We fly of sports fields and it's not a problem. Sometimes if you try to taxi back from landing and it finds a divot in the ground it will tip over onto it's nose, but that's hardly ever a problem in actual take off or landing. Never had any problem with the nose gear either and by buddy has done several pretty hard 'arrivals'.

I'm sure your take off problem would have been hauling it off too early without enough speed. Just roll the throttle on gently but keep rolling it on until you have full throttle or close to full. The plane will fly itself off the ground with enough space, or maybe just a touch of up to ease it off the ground. Once in the air you can ease off the power a bit but focus on maintaining a gradual and straight climb out with wings level. Don't let the model get excessively nose up and don't let it start turning before your ready to tun. You fly the model, it doesn't fly you!

[fhhuber]

Grass performance varies with the grass and the size of the wheels.

You can fly any of the Parkzone micros from a putting green. A 50cc size low wing Stick with its 5.5 inch tires will handle "the rough" beside the fairway with ease. (A golf course is a waste of a lot of good flying sites)

Its really hard to say how the appx .15 (glow reference) size Parkzone T-28 will handle any grass without looking at the grass. Some places it will do great. Others it will need a temporary runway laid out. A double width of carpet runner works well.