jksecunda

Same angle into the ground. I'm afraid of throwing it too hard. It will hit the ground harder.

cbatters

Great - at least it is not popping up and stalling.

Your fear of throwing is hard or of the plane going too fast is exactly why it is crashing. The plane needs airspeed or it will not have enough lift. It will not hit the ground harder, it will fly farther.

Throw it very hard and level and be prepared to pull back a little on the stick to pull the nose and extend the glide. Do not pull back too much on the stick or it will lose air speed and stall. You may be able to add one click at a time to get the best level flught without having to use the stick. Do not add too much up elevator - you do not want the plane to pop up above head levle, will lose air speed and stall.

Sabrehawk

I know the feeling ya have there Jeff, its hard to have the courage to throw something your afraid of breaking, that hard. But believe me if you dont throw it hard enough it will get broke. It simply must have enough speed to fly when it leaves your hand, or it simply wont fly.
I said earlier that a good way of practicing this art of throwing an airplane is to do it with those little balsa hand toss gliders made by Guilllows. They can be found at any hobby shop, and even at some dept. stores in the toy dept. Then once you feel comfortable and can have it fly from your hand reliably you can then transfer that throwing motion to a larger plane and it wont worry you so much.
And remember that, "An airplane wants to fly, and it wants to fly right"
It wants to fly at a certain airspeed, and it will if we allow it to. And the airspeed it wants to fly at is the exact airspeed required to support it's wieght, and that is what it's designed to do, and will try to do in spite of anything the pilot does to the contrary.
So if I slow it down by pulling back on the stick(elevator) and then turn it loose the plane will dive however it must to get it's airspeed back, if I speed it up by inputing down elevator and then turn it loose it will again do what it must to reduce airspeed back to where it was, which in that case would be zooming back upward to reduce airspeed.
It's when we fight this speed keeping tendency that we get it in trouble, stall and crash.

Also :

Im going to recomend a very good book for you to either check out at your local library, or if you wish buy it. But at any rate, it will be the one book which will unlock the entire story of flight, and once and for all settle the arguments, the disagreements, the myths and the whole thing about flight.
The book is "Stick and Rudder, an explanation of the Art of Flying" by Wolfgang Langwiesche.
You can buy it online at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Rudder-E.../dp/0070362408

I guarantee you it will be the best 20 some bucks you'll ever spend on flying. It was written to full scale pilots and students, but applies to us as well, or anyone wishing to know all about flight.

cbatters

Alt suggestion. Get one of the large foam planes you see at hardware stores or Toys-r-Us and practice throwing that across the yard if you are having any misgivings about hurling your SUperCub.

As said in numerous posts, a timid throw WILL result in a crash.

And if you throw it very hard and the glide angle is a little steep and the plane is moving too fast, just pull back a bit on the stick to slow the descent a bit.



Clint

CHEECH

Its hard for people to understand us Vampires. Sometimes if I get off of work real late and order a beer at a food joint in the morning on a week day, people look at me crazy.

It definitely is a different world.

Cheech

jksecunda

Actually just picked up a used copy for 12 bucks from the ebay book store. Thanks for the tip on that book.

jksecunda

Well, once again, a dissapointing night. Winds died down after the sun went down. I faced the wind taking off, the plane took off, a little shakey at first, then I forgot again to trim the plane, but did remember to slow down to half throttle. Then it began to dive a little, I panicked, and boom...into the ground. Again a fixable crash. A little glue and packing tape. I will go out again in the morning at dawn. Why is it I can go to work and program machines all day long, but when the plane is doing something weird, I can't think of what to do fast enough. I guess it just takes practice. But then I read about some 12 year old that goes out and flies a plane without a problem. I'm envious.

cjg

Jeff. Don't get discouraged. A simulator will help the "reaction" a lot. The corrections need to be instinctual to be a good pilot. You will eventually get it. Just remember small corrections on the controls go a long way.

ray54

Giving up on the super cub til I can get some help everything looks OK but I can not get it to fly. So I ordered a Commander 2 today maybe I will do better with a 2ch. I will be going in for surgery on Monday I will be back on in a week or so with any luck. So everyone keep flying for me

Ray

cbatters

I still think there would be significant value in you logging 10-20 short hand launched flights. You get a chance to realize that you can launch and land the plane without damage.

And then you should graduate to launch with power - cut power - land straight ahead. Do this 10 times before trying to launch and fly a circuit.

Lots of great advise offered in this thread that you are not heading.



Clint

cbatters

Great choice, great way to learn how to fly circuits and manage the throttle. Do a few unpowered launches before jumping into powered flight. And your first powered flight should be straight ahead and land - no turning.

humboldt guy

Doesn't the AMA Park Pilot program have a search tool for Park Pilot mentors? That could help match up mentors with people wanting to learn to fly. As an alternative I've given my phone number to my LHS to give people purchasing a SC or other trainer and have been helping several folks with some basics. I'm no great pilot but I have enough experience to have helped them out quite a bit. We have one local club, but they are not too friendly toward park flyers unfortunately, so I love to help people avoid the myriad mistakes that I made trying to learn by myself. Plus the fellowship is great!

jksecunda

I will try that today. Churchs are full(my favorite large field is behind a church)and the wind is nill this morning. But when it picks up I will try this hand launch thing. I am NOT ready to give up yet. Or at all for that matter. If I let things beat me that easily, I would not be doing the work I do at work. I enjoy my job because it is a challange. AND SO IS THIS.
OK, hand launch this afternoon. Maybe try again tonite if winds are downs.

Thanks for the positive posts.

cbatters

Good luck. A dozen succesful hand launches where you get to see the plane flying and landing without damage will bolster your confidence. Also gives you a chance to see what the normal flying speed is for the cub (which may seem fast to a new pilot.)

Do small trims of the elevator) (1 click at a time to make the plane fly level without you having to grab the stick immediate after launch.

If you have a pretty good throwing arm, you should be able to get 100' glide froma firm toss.

Sabrehawk

Good stuff Jeff, glad ya got the book, it's gonna become your "Bible of the air".

Yesterday at our club field I recomended it to a flyer having trouble with his landings, and even showed him my copy and he's gonna get himself one too, and several other very good pilots there also seconded the recomendation.

You'll get there Jeff, just keep trying and dont give up and I promise we wont either.

One flyer said, "Yeah, and what was true in 1944 is still true today" and I agree with him, mainly cause aside from poloution the air we fly in is still the same.

You have done well grasshopper...........very well.

Straub

I too have been reborn!! Im a total newb when it comes to flying, flown maybe half a dozen times and struggled. After I read this a light bulb turned on and now I approach flying completely differently. Its quite remarkable actualy, hah! Thanks Sabrehawk!

Now I need to get my supercub glued back together to try it out from this new perspective. Since having this epiphany I have been flying my Nexstar with great success.

Cheers!

Fly Time

Yep, brilliant book! It has been 25 or 30 years since I've read it, and it has given me a solid foundation for understanding flight that applies to model airplanes just as it does for full sized aircraft.

Sabrehawk

Gosh I love it when a plan comes together...........now, take the pebble from my hand.

Yeah we can now tell ole Bernoulli to take a hike, we know how to fly now, cause Wolfgang told us how.

jksecunda

I DID IT....flew the plane with the power off. I went down tonite cause the winds were down, and decided to try again. I threw it about 10 times before I could get it to go straight and not stalling. Then, with a little power, threw it and made a sort of landing. Its in the grass so the plane tips over with the little wheels. But it went straight and I gave it a little elevator(very little) and it kept going. This is BIG for me. Now to go again tomorrow. Can't wait. Thanks again for all your help.

Sabrehawk

Yayyyyyyy Jeff!!!!! You go man, you go............

Im so glad to hear that my friend,...........so glad and I knew you could do it.

Congrats man.

cbatters

Congrats. Sounds like you are making great progress.

Short successful flights build confidence.



Clint

1320fastback

After a hard nose-over I noticed that I had damaged a capacitor. I replaced them with Radio Shack parts for under $3.00. I added a third capacitor from positive to negative, the stock cub does not have this.

I had noticed some glitching after this particular landing so I will see if it clears up next time I preflight.

Zoo

Too funny.....

Straub

Ya lol, not really sure who Bernoulli is but --->

Seriously though, I think I need to replace my Supercubs fuselage

Zoo

Easy task Straub...have fun getting the engine out of the mount!!
Zoo ~~~^..^~~~