Stunts

A skilled pilot can make this plane do amazing things.  This page is dedicated to hints an techniques surrounding flight techniques.  Unfortunately, I'm still a hack.   So, I'd ask readers to send in their flight techniques.  I'll post them when I get a chance. Please submit them to the discussion group or email me.  I am in need of instructions for the Dareplane.  What I really need is a scan of somebody's.  If you have instructions and would be good enough to scan them, I'd really appreciate it.  I'll post them on this page.

How to Loop the Dareplane, or Fly Inverted

*Here is a response from Roy.  Thanks for the detailed explanation!

Setup...

First off, one big suggestion I have right off the bat, try placing the center pylon on a raised surface, you know, like a 3' stool or small round end table. By doing this, you change the ground level and give yourself a ton of extra room. You will have to experiment when launching to get it airborne properly, and you will have to REALLY secure the pylon to the stool/table. This should give you a nice safety margin to practice your loops. And yes PLEASE don't smash it into the ground (these things rare !!) go buy a cheap U-Control gas plane and practice smashing THAT and then go fly your '"RarePlane."

To execute a loop...

As far as the plane goes: Make certain that when your Pitch stick is in neutral (the center) that the elevator (rear portion of stabilizer that moves with the Pitch Stick) is also in neutral - that is, with the Pitch stick centered, the stabilizer and elevator both lie in the same geometric 'plane' (no pun intended). See diagram below:

After you check for neutral we can check and make sure the 'throws' are set properly. If you checked for neutral then the next thing to do is make sure the elevator travels far enough - or has enough 'throw'.

If you don’t have enough throw, you can't get the plane to change pitch quickly, even at high speeds. What you want to do is check when you have the stick all the way forward (dive) & all the way back (climb) - the distance the elevator moves should be the same up and down. If there is more of anything, it should move more up than down - you should have more climb power than dive power.

• The further the elevator moves, the more drastic the moment on the fuselage and the faster you change pitch.
• If you do not have enough travel/throw in your elevator, you will not be able to change your pitch rapidly enough to complete a tight loop

To perform a loop at altitude (a-top yee mighty barstool):

1. Gain altitude and airspeed.
2. Level out the plane
3. Dive for more airspeed
4. Punch in FULL up elevator (the timing on this is critical - too late and you crash / too soon and you could stall)
5. HOLD the elevator in the FULL UP position until the plane is about to level out again.
6. BEFORE the plane is completely level, begin bringing the stick back to neutral - you want to gradually move the stick so that you are at neutral when the plane is level. (Kinda like steering through a turn in a car - you start moving back to neutral before the turn is completed so that when the turn is completed the wheel is straight.)

To perform a loop at very low altitude ( 3 inches above the ground ):

1. Gain airspeed, airspeed and more airspeed.
2. Punch in FULL up elevator (the timing on this is critical - too late and you crash / too soon and you could stall)
3. HOLD the elevator in the FULL UP position until the plane is about to level out again.
4. BEFORE the plane is completely level, begin bringing the stick back to neutral - you want to gradually move the stick so that you are at neutral when the plane is level. (Kinda like steering through a turn in a car - you start moving back to neutral before the turn is completed so that when the turn is completed the wheel is straight).

The way an airplane works is contrary to most people’s understanding. The throttle controls your altitude and the elevator controls your airspeed. Most people have this reversed. If the engine is off the plane is on the ground. If the engine is at full the airplane will climb to its maximum altitude and then just fly straight and level. If you use the elevator to climb, you slow down (sometimes so much that you stall and fall) If you use the elevator to dive, you increase your airspeed (until you hit the ground ).

Understanding these relationships is KEY to learning to fly properly. You have to know what to do and HOW to do it when the plane needs to speed up, slow down, gain or lose altitude.

If you set the controls on the Dareplane so that it is flying straight and level at about 12", and then lower the throttle, the plane will lose altitude. If you use the elevator to keep the nose up without adding power, you will stall and crash.

These are the basics…

Another reader, Charlie, submitted these additional comments (an counterpoints)

re Roy's stunt tips, I found his raised pylon suggestion to be very sensible. was sorry he dove into the old throttle/elevator altitude/airspeed dogma though. As with many things in life, the truth lies somewhere in between two fixed extremes, but many instructors/pilots grew fond of insisting it's only one way, apparently just to compensate for the people on the other side who also didn't understand that it's BOTH ways! (just stop reading if this is boring you. heh heh.) look at Roy's instructions for executing a loop. In order to raise the nose and gain altitude for the loop entry, he recommends "FULL up elevator." Then he implies that elevator only controls airspeed, and throttle only controls altitude. obviously, an effect of the elevator application is a reduction in airspeed, but that's simply a byproduct of the main intent in this case -- a loop, or sudden attitude/altitude change
controlled primary by the elevator. artful pilots recognize that all flight controls interact, and that it's almost too beautiful and complex an interaction to put into words -- certainly too complex to assign one effect to throttle and another to elevator.

Sorry. I can argue this one topic for hours. enough of my whining.