Model Airplane News – August 2019

FLIGHT TECHNIQUEMASTERING THE TAKEOFF

use small amounts of elevator to fi ne-tune the

climb angle (Figure 3).

Without question, the most important aspect of

taking off at the novice stage is keeping the wings

level to avoid entering a turn low to the ground. It

only takes a couple of seconds for a wingtip to strike

the ground when pilots are so concerned with trying

to climb that they neglect to level the wings. Pilots

could forget to relax the elevator after liftoff and put

the plane into a stall, but if they kept the wings level,

then they would have several seconds to neutralize

the elevator and lower the nose to recover (Figure 4).

Figure 3

Small course

changes with

symmetrical-wing

airplanes entail

briefl y bumping the

aileron (in and out)

to bank the wings

slightly, then hold-

ing a small amount

of up-elevator to

create a gentle turn.

Figure 2

Larger rudder corrections are

typically required at the start

of the ground roll. Th en, as the

speed increases and control

improves, briefl y bumping the

rudder works best.