Ep 39: Happy Birthday Tom, How to be a Better Pilot, Listener Mail

[00:00:10] RC Plane Lab, a podcast for anyone interested in RC airplane. We’ll share tips and tricks on how to build models and talk about successful flights, epic crashes and everything in between. Visit us at rcplanelab.com to sign up for our email list and to ask us questions. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please help us out by rating and reviewing us in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for spending time with us today. Now here are your hosts, Ron and Tom hello.

[00:00:38] Everyone, welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I’m Ron and I’m Tom. How you doing, Tom? Wonderful I would.

[00:00:45] Be remiss if I didn’t bring this up. Okay, happy birthday. Oh well, thank you very much. You just

[00:00:50] Turned half a century. Half a century old, yep, I mean, you’re like well over the hill. Well, I prefer to.

[00:00:57] Think that the best years are the ones yet to come. There’s just fewer of them. Thanks, Ron. No happy birthday, though. 50. That’s, that’s a big deal. That’s awesome. Well, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s a milestone. I.

[00:01:10] Remember- it’s been probably about a year ago- your wife was talking about wanting to do this big surprise party for you and all that kind of stuff, and right, we didn’t even see you on your birthday.

[00:01:19] I mean, it was just like what. Nobody saw me on my birthday except for laurie and the kids.

[00:01:24] With the way this whole yeah weirdness is going right like- and that sounded like it was.

[00:01:31] Going to be a fun party. It really did so. Just to let everyone know that I’m kind of a private person. I don’t like put a lot of that kind of stuff out there, and normally I don’t like a big fuss made over my birthday, and so I told laurie she really wanted to go all out for my 50th, and so I was like, okay, I’ll, I’ll agree to this on one condition: that I can do the same for you when you turn 50. So that was that was the deal, and unfortunately covid had other plans. But well, that’s probably what.

[00:02:04] She wanted because she likes a big party, so she likes to. She does people make a big deal about.

[00:02:09] That. So yeah, not for her. She doesn’t like, oh really, no, no, no, she’s. Oh, she doesn’t want anybody fussing over her either. Oh so, but that’s, that was the arrangement we had. Yeah, so both wanted to do.

[00:02:22] Something that you didn’t want to do, so you could do it to somebody else. Exactly. I like how that works out, but anyway, but thanks, covid. Happy 50th birthday. Thank you very much. Maybe we’ll have a big party for.

[00:02:30] 51. I’d rather not fine as monotone as I can get. Happy birthday, Tom. You’re 50 and congratulations. Thank you very much. I’m glad that I’m happy to have made it to 50 years old. Well, some things I did in my youth, I’m not sure I would have thought I’d ever made it this far. Well, here’s to the next 50.

[00:02:51] Congratulations, thank you. So airplane stuff, let’s. Let’s talk about airplanes. What did you do on your?

[00:02:59] On your duelist got. Yeah, we had a nice long weekend. I had friday off and then had the monday off too for the holiday, which I forgot about that. Yeah, so four days off. You would think that I got a lot done. And it doesn’t look like I got a lot done. Folks will see the pictures hopefully soon on the website, but I did. I do have one complete wing now, so I joined the two panels and I got the gear cutouts done and the gear, the wheel wells lined and got all that done, and so now I have one.

[00:03:31] Complete wing. Yeah, it’s retractable gear. That’s the important part. So it seems like

[00:03:37] Like, like when you came over and you saw what I got done, so I was very excited when I saw what you got done. Well it’s. It looks more impressive than it actually is because, like all the stuff you’re doing your wing, I’m not doing to my wing like I don’t have any of the gear cutouts, I don’t have any of the air stuff I have to run. I don’t have any of that stuff, yeah, but you have. Well, essentially, you

[00:03:58] Have four nacelles cut and built, ready for almost what appear to be ready for mounting. Well,

[00:04:06] Two are going to be the final ones, and then the other two are just going to go in the burn barrel. So it’s it’s. This is this has been a learning experience. There’s, there’s a lot.

[00:04:17] Of firsts for me, especially and basically, you’re redesigning the airplane for electric power, yeah, I mean really so right, so deviating from the planes quite a bit, the sizing for the.

[00:04:30] Nacelles had to change quite a bit because that’s where I plan on putting my batteries, so it’s quite a bit longer and that really kind of gives me a little bit of concern, like for finding the CG when it’s time to do it, because batteries are going to be heavy and that’s going to be very, very four of the, the CG or ahead of the CG. If I said that, right, it’s going to be forward of the CG. So I don’t. I’ve got to try and figure out what I’m going to do, like I know, when I do the, the tail and stuff, instead of doing the stick built, whatever you call that stick belt, okay, yeah.

[00:05:04] I’m going to do like solid sheets, yeah, just to give it a little bit more weight in the back. But I was back there. Maybe too I might. I’m gonna have to do something because I need to get. It’s gonna be. It’s gonna be nose heavy. I don’t want to use lead. Yeah, I mean I, I probably am gonna have to. I hope not, but I don’t want to. No, but so within the cells I ended up, I started off trying to do it out of falcata. It probably would have worked great with that had I finished the laser first. So our laser is too small for me to do that in one piece and in order to get the

[00:05:38] Shape down and stuff and actually get it glued together. That glue joint’s not strong enough to get the curves in it to make it, even if you key the joint. No, like I, I yeah- there’s just no real way to get an even curve with that much glue on it, with that much extra structure. I guess going into it when I doubled that up, then I could actually get that curve a little bit. But that falcata is so strong I’m not comfortable with as much pressure, yeah, on that as I would had to have with.

[00:06:10] You’ve learned a thing or two about how much balsa and falcata, how it responds to too much pressure. I don’t know, I don’t know what you mean. I have how many wings have? Well, I guess just one.

[00:06:23] I’ve only crushed one, crushed, crushed one, bent one and have one that works. So maybe I should do a triplane like a. That’d be kind of neat, wouldn’t it? Oh, that would be cool. And six motors- yeah, that’d be awesome. No, no, I’m, I’m, I’m ready to get this plane done and flown, but anyway. So with the falcata, like I said, it was just too strong really for what I was using, what using it for. So then I went to balsa. That worked fine and that’s kind of what I ended up going.

[00:06:56] With and I think it lines up pretty good. It looks pretty good. Yeah, it looks very good. I was very

[00:07:02] Excited when I looked over there and saw that on your table you were. You were like a kid in a candy.

[00:07:06] Shop. I was kind of surprised when you walked in. We’ll start. It’s. It’s your eyes like lit up? It’s.

[00:07:11] Looking more and more like a dualist every day, every time I come over there’s, it looks more and.

[00:07:15] More like a dualist it’s. It’s getting there. There’s just a little bit left to do. I mean, like, really I’m far along on that compared to where I would be if I was doing everything that you’re doing on yours. So the only things I have left to do on that really is do the sheeting on the trailing edge- yep, and that’s not going to take much at all. Strips, the cap strips for that off. Yeah, the cap strips on that. And then the wingtips- like I’m cheating and not going to do them out of blocks.

[00:07:44] It’s not cheating. I’m deviating again and well, and that’s fine, because you’re deviating almost every part of the plan, because you’re going electric and making it for electric. I mean the nacelles are longer, much longer, a different shape even, yeah, slightly compared top and bottom. I mean your wing is constructed differently, I mean so far, the fuselage I think is still per the plan.

[00:08:10] At its present state. Yeah, as it sits now it is. So I think I’m going to do the canopy to the plans, as opposed to like you’re doing a little bit different with your canopy. You actually bought one that’s going to go on right. I think I’m going to try and do mine built up, built up and then so instead of it being the curved stuff, it’s going to be more of a angular. Yeah, I don’t know why, I kind of like that. So we’ll see how that turns out. If I don’t like it, I’ll do.

[00:08:36] Something else, but it’s probably pretty light too. It looks like it’s fairly lightly built. Yeah, there’s.

[00:08:41] Not a lot that comes into. There’s just a couple extra pieces that go on to really what’s there now. So it should be pretty easy and you’re doing. You’re doing a tail dragger which is going to make.

[00:08:51] It. Yeah, so you’re not going to have that nose gear weight in the front either? Oh, that’s true. So that should help me a little bit. Yeah, see, I’ll have a retractable nose gear in the front of mine. So even though my nacelles will be shorter and maybe not have as much weight as yours, I’m going to have that nose gear up front. That’s going to add quite a bit of weight to the nose. So now on the fuel tanks.

[00:09:11] Go directly behind the engines, so that’s going to be in front of the actual wing. It will be, yeah.

[00:09:17] Well, it’ll be just well, it’ll be just ahead of. It’d be right on the wing, leading edge right.

[00:09:23] So it’s going to be exactly where I’m putting the battery, pretty much. So what, we might not be that far off by the time you put your fuel in, by the time you put your, because your engine is going to be a lot heavier than my motor- yes, I mean yes. And by the time you get your extra serve- although I guess that’s not going to be necessarily in the servo- I can put forward: yeah, but I won’t have that. I will have an esc, though, but, like the batteries I’m going to get, they’re like a pound a piece, so I’m going to have two pounds in front of the wing.

[00:09:55] Just in the nacelles, just in batteries? Yep, so that’s concerning, but I mean we’ll make it work. Yeah, whatever, if it doesn’t fly, it’s going to hang from the ceiling and look nice.

[00:10:06] It’ll fly, and that’s something else. You’re not going to have a receiver battery really to have to worry about either. I’ll have that, that I can move around in the airplane if I need to, yeah, so that’s something else you’ll have to. You’ll have to factor into where you mount your servos and

[00:10:20] Stuff. There’s really not going to be a lot of weight that goes into. Not really. Yeah, because I mean there’s not gonna be a lot of weight that goes in the fuselage at all. No, not, not really, I mean.

[00:10:29] You’re going to have your receiver, which those are very light and I actually thought

[00:10:33] About maybe putting the receiver on the wing as opposed to in the plane, because I think it’s going to be easier to plug in elevator and rudder to it as opposed to plugging in servos for the.

[00:10:46] Ailerons and the escs and all that kind of stuff too. So yeah, oh, that makes sense, it might be easier.

[00:10:52] To just mount that on top of the wing, so it goes inside the body that way. How will you do the, the escs?

[00:10:57] Will you? Will you rig them up as in a y harness, or will you put them on separate channels? Separate channels, okay, and then mix them together, okay. Yeah, that way I can control it a little bit better.

[00:11:06] If I need to do anything speed wise, which I shouldn’t, man, you could do some cool asymmetric.

[00:11:11] Thrust type exercises too, if you wanted to, yeah, or experiments. I should say, mix it in with the rudder.

[00:11:17] And all that kind of stuff. That might be kind of fun. That might be really fun. You should try that on yours too. You could do that. Yeah, I mean, you’re going to be running, aren’t you running? Two servos?

[00:11:26] Then, so you can set it up the same way, pretty much as I am. Well, they are going to be on separate channels because I may have to be able to adjust the servos separately to get the engines in sync. Oh, I didn’t think of that so. But yeah, they’ll be on separate channels. So yeah, I could technically do the same thing. The same thing. Huh, I thought these things would do crazy. Flat spins with like full left or right rudder and then one engine at idle and the other one that wide open. I bet it could. Or even better, with an electric you could reverse one.

[00:11:57] Mind blown. Oh, I would so crash it’s. It’s not even funny. I mean like yeah, but how cool would that be.

[00:12:04] If you like, got that figured out. Can you imagine the spin rate you could get, like on a flat spin with one motor turning in reverse? That would be awesome. I don’t know if you could actually do.

[00:12:15] That with the escs I’m getting, but I’m sure there are some to where you could. That might be kind of.

[00:12:19] Fun. Yeah, I’m not going to do it, though, or point it like whenever you’re doing a loop, you can have them reverse on the way down to, so that your down leg is slower than your up leg there you.

[00:12:29] Go, that would really mess with people. Or we could even just do like the reversible props, like the variable speed or variable pitch. Just being silly, gosh shot me down on that one.

[00:12:39] Pretty quick. Well complicated though, aren’t those fairly complicated? Yeah, you’re right. No,

[00:12:44] It’s easier just to do it through electronics, yeah, especially when it’s an electric motor, right, but yeah, yeah, I don’t know why. That actually just got me a little bit more excited to finish this. So, yeah, the wind is back in my sails, excellent, which it had been taken out, actually, for a while.

[00:12:59] Well, and I’ll be honest occasionally, even with this four-day weekend that I had, I should have gotten a lot more done, like I probably could have at least started building the, the horizontal stabilizer or whatever, even if I don’t have the materials to work on my nacelles. I could have found other stuff to work on. But I’ll be honest: sometimes the motivation is.

[00:13:20] Just not there. How, what I’m saying? Well, yeah, and it’s unfortunate, because, like I’m to the point, I have other things in the back of my mind that I want to build. Yes and okay. So one of them.

[00:13:36] And I have other things in my shop that I need to be working on. What I mean, like I need to.

[00:13:41] Get back on the horton project. Okay, don’t don’t start with this, because you’re the reason I’m doing this, so you got to be still be excited about it. This is: I’m very excited about that. I cannot.

[00:13:52] Wait to have a completed duelist, I can take out to the field and see it sitting, I mean in my head, I can.

[00:13:57] Still, I can. Yeah, I’m excited you can visualize. I can visualize things like I can’t. I can’t see.

[00:14:04] That, oh, I can. I can totally see a nice crisp. Well, it’d be spring after you think. So now, is that what we’re aiming for, at the rate, I’m going and I’m waiting for materials. I gotta find some 16th inch plywood somewhere to do my nacelle doublers, but that, yeah, that’s going to be kind of more difficult to find than it should be. Yeah, I, I thought I’d be able to go find it at michael’s, but apparently no. Did you try Hobby Lobby? Yeah, oh, same results. That’s too bad, yeah.

[00:14:34] So, anyway, it’s going to be another trip up to our favorite place, and that’s okay. And that’s okay because I gotta buy another tool. What do you? I’m gonna buy another balsa stripper. Oh, that’s a good.

[00:14:44] Idea. Actually that’s a good idea. It’s good to have an extra one. I might actually get a second one too. What I’d like to do- but I probably won’t because time and all that stuff- I’d like to build one like an actual, like computer controlled balsa stripper to where you can just tell it: I need a quarter inch piece and then that will move the blade out everything for you, and then you can just load your, your wood in there and it would push it through. It wouldn’t be that hard to do. I wouldn’t think so. But that’s just more time I don’t have. Well, but that’s okay. Yeah, it’s, it’s always good to have.

[00:15:15] Things you want to do later, right? Yeah, so, like I talked about losing motivation, talking about it with you gets me motivated again and seeing your progress gets me motivated. It’s like I wish we had about another five hours when we’re done recording, right, so that I could get home.

[00:15:32] And get stuff done, but unfortunately no I understand what. Maybe one of these days you ought to bring your stuff out here and we could just kind of like record on a saturday or something and then.

[00:15:42] Have the rest of the day to work. Maybe that’s not a bad idea. Well, I mean, when the dualist projects are over, we are going to collaborate on the next project, correct, one of the next projects? Well, and.

[00:15:52] No, and actually the way. So yeah, the next thing we’re planning on doing is going to be the tri-motor, right? Okay, just making sure we’re on the same page. And you- you said you already have a.

[00:16:04] Couple motors for it. I do well, I think I do okay. I mean, I have a couple of satos. I have 50, a sato 50 and a sato 72. So we just need to build or to buy another, probably another 72, either a 72, I would say another 72, because the 50 can sit in the in the center and no one will be the wiser.

[00:16:23] But that’s going to be. I’m that. One is one I’m getting excited about. Like, really, I almost just want to get these out of the way. I’m not saying I don’t care about these because they’re cool, but yeah, there, it’s just something I got to do first at this point, so I’d like to get this done and get it out of the way. The other thing, though, that I want to do- and it’s probably gonna be at the same time, because we’re going to work together on the, the tri-motor. That’s the plan, so we don’t have a lot of time where we can get together and do things, really because of life stuff, so I’ll need.

[00:16:56] Something to work on by myself when I’m not with you, right, I really like the elder 40. Oh, you’re putting it out there. Yeah, I, I’m going to whatever. Okay, but there’s okay. So here’s the story behind that. And then this is: this is the whole story behind it. When we went to the fly-in and our friend had the big biplane there, that covering was. I really liked the covering that.

[00:17:27] Was on that and we got talking about it and figuring out that’s old stuff, it’s not made anymore. Yada, yada, yada. We had a listener reach out and tell me that you can still get that kind of covering and told us what it was and stuff. And so I went and bought a roll. It was a- I don’t remember how long it’s- a small roll- 15 foot, is it 15 foot? I thought it was 15 feet, it might be, but it was 65 bucks just for the head roll of covering. Ouch, I shouldn’t have bought it, but that’s kind of what’s pushing me on this. Yes, it really is. So I started looking for different.

[00:18:03] Planes that would fit that kind of fabric, that would. That would really work in. On that and everything I was looking at, I always came back to the elder 40. It was really just a cool looking airplane. I like the, the open structure in the back- it’s very cool, and I like the like the scalloped on the control surfaces on the tail. I don’t know why, I just think that’s kind of neat too, even though I know that’s gonna be a lot harder to do. And so when we were up at our favorite hobby shop there was one of those on the rack up in the attic where he had a whole bunch of

[00:18:34] Airplanes for sale and I finally saw one in real life. I was like, okay, that’s it. I really like it. So I know that’s what I want to build. Well, then we took a couple of our friends up there.

[00:18:47] And he really thought he liked that one- also one of our buddies did, and he ended up buying it. He did. Well, that cool good for you, that’s awesome. But man, that kind of took the wind out of my sales for that one. Well, now there’s already one out there, right? So I don’t want to do the same thing that somebody else has done, because that’s kind of boring. So here’s my thought, and tell me what you think of this. I want to scale it, okay, to twice the size, I think. Oh, okay, so it’ll be the size.

[00:19:20] That would be. If everything will work out right, that will be 130 inch wingspan. Now, yeah, it’s hers. That’s a big airplane. That’s a big airplane, but it should be light. There’s not much to those at all. It’s very lightly, it’s not. It’s not a heavy airplane. Do you think I would be able to fly a plane that size with a 20 cc zenoa? Well, yeah, I mean if, if you build it light.

[00:19:49] And be mindful of the, of the all-up weight, the finished weight of the airplane, and if you keep it, you keep it at 15 ish pounds. I think, yeah, I think it’ll, it’ll fly fine. I mean it’s not going to be like a, a 3d machine or- which I don’t want, or an aerobatic. I mean it’s going to be a floater, a slow, lumbering kind of a thing, and if that’s what you want, I think a 20 cc would fly it. A 30 cc would probably fly it better. Do you think I should use the one the that royobi one that you would convert it? Well, I mean, if we could figure out the ignition on that.

[00:20:23] Thing. I think that would probably be a better option and it would kind of look cooler, I think. Because of the shape of the cylinder head on that engine, I think it just looks older. Yeah, it would.

[00:20:34] Definitely kind of match the classy classical, yeah, antique-ish yeah, and then I don’t have to use my good 20 cc on that plane. I could use it on something else, that’s true. Ah, that really gives.

[00:20:47] Me but, like I said, something to think about: have to be mindful of the weight in every aspect of the

[00:20:54] Build. I mean, you got to keep it light. One of the things I thought about doing, just because it’s such a simple designed wing, is doing a foam core. Oh, you don’t like foam core. Foam, I mean foam, has its has.

[00:21:06] Its application for sure, but it’s been my experience that a foam core wing- unless you take measures to lighten it- like cut out open rib bay, cut out open rib bays and things like that- they tend to be a little bit heavier than a built-up balsa wing. So like a foam core fully sheeted wing is in that scale, especially at that size, is going to be fairly heavy I think.

[00:21:36] Unless, like I said, unless you go ahead and cut out the rib base so that they’re open, so that your foam is essentially taking the place of the spars and ribs and things like that and you have open bays. I’ve seen them constructed that way and they’re very light that way. Yeah, I might have to.

[00:21:52] Do a few tests and stuff I’ll. I’ll have to build a hot wire cutter, so that’ll be fun. There you go, a new.

[00:21:58] Tool, another toy- yes, put it on my list of things to do. Those are actually fairly easy to build, I think.

[00:22:04] Yeah, I’ve seen quite a few articles. I’ve actually I’ve built one before, oh, but not that wide. Oh, okay, like the one I have now will only do like 24 and I think I’ve done like 26 inches and you do the.

[00:22:17] Wing out of foam, then we don’t have to. There’s no rush. I should say to, to make our laser bigger. Really well, I mean, I know that’s a project you want to finish and get done, but I mean.

[00:22:29] The laser needs to be bigger for the tri-motor and, technically, the laser needs to be bigger for the dualist. Technically it just needs to be bigger, yeah, so okay, yeah, that’s okay. That’s gonna go on my list too higher on my list, so maybe I won’t be building airplanes anytime soon, but I gotta get some other stuff done first, right now, so, but I gotta get done with that. I want that to be behind me. So I understand. I want my dualist to be hanging on my

[00:22:56] Wall so that I can look at it and know that, hey, my dualist is finished and I can go fly it. I’m looking for that. I gotta tell you I’ll be. I’ll be interested to see the difference in how.

[00:23:08] Mine flies versus how yours flies, because it’s going to be a completely different. Yeah, I mean, yours is going to be a lot faster than mine, maybe. No, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be, because I’m not doing any of the screaming motors and all that kind of stuff that you’re going to be doing. I wouldn’t.

[00:23:21] Say mine, are screaming. They’re just 40s with pipes- tuned pipes- you’re going to get a lot more rpm out of them. It’s not like they’re nelson racing engines or anything like that. They’re just standard old ringed 40s that’ll have a pipe. They may turn a few hundred more rpm than a non-piped one. I mean what I wouldn’t call them screamers. What size propeller are you putting on?

[00:23:42] So, like we talked about in the last episode, yeah, but I don’t remember well, I don’t think I actually said, but the plan is to do a 10 by 6: 3 blade. Okay, so we’re about the same propeller then, because I’m doing an 11 by 6, 2 blade, yeah, so we’re about the same. I have the same load, yeah, but mine- I don’t know- probably turned maybe a couple thousand more rpm maybe than electric at.

[00:24:07] That size. I don’t really know what’s the case. I don’t, I don’t remember. I think it’s. I think I bought 1100 kV, oh, and that’s going to be 14, 8, 14.8 Volts. Yeah, so do the math. I don’t have stuff in.

[00:24:22] Front of me right now. Yeah, that’ll be up there. Yeah, it will be interesting to see the difference, but we’ll see one thing’s for sure: I’ll be able to stay airborne longer, yeah, and then you’ll be able.

[00:24:32] To come down and fill up and do it again, which I won’t be able to yep, but that’s okay, because this is not one I plan on flying often. Exactly well, we’ll get the trimotor out and we’ll fly that a.

[00:24:42] Lot, yes, this one probably not so much. Yeah, that’s okay, but that’s all right. And then the elder. What?

[00:24:48] Was that going to be? It can’t be an elder 40 anymore, because that’s the size. So an elder, elder, ultimate, an elder xl, a b-a-u. You figure it out? No, b-a-e, the b-a-e. Yeah, got it. Oh, forget that. And you? You looked at me like I’m an idiot, like you’re looking like yeah.

[00:25:13] I’m trying to figure it out. I don’t understand it. That’s why, anywho, bow. Yeah the bow, it’s a bow.

[00:25:20] It’s a bow plane, a big elder. Oh so let’s talk okay about something, because we’ve just been rambling. Yeah, we have sorry about.

[00:25:31] That, yeah. So I was thinking I could hit a subject that has been asked of us a couple of different times: how to become a better pilot. Oh that, okay, good idea. I mean there’s, there’s lots of ways to do it. I mean I, we can just get right in it unless you have no, because I’m not a good pilot, so you go ahead and you tell me what I need to be doing. I wouldn’t really say I’m a good pilot either, but I’m a fair. I’ll give myself fair pilot, competent, competent, and I’m okay with competent.

[00:26:01] By the way, because that means you can land and you’re not gonna like crash a plane every time. Yeah, I would say I’m a competent pilot, definitely not a 3d pilot, definitely not a skilled stunt pilot- me I’m talking about- but competent, yeah I would. Oh, you’re definitely competent, I mean.

[00:26:20] You have no trouble with taking off and landing and correcting for crosswinds and things like that. And I’d say: you’re above competent, I’m competent plus proficient, proficient, how about that? Oh, would you, would you take proficient, I could, I could see that, sure, okay. Well then what are you? I would say proficient plus, maybe proficient plus, maybe not an expert, but proficient plus, maybe I can. I can handle the basic maneuvers and not, and some fairly advanced maneuvers. Well, I wouldn’t say that I mean.

[00:26:49] I’m compared to me, so we can’t be rated the same. Well, we’re not. I’m plus. Oh well, as long as I’m not.

[00:26:57] Minus. So some things that I that I do to try to become a better pilot practice: fly a lot. Well, that was easy, which is, I mean, I mean basically the more you fly, the better you’re going to get. I mean, it’s just like with any skill that you want to learn in life that to get good at it, you have to do it a lot. Practice makes perfect. Yeah, and unfortunately we never seem to get as much practice as we like. It’s been windy, by the way. I wanted to go out, like this weekend. I thought it’d be awesome to go out.

[00:27:29] Crazy windy silly. Yeah, it was crazy windy, yeah, but anyway, I haven’t certainly not gone out as much as I wanted to this flying season, and that’s okay. There’s always the next season, right, maybe not always, I was gonna say, with the exception of once. But yeah, so practice, fly, fly as much as you can without causing grief at the, at the homestead, what well? Some spouses may not be okay with you spending an entire weekend at the field. If there’s, then you

[00:28:01] Need a new spouse, okay, okay, Ron’s marital advice. There you go, spouse, if she doesn’t like your. How was that worded in the? We got it. I don’t remember how I said it, but yeah, funny stuff. So, yeah, practice. Something else I do is? You mentioned the wind. Sometimes I will purposely go fly in a little bit of wind or a lot of wind. Maybe not a lot of wind. I was gonna say let’s not say a lot of wind, but if, if, let’s say you’re accustomed to flying in winds of five.

[00:28:37] To seven miles an hour, maybe move your cutoff up a little bit, like maybe 10 miles an hour, oh, but what that is gonna do, it’s gonna. It’s gonna develop your comp and compensa- I can’t say it. It will improve your ability to compensate for the wind. What word were you going for? Compensatory, I think, is the word I was anyway. So flying in the wind, I didn’t even

[00:29:07] Know that was a word, so I’m sorry it is come compensatory wait maybe I oh, anywho okay.

[00:29:16] Hey, listen, an english expert, I’m not a literally a little literary, a literary scholar, oh, sorry. So yeah, don’t be afraid to fly in a little bit more wind than you’re normally accustomed to, especially winds that are crosswind of your runway. Okay, continue on. Seriously, ignore me. Why are you laughing? I don’t know the whole compensatory english. What’s so funny? Come on, do share.

[00:29:53] Go on, please. You were just talking about wind and I don’t know why wind made me laugh.

[00:29:59] Well, because you break wind a lot, not as much as you. I’m not, I know I think, so I’m not entirely sure that’s accurate. We’re, we’re about close. No, I think since you’ve been here, it’s been more you.

[00:30:14] Than me well, one night. Well, that’s all I have to go off of for now. Yeah, continue, sir. I’m sorry, oh I.

[00:30:24] Just spilled my water shoot. So while Ron’s cleaning himself up, it’ll dry. I’ll talk about flying in crosswinds, and so that will develop your. What crosswind? Seriously, ignore me, I’m sorry, I mean.

[00:30:41] What’s funny about that? It’s just a word. I was up very early today and I think I’m getting slap happy.

[00:30:45] So just move on. All right, it’s okay. So flying in a crosswind, especially on landing and taking off, it will develop your coordination with your left hand to coordinate rudder with throttle. Something else you can do is pick a spot on the runway and try to hit that spot every time when you land. That’ll that’ll develop your approach, skills and develop habits that will become second nature. That’s something I work on. I like to do a lot of landings when I fly.

[00:31:19] That’s kind of well, no, no, honestly. I agree like takeoff and landings are more fun to me than flying.

[00:31:23] Just yeah, regular flying around. I like the challenge of, of trying to learn a new maneuver, but, but I really there’s. I don’t know why I enjoy it so much, but I do enjoy.

[00:31:34] Landing a lot. I we’ve said it several times before- a good landing is just awesome to see. It really is difficult to do. Really it gets easier with practice. Oh, it does, but you’d be well, no, you wouldn’t be surprised. I was gonna say you’d be surprised, but you wouldn’t be surprised, because you see it as much as I do when people land, like the 18 bounces and stuff, which is okay if you’re trying to not do that. I mean trying to not do that, I guess, but if you’re just learning, that’s cool.

[00:32:06] But man, that’s, that’s not good on your gear, especially when you porpoise, and it gets worse every time that you do it and then you stall it and, yeah, break the gear and all that stuff. But yeah, so try not to do that. But good landings, very, very fun to watch and very satisfying.

[00:32:22] Especially when you grease one in and there’s no bounds, and it just makes that sound. It makes

[00:32:27] A sound now, at least on our grass runway, when you get it just right here. It’s just that nice little whooshing, yeah as it’s the yeah, it’s really now, what I can’t do, that you can, is like I can get pretty nicely, but you can land perfectly to where your rollout stops at your feet, like you will land and then you’ll, just after you set it down, roll straight up to where you are and you don’t have to walk for your plane. Like I will land and it will still like go by you by 40, 50 feet and

[00:33:03] Then you turn around to come back. Well, as opposed to, I don’t do that every time. A lot of the times you

[00:33:09] Do. But that’s okay. I mean it’s gives me something to strive for. I don’t like if the engine dies. I don’t want to have to go out there and walk out there and grab it and walk back. If it dies on the way, on the run out, on the roll out from the landing and happens to be at my feet, then that’s less walking I have to do. Electric motors don’t die, yeah, that’s true, unless they hit the voltage cut off of the speed controller and then they still just reset when you go down to zero. That’s true. But

[00:33:39] You shouldn’t be flying that well anyway, yeah, you can. Yeah, something else I like to practice.

[00:33:44] Is approaches like I’ll- I’ll fly a couple of different approaches before I’ll actually land, especially with a new airplane, but I like to do those, even with a, even with an airplane that I’m familiar with- practice approaches and develop that, that crosswind correction, if there is one, that will make you a better pilot too, especially if you do that in conjunction with your spot landing, because then you’re you’re, you’re tying the two together. So a precision approach to a spot landing. Once you have that down, I mean that’s very, very satisfying.

[00:34:15] To watch, because that usually equals a really nice landing, usually, usually, and you’re right.

[00:34:21] Landings are awesome. Every flight ends with one. Some are good, some are bad. Some are good, some are.

[00:34:28] Leave something to be desired, true, or more pieces than you started with. There’s that something else I mess with to work on my piloting skills. I’ll I like to play with expo. Do you, do you apply with?

[00:34:42] Expo on your airplanes depends on the airplane. Okay, I do use it for most of them. I think just kind of dead in the center of the sticks. But I don’t, I don’t do a lot with it. Yeah it, it takes away like.

[00:34:54] If you, if you play with the expo, especially on aileron and elevator, it takes a lot of that over controlling away, especially when you’re close to the ground, when, when everybody can see what the airplane is doing, like everybody’s watching. Because, let’s be honest, when we’re out flying and we’re watching our buddies fly, we’re usually not critiquing what they’re doing in the

[00:35:14] Air so much as critiquing what they’re doing on their landing right so, because it’s pronounced more.

[00:35:20] Exactly well, and it’s closer and you can see better what’s going on. So I like to fly with expo. I’m usually a 25 to 40 kind of guy, depending on the, the control rates that I have dialed in, and, just like you said, it softens everything up around the center so it doesn’t look like I’m over controlling, even though the sticks may be going crazy because of all the control inputs I’m putting in. But because of the expo it’s really softening and what- and in a nutshell what- expo does is it’s an exponential curve. So the more you move the stick, instead of it being a linear.

[00:35:53] Type of a movement it’s. It moves a little bit at first and then, as you move the stick towards its limit, it really catches up and moves the control surface. So around the center at least.

[00:36:04] When you fly with. It deadens the center of the stick, exactly so it just makes it move less. Now, really, the only airplanes I use those on or use that on, is going to be the ones that have the bigger control surfaces. Right, if you have like any type of older type sport airplane and that kind of stuff, you really don’t need to use them. Well, I shouldn’t say that I don’t like to use them just because the, the ailerons, are usually small to begin with, true, so you’re not going to get the, the movement that you’re going to get out of like a bigger, let’s say, a sport plane, or like a 3d type.

[00:36:38] Airplane. Oh, that’s true, so there’s really no need that I have found on some of my intermediate type airplanes I guess yeah, to make it fly any softer in the in the center of the stick and I.

[00:36:52] Don’t think I have much, if any, dialed in on the stick, the, the stick that we recovered or I recovered, but that was a stick. I thought you’re talking about the sticks on the airplane, like the actual, like stick, the gimbals. No, I was confused. The big stick I should say that you no longer have. No, I still have it. I thought you sold it. Oh, did that fall through? No, no, no, he. He told me to keep the money and keep the airplane. It’s a, it’s, it’s a guy I do a lot of work for, wait a minute.

[00:37:24] How does that work? I don’t know. Could I sell him a house? Maybe really. Huh, if you do a lot of work for

[00:37:30] Him perhaps, but no, at any rate, this stick is still mine and I tried to give it to him, like.

[00:37:36] In perpetuality or in whatever it’s called, like forever, yeah, so this isn’t like: hold on to it, I’ll.

[00:37:42] Pick it up, like no, because I physically tried to give it to him. I was like, no, take it you body’s. Like no, no, you’ve done. You’ve done a lot of work for me and this is just one small way I can, and you’re going to be doing some more work for me. That’s so. That’s his way I think of I own you now keeping me on the hook. Yeah, and that’s okay, because I don’t mind when I have time, I don’t mind doing work for him. Wow, that’s, that’s a good deal. Yeah, yeah, just costs me time that I have. So

[00:38:09] Much of well, right, well, I mean you. You wasted four whole days. I didn’t waste all four of them, three, it was just the two in the middle. Oh, you did stuff monday: yeah, oh, I didn’t know you did anything on.

[00:38:21] Monday. I glued the two halves together. I had to do all the prep work to do that. Oh so, 15 minutes on monday, good for you. It was more than 15, and that’s the problem with where I’m at on that project. It doesn’t look like a lot of time, but it is well, and that’s what I was trying to convey.

[00:38:36] Earlier when I was talking about the whole. I look farther along because I didn’t have as much to do. Like, my wing is a lot more simple than yours is. Yeah, I mean, I don’t have all the stuff to do that.

[00:38:49] You’re doing. That’s true, and that’s why what’s frustrating to me is I get over here and yours is. So you have such a visual progress and mine is like: oh well, I got, I glued two panels together, but what you didn’t see was all the fitting I had to do for the joiners and the cutouts I had to make for the gear, and I had to make sure the gear was mounted and when they were extended, to make sure they were in the same line. And yeah, it was a lot of work, but unfortunately just

[00:39:16] Doesn’t look like a lot of work. Yeah, mine was not a lot of work and it does look like a lot of work, so I’m happy about yours is very far along, like I could visually, I could very well be done with the wing this weekend if I really tried. I mean, oh yeah, really there’s not that much left to do. Yeah, and we got way off topic again. I’m sorry you continue. Yeah, I know I’ve got my thumb right here.

[00:39:37] On my on the note. So something else you could play with is dual rates. I like to. I like to have different dual rates for the same airplane. I don’t have dual rates set up for anything. Yeah, I love dual rates and I usually have it on a three position switch on my transmitter. So is that triple rates? Technically? No, well, yeah, I guess so because, yeah, one like the, the top position right. I can just see your mind like trying to figure that one out. Hold on dual rates on a three right, because there’s

[00:40:07] There would be a full rate right 100, where I’ve got as the maximum throw that the linkages will give me, and then usually that’s usually on the on the down, on the second click down on the switch. The top one is the low rates and I usually have those set up somewhere around 30 or so and then I’ll have my mid rates somewhere around the 70 and then obviously full rates is at 100 and the reason I like to do that is because not every maneuver requires 100 of your servo throw and if you can dial

[00:40:39] Your, your dual rates down. Let’s say, just regular old pattern style flying, where you’re not doing any high alpha, low airspeed type stuff, you’re just doing loops, rolls, maybe a snap roll, stuff like that. I like to fly those on mid or low rates because everything is smoother, because you’re not again, you’re not getting into that over controlling thing, you’re only moving the control surface, say, an eighth of an inch as opposed to half an inch. So you have, as you get older

[00:41:10] I find that my motor control on my on my fingers is not quite as smooth and precise as it used to be. So I can get away with dumb thumbing it, if you will, on low rates and still have a pretty good looking line in the air, if that makes sense. Well, and you still, you’re a, you’re a thumb flyer. Yeah, you’re not a pinch, and I’ve meant to talk about that too. If you’re learning how to fly, do yourself a favor and learn how to fly using the pinch method, like pinch the gimbals between your, your, your index.

[00:41:45] Finger and your thumb that ultimately, if you learn to fly that way, that will give you such precision in your control. Unfortunately, it’s so ingrained in my brain I’ve tried to teach my reteach myself to fly that way and I just can’t. So I’m a- I’m a thumb on top of the stick flyer guy and that can only be so smooth. I mean, I’ve seen some guys that fly that way and they’re very, very smooth. But apples to apples, the pinch method is way, way more precise and smooth and I wish I had learned.

[00:42:19] That way. Yeah, I’ll agree with that. Yeah, so anyway, dual rates: I like to use them and I set them up on my three position switch, so they’re like you said. They’re actually triple rate, I guess. Yeah, but multi-rate switches and it’s just an easy switch that I can flip. If I’m going to start doing some crazy 3d stuff, I’ll just reach up there and flip the switch to max rate and just toss the airplane around in the air and then, when I’m ready to look like a good pilot again, I’ll flip it to.

[00:42:47] Low rates and fly nice basic pattern moves. So what are your thoughts on setting up a switch for like?

[00:42:53] Snap rolls and that kind of stuff. Yeah, that’s a lot of guys and girls do that. That’s not what I

[00:42:59] Ask I said: what are your thoughts on that? Is that cheating? No, I don’t think it’s cheating, because

[00:43:05] Because you’re still- I mean you’re still- commanding the airplane, whether you’re doing it with one switch or three different control inputs. With your thumb you’re programming the air. This, the switch.

[00:43:14] So what it’s doing? Oh, that’s a slippery slope you’re going down. What do you mean? I get what you’re saying because there’s no like extra input from a computer not doing what you’re supposed to or what you want it to do. True, but I still think that’s kind of cheating. I mean not necessarily cheating, but that like, if you have it set up to do a snap roll just by pushing a button on it, I don’t necessarily think that’s much different than having, like as3x or something enabled. Oh,

[00:43:45] That’s not even close to the same thing. Why you’re still a snap roll switch or a switch that’s that’s programmed by you to move the control or a combination of control surfaces to a preset position is way different than something that’s using a gyro to auto compensate for wind or other.

[00:44:05] Types of correction. So if you’re watching somebody fly, yes, and you’re impressed by how they’re flying, but then you realize that all the snap rolls and stuff they’re doing is just by pushing a switch, not by actually controlling the plane and reacting to it, you’re okay with that. You still think they’re just as good of a pilot as if they were doing that all on their own? I think so. See, I, I don’t know about. You have to know the mechanics of

[00:44:34] Of snap rolling an airplane. I mean it’s full elevator and full usually rudder. That’s the input for a snap roll, usually maybe a little bit of aileron if, if your airplane doesn’t like to.

[00:44:45] To roll or whatever, but just putting that on a button, I just I don’t think that’s that’s a true test of, or a true showing of how good it’s an aid. I will give you that it is an aid.

[00:44:58] And it, and it will allow you to focus instead on the correction. So, if, if you, if you have to do, and snap rolls happen fast, right? Yeah, so a lot of times they’re called a snap roll, right, a lot of times- well, most of the time a snap roll unless you’re really good- which I’m not, but there are a lot of guys out there that are very good- and girls- a snap roll happens so fast you don’t have time to correct for anything. So if, if I can push a button that I’ve programmed to take over a control while I correct on the controls, while it’s doing that, I don’t think.

[00:45:35] That’s cheating. As3x is cheating because it takes all of that out of the. It does all of that for you. I’m just saying and I’m not saying I’m I’m not. I’m a fan of as3x. I like it, especially in the little micro foamies that we fly. Yeah, some of those airplanes would be impossible to fly smoothly.

[00:45:52] Without it. I think you’re going back on what you said before you. You were pretty much against as3x.

[00:45:57] Before. I’m against as3x for learning how to fly. Okay, so I mean I can get behind you on that one, like it’s fine if you want to use as as3x to as you’re learning to fly, but you have to be able to fly that airplane without those auto corrections before you move on to something.

[00:46:16] Without it. So tell me if you agree with this, then learning to fly as3x is fine for the first few flights, right until you get the gist of how to fly exactly and then slowly turn it off. Turn it off- yep, I mean, if there’s different levels. Go from the, the wean yourself off- yeah, that’s a good way to put it- and then learn how to fly without it and then, if you want to go back to it, to smooth.

[00:46:45] Out stuff, you’re fine, so you can work on other maneuvers or whatever. Okay, yeah, I’ll buy that. So but no, I have no problems with a snap roll switch. In fact, transmitters back in the day were marketed- that was like a marketing thing. It has a snap roll switch and it would. It would automatically mix those two channels for you and then you would adjust the rates or whatever. So everything I said I have.

[00:47:09] Not like fully thought out. So I mean, like it still seems like it’s cheating to me but I could be easily talked out of thinking that I think is kind of what I was getting at. Oh, I see. So like just a first overview. Look down on it. It seems like cheating. Well. So, but I mean usually and I’ve used a snap,

[00:47:28] Roll switch before, or, or a button or, or whatever. Yeah, spring loaded toggle, but you’ve, you have to. I mean, you have to do a snap roll with that particular airplane first, anyway, to know then what, what limits to put on the switch. So you’re, you’re doing a snap roll with the airplane. So why don’t you just do it all the time, like I said, like if you’re in a competition, or if you’re you’re, you’re in a pattern competition, or you’re trying to make your snap roll the prettiest it can be, or what.

[00:48:02] Have you that switch will take care of the major functions, and then that allows you the extra bit of time to do the corrections to, either to so that you ending exactly with the wings level, or that the tail doesn’t want to wash out, or any of these other innumerable number of corrections that can, okay, go on happen. So let’s take this to the next logical.

[00:48:26] Step then. Okay, you’re okay with the snap roll switch that you programmed on your own to make it do something in the air. What about an airplane that you program to take off, program to fly around, program to land on its own? I’m programming it and telling it to do it, not fan. I mean, that’s a whole flight, I mean. So I’m just trying to figure it out. There’s there’s levels with you to where it’s okay.

[00:48:50] Well, a maneuver- let’s say a maneuver- that the technology will allow me to, to make subtle changes to the maneuver as it’s happening. I’m not trying to do something different, I’m not trying to program the whole entire flight, it’s just. It’s just one maneuver during the flight gotcha. So and likewise, if there was a loop switch, you want to combine a snap roll switch with a loop switch. Well, I don’t know, maybe, maybe that’s cheating at some point. If you, if all you’re controlling is

[00:49:21] The takeoff and the landing and then, and then you’re just linking the maneuvers together and then you’re hitting switches for each maneuver. Yeah, that might be cheating, I don’t know. But for a snap roll I’m okay with that. Just a snap roll, though. That’s where we are right now. That’s where I’m at. Just a snap roll, yep, nothing else. That’s it, okay. Speaking of maneuvers, that’s another way I will try to become a better pilot, pilot, ply it, pilot. So one maneuver at a time. If you want to, if you want to be a better pilot, you have to practice right. And if you want to do a better,

[00:49:56] Maneuver. The only way to get better at it is to practice it, and if you do one at a time before you move on to learning the next one or fine tuning the next one, you’re going to get farther faster if you master them one at a time than if you tried to link them. If you try to do two loops and that one’s okay, and then I’m going to move on to snap rolls and use my cool snap roll switch, pick, pick one maneuver at a time and make that thing really great before you try to move on the next one, that’s another way you can. You can make yourself a better pilot. Okay and understanding.

[00:50:29] Your limitations as a pilot, too. That goes a long way to making you a better pilot.

[00:50:35] Speaking of maneuvers, sometimes I’ll practice them dry and that sounds crazy, but, like, some people have better imaginations than others. I’m looking at you, Ron- yeah, I don’t have an imagination. So, like I’ll tell you, I’ll physically hold my transmitter at home or wherever, and I’ll imagine flying the airplane and I’ll move, move the sticks and imagine the airplane moving to the control inputs I’m giving it and you’ll find eventually, if you do that enough sometimes.

[00:51:08] It’s. It’s- I think it has to do with the muscle memory- like a loop. Obviously you’re going to pull back, but then maybe your airplane doesn’t track straight in a loop. And if you can sort of program into your mind that, hey, maybe I’m going to have to combine these two inputs, elevator and aileron, together during this maneuver, if you practice that dry and then you really want to get trick and move to a simulator and then practice that on a simulator, you’ll find that’ll make you a better pilot too, especially when the time comes to actually fly the airplane. So I cannot do

[00:51:40] That, yeah, I can close my eyes and I cannot imagine anything like I mean, it’s so weird, like if you’re not,

[00:51:46] Good at imagining things, then just go to the simulator and practice that one that I can do, yeah, like my mind.

[00:51:51] Is so like factual based. Yeah, like I don’t imagine things very well, that’s weird. Yeah, it’s odd, I get.

[00:51:58] It. I mean, some people are very creative and some people aren’t, and I’m not very creative, but I have a good imagination. Not creative at all. Oh, I think you’re very creative. I think I think you’re extremely creative because, I mean, think about what it takes to redraw a plan, to make it work for something. That’s no, that’s not creative, that’s copying. I mean like no, you have to get creative about the cutouts and the and the way everything fit together on this, because your wing, even though the outside dimensions of your wing resembles the dualist dimensions, internally your wing is

[00:52:34] Completely different. So I guess I would say I’m not. I mean, I guess, if you want to call that imaginative or whatever, sure I’m not artsy. Well, like, when it comes to that kind of imagination, you can be creative and not be artsy. I’m factual, creative, like I had to make that fit. So yeah, that’s.

[00:52:53] Easy. That part doesn’t bother me, but I mean, creativity doesn’t. Doesn’t? It’s not limited to putting matching two colors together and making them look like something. Being I cannot do that. Being creative is, in my opinion- anyway in Tom’s opinion- being creative is being able to sort of see what you want the end product to look like and then, either modifying something that’s already existing or whatever- creating a plan to get to that and you’re very good at.

[00:53:25] That like exactly what you want something to look like and you are very creative and very imaginative in the ways sometimes that you get to those. I think I might fool you a little bit.

[00:53:36] Because a lot of times, well, you’ve done a pretty good job of fooling me. Then, like, when it comes to doing things like I cannot imagine the end result, like I know what I want to get to, but I can’t.

[00:53:46] Actually see it or actually know what it’s like. Well, I mean, let’s use the laser as an example: what you want the end product to be capable of, what you want it, to the size you want it to be, and you and you’ve already got a plan sort of in place of how you’re going to do.

[00:54:01] That, but I have no clue what it’s going to look like. Like. I mean, I haven’t figured. I understand that, right, the aesthetic. So I’m not like if I was trying to build something to look like something, I would not be able to do that in my mind. Does that make sense, like when I’m trying to think some of the

[00:54:17] Things I’ve done, like around the house. No, no, it makes sense, okay. Well, I, I get what you’re saying, but what I’m saying is, yeah, maybe, maybe you’re not an aesthetics guy, you’re. You’re not thinking of what the thing is going to look like, you’re more into function, but it still takes creativity, in my opinion. It still takes creativity to develop the path to get to that functionality, that functionality, okay, I don’t know, I can see that. I think that’s creative. Well, in that case, yes, I can be creative. Yeah, and speaking of having a plan, something else I do- me personally, to make myself a

[00:54:49] Better pilots. I try to have a plan for each flight and it doesn’t always happen like sometimes I just take off and I do whatever. But like, if you have a plan, say you want to do better landings, your plan for that flight should be doing a bunch of landings. If you want to do really awesome symmetrical, perfectly shaped vertical loops, then that flight you should probably be practicing loops and different wind conditions and things like that. So I don’t. I.

[00:55:19] Think I’ve ever taken off an airplane with a plan on what I was going to fly. I try to have a plan for.

[00:55:24] I try to have a plan for every flight. It would be beneficial to me for every flight now, obviously I. Sometimes I just take off and do whatever and sometimes the airplane dictates what I’m going to do for that flight. Yeah, but usually if you have a plan for each flight and you stick to your plan, ultimately that will that will focus your practice and make you a better pilot. I think I will have.

[00:55:49] To try and think of that next time I go to take off and be like: all right, I’m gonna make a plan to come back in the same amount of pieces that I left with. That’s a good plan. Here is another good.

[00:55:59] Plan, speaking of plans, plan for every flight. Figure eights, figure eights in the sky, are a great way to develop that, that, that muscle memory, and also help you to, especially if you’re flying in a little bit of wind- doesn’t matter what direction the wind is coming from. You’re going to have to compensate at some point when you’re doing a figure, and when I say figure eight, I mean like if you drew a figure eight on a table, that’s like a horizontal. Now move that up into the sky and that’s what I’m talking about: a nice horizontal in the same plane. Oh, you’re not.

[00:56:29] Talking about, like the vertical, that’s called a vertical eight. What’s a cuban eight? So a cuban eight is half, I think, of a vertical eight. I think so it’s where you basically zero, you do a, you do half a loop and then roll upright. I think that’s a cuban eight, or maybe that’s a split s. Either way, a split s that would look more like a split s. Okay, so that’s a split s and maybe the cuban eight is coming down. But anyway, a horizontal figure eight is a great way to develop your skills as a pilot, because not only do you want to try to keep the airplane at the same altitude, right, yeah, you also want to make

[00:57:03] The lobes right each circle, you, you want to try to make them consistent- and if you pick a spot directly out in front of you as you’re flying- I had to swallow there talking a lot. So, as you’re, as you’re doing, your figure eight, yes, you are the, the point at which the two paths cross, or the, or the cross. If you pick a spot out in front of you and you try to cross your path there at the same time, you will sort of automatic- not automatically, but you will consciously- develop skills like

[00:57:34] Okay, if it’s a crosswind, then I know the airplane is going to be moving either from left to right or right to left. So one of your lobes is going to end up being long and one of the other ones, as you’re going upwind, is going to be kind of short. So you can- you can sort of compensate, knowing that there’s wind. So you’ll make the downwind leg a little shorter so that it doesn’t move your cross away from your center. So that’s a good, a good practice, a good plan to have for a flight.

[00:58:04] Is to practice those. So the point then would be like the end goal is to do all of that without

[00:58:08] Thinking to get that muscle memory built up. Ideally- you’ll be able to excuse me- ideally you’ll be able to see the airplane and, kind of without thinking correct for things like that altitude and the shape of your, of your lobes, of your figure. Eight, yeah, like I’ve never done.

[00:58:25] Any of that before and I would- I know I would have to- to think about that and actually like work at it. But like takeoffs, landings and all that kind of stuff, there’s like no thought that goes into it. There’s it’s just reaction if something happens. And there’s no. Once again, I don’t plan things, I don’t think about things beforehand, so there’s no like I know I have to be here, I have to do this as I’m coming in to make my approach, it’s just automatic. Yeah, like you do it without even thinking about it.

[00:58:52] Right, right, but you have to be careful also, because you don’t- you don’t want it to feel like work, like I’ve. I’ve gotten to the point before where, especially if it’s not, if it, if the, if the process is not coming easy to me, then it starts to feel like work, and then it’s time to knock it off and just go have some fun and don’t have a plan, but like, if you’re really seriously about trying to become a better pilot, then these are some of the things you can do, and something else that will make you a better pilot is training other pilots like yeah, I still

[00:59:27] Can’t do that, though like I, I can’t get the words out fast enough. We’ve talked about that before that.

[00:59:32] I just I, yeah, and that comes with flying. I mean, if you fly a lot, you’ll get to that point. You’ll be able to verbalize what the airplane is doing or what you want the airplane to do, and, yeah, you’ll be able to automatically: hey, pull back, or hey right rudder, or hey right.

[00:59:46] Whatever, yeah, like if I’m flying, I can do it. Yeah, but I can’t verbalize it quick enough. Right, without sounding like I’m yelling right. And somebody, yeah, and what training another pilot does?

[00:59:58] For you as a pilot is: students get in situations and if you’re, if you’re pretty good at flying yourself, you obviously can get out of those situations, but or not get yourself into those situations to begin with, right, yeah, but like you said, verbalizing what you want that student to do just sort of reinforces those automatic reactions or reflexes on your part, and

[01:00:28] That actually sort of I, in my opinion anyway- will make you a better pilot, because those are things that now you probably don’t even need to think about anymore because you it’s been so ingrained in you from teaching students: oh, he’s upside down again. I gotta write the airplane before I pull up or whatever. Those are just become automatic and those make you, those things make you a better pilot. Yeah, a couple more things about being a better pilot, understanding how airplanes work. That will make you a better pilot. Like it goes back to me talking about that book exactly weeks ago.

[01:01:01] Whatever it was, it exactly right that really helped when I started out understanding the basics.

[01:01:06] Yep, if you, if why an airplane does certain things, that will make you a better pilot, because then you will understand what it takes to then make that airplane not do that thing or to make an airplane to do what you want it to do. So understanding how an aileron works and why it works, how an elevator works and why, why up is down and down is up, understanding kind of the basics of that. I mean you don’t need to have the, the physics, the, the master’s degree in aeronautics to understand it, but having a basic understanding,

[01:01:42] Of how an airplane works and like we talked about in our last episode with propellers, knowing ahead of time that I’ve got this tail dragger, as soon as the tail comes up off the runway, I’m going to have to add some rudder because of the things we talked about last in the last episode. So understanding how an airplane works is important to becoming a good pilot.

[01:02:03] And really flying is all about changing the angle of attack on your wing. I mean, that’s all you’re doing. Yeah, to go up and go down, it’s all about the, the angle of attack on the wing. It’s whether it’s gonna, whether it’s gonna raise you up or lower you down. All has to do with, like, turning ailerons. That’s all about changing the angle of attack on the wings and all that going.

[01:02:25] Through the air. It all has to do with overcoming gravity, yeah, and, and the direction that lift arrow is pointing. And you change that lift arrow by changing the, just like you said, the angle of attack of the wing and relation to that. So all about going through the fluid of air, that’s right. And then the one last thing I wanted to mention about becoming a better pilot is never underestimate the value of a simulator like right, I mean in the in the we. We talked about that. Sorry not to cut.

[01:02:54] Y’all. So we talked about that in the whole beginner airplane episode. We’ve talked about that several times, yep, and I don’t think we can stress that enough simulators save airplanes.

[01:03:04] Exactly right. I own a simulator. It’s not a very good one, it’s an old one, but it doesn’t matter, it’s enough. Like I said, me too, I think mine is. It’s real flight, I think version two, g2, I think is.

[01:03:18] What it’s called, I have no idea. It’s an old one. I have it’s. I have phoenix before it went out of.

[01:03:21] Business, yeah so, but anyway, having a simulator and being able to practice maneuvers or even learn to fly, a simulator is- I mean, I don’t want to say it’s essential, but I mean it is very, very good tool, especially like winter’s coming here and we’re not going to be able to fly.

[01:03:43] You can fly on the simulator, yeah so, and that’s a good way to hone your skills. But, as I’ve said before, remember it doesn’t work the same in real life as it does on the simulator. No lesson learned, right.

[01:03:55] That’s true, but it does the, the basic, the basics are there. Yeah, the basic coordination that has to happen to be able to fly these things is all part of it. On the simulator, I agree. So that’s really all I had to say about becoming a better pilot. If you guys have ideas that you want to share with us on how to become a better pilot, let us know. Let us know the, the, the practices that you do, that you found to work for you over the years. I’d love to

[01:04:22] Hear what they are cool. All right, let’s move on. Okay, last couple things I wanted to get into is we have some messages I wanted to read. So, first off, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use this guy’s name or not because of what he wrote, but I’m gonna go ahead and call him out. Okay, jeffrey sent us a message, jeffrey- and he says: I have just caught up on a bunch of episodes and listened to the workshop episode. I, like Ron, prefer to have a mindless television show on in the background.

[01:04:56] Right, I mean, I fully, fully support that. Yeah, you get that. However, the next sentence. That being said, I’ve, in quotes, watched the entire glee series twice while building. Alexa just said I don’t even know where she is. Anyway, there’s one over there. Well, I know, but it sounded like it came from the other room. Sound like? Well, there’s one in the other room too, so maybe that. Oh anywho, back to it.

[01:05:28] Yeah, that being said, I’ve watched the entire glee series twice while building glee, so glee you’re.

[01:05:35] Gonna have to help me out here. I’m not familiar with, like I don’t watch a lot of tv. I think we’ve mentioned that before in the podcast. So I what is glee? Glee is a show, I think it was on fox, I don’t.

[01:05:47] Think it’s on anymore. Oh, actually, no, it wouldn’t be. If he says the whole series kind of high school sing-songy. Yes, yes, yes, okay, yeah, he watches glee in the background while he builds. So he says my wife and daughter harassed me about watching that show. As a 56 year old man as well, they should, and I am. I fully support them. So no, he said it’s truly mindless tv with lots of music sprinkled in. I thought I would share my music. I can understand. Yeah, I thought I would share my secret, shame, lol. Love the show, your topics are spot on and I truly enjoy each episode and I hope you.

[01:06:22] Don’t mind that being on the podcast, jeffrey, yeah, I left your last name out. You’re welcome because glee, I mean really, yeah, I know it’s, it’s cool. I, I fully well the music. I. I can totally get that like.

[01:06:35] Have. But yeah, glee odd, yeah, so the show I actually have watched like over and over.

[01:06:42] Like on repeat, is forged in fire. That has been probably for the last two months now, just on.

[01:06:48] Repeat in the background like that: any, not any, but I, I, I watched on hulu, so I don’t know what it’s on, okay, but it’s. It’s one where they make knives, yeah, okay, and it’s like a competition which so like- ironically enough though I did, I mean that’s what I was gonna say, that’s what I want to.

[01:07:03] Say. That’s what I want to say. Ironically enough, the last one I watched, they were making knives out of the railroad spikes, but in three hours they had to do three of them and they actually said that the railroad spikes are not very good to make knives out of and very hard to do. So if you made one that worked, congratulations. Well, I can understand why they, why they wouldn’t.

[01:07:24] Make very good knives because they’re just cast iron. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve tried to hone a cast iron edge and keep it sharp. It’s nearly impossible. Because it’s pretty, it’s not a great.

[01:07:34] Quality steel. Yeah, it’s like mild steel or something I don’t know. So did we mention laurie and I took a

[01:07:42] Little vacation here a while back. We did okay and I made a. I made a knife out of a, yeah, because we posted the picture. And then you got, funny story, the guy that owns the place where I did that is actually, I guess, either on the show or was on the show or whatever, and he says most of the show is bs.

[01:07:57] Oh, the forge and fire show. Yeah, well, once again tv. I watch it in the background, so it’s I’m not following it to follow it. But what was his name? We should look him up. Oh gosh, I’ve, we’ll do it later. Yeah, this is. That was really getting off topic. So sorry, everybody, if you’re still listening.

[01:08:14] Well, not off topic really. I mean, you’re talking about a show that you watch in the background, that’s.

[01:08:18] Not glee. That’s not glee, that is correct, right, not glee. That’s the important part, yeah, so next I want to get on really quick to. Fred sent us an email. He said: just listen to your episode about gas versus glow engines and was wondering why rc gas engines need a separate battery for ignition but weed eater or chainsaw engines don’t need a battery. Yeah, and I and I.

[01:08:41] Answered that one, but I’ll go ahead and talk a little bit about now. So a weed eater or chainsaw whatever, when you buy them from the store and you don’t modify them- which is what we sometimes do to- to make them rc compatible, compatible, yeah, there you go. So they run. They don’t have any batteries on them when you buy them because they use a magneto for the ignition, so they have a big flywheel with magnets embedded in it. That magnets pass over a coil and they generate a

[01:09:12] Magnetic field and then they generate energy and that’s, that’s where the spark, that’s where they get their spark. Yeah, so a lot of the gas engines- I would say a majority these days of the gas engines that we use in rc, are converted or some form of converted lawn implement motor for rc use by the use of electronic ignition. And it requires battery, because we no longer have that big heavy flywheel and that’s why we convert them to get rid of that big heavy spinning mass at the end of the crankshaft, because

[01:09:43] We just, number one don’t have weight, and number two, it has a lot of inertia which affects our p factor and stuff like that in gyroscopic pre-session that we talked about in the last episode. So most of the gassers that are used in the hobby industry require batteries for the ignition, because we use electronic ignition which is much, much lighter- well lighter, and then like:

[01:10:06] You’re, you’re taking the mass, the rotating mass, away, with the flywheel being gone, but you’re kind of replacing it with the propeller, so you still kind of have. Yeah, you have some right, but I’m pretty.

[01:10:18] Sure, our propellers are much lighter than those big. Oh they are. Yeah, they’re quite a bit lighter. But

[01:10:22] That’s still going to kind of work as a flywheel, though, to kind of keep the whole thing going. Yeah.

[01:10:27] We still have. Yeah, we still have those, those factors we talked about, but that’s why they require batteries, because we have them converted for electronic and capacity discharge ignition. You could.

[01:10:39] By the way, run it no problem on a magneto? Oh, absolutely, it would just be heavier and people

[01:10:46] Still do like on world war one type airplanes like the big stop with camels and the foker triplanes. They have very, very short noses. So a lot of times we get we have a hard time getting those airplanes to balance because we just physically can’t get enough weight on those noses ahead of the CG to get them to balance. So in a situation like that it’s not a bad thing to have a big old heavy magneto ignition up there. So you’ll find that a lot of those types of airplanes will have engines that are not converted to cdi for that reasons, because they need all

[01:11:18] That weight up there, yeah, and may as well have it spinning. Adding, adding a nice smooth idle, because that’s kind of a side effect of having a big heavy flywheel is you get a nice smooth idle usually, yeah, because it keeps that momentum going. Yeah, right, but yeah, and the short of it is most engines are converted to cdi, which requires batteries to run, and cdi is capacitive discharge ignition. Okay, yeah, so there you go. That’s that one, next one and last one.

[01:11:49] Actually, I’ll read the. I’ll read one that we got from Ron. Ironically, his name is Ron. Well, he’s gonna be right well with a name like Ron. So Ron says Ron and Tom first, thanks for your podcasts. They are informative, engaging and, may I say, comforting. Just to hear friends conversing with good humor and respect, whose friends I don’t know who he’s talking about. I don’t have any friends. I’m a newcomer and have listened to three episodes so far, including the recent one on propellers- excellent. I’m a big fan of that episode, by the way. Yeah, I can’t wait to listen to it. Welcome to the.

[01:12:24] Podcast, by the way. Yeah well, you lived it, so you don’t have to listen to it, right? First he says:

[01:12:30] Some confessions. He says he sands the tips to balance his electric propellers. In fact, some hobby king props were so out of whack he clipped the tip of them with scissors before sanding to speed up the process. Also, when first learning to fly, I broke lots of propellers on my slow stick, even when using a prop saver which you mentioned in the last episode. Yeah, I started to glue back the blades at the hub with CA, a practice I no longer do, although it worked and fortunately he never had a mishap like that. That sentence right there. I went. Wow.

[01:13:05] I wonder what size propellers though, understand I, I get it. They were probably small slow flyer props. But wow, I said slow flyer, really fast there, and you can’t say it at all. No, thank you, but slow yeah. So he used to glue his props back together after that’s wow. Second, he says another good use for three bladed props are c planes, so the high mounted motors don’t have to be so high mounted. He says he has a fly zone, tidewater with a high mounted motor pod and he wondered why they didn’t.

[01:13:35] Design it around a three blade so that the thrust line could be made lower. That is a very valid point. And then, third, he says, if I heard correctly, I think Tom shared a theory of lift that is no longer widely supported, the long path or equal time theory, that the flow path over the top of the curved surface of the wing is longer causing the air to speed up and drop pressure. He’s talking about the Bernoulli principle that I was talking about. He says a good general article on lift theory is found here and he gave me a link and I read it. It’s a very good read. Maybe we’ll post, maybe we

[01:14:08] Can post that link on our website if other folks want to read it. Maybe you can. You can post it on the forums. Okay, if I remember I’ll do that. Make a note, he says. I have also attached a list of lift theory references a fellow, a fellow club member, compiled, and an article that he wrote for his club newsletter on the subject. Thanks for the podcasts, Ron. First of all, I want to say thanks, Ron, for listening to our podcast and you’re welcome. I, oh not me, sorry, the cool Ron, oh so.

[01:14:39] Thanks for listening and I appreciate the feedback. I like. I like your comment about the three blade. I think I said that right. Three blade, three blade props on the on the seaplanes. That makes perfect sense to me, and I wonder why they don’t all come that way too. What I really like:

[01:14:59] Though, is when Tom gets called out for being wrong. So I appreciate that. Just saying where, where was I?

[01:15:06] Wrong: the, the theory you were talking about, is no longer supported. Well, he says: and the and the and the, the link to the scientific american journal article that he that he linked to, they mention it but they don’t say that it’s not a factor. He says that it’s not widely supported. Oh shucks, okay, so bottom line, and I, I’m glad he, I’m glad he sent me the link and the stuff that he that he wrote and his fellow club member put together. I read through all of that and while I’d say

[01:15:43] For the most part I agree with all of that. I still say that bernoulli’s principle is a factor. I’m now the degree to which it’s a factor. I mean that’s obviously I’m still not familiar.

[01:15:55] Really with bernoulli’s principle and everything you’re talking about. All I know is, when you spin something, it pushes the air backwards and that’s what makes you go forward, right? So bernoulli’s?

[01:16:08] Principle, like the bottom line, is when you, when you speed air or when you speed anything up a fluid- even- it applies to water- as you speed things up, it drops pressure, so like a venturi. Obviously a venturi is shaped kind of like- I’m having a hard time doing it with my hands, but what event? It’s like the throat of a carburetor. It’s a venturi. So as air moves through that it speeds up and the pressure lowers at the throat and then obviously

[01:16:42] On the back side of it the air slows down and then the pressure comes back and rises. The theory of it is, if you apply that to a wing, if you look at the upper surface of a of a regular cambered, the cambered surface of a curvature of the top of a wing, and then if you could imagine another wing or flat surface above it, right, it’s a venturi, it’s, it’s, it’s an area of a, of a large area down to a small area and then back up to a large area. So the theory is that as the air moves through that venturi, the pressure drops above that area. So now you have.

[01:17:18] Low pressure and then because the flat or flatter bottom portion of the wing, that the air has less distance to travel, and we’ll get to this in a minute- because it has to meet up with the same parcel of air at the trailing edge, it has to move faster or slower, rather, it doesn’t have to move as fast because it has less area to travel, so it creates, or relatively speaking to the upper surface, an area of higher pressure. Higher wants to go to lower, so it pushes the wing up into the lower pressure and that’s technically. Air quotes here lift. Two questions go ahead. Sorry. How does a plane

[01:17:56] Like that, fly upside down, then right. And what about a symmetrical wing? So a standard, a regular,

[01:18:04] Asymmetrical airfoil wing flies upside down because of the angle of attack that you have to fly it at.

[01:18:10] Right, so it will only do that with enough power. Then airspeed. Well, sorry, you’re right and you have.

[01:18:16] To have power to create the air, right. So you, you compensate for, for the curvature of the wing by changing its relative angle to the oncoming air coming at it. That’s called the angle of attack, right. So, okay, like to develop lift in the, in the horizontal, in the upright position, let’s say the cord line runs perfectly horizontal and you’ve got the upper camber and then the flatter lower camera, it develops, let’s say, 12 pounds of lift at the perfectly horizontal. To get the same amount of lift upside down, well, maybe you have to fly at a 10 degree.

[01:18:51] Angle to compensate for that. What I’m saying I’m following. So that’s how. That a symmetrical airfoil, and this is what sometimes, like I, I can kind of get it, and then sometimes it just baffles me. And I did see in his one of the articles that he sent to us there was a diagram of a symmetrical wing with what I would call boundary layer lines drawn around the upper and lower surface, so at perfectly horizontal, like at a zero degree angle of attack, it develops no lift.

[01:19:24] Because the air moving over the top is exactly the same as moving into the bottom. You don’t have any angle of attacks, you don’t have that newton’s third law pushing. If you’re pushing air down, then you’re pushing the wing up, blah, blah, blah. So at zero degrees you’re not generating any lift. And then at one degree you develop 12 pounds of lift. At negative one degree you develop negative 12 pounds of lift. So a symmetrical wing, theoretically according to the article- and it kind of makes sense in my head- at zero degrees makes no lift and it doesn’t start making lift because the two are

[01:19:56] Canceling each other out, or it’s just not making it because there is no pressure differential. It doesn’t start making lift until you change the angle of attack relative to that. So then, most wings.

[01:20:07] Would be mounted with the incidence of like one degree or something like that, more than likely. Why is the dualist zero degrees- I mean it’s it says on the plans- right if you look closely at the at the ribs?

[01:20:20] They’re not symmetrical, they are. They are just slightly off and we fly the- we’re going to fly the dualist at crazy high airspeeds so we don’t need no stinking incidents. I did not notice any difference in them by the way they’re. They’re. It’s slight, and even the original, the original craft big stick, 40 or 60 plan- same thing, even though they look symmetrical. If you were to cut the rib in half and flip it over and

[01:20:51] Lay it over top. Well, you’re laughing. You made them completely symmetrical, didn’t you absolutely?

[01:20:57] Well, I cut it in half and just designed half of it and went over it. Yeah, that’s like I said when I flipped them over, though, on the plan they all lined up, yeah, like, well, okay, so within, within, the exception of, like the width of a drawing line, oh okay, I mean it’s, it’s like there was, there was no gaps or anything like that. So I’m I’m I’m laughing, but I’m I’m thinking those are probably.

[01:21:23] Fairly symmetrical, pretty symmetric, oh okay. Well, I mean I can’t explain it. Then I don’t know, maybe you’re supposed to fly at one degree at all times. Well, I mean, you’ll, you’re always gonna have a little bit, yeah, I suppose. I mean you have to overcome gravity so that you’re gonna have to have

[01:21:38] Some sort we’ll figure it out. If these don’t fly, then that was fun. Oh, they’re gonna fly.

[01:21:42] I’m pretty confident. Anyway, Ron, thanks for contacting us. That was a very good read. I appreciate that and I really like it when, when, when our listeners enlighten me. I like it when that happens, so that’s cool. Well, we’re not experts, yeah, and I am certainly not opposed to changing my

[01:21:59] My view on things. Nope, prove it to us or send us some information, and I’m fine moving my views.

[01:22:07] Somewhere else. I mean really exactly. So I’ll follow the science, like I. Like I said, I did enjoy the articles and the stuff that he put together was well put together. So again, listener Ron, thank you very much. Very good, yep, anything else? No, sir, that’ll do it for me this evening.

[01:22:28] All right, everybody. Thank you for listening. Until next week. I’m Ron and I’m Tom. Good night, good night.

[01:22:34] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plane Lab podcast. For topic suggestions, to ask questions or to give any feedback, connect with us at rcplanelab.com or email us direct at either Ron at rcplanelab.com or Tom at rcplanelab.com. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please subscribe, rate and review us on your favorite podcast app until next time. May your landings be gentle.