Rules of "Thumbs"

[diviatix]

Like most of us, I spend a lot of effort getting over the next RC aerobatic "hump".
The idea is to progress from having to think about every move to doing it by instinct...
In this process I have found it helpful to develop perceptual vs. stick movement "rules of thumbs" that provide "always do X to get result Y".

This gives a quick way to progress from analyzing every move to using "always true" guidelines. This seems to make it easier for most students to get to the ultimate goal. Instinctual flying.

Seeing the effectiveness of these tips when communicated to students, I thought the FG community could chip in and help add to and refine these tips to assist our emerging aerobatic demons in getting over the humps a little easier.

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First, we need a perceptual standard.
Let's work on this premise:

AWAY = flying away from you
TOWARD = flying towards you
UP = AWAY
DOWN = TOWARD

INVERTED = flying upside-down
UPRIGHT = flying right side up

So let's do a few real world examples:
1> Flying INVERTED AWAY, you push forward on the elevator to fly straight up with the gear towards you. Unfortunately, your UP line is drifting a bit to your right - you need to correct your line back to straight up. Which way do you move the rudder to accomplish that?
- Based on "* flying INVERTED AWAY -- TAIL always swings in same direction as rudder stick.", moving your rudder stick to the right will swing the tail back underneath the nose and straighten out your line.

2> Flying UPRIGHT AWAY, you apply right rudder -- NOSE(farthest part of plane from you) swings right.

3> Flying UPRIGHT TOWARD, you apply right rudder -- TAIL(farthest part of plane from you) swings right.

4> Flying UPRIGHT TOWARD, you decide to roll 90degrees right aileron to a knife edge.
- Based on "* flying UPRIGHT, roll 90degrees to knife edge -- Rudder stick always goes opposite direction of aileron stick.", you know you always use opposite direction rudder to the aileron direction you chose, so LEFT rudder gets you the knife edge you want.

OK, on to the R.O.Ts
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KNIFE EDGE R.O.Ts:
* flying UPRIGHT, roll 90degrees to knife edge -- Rudder stick always goes opposite direction of aileron stick.
* flying INVERTED, roll 90 degrees to knife edge -- Rudder stick always goes same direction as aileron stick.

RUDDER R.O.T.s:
* flying UPRIGHT -- farthest part of the plane from you always swings the direction of rudder stick.
* flying INVERTED -- closest part of the plane to you always swings the direction of rudder stick.

AILERON R.O.T.s:
* flying TOWARD you -- to level wings always push aileron stick toward low wing.
* flying AWAY from you -- to level wings always push aileron stick toward high wing.

I encourage other FG members to add to these introductory R.O.Ts and offer any refinements or corrections.

Hope some people find it useful.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[askforplanes]

Great tips!

JP

[diviatix]

Here's a R.O.T. update.

A way to distill the following 4 rules into 2.
THESE:
* flying UPRIGHT AWAY -- NOSE always swings in same direction as rudder stick.
* flying INVERTED AWAY -- TAIL always swings in same direction as rudder stick.
* flying UPRIGHT TOWARD -- TAIL always swings in same direction as rudder stick.
* flying INVERTED TOWARD -- NOSE always swings in same direction as rudder stick.

EQUAL THIS:
* flying UPRIGHT -- farthest part of the plane from you always swings the direction of rudder stick.
* flying INVERTED -- closest part of the plane to you always swings the direction of rudder stick.

EXAMPLES:
1> Flying UPRIGHT AWAY, you apply right rudder -- NOSE(farthest part of plane from you) swings right.
2> Flying UPRIGHT TOWARD, you apply right rudder -- TAIL(farthest part of plane from you) swings right.

I have updated post 1 to reflect this.

[wylieruneyjr]

Flying upright towards you To level wings push aileron toward low wing. Works inverted as well.

[diviatix]

Good one wylieruneyjr. Added to list.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Silvanskii]

One thing that helped me out early on was regarding torque rolls. Bottom towards you, apply rudder to the low wing (to pull it up and bring it back vertical).

[diviatix]

Thanks Silvanskii.

That is kinda encompassed by the R.O.T. "* flying INVERTED -- closest part of the plane to you always swings the direction of rudder stick.". (Tail would be closest to you in a TR)

Can you suggest a way of making the existing one clearer so people could more easily apply it to the torque roll instance?

Cheers,

Andrew.

[wylieruneyjr]

While flying mostly level and upright. If you see the top of plane, its coming towards you. If you see bottom of plane its moving away from you. We all know newbies tend to fly way out there. We all get far away at times. <RUTNBUC>

[Bad Dog!]

Subscribed

[Mithrandir]

"When in Doubt.... Left Rudder Out"

(For when a plane digs in too deep whilst doing an inverted harrier)

he he he he