Advanced Acrobatics Explained
Bunt
The bunt is a negative loop. Start at a safe height. And heading into wind fly the model fairly slowly and gently begin to push down elevator. Keep pushing and just before you get to the bottom of the ‘loop’advance the throttle to full. keep pushing and eventually you will be back in level flight. This is a very easy maneuver if you have the confidence, and your airframe can take the negative attitude.
Cobra
The Cobra is a quite stunning maneuver if you practice it, and perfect it. You will find with almost every model that when you perform the maneuver the model will roll over. slightly, or all the way! An Aft c/g can help, as well as spoilerons.
Start at straight and level flight, fly fairly fast, when you are ready, cut the throttle and immediately pull full ‘up’ elevator, at your highest 3D rate. The model should violently pitch up, and not gain a lot of height, but fly with its belly toward the forward movement of the aircraft.
Blender
The blender is the ultimate ‘wing test’ maneuver, so ground testing of your wing to at least 5G would be recommended.
Start with lots of height, throttle at idle, and push down so that the model is diving toward the floor. Add full left aileron, then after two full rotations, quickly add full down elevator, and full right rudder, the model will violently stop descending, and should turn into a complete blur, even at idle. IF you have confidence in your wing, try adding full throttle!!
Webmaster note: Shortly after adding this page, I was advised to link it to Devcon epoxy!
Hammerhead
The easiest of the intermediate aerobatics is the hammerhead. It could take a few attempts to get it right. You need to start low and fast (full throttle) When at a safe height and into wind pull up into the vertical. When the model has lost most of its speed close the throttle and apply full rudder. Center the sticks when the model is heading down ,then begin to gently pull up and out of the manoeuvre. If this results in a ‘flop’ then don’t take the power off until the rudder has been used and the model is in a vertical attitude.
Worst way to mess up: Recovering with the wings unlevel
Harrier
Using full 3D rate elevator, and spoilerons ( both ailerons raised slightly) stable the model as you would in the hover, it may be necessary to ‘play’ with the elevator, easing it off, juggling with the throttle….. the hover will teach you how to correct, but it’s more to do with experimenting.
Elevator
The Elevator is a stationary descent, only the lightest of models will perform this well. Very good 3D rates are needed too. Fly a straight line, throttle at idle, bleeding off the speed. gently ease in up elevator control until full 3D rate, throttle may be needed to stop the model porpoising and becoming ‘unbalanced’ on the pitch control, this also indicates a forward C/G. If the wings rock, gently correct them. A little up flap helps as it makes ‘washout’ around the wingtips. Control direction with the rudder, and with any luck the model will drop like a stone. Requires experimenting!
Parachute
The parachute is very similar to the Cobra. Same setup and 3D rates. Fly vertically toward the floor, with plenty of height still, pull full up elevator, quickly! keep the wings level, and if the model drops in the straight and level, especially like a stone as some will, , control direction with the rudder and you have a parachute/elevator combo! If your plane will not ‘elevate’ (perform the elevator!), then simply let go of the elevator control, regain some speed and control ,then gently fly back to straight and level.
Rolling circles
The Rolling circuits are quite simply your standard flying circuits, like a circle or lazy-eight, flown with a continuous roll.
Your model will need a good roll rate, so that you are able to control altitude easily. The Rolling Circle. Set your throttle as you would in the ‘cruise’ , not too fast, but not slow that the model becomes less stable.
Start rolling at a sensible speed. At first, get used to the elevator, as the model rolls, simply overcorrect the height, but keep rolling. so roll as you would in a straight line, but use more elevator.
Ideally you should be pulling your elevator when the model is 45 degrees into the turn, stop at 90, and push at 180, and complete the rotation. Learn to control your height by ‘timing’ your elevator input.
Tip: For learning this, set your ‘half rate’ (D/R enabled Transmitters only) aileron to a pleasant roll rate, that you will use in the maneuver. This helps as it is difficult, especially for mode 2 pilots, to keep a constant roll rate, until a lot of practice has been gained.
The Rolling Lazy Eight
Same as the figure of eight, but change the timing of your elevator input when you want to change your turn, i.e. half way around the maneuver.
The Rolling Loop
This gets difficult!! set your roll rate, open the throttle, gently time your elevator, so that when the model’s top is toward the inside of the loop, you are pulling ‘up’ elevator, and vice verse. Make sure you’re gentle on the upward part, as it really speeds up coming down!! make sure you don’t alter the roll rate on the way down, too fast and you won’t have time to control the elevator!!
Practice it!! When that’s done, you can try rolling cubans, even to a rolling hammerhead continual vertical circuit (although you can’t roll the hammerhead, it looks very nice!)
Spins
Simple Spin (Standard Maneuver)
The spin is basically a descending spiral dive, with the model having a pitch less than vertical, about 45 degrees. The ‘simple’ spin is just a throttle off descent, to execute, gain lots of height, throttle to idle, and when the model stalls, or just before it does, put the sticks in the bottom right hand corners (MODE I/II tx) which would be full right aileron, full elevator, and full right rudder. Of course you could try the bottom left corners too, using the same principle.
Knife Edge Spin (Freestyle Maneuver)
To KE Spin, gain height, stall the aircraft, then put have full ‘down’ elevator, full left aileron, full left rudder, and throttle at idle. If you need to speed up the spin, increase the throttle.
Positive Flat Spin (Freestyle Maneuver)
Many models cannot flat spin, those that can need a very high elevator and rudder movement…
Gain height, and put the sticks in the bottom right hand corners, once the model is spinning, center the ailerons, while holding full elevator, and rudder, then increase the throttle to bring the nose up, the model might appear to look like a leaf, which is how the maneuver should executed. The symbol for this type of spin is shown at the top of this page.
Negative Flat Spin [AKA Leafspin] (Freestyle Maneuver)
The negative flat spin is similar to the above, but should look better, and perform easier. Gain height, fly inverted, and stall, this time, use full down elevator, full left aileron and full right rudder. When the model is spinning, center the ailerons only, and then if necessary increase the throttle.
Snap Roll
The snap roll seems a little complex at first. To execute it properly you need to have your control throws set up correctly (as per the manual). Start off in a straight line at a safe height. When you are at cruise speed put both sticks in the bottom right or left corners. keep the sticks in these positions until you feel the model is in a safe attitude for recovery, center the sticks and gently pull out of the manoeuvre. It is very simple but requires practice.
Worst way to mess up: Snap your wing (solution: ensure you have a good, strong wing join)
The Hover
1) To hover you need an engine capable of holding the models weight under power. Next you need to have high movement on the elevator, rudder and aileron. First advance to full throttle and pull up so that you are in the vertical. Lower your throttle until the model stops, if your model is underpowered, do not lower your throttle. If the model starts coming toward you or leaning toward the top of itself, push down elevator, if it leans back then pull up. If it rolls to the right use full left aileron until it is straight and vice versa. It is important to keep the model heading vertical so this must be taken care of on the rudder.
2) Once you’ve learned the basics, you might want to try the maneuver low to the ground, to do this, start with the the throttle at idle, and fly as slow as the model can, and when you are over the spot where you want to hover, blip the throttle whilst pulling on the elevator, and keeping the wings level, and then advance to a throttle setting which doesn’t not make the model climb.
Waterfall
The Waterfall requires full concentration and a dynamic knowledge of what corrections the aircraft needs. A rearward C/G and spoilerons/ flapperons help (see below). You will need as much elevator movement as can be obtained to perform this. Another thing that helps greatly is having excess power. The model should appear to continuously tumble end over end.
To perform: Fly into a vertical upline, maybe 80 degrees from the horizon. When you have plenty of height for mistakes, shut the throttle, and wait until the model nears the stall. Just before stalling, push full ‘down’ elevator, and apply full throttle, the aircraft should tumble over, to almost horizontal inverted flight, and then unless you correct it, it may end up in a knife edge spin. correct steering with the rudder, and if the wings need correction, use the ailerons. You will also need to juggle the throttle to get the prop wash to play its part, the best way to do this is shutting the throttle on the vertical downline (which should be between 5 and 20 foot diameter of a circle) and then apply the power again to bring the model around the upline, and back to level flight. Continue this, each circle should take between 2 and 6 seconds, if it takes longer, you need more power or more elevator throw.
Flapperons/spoilerons will assist in this maneuver: For a model that doesn’t have tendency to tipstall, use Flapperon. Spoilerons can be used to minimise tipstall if necessary. but mainly flap is used in this maneuver.
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