reviews

AILERON-RUDDER MIXING

I found Dave Scott's article explaining how and why aileron / rudder mixing reduces or eliminates adverse yaw the most valuable information I have acquired in a long time. I have quite a few flat bottom wing planes and after setting up my Spektrum DX7 radio to achieve a 1-1 movement ratio between the ailerons and rudder, my planes fly better than they ever have, like on rails. Thanks for this great tip. Steve Petresky. Pennsville, NJ I used One Week To Solo years ago to learn to fly. The rudder to aileron mixing was one of the best things that helped. No one wanted to try to teach me that way, but when I set up the plane per the way you described and they flew it, they said boy it really does make turns easier and shortly after I soloed. I use your methods to teach everyone I help learn to fly. It sure speeds up the learning. I will be more than happy to let others know about your training systems. Emil Santo. www.flyingaeros.com I showed the club officials the coupling that you use, and whilst a steady wind was across the field, it presented no problems to the trainer. The plane flew with very little deviation and the turns whilst pushed were smooth. The “club “die-hards” were still not convinced until later in the day we ended up with about 20 mph winds blowing across the landing strip. I took off and landed with no difficulty. They were amazed as this would have been deemed a “no-trainer day”. I now have 2 other novices using the same system and they improved immediately. They were over correcting the controls and with the coupling now are able to see that holding in the stick is not the way to do it. Tony Graham. Jasper, AL One of our members wanted to change my plane setup and was alarmed that the rudder moved slightly when the aileron stick was moved on the radio. I told him that I mixed the servos to account for adverse yaw. He had never heard such a thing and told me that. "to learn to fly, you only have to burn a lot of gas." I said, "Thank You" and proceeded to fly my plane and practice touch-and-goes. Later, that day as the wind picked up and I was told that it probably would be smart if I called it a day. I managed two more flights with no incidents. Eric Tadlock. Kingston, TN After reading your on-line notes for the Solo class, I added a mix to compensate for adverse yaw. Could not believe the difference. It's like adding weeks of experience with one change. Bob Petersen. Dunstable, MA I have learned so much from the information on your website. I recently asked my instructor to Maiden my new Slow Poke and trim it for me. His comment after the flight was "It flies funny". When I flew it I thought maybe it needed more expo on the ailerons to make them less sensitive. After reading the material on your website I realized that the Slow Poke has a flat bottom wing and barn door ailerons and I was getting lots of reverse yaw. I programmed the rudder to co-ordinate with the ailerons and now it doesn’t fly "funny". I can't wait to see what else I have to learn when the manuals arrive. Dave Coutie. Oshawa, ONT I have only been in the hobby for two years and recently ordered your "Airplane & Radio Setup" manual to try to improve my skills/knowledge of the hobby. Upon reading the manual I mixed Ail-Rud mix into my Sig Senorita and the results were quite impressive, so I tried the mix (adjusted for wing type) on my Extreme Flight Edge 540 with similar results. These two planes are definitely flying with much more control. Your manual has greatly helped grow my knowledge and confidence in respects to RC Airplanes. I have been surprised to find out how many pilots at the field are not incorporating these mixes into their flying. Thank you for writing such an informative manual and it was worth every penny. This manual should be required reading for anyone getting involved into the world of RC airplanes. Bill Herbert. I have purchased 2 of your books. They are fantastic! I am following the "letter" of each of your books. Your suggestion about using a/r mixing with a trainer was extremely helpful and I was able to solo very quickly. Thank you for your help and your great books. I can't wait to attend your course next summer. Mark McCoy. MO Great report Mark! You don't need to mix A/R on symmetrical wing airplanes since adverse yaw is minimal compared to a flat bottom wing airplane. However, adverse yaw does increase when a symmetrical wing airplane is flown at higher angles of attack (slow flight). Therefore, a small 5% mix would be helpful. Dave Scott. 1st U.S. R/C Flight School Just a quick note to say that your aileron-rudder mixing article was brilliant - a poorly understood subject that was very well explained. Dan Reardon. Washington, DC After your primary solo course my R/C club of 150+ members awarded me "Most Improved Flyer of the Year 2010". I told them the secret of coupling the rudder to handle the yaw. Boy did that freak out the instructor. He said what's that! -- That will screw you up later. Well, it did not. My club solo sign off was 8+ successive landings on a 30' x 300' paved runway. Hit it every time. Your course worked. It was hard to keep my mouth shut about who trained me right. Len Petkun. Indian Hill, OH Just a quick e-mail to sum up my flying season fantastic! I used what you taught us about quality flight's versus quantity of flight's. Thank You again for devoting your time and talent to training anyone who aspires to fly. Back in August I met the person you referred to as Bubba who told me that I could not fly with the ailerons and rudder coupled. During an otherwise perfect flight I had one turn that dropped and he told me that was the fault of aileron to rudder coupling, but I knew it was simply not enoughup elevator in the turn. He wanted me to unhook the coupling right at the field so that I would be flying the proper way. Per your advice, I told him I would consider it when I was at home just to make him happy. I'll soon arrange a date for aerobatics training next year. Paul Van. AllenWillinton, ND I have had a good summer flying. I am flying a large electric trainer on floats. Coupling the rudder to the aileron really improved the flight characteristics. I have been able to do dozens of touch and goes from the water. On land I have been flying the mini-ultrastick that I brought to class, and a S.E.5 biplane. Again coupling rudder to aileron really did wonders for the biplane. Since the class I have found that I have more confidence in my flying abilities. I am more relaxed and enjoy the sport more than ever. I have to admit that my investment in Dave Scott's class was the best thing I have done to improve my ability to fly. Dean Ehn. Boulder, CO One of the old hands at my field came over to look at my plane and wanted to know why my rudder and ailerons were moving at the same time. I asked him if he had a computer radio, he said “yes”, I asked him if he had programmed in Aileron/Rudder? He said “yes”. Then I told him that I wasn’t flying with a computer radio and had to mechanically hook up the two. He said that it made sense and that I was flying beautifully!!!!! Don Fletcher. Louisville, KY I turned on the A/R mixing with my Nexstar and the mixing made a big difference. I had 8 flights this week. All flights were uneventful and fun. I felt confident each flight. Later in the week I even did a few loops, rolls and Immelmann maneuvers. Everyone was interested in the flight school and your DAS method. Gary Graham. Charlotte, NC I went back out to the field yesterday and made 3 good flights and all were fun. The check pilot was unhappy about me having coupled controls, but after flying my plane he changed his tune and told me “you go ahead and keep it couple, this plane flies really well.” He found it difficult to believe me when I told him that my total experience was one week and that I soloed in three days but, he said “you don’t need my help at all.” Bill Voss. Grand Rapid, MI I completed building my Slow-N-Low from your plans and just got to maiden the plane today (Note: In 15-20 mph winds). I followed your throws from the drawings, including the aileron-rudder mix and the plane flies amazing. One of our better pilots/instructors flew it for part of the flight and he also was extremely impressed with its flight characteristics. This has to be the easiest flying plane that I have ever flown and it even rolls great for a trainer. William Herbert. Portsmouth, VA The purpose of Aileron-Rudder mixing is to provide an honest handling airplane to achieve solo in the least amount of time with plane and confidence intact. Many veterans in our sport though did not learn with A-R mixing, and thus neither have the generations they taught. The habits learned reacting to a flat bottom wing trainer without A-R mixing that skids whenever ailerons are applied lead to difficulties flying higher performance planes that don't skid and problems flying in wind. Hence, most fliers end up perpetually looking for the next “better plane” and/or radio feature (as long as it is not A-R Mixing) in an effort to improve their flying – when the primary reason for their difficulties and/or lack of advancement, as in any activity, is poor or incorrect fundamentals learned early on. Dave Scott. 1st U.S. R/C Flight School (AOPA magazine: Letters to the Editor) The article featuring the Ercoupe maintains the intended by Fred Weick when he designed the aircraft. This little gem has been, unfortunately, the victim of much criticism, mostly because the majority of Ercoupes are flown without rudder pedals, which to some translates into not being a “real” airplane. However, not only is it always fun and exciting to fly—a true show stopper wherever it goes—but without question is the most relaxing and safest airplane I have ever flown.
Buck Robbins. Reidsville, NC