Alistair Scolley

I think your friend used Chromecast - see here. It's quite likely that you have to manually enable this feature on your TV. I don't have a Sharp tv so can't be sure exactly how you would do this, but it'll be somewhere in the settings, perhaps either the network settings or wireless settings. It could be called "Renderer". Hope this helps. Alistair

I recently lost a model when the engine cut unexpectedly when the plane was low, slow and going downwind. When I got the bits back I started taking the radio out, aiming to re-use whatever was working. Then I remembered that the engine servo had been in a previous crash ... Just how long should we keep old servos, especially when we can't remember how many "hard landings" they've had? Alistair

I once saw a swan do something that I thought was impossible. The University of Stirling in Scotland has an artificial lake in its grounds. At one end of it is a narrow strip of water with trees on either side. Many years ago the University canoe club stretched wires across the lake and hung poles from them so that they could practice their slalom. Over the years the system fell into disrepair and the poles disappeared, leaving just the wires. One day I was walking beside that part of the lake when I heard the unmistakable flapping and splashing of a swan taking off. One look at where it was starting from told me that its climb-out would take it into the wires. It's bound to know what it's doing, I thought. It must be going under the wires. It carried on with its takeoff and climb out - only to spot the wires at the last instant - it couldn't have been more than 10 feet from them. The swan immediatly turned its body vertical and started flapping like mad, using the wings as giant air brakes. Once it had stopped it flew vertically upwards a distance of at least six feet, turned it's body horizontal again and flew off above the wires. It seems that swans can generate a lot of flaps-per-minute when they need to! Alistair

Carlo de Felice, the designer of the Maricardo used to tell the following story. Apparently the first Maricardos had semi-symetrical wings and one modeller came up to Carlo and said he'd accidentally built the wing upside down. What could he do? Carlo replied that the Maricardo had always had good inverted performance so the modeller should leave the plane the way it was and just fly it. He'd probably not notice any difference. The modeller did fly the model - which flew perfectly normally. Alistair

Robert, I think you'll find that the 20g lead in the left wing will make a tremendous difference. I once had a vintage-style model steered by rudder (ie no ailerons). It had a lot more dihedral than your taube and it banked hard right at the start of the maiden flight. Lots of rudder movement and the huge dihedral saved the day. I had to add about 30g to one wing to get the lateral balance correct. The model was great after that. Alistair

Colin, The aileron wing for Chapter One is printed on the back of the free plan of the Cruiser, though you've got to take the plan out of the magazine to find it. Alistair

Getting angry on the Internet is not a new problem, ED. I started work in the computer industry in the 1970s and have had an e-mail account since the 1980s. People working in computing noticed very early on that online discussions could easily develop into full-blown blazing rows. My impression is that when words are written down they come across much more strongly than if they were spoke, so that when someone makes a mild criticism the listener hears it as a straight insult. Why, I don't know. That's for the psychologists to work out. I've seen people on this forum respond to a criticism by saying lol, which is an excellent way of defusing a potential argument. Alistair

There's one thing you need to know that nobody ever seems to tell you. When I first learned, my instructor demonstrated what to do and said, "To turn the model to the left, move the aileron stick over a little." The thing they never mention is - how far is "a little?" When an experienced pilot takes your Mascot up and has got it trimmed out, ask him to show you how to fly circuits. While he's doing that, don't watch the plane, watch the transmitter and see exactly how far (or how little) he moves the sticks. He'll no doubt put in "a little" up elevator after the aileron, so watch this, too. With my Mascot (yes, I learned on one!) the instructor only moved the aileron stick about quarter of an inch. With the recommended control throws, that was enough to start a gentle turn. Your Mascot may be different, so watch what your instructor's doing. Alistair

Many thanks to everyone for their replies. If I understand them correctly, adverse yaw is worst when initiating a turn and aileron differential is most effective then, so is worth having. I won’t get into the issue of the downwind turn, when planes seem to stall when we think they shouldn’t. I’ve always thought that aircraft know the laws of aerodynamics far better than we do, so we should react to what the plane is doing, not to what we think it should do. Alistair

Aileron differential is used to correct adverse yaw during a turn. When a plane is turning the wing on the outside of the turn is moving faster than the wing on the inside so it creates more drag. In a left turn, for example, the right-hand wing creates more drag so the plane yaws to the right and with many aircraft, this looks ugly. To correct this, we get the up-going aileron (on the inside of the turn) to move more than the down-going one. This creates more drag and helps the plane round the turn. That, more or less, is the explanation I’ve seen but I’ve always wondered about it. To turn a model to the left from straight and level, we apply left aileron and the plane starts to roll. When it is at the desired angle of bank, we neutralise the ailerons to stop it rolling further. For the rest of the turn we hold the nose up with elevator but the ailerons are at neutral so differential aileron movement won’t have any effect. The only time the ailerons are off-centre is at the start and end of the turn, not during the turn itself so we’ll still get adverse yaw. Is this correct or am I missing something? Alistair

In the late 1980s I had a Thermalist vintage glider. It was so slow it could only be flown in calm conditions and one day I got it aloft and found that there was a stiff breeze higher up. The model hadn’t been fitted with an elevator (it was strictly rudder-only) so I couldn’t push the nose down to gain speed. We had to run after the model as it got blown down-wind. A friend came with me and I handed him the transmitter so I could run faster. The model landed in a field of cows. Cows are incredibly nosey creatures and as soon as they heard the plane touch down they all turned and started walking towards it. It was obvious they were going to get there before I did, so how do you keep a couple of dozen cows away from a plane to stop them damaging it? You panic. I started shouting and waving my arms. “Keep away from it! I’ll take it out of your way!” I said. They all stopped and turned to see what sort of lunatic had come into their field so I kept up the chatter. It worked, though. I picked up my undamaged model then headed back towards the fence and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I turned round and saw that the entire herd was following me, with the nearest animal less than six feet away. They hadn’t attacked, so I reckoned I stood a chance of escaping, but how do you get a fully-rigged glider of 137 inches span and yourself on the other side of a fence as quickly as possible? I reached over the fence and put the glider down on the other side, moved to one side and was through the wire within about two seconds. Luckily, none of the cows tried to jump the fence so I was now safe. It wasn’t until I got all the way back to the flying field that I realised I hadn’t switched the model’s radio off.

John, The answer depends on the engine and how much of a risk you’re willing to take. The fuel/air mixture in an engine is always critical. The engine has to draw its fuel from the tank and if the tank is too low, this will lean out the mixture and the engine could cut out suddenly. When the model is climbing the tank will be below the engine, so the further back the tank, the more risk of an engine cut when the model climbs. Most people want to reduce that risk, which is why the tank is usually as close to the engine as possible. With a multi-engine model the fuel tanks are usually in the engine nacelles - or they use electric power. With a published plan or a kit there will be a recommended position for the tank and you’d be well advised to use that. Alistair

John C: Yes, you probably could reach across for the trim levers with your left hand, but beware. Some transmitters have the on/off switch right next to the trim lever ... Alistair

Steve T writes: “... after I have devoted so much time and attention to creating a really good model I have a dread of the maiden flight. I am not a good enough pilot to set my trims quick enough. So far I have not 'black bagged' anything, but I have been so close with atrocious quick landings and once shutting everything down and letting a cub glide away on its own” I found that flight simulators can help here. Invariably the models on them are perfectly trimmed but they do allow you to set the trim yourself. Before taking off with the model (on the simulator), give it a fair amount of down elevator trim. Then, when you take off, you'll have to fly with the stick pulled back all the time. It’s worth flying around getting used to this before taking the model up to height, putting in some up trim, then grabbing the stick before the model hits the ground. Repeat this until the elevator is trimmed correctly. Then try it again, but with a load of up elevator trim before take-off. The model will probably take off too soon and you have to be ready with down elevator to prevent a stall but this is a simulator and crashes are free. Then try feeding in some left aileron trim before taking off. Flying the model is now harder than with out-of-trim elevator but it’s worth practising this until you are comfortable flying left- and right-hand circuits with the aileron trim all wrong. To complete the set, try feeding in a load of right aileron trim before take-off. The aim here is to get used to flying around with an out-of trim model. When you can do that you can guide a real model on its maiden flight to a safe height, let go of the stick to put in some trim, then recover before the model gets too low. I found that practising this on a simulator made maiden flights with a real plane much less scary. Alistair

There was I, driving along the outside lane of a two-lane motorway, with the inside lane full of cars - all tailgating each other. Then I see a sign that says the motorway exit I want is one mile ahead. How do they expect me to get to that exit? I had to squeeze my car into one of the gaps, then slow down to create a safe gap between me and the car in front. Speaking of people who think their actions are safe enough but aren't reminds me of a fly-in organised by one of the model aircraft clubs here in central Scotland some years ago. One visiting pilot thought he had every right to do touch-and-goes between the pits and the pilot stance. The organisers soon set him right! Alistair