How Do You Land A Remote Control Airplane?
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You’ve gone through all the necessary steps to purchase and prepare your remote control airplane. You’ve managed a liftoff without complications and enjoyed watching it zip and zoom through the air. What comes next is something many people do not anticipate: landing. Often overlooked, landing your aircraft is the most nerve-wracking and sometimes difficult part of the entire process, especially for beginnings. This does not have to be the case, however. Simply remember that anything that goes up must come down. Practice will always make perfect, when flying be sure to take caution, use common sense, and follow the simple steps listed below to increase your chances of a flawless landing.
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The last moment before your aircraft touches the ground is called the final approach. Setting up the approach is key to achieving a proper landing. You will want your final approach to be smooth and steady. The trick to achieving this goal is to fly on a downwind leg. A downwind leg means flying past and in front of you. You will want to fly your plane with the wind before making a 180 degree turn away from the wind for landing. Flying away from the wind will help the plane move as slowly as possible with stalling and ensure optimum landing.
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Before the downwind leg begins, the altitude of the aircraft should be steady, around 30 feet. The plane should be flown downwind until it passes you, around 50 meters. Once it reaches this point, you will want to slowly turn it into the wind using your reverse control while slowly reducing the power. Be sure to monitor your plane, being sure it drops at a steady pace, you don’t want it to drop too quickly to soon!
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As your remote control airplane reaches the ground, reduce the power of the motor completely. Apply the up elevator of the control to further slow down your plane until it gently touches the ground. The term for this is flaring and is vital for a safe landing. If you flare too soon your plane may stall and crash while flaring too late will cause the plane to touch down roughly and flop and bounce. The timing is something that will come with plenty of practice and get easier as you get to know your plane and fly more often.
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Occasionally, you may experience a missed approach where you prepare for a landing but lose your nerve or experience something that causes the landing to go wrong. This happens to even the veteran flyers. The solution is to simply repower the motor and try again! There is no shame in a missed approach, in fact, it is much more desirable than a crashed plane.
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Landing your remote control airplane is the scariest and toughest part of flying, but will get better with practice. Stick with it and you will master the art of a good landing and become a champion pilot!
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