This Boy can fly a plane...

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tzowQtqOM_I

A friend of mine had a model of similar size (A Staudacher but I don't remember the specifics.) that he'd fly over the runway and suddenly stand it up on it's tail and do slow rotations. That one was powered by a 2-stroke gas twin-cylinder. I'm guessing the video cut at the 7+ minute mark because he was running out of fuel? With all the smoke I'm guessing this is a glow-fuel engine (A BIG one!) and they really gulp down fuel compared to a similar sized gas/spark ignition engine.

Some very impressive work inches off the ground and one of those rolls had to have swept the grass. After watching RC airshows, it's amazing what an RC scale model can do vs. a full-scale aircraft. There's just so much power available! And so much less risk in learning the aerobatic maneuvers and developing them to the point of being so dramatic.

Thats running on a Desert Aircraft 120 - a 120cc gasoline 2 stroke twin. The smoke it generated by an onboard smoke system, an electric pump that pumps smoke fluid (a thin oil) into the muffler and the hot exhaust causes it to smoulder. Its the same concept as used in full scale. I have one on one of my planes (slightly smaller - 50 cc) and its a royal mess to clean up... worse than glow fuel ... so I dont use it often.

Glow fuel is actually kind of slowly dying out of the hobby. Good, light and reliable small gas engines on the big end and inexpensive and powerful advanced brushless electric motors and lithium batteries on the low end. Not many newcomers start with glow anymore.

I can understand why. I remember the cranky little buggers and the cleanup afterwards. The fuel was pricey too.

Wow that was cool. Wonder how many times he crashed before he got those slow rolls down. Would love to see the hand control work it takes to do that sort of flying.

...and the facial expressions. :gulp:

Haha, I love watching when my dad flies his Edge. I watch him more than the plane. He does all these weird faces, and moves his body as if it helps the plane
I haven't flown at all this year or the last because I've been working on my house. Good news is, I'm able to fly electrics in my backyard now at least

I haven't converted my radio equipment to 2.4Ghz yet, so I don't fly now though... There's a flying field about 2 miles from my house, so I don't want to risk causing interference with someone over there.
Thanks... reminded me how much I miss flying and can't wait to get back in to it and the giant money pit that it is


Hey kenny, do you fly?
Rochester just had their Chili fun fly this weekend IIRC... my dad was up there.

The "slow rotations" standing on the tail are torque rolls. Done right you get hte plane perfectly vertical and the torque of the engine causes the airframe to rotate opposite the propeller rotation. You are working the rudder and elevator the entire time correcting. The trickiest part to learn is to react instinctively to the fact that the rudder input is backwards when the belly of the plane is facing you. If you have to think about it you aren't moving fast enough.

I'm really nitpicking a pilot MUCH better than I,but I can tell he is cheating the torque roll using the ailerons to rotate . (still freaking hard).

Its an impressive flight. Especially the rolling harriers (where he flies down the runway with the nose up at a 45deg rolling) and the climbing inverted flatspin.


Oh and to answer the questions yes, we all crash at some point. Ive seen guys put planes that big into trees. Ive done that with smaller ones and had a couple spectacular mid airs.


BTW - Hass - man you gotta go fly. New house and new baby and I still make a point to get out once in a while. I just did today for our Frozen Finger fly. And definately start moving to 2.4. Its nice to never again worry about a shoot down. Ive been liquidating my old stuff while there are still folks who will buy 72 but nobody wants to give you much for it. Lucky to get $20 even for a top of the line PCM RX.....

Very impressive flying........however......

If that were a 2 seat full size aerobatic plane, you would never see me in the second seat... ;-)

[quote author="Hass" date="1325483743

Hey kenny, do you fly?
.[/quote]

I used to have a Cox Stuka when I was little. That was before R/C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5C7ePI-ma4