(More) bad news and good news!

The good news however is - I can actually fly - after I'd launched my combat wing for Irvin I went in to the circle and took over the handel no problem - no real dizziness and I even managed a few climbs and dives - whoo!

Irvin took his old, secondhand (30oz) KK Spectre (now re-engined with a PAW 19 in place of the Eta 15 he had in it before) - he decided to junk it after this session due to it's dilapidated state and tank problems.

His Veron Panther (River Silver Arrow) flew the best I've ever seen it - now He is thinking of fittin a Fox 29.

He tried 2 different Olivers in his Peacemaker (a chromed Russian and a tatty 'real' one) - the tatty real one is the fastest Tiger he's ever had. He had the misfortune to trip over the lines on his way to the handle, ripping the model out of my hands - there was no visible damage but next flight after some good flying it just nosedived in - must have been some hidden problem - it's repairable though.

The pod on my Ironmonger (Russian Ollie)came loose and the Jaguar (STG20/15D) need noseweight - both need trim tabs to correct warps.

The warlod that I flew I unfortanetly ditched with too much airspeed leading to the pod coming loose.

So a reasonable day that restored my confidence a bit.

Next time I'm taking the Ukey - at least that's got a U/C - I didn't take it this time as Irvin was supposed to take his Nobler and there wouldn't have been space in the car.

Tony

Tony Elmore

Tony - that sounds eerily similar to what first happened to my now thrice-doomed Flight Streak. Sounds like the bellcrank gave way, or the bellcrank mount. If so, there's probably not much left inside the inboard wing...

Tim

It helps to have a plane that will fly right out of the launcher's hands, like most modern day combat designs.

The time spans involved when I try to recall learning a "slow" plane's hand launch response are large. By 1952 or 1953, I got tired of bent wire LG's bashing holes into the covering on the bottom of the wings in a large number of grass landings, and cut those offensive things right off. That was 50 or 51 years ago now. Hard to recall what it was like at first.

BUT I do have a more recent reminder. I haven't flown much of anything with wheels under it in 15-20 years, and then starting 4-5 years ago, when my son got back into the hobby again, have seldom flown any lower-performance ("non-combat") planes. High performance stuff will just jump out of the launcher's hands, and the pilot has almost nothing to do except relax and hold neutral the first second or half second - let it get up some speed first.

Well, I got out the big Slow Force I was using for fun flying with a Max-H 40 on it, and installed a new FP 40 on that, AND got s Streak set up with new tail feathers. Neither one has that "jump" launch like a combat plane (at least, not launching while running in an aerobatic speed's engine setting).

I'd forgotten the need for the pilot to do two things besides to hold neutral. First is to step back a step or two, and second is to WHIP my arm forward some to help the planes - especially the Streak - to crawl slowly up to speed. I only did the second of those two Sunday on one launch, and got up to speed relatively quickly, but also lost line tension at that point and watched a free-flight quarter-circle go by before control was re-established.

In all cases, DO HOLD NEUTRAL, or even a momentary bit of "down" - the prop normally doesn't have much bite at first, and a shallow angle dive of a couple of feet may help. Of course, for that to work, your pit man should be tall, or hold the plane fairly high. Anyone flying aerobatics in a "High-Low" engine setting will find hand launches a great deal easier because of the low pitch prop.

.
Kiwi

Some of the most interesting hand launches I've ever had were at a Super Slow contest in Muncie. The wind was blowing really hard, and upon launch (downwind) you had to give it enough up so the airplane was pointing up about 60 degrees. Then you'd level out once the plane hits the downwind point of the circle. The airplane was literally hanging on the prop with (less than) zero airspeed for the first 20 feet.

What a contest. I had to fly Bob Burch. My favorite opening maneuver is to pull and outside and fly about a half a lap inverted at about 4 feet and watch the other guy before going on the attack. Bob's favorite thing was to start by flying about four feet right way up. So we ended up making head-on passes at each other at very low altitude downwind.

Tony

Tony Elmore

Well, the mistake most people make is to give it "up" at release. You're already 3 feet off the ground - just hold the controls in neutral, have the airplane released with a little forward velocity, but also level, and it should be pretty much a non-event.

Heck, even 4-year old Eric Fitzgerald managed it with a Cox PT-19 yesterday, with a little help from Dad.

In many cases (even ones where the airplane has enough thrust to accelerate from a standing start), you do need to hold a little bit up initially (or the launcher should hold the plane a little nose up), or the thing noses over into the ground. The trick is to ease off the up and maybe give it a bit of down if necessary, to counteract the looping tendency.

I've found what helps is longer lap times. With balsa sheet 1/2-As, handlaunching for kids, on short lines, they don't have time to recover from the up elevator. Once I fitted 42 foot mouse racing lines to the planes, they have time to figure out what is going on and react to it.

When I had the handle straight Irvin said some up was still there - I suspect he, with his experience, automatically compensates where I don't.

When flying though I don't remember feeling that that I was giving up at the handle.

Tony

Tony Elmore

Try something with wheels first, and then try the hand launches after a bit. Nothing really fancy needed - an all-sheet .049 with landing gear should suffice.

An alternative (see if it works or not) is have your launcher launch the plane about 30 degrees nose up. This will force you to feed in some down a short while after the launch.

I've flown three times - once 30+ years ago (Mercury Picador/AM10) - that was from a hand launch and I was 15 or so I guess.

Then season before last I flew my Ukey 40/McCoy 35 - from the ground.

Last season my wife's health got in the way.

This season my wife's health got in the way again - but she's much better now.

Then my third flight was last weekend when I took over the handle from my flying buddy.

Looking to get a couple more days in this season.

I have a Ukey 35/OS Max-s 35 ready to go so will take this next time!

Tony Elmore

Hand launching is a 2 man job. As Brett said, the flyer should hold the handle steady a few degrees above horizontal, so the airplane will rise slowly to 10 feet and then level out. DO NOT give full up, or a figure 9 will be the result. The launcher should NOT throw the airplane. Just hold the fuselage and outboard wing tip as gently as possible but still keeping full control, then, when the flyer is ready, release the fuse first and guide the model forward while holding the outboard tip and taking a step in the direction of flight and releasing the tip as the model gains enough speed to fly. (It is a lot easier to do than to describe.)
Of course, the controls should be pre-adjusted for neutral with the handle held comfortably for level flight. And as long as your over grass with a U-Key, you could remove the landing gear to cut down on drag.

Good luck,
Jerry

Oh, Osbourne platter plans are at www.aeromaniacs.com

More importantly, click on this link http://www.aeromaniacs.com/Platterins.html and scroll down to the bottom right of the page. There is an MPG file of a platter being hand launched. Watch and learn.

Like a Swordsman 18 maybe?

>An alternative (see if it works or not) is have your launcher launch the plane
>about 30 degrees nose up. This will force you to feed in some down a short
>while after the launch.
>
I was thinking about this upward angle thing and got distracted. Then while off somewhere else away from a computer, I had a flash picture in my mind, and it's true that I normally do launch Jeff's planes with some nose-up attitude. I'm just turning them loose, but with about 20 degrees of nose-up orientation. I don't recall for certain what attitude the Streak has been in when its slow-accellerating launches were problematic, but I suspect comparatively level.

.
Kiwi

During the early part of my stay in Houston, Bayland Park's flying site still existed. I flew both fast and slow stuff, but the slow ones did have wheels and there were three smooth paved circles - I lauched the slow ones from the ground on their wheels.

The current Streak has one wheel, but between soccer seasons, the grass field at McAllister is not cut as often, nor as short. I've not tried taking off from the grass with that plane yet, and Jeff did try a hand launch without much of a run when I first brought out another slow bird (although the pushrod came apart in it along the way and messed up another l;aunch when it wasn't obvious that the joint had failed) that one has no gear, and never was a problem with a Max H 40 on it. It's an ex-Slow Combat that once would've had a Mark IV on it, but was slightly overweight or slightly wrong and ended up being a spare.

But I'm running an FP on it now, and setting it too rich to break, so it's a little slower from a start than the takeoff power of the Max H was in a 4-2-4, since it always tended to hit a two on launch, and then to settle back to a four after about half a lap.

In Houston, I had two "Sport Streaks". One was equipped with flying lights, a muffler, and normally flew with a Fox 25. It still is in existence, but it unflyable and beyond fixing. I just find it hard to junk it. The other one usually had Fox 35's on it. It had belonged to Don Hudman and he gave it to me when he went in the Army in 1968. Jeff wrecked it several times and rebuilt it, but the last wreck was a re-kit of major proportions. The night-flying one was retired about 1977 or so, and I had not owned a flyable "Slow Streak" in the 25 years after that.

It's still fun to fly it this slowly, but isn't really as "Streak- like" somehow.

.
Kiwi

I now carefully neutralise the controls and pretty much fix my arm/hand. From any reasonable launch it *will* stabilise at some height (usually above ground ) and then I can start trying to control it. Writing it down like this it sounds really stupid, but it seems to work for me.

You've got it the wrong way round Steve...you need to point at where the plane needs to be not where it's just been
My first hand launches were marred by the Keil Kraft Phantom turning in on me and me running away from the plane. It nver did more than half a lap before crashing until I discovered whipping.

I've just had my first flights on the playing fields at the end of my street after a three month lay off. It is important for your launch partner to get some rotational speed built up before release. My first few flights with a Warlord were fine. My partner's first flight saw some prop hanging at launch before he regained control and flew out the tank with a Flitestreak.
>
>I now carefully neutralise the controls and pretty much fix
>my arm/hand.

This is an absolutely vital pre-flight check for the occassional flier. It also reveals if the controls are reversed.
>
>From any reasonable launch it *will* stabilise
>at some height (usually above ground ) and then I can
>start trying to control it. Writing it down like this it
>sounds really stupid, but it seems to work for me.

Doesn't sound stupid at all to me.

Oliver tiger

Best wishes from the gang at Ned Brown!

Dick Ferrell