Did you ever fly clockwise?

While in college, my roommate built a Zilch. He had it assembled before he realised that he had had the wing upside down when he installed the leadouts. Here we had a Zilch completely finished and set up "British" style (?).
Since I only had something like an hour or less of U/C flight time and he had hours and hours, I bought or traded for the Zilch. The first time I flew it, I got soooo dizzy that I prayed for the engine to quit. I got it down ok, but decided I couldn`t fly it. I gave it to a hot shot combat flyer who had me launch it upside down. He did just fine, since he was a master of inverted flight. Have you ever seen this happen?

Gary

Only while flying inverted. But one of my combat buddies said that during one of his matches, his opponent flew awhile, suddenly said "Aw shoot, my handle's upside down", turned it over, and kept flying the match. That was (way) before safety thongs. Steve

I have a Guillow's Profile basic Trainer 2 that builds by the plans for clockwise flight. They did have instructions for converting this plane to CC flight.
Flew it once and that was enough!
Rob Johnson
Orange,Ca.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-13-04 AT 12:00 PM (CDT)
 
Interesting. The kit box does indeed show it set up for clockwise flight, but the plans (at least the ones I have) and kit (wing cutout for the leadout guide) were set up for counter-clockwise.
What did you finish your's with?

Jake

I've tried to take a picture of the instructions which came with my kit.This kit dates from the late fifties.
The plane is finished with Aero Gloss dopes.
Rob Johnson
Orange,CA.

I'm confused by the reference to British style. Shouldn't your original question have been 'anti-clockwise', that being the way that all British flyers operate. You really should refer to the earlier, and much longer, thread on this subject.

I, not knowing the diference, learned to fly clockwise. I tried, one airplane worth, to learn to fly the other direction. So now I fly with the handle upside down. In stunt it makes no difference, but in racing, combat, carrier, etc. you have to fly counterclockwise in competition.

Are you sure about that on Combat?

Jake

See combat rules 8.2.1 thru 8.2.4.

I've seen Gary Tultz fly CCW with his right hand and then fly CW using his left hand..... kind of amazing to me. Gary normally flies right handed CCW.

Interesting is that he flys the complete pattern both ways. More amazing is that he was able to do it the first time he tried and never crashed the CW plane.

I can fly an anticlockwise model o.k. when inverted, i.e.clockwise. Some years ago I decided clockwise was the obvious way to fly speed for a right handed person. For me, with two lines, this means holding the handle upside down. To check it out I took a 35 size combat model, launched anticlockwise, got my hand in the pylon, then flipped inverted. I was shocked, I could not control the model. The model which was quite o.k. inverted without the pylon, became uncontrollable (for me) when in the pylon. Just got progressively bigger sine wave flight until I crashed it. I still think it's the obvious way to fly speed right handed, but if trying again would start with a massively desensitised set of controls, to see what happened.

For me, everything just seemed too fast, flying clockwise, right handed. Would seem more natural for a left handed person.
I had the same sine wave experience, but was able to keep it under some sort of control untill it finilly run out of fuel.
Plan to convert my clockwise plane to CCW "someday" so I can enjoy the plane!
Rob Johnson
Orange,Ca.

I guess it's OK if people fly clockwise, but I don't know if we should let them get married.

>I can fly an anticlockwise model o.k. when inverted,
>i.e.clockwise. Some years ago I decided clockwise was the
>obvious way to fly speed for a right handed person. For me,
>with two lines, this means holding the handle upside down.
>To check it out I took a 35 size combat model, launched
>anticlockwise, got my hand in the pylon, then flipped
>inverted. I was shocked, I could not control the model. The
>model which was quite o.k. inverted without the pylon,
>became uncontrollable (for me) when in the pylon. Just got
>progressively bigger sine wave flight until I crashed it. I
>still think it's the obvious way to fly speed right handed,
>but if trying again would start with a massively
>desensitised set of controls, to see what happened.

Ian, In the service I had a friend who flew clockwise and flew some speed ships also. I had the chance to do some monoline clockwise flying and it was a real experience for me. Not that I got dizzy but it seemed that I was so completely out of synch. Good thing that it was calm and the plane was stable. I did manage to get fairly good at it after awhile but will never be an advocate of it. Seemes to be de rigur in Merry old England though. The one redeeming factor in monoline is that my handle position didn't change and I still used my right hand for the button.

The late George Aldrich flew clockwise, and his Nobler plans show the airfoiled rudder accordingly.

George also flew counterclockwise (other people's airplanes), and he simply turned the handle upside down to do so. I watched him do that at VSC more than once.

One idea was to have angular momentum tend to increase line tension. Some carrier flyers have used special clockwise rotating motors in pursuit of the same goal.

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"Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity." -Sigmund Freud

I finally realize one of my problems. Clockwise was how I learned to fly. In my area (near Buffalo, NY) we were influenced by Harold DeBolt and his various designs. At times I had to fly CCW To teach persons who had airplanes that fly in that direction how to fly. No turning handles over.
For flying now, I purchase a lot of used airplanes. Guess which direction they fly. Any planes that I build and complete are built to fly CW. Feels more natural for me, a right hander.
Larry Lundy

LAST EDITED ON Mar-14-04 AT 09:43 AM (CDT)
 
GMA told me that if you are right-handed, fly clockwise; if you are left-handed, fly counter-clock. He said he always felt he could "tow" or whip the airplane better this way when needed, and said this was one reason he won the '57 NATs and the Walker, because if he had been flying with his right hand (although he said he could fly either direction almost as well), he didn't have the strength to whip as hard across his chest as away from it. He managed to "tow" his Nobler through a sudden unexpected wind gust on the landing run-in and get a winning score.

Jake

Larry,

While he was still healthy enough to fly C/L Hoyt Hawkins held the handle upside down too. The late GMA taught him how to do it.


Jim Pollock

For those who have little interest in Old Time Stunt, many ships designed around 1950 were built to fly clockwise. There was no "standard" so direction was somewhat arbitrary. Some concluded that flying clockwise would aid in keeping the plane tight on the lines. When stunt flying improved, this argument went out the window.
You need to look over the plans carefully so you will set up the control system correctly. This becomes especially important if the plane has a unequal wing lengths. You may want to think inboard and outboard instead of right and left wings.

George

'Inboard and Outboard' instead of 'Right and Left' Wings. Hmmm. 'Right and Wrong' wings, 'Above Board' and 'Overboard' get political. And, I thought flying 'Clockwise' was to be finished in time for dinner! (Boom! Pssshhhhh...)
I did have occasion to fly C.W. once, tried it lefthanded. Did you ever try to throw lefthanded? The airplane was a Ringmaster/McCoy .35 that Larry Taylor built, and flew the whole pattern with. A real pilot! I changed hands, was able to finish the flight, but barely.
A lonely feeling...