First R/C Flight

I have wanted to get into Radio Control (R/C) airplanes for a long while. The barrier for me has usually been the cost. A good 5 – 6 channel radio was several hundred dollars. Add to that the cost of the model and accessories. Figure at least a $1000 to do it like I wanted.

My adventure into R/C started when I was 12 or 13. I purchased an used Tamiya Frog from a friend for $50. The buggy was in pretty sorry shape, but it came with a radio. I’m surprised that this thing is still being sold today, but it makes sense. They are about indestructible. I later moved on to an Associated RC10 buggy, which they still sell, but the current version is nothing like the aluminum and nylon one I had.

I figured it was time to get back to the idea of building and flying R/C planes. I did a little internet search for best trainer to buy. As with most things for sale, there were many top 10 lists of the “best”. What stuck out to me though was the E-flite Apprentice S 15e. Everybody had good things to say about it, including the $299.99 price. As a bonus, this plane came with a 5 channel radio with something called SAFE ( sensor assisted flight envelope), which helps a beginner to learn to fly safely. It also includes battery and charger. Did I mention this plane was electric?

Assembly was pretty easy. Take off the prop and front cowling. Install the front wheel and strut. Put the cowling and prop back on. Install rear landing gear. Assemble the tail components on the fuselage. Assemble the wing from the two halves.

About those wings….the instructions say to use the included double-sided tape to connect the wing halves together. I couldn’t find the tape. I’m pretty sure I saw it when I opened the box, but it went missing. Reading the instructions, it said that 5-minute epoxy would also be a good option. That sounded good to me. It would add some strength to the joint, and that would be a good thing. The downside being that if I broke the wing, I’d have to purchase both halves, instead of just one side. I epoxied it together.

The only other thing I needed to purchase was a 12-volt power supply. The included charger doesn’t have an A/C adapter to plug into the wall. It was made to use a 12-volt battery or some other source. I bought this one.

The wings are attached with rubber-bands to give a little flexibility in a crash. It’s a trainer and you are going to crash.

I should have gone to an official R/C club for my first flight. I could have found a large paved area or field for my first flight. Those would have been good choices. Instead, I used the cul-de-sac in front of the house. See those trees? Yeah…that should be a concern.

With the kids urging me on, I plopped the plane down at the end of the driveway. With a deep breath, I “armed” the propeller on the radio and eased the throttle forward. The plane promptly turned left hard and scraped the right wing on the ground. I looked at it a little closer and the front wheel was pointing decidedly to the left, rather than strait. Ok, back to the bench!

There is a rod on the rudder servo that also steers the front wheel. I had to take the rod’s clevis off the servo and give it a couple of turns to straiten things out. I figured that part out after taking the prop and cowling off again and checking my install of the front landing gear. It took a half hour to sort it all out.

One more test in the driveway and the plane rolled strait. At least strait enough. I’m sure it could use more adjustment, but I wanted to go flying. Plus the aforementioned kids were egging me on. We went back out to the street.

Ok. One more deep breath. Arm the prop. Push the throttle forward fully….and….flight! Up it went! I was flying it!

I moved the controls a bit to see what it would do. SAFE kept the plane mostly level and smooth. I know the principles of flight, so how the ailerons, rudder, and elevators control the angle of flight and how the throttle controls the altitude and airspeed. I was able to make a 180 degree turn and head the plane back towards me. When an R/C model is moving towards you, the controls feel backwards. That is, until you get your brain to think in terms of the model’s point of view. It took me a bit to get left and right sorted out. Half-throttle kept the plane from climbing or descending.

If I put it into a hard circle at half throttle, it went no further than 50′ edge to edge. More throttle pushed the circle it out a ways. Less throttle and the plane headed towards the ground, so I aborted that turn.

I flew for about 5 minutes or so, then decided I needed to try landing. As with any plane, taking off is optional, but landing is mandatory. I slowed the plane down and turned it to line up with the street. The wind caught it a bit and I realized I was landing with the wind, not against it. Time to do a go-around!

I brought the plane around for landing in the other direction and cut the throttle. The plane slowly descended. I got to the end of my “runway” and it still had still not touched down. Time to go around!

Most of my flying was above the trees, but a landing requires the plane to be around them at my airport. I increased the throttle and brought the nose up to re-enter the landing pattern. I misjudged the distance and put the plane in my neighbor’s tree. I swore a bit under my breath and went to get an extension pole I use to change light bulbs in our recessed ceiling lights.

A little push and the plane was out of the tree. A quick check and it looked ok!

Back to flying! I decided I would take off, circle around, and land again. Repeat until I felt comfortable with it.

I lined up the landing and cut the throttle again. The plane drifted towards the ground, but was going to land long again. I got impatient and pushed the nose down to get it closer to the ground so I could pull up at the last minute to flare for the landing.

So close! I misjudged things and bounced the plane off the ground hard. It leaped up and smacked the ground again on the nose, then jumped to the side and spun a bit. The cone-shaped part of the propeller is called the spinner. It departed from the plane during this.

I continued to fly without the spinner. It didn’t seem to make much difference.

The plane just wanted to fly and SAFE made sure of that. SAFE also was what made landing the plane both easier and harder for me. Cutting throttle caused SAFE to go into a gentle decent and it kept the prop turning to ensure that happened. I even disarmed the propeller hoping it would stop turning and that just removed my control of it. The plane would not glide unpowered.

To compensate, I had to extend my landing pattern to well beyond the cul-de-sac. Eventually, I was able to land mostly strait down the middle of the street. Often I’d be off a little and have a wing scrape the ground a bit. There were a couple of “perfect” landings, and a whole lot of imperfect ones.

I rushed one landing and came in a bit sideways. It landed on the front tire and spun the tire off the wheel. The plane continued to roll out on the plastic wheel, chewing it up a bit.

I got it put back together and continued flying.

Impressively, the battery held for a long time. I expected only 10 minutes of flight time and ended up with over a half-hour. Of course, some of that time was spent walking over to the plane on landing and roll-out and pointing it in a safe takeoff direction.

The wind was picking up a bit, and was making flight and landing difficult. I decided I’d do one more and call it done for the day. Take-off with this thing happens in under 20 feet at full throttle. It will immediately climb 20 feet in a few seconds. I learned that right after takeoff to lower the throttle a bit, then take it to middle throttle when I reached my flight altitude. It will happily cruise right there.

As I was circling around, the wind kept tossing the plane around. SAFE kept me from banking very far into the wind, so it was pushing me sideways. The rudder wasn’t able to point the plane into the wind, so I had to get a little creative. A little bank, a little elevator to climb, and a little throttle kept the plane flying in the direct I wanted it to go, but with it pointed to the side in a “crab”.

It took a lot work and the plane was shuddering a bit, which according to the manual is not a good thing. Time to land.

I flew the plane down to the area I’d been using for the approach to land and started my turn. The wind took the plane a bit, but I corrected. I corrected some more and it looked good. Something distracted me and I looked away for a second. When I looked back, the plane was headed for a neighbor’s tree. I tried to turn with the wind, but it didn’t want to respond and WHACK! right into the tree. (this is the tree I wanted you to remember from above)

I’m pretty sure I said some bad words.

The extension pole wasn’t tall enough. The plane was up about 20 feet or so. I got my extension ladder to maybe grab it with the top rung and move it. Nope, not tall enough. I put the ladder up against the tree and climbed up with the extension pole. I was finally able to give the front of the plane a hard push and it tumbled down the tree to the ground. Amazingly, it landed on its wheels.

Now the bad news. Between the crash into the tree, and the recovery from it, the plane took enough damage to keep it from flying.

Replacement parts are on the way. I can fully repair it for about $25. Overall, not a bad day!

I hope to have some help with getting some video of the next flight. We will see how it goes. I also need to scout out a large open space to practice at.