3Chan Plane (Rudder, Elevator, Throttle): Where does the rudder go?

Put the rudder where the aileron would have gone -- with a 3-channel the rudder pretty much controls bank, to the extent that you can fly inverted with a bit of practice and a lot of attention.

And yes, there's a lot to be said for starting out 4 channel immediately. I flew 2- and 3-channel craft for years, and I still have trouble remembering the rudder.

Thanks for the confirmation :)

Jenni

I disagree. You'll only make it harder to learn to use the rudder on later

See above....

Good flying, desmobob

Well then, I disagree with your disagreement. The way Tim described has always worked best for me.

Abel

Hi Jenni, Set it up as a standard 4-channel by all means. Rudder & throttle on left stick - aileron & elevator on right stick. *But* teach the essential use of the rudder.

Jenni: It may go against prevailing wisdom voiced by some of the other posters here, but this is the way i learned: Trainer plane had dihedral, no ailerons. "Steering" was done on the right stick, albeit with the rudder. When i transitioned to a 4-channel plane with ailerons, "steering" was still done with the right stick, now operating the ailerons. The transition was effortless and came naturally. Rudder was put on the left stick. Proper use of the rudder then came naturally also. As another poster mentioned,

I hafta concur that "primary control", i.e., "steering" and elevator, should remain on the right stick throughout the learning process. oc

Jenni: A quaint little bit of model aviating lore that you might want to pass on to your neighbor:

If the plane has dihedral only and no ailerons, you turn to bank.

If it has ailerons and no rudder, you bank to turn. oc

I'm not going to teach him beyond test-flying his plane when it's ready... I've never taught flying before and don't feel I have the experience needed to teach it properly.

Jenni

Ed Forsythe wrote:

I've passed all the suggestions on to my neighbor. I've test flown the plane earlier today in a gusty ~10mph wind, it handles quite well. Setup was 3chan, rudder on right which felt natural to me. I missed crisp ailerons though :)

He'll have to learn to fly largely on his own though, I don't have the experience to teach flying properly - I don't even know how to buddy box. With the plane as slow and docile as it is though... I think he'll do fine.

I've setup expo and trimmed it as well as I could - and will probably leave the rudder on right stick. It feels approximately like a very slow poke aileron on this plane, so I'd concur with the assessment that it ought to make transitioning easier.

Thanks for the great help. Jenni

You did good, Jenni.

However, you should know that the only way to learn how to teach someone to fly, is to teach someone to fly.

Ed Cregger

Jenni: I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. A lady who's not only an accomplished RC pilot, but who builds planes from scratch including a waterplane, has now mentored another RC flyer. What you're doing is just utterly neat and super kool. Don't you know somebody who could take some vids or stills of your planes and maybe your neighbor's plane? Do you ever frequent RC Groups/ EZone? Bill(oc)

Good for you Jenni . Sounds like you did a fine job.

Ken

Far from accomplished ~chuckles~... I can't do any of the 3D or pattern flying whatsoever. I keep my planes flying is all.

I'm working on the pictures/stills part :) Of course I cannot speak for my neighbor, so I'm only promising I'm working on getting a picture of _my_ planes :) There is a video of me flying my first heli though. Indoors, in a space just barely about 7 feet square. Talk about stupid.

Webboards aren't my favorite. I read some of them occasionally to learn, but I don't post anymore. (runryder, rc groups and rc universe mostly, plus one foreign language heli board).

Jenni