Hi Jay,
I have been flying my Photon 1 in the IHLGF for 4 years. I have
a Watson tailgroup on it (Spyderfoam/FG) which is close to the type the
Photon II has. I use alot of rudder throw and use the rudder
for tight thermals, as well as using it for drag breaking and
stalling. You have to use the rudder in many ways, in order to
get down fast, especially close to the ground. Rudders may not
stall themselves but they DO STALL THE PLANE. You can go to the
Drela sites and read about how tail surfaces stall. Here are my
observation and use.
1) I use ALOT of rudder throw. My desire is to up end the
wing ASAP if I want to core a tight thermal.
2) I use Exponential on my Rudder, mainly to create the
ability to put in minor changes when first moving the stick, and major
throws on the extremes.
3) If I need to use it, especially at high altitudes, I have my
dual rates set up to be 40-50% fo my normal throws. I use this
when I need to fly smoothly high, as well as letting some others fly
the plane.
4) Rudders do stall. However, if you are experincing
Rudder stalls from level flight, then your CG is back to far.
Basically, you need to increase your glide speed slightly, as you are
right at the point where any drag slows the entire wing down and it
stalls. Be aware, that your slowest glidespeed may not be your
best L/D speed. Often you need to add down elevator to speed the
plane up then initiate the turn.
5) When flying rudder/Elevator, you do need to add up elevator
in your turns. You will find that once you initiate a bank, only
the elevator is required. The rudder is then only used to keep
the plane in the bank when required, and level when it attempts to tuck
in tighter in the turn.
6) I use rudder as a Spoiler/Brake all the time. There
are 2 methods.
7) Method 1: If you oscillate your rudder fast, the plane
does not respond, BUT the rudder acts as drag and brakes the
airplane. It is like a swing/pendulum/harmonic thing. Try
it when you are close to the ground apparoaching for a catch.
Basically a rudder drag brake.
8) Method 2: If you move the rudders slowly, you can get
a wings oscillation set up. Big Throws make is so you can respond
to making the plane turn back fast. Doing this, you can
essentially induced a s-turn and after 3 turns, like right, left,
right, the wing tips will stall and you can getthe plane to drop 10
feet or so.
9) There are methods to do elevator stalls coming in. You
pull upp elevator up to a stall, let the nose drop, then pull up for a
stall, but just as it peaks give down to level the plane then pull full
up, which essentially mushes the wing in a flying level stall and the
plane drops vertically while still flying.
All these methods do require practice. Bill Watson often said
that for R/E ships 1 ft = 1 sec of flight time, so you can basically
gauge how high you need to be to make a time.
10) While most now do not do it, I like to fly a gyro on a poly
ship. I tune down the gyro so that the rudder does ge affected
when thermaling. Try to tune it down as low as possible as
required for the throw, but so it does not affect thermal turns.
11) My Rudders are fairly thick, and the LEs blunted. the
Drella sites will talk about airfoil deadband, as well as stalling.
12) As for the Rudder stick, are you right handed or left
handed. As a right handed person I have flown with R/E on the
right stick. This is like most.
I have been flying R/E HLGs for a very long time and basically those
who fly aileron ships never realize the handicaps R/E ships have.
Sometimes I ask a aileron flyer to try a R/E ship because it does
require a blend of R/E that shows a aileron pilot the need to add more
rudder in turns. I envy the aileron giys alot too, they fly their
planes well.
Good Luck,
Chris Adams
LSF 348 LvL 5 (#8)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [RCSE] Re: Rudder Stalls and turns.
From: "Jay Hunter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, July 31, 2006 9:20 am
To: RCSE <soaring@airage.com>
Rudder stalls this is where I found the concept. In the building instructions of the photon II there is mention of having too much deflection, and having too much deflection may 'stall the rudder'.
http://www.netmeister.net/%7Ejerry/bldgp2.htm
Look in the cg section of the instructions.
The consensus seems to be:
1. No one has heard of a rudder stall
2. A rudder turn requires some banking other wise you will just 'slide'
3. Most people who use RES ships use the rudder on the right stick, not the left stick as I am doing at the present.
Jay
On 7/28/06, Jay Hunter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:I am trying to figure out if my rudder turns are accurate. I think I am experienceing rudder stalls with my photon, from either too much deflection or from holding the deflection too long.
In other word do I ever want the rudder to cause my plane to roll?
Can someone explain to me what a rudderstall is and how to prevent it?
Should all rudder turns remain flat?
Also is a roll a rudder stall of sorts?
Thanks,
Jay