I am an experienced pilot who enjoys attending and occasionally winning local contests. I've attended a couple regional contests and had my butt handed to me - which helps greatly with my humility. Someday, God willing, I will get to the Nats and for a more thorough trouncing. I only fly thermal duration. No F3J or F3B or slope. So what I offer has to be taken in context with what I do.
Basically I use a much simpler setup with my airplanes than the one described by Joe and Mike. I use a launch mode, a flying mode (fast, slow, thermalling or whatever), and a landing mode. The launch mode is switched in and out and simply cambers the full trailing edge, equally for flaps and ailerons. I do not use any elevator preset in it nor do I do anything with the normal aileron throws. To make the plane launch well I work with tow hook position so that the plane climbs steeply and still pulls well at the top. I manually set my elevator trim if I want a different launch profile for changing conditions. I use the rudder to track up the line or swing the line into the wind.
For flight mode I have camber on the left stick that adjusts flaps and ailerons for slower flight. I use it according to the strength of the thermal and adjust it pretty constantly while I'm in the air. I do not use reflex. To get home from downwind I put in more down trim, my theory being that if there were a better max L/D than the stock airfoil it would have been designed differently in the first place. (If I were racing or going for speed runs my thinking on reflex would be different.) Keep in mind that reflexing an airfoil changes the wing incidence which is the same as putting in down trim. I also know exactly how many clicks of elevator trim are between minimum speed and neutral for my airplane and I adjust the elevator trim frequently during a flight for changing air conditions.
I do not use ail-rud mixing. My left thumb works just fine for a bit of touch up work on the airplane's attitude in a turn when it occasionally needs it. I do, however, work very hard at getting my aileron differential set for thermalling. I want to be able to fly the airplane in the thermal circles without roll adjustments causing the plane to spin into the turn or pull its nose up and get spit out of the turn. All I can say is I know it when I find it. A good airplane will give me reasonably axial rolls with very little rudder input when I've found the right differential.
For landing I switch the left stick from its camber function to its flap function. I was raised this way and it has never been a bother. Of course I won't lose a world championship if I forget to pull the switch either!. This also switches in an elevator compensation - usually a simple linear correction since I'm too lazy to put in a more sophisticated correction. ;-) (Of course my landings leave a bit to be desired.....) I add enough crow with the landing switch so that the ailerons remain effective but not so much that the ailerons are brakes because I often maneuver pretty radically in the landing pattern. (Of course my landings leave a bit to be desired.....)
Essentially I fly a pretty 'natural' airplane. I have, over the years, tried most of the setup tricks that Joe and Mike have described. Unfortunately my thumbs weren't good enough to make them work and/or I didn't need the performance they provided. I found myself gravitating back to my simple setup. I still try new things and I'll probably go out and try Joe's setup just to see if I've changed my mind about how I like to fly.
Hope you found this interesting Rick
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