Learning to Fly Part 4 - Your First Flight

Prerequisites: Ideally you have done the exercises suggested in parts 1-3. At the very least you have read them.

Objectives: Complete your first flight.

I am only going to say a few things about your first flight because much of the prep work to make it a success has already been done in the last parts.

This will be an exciting and memorable occasion.

Okay, the few things I will mention are:

1. Use the electric flight checklist before you takeoff.
2. Read through the maiden flight checklist - this stuff applies to you as well.
3. Have a flight plan - I'm going to take off, climb to 50 metres, fly five four sided circuits and then land (or something like that).
4. Make sure where you position yourself for takeoff you have heaps of space to takeoff and climb to altitude.
5. Once you are up and at altitude set your throttle to about 3/4. This will stop the plane from going too fast, and building up too much altitude.
   
6. During your flight pay particular attention to your altitude - a common mistake is to let the plane lose altitude on every turn until eventually a turn is attempted to close to the ground, panic strikes and the plane goes in. Try and use coordinated elevator on turns to reduce the lose of altitude, and in the straights, climb to reestablish your cruising altitude.
7. Don't be afraid of altitude - it is your friend. Your cruising height should be well over the height of any trees at the park (even popplers). Don't fall into the trap of thinking the plane is more controllable close to the ground - there is only pain in that approach.
8. When it is time to land let yourself lose a little altitude on each turn until you are at about 10-15 metres above the ground, when you make your last turn into the wind and start your landing approach (as we spoke about in Part 3).
9. Remember when landing you must dive below the glide angle for your dead stick landing. Dive, flare, land. If you run out of room on a landing you can either wave off and go around if you have enough power and altitude, or just force the plane into the ground. Try to avoid letting it reach the trees though. If you are going to wave off, make the decision early.
10. If your plane is going to go in, make sure you close the throttle before it hits. This will substantially reduce the amount of damage that is done.
    

I wish you all the best of luck. I think you are going to do well if you have followed the notes and done the things I recommended up to this point.

In the next part we are going to talk about what to practice over the next few flights.

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