
stick forward and when you want to turn the motor off
you pull the stick back. It is the turning that causes
the most problems with novice pilots because when
the plane is flying towards you a right turn command
on the transmitter cause the plane to turn to your left
(which is the planes right). Get the picture?
Fortunately the up and down commands do not
change. The easiest way to conquer this problem is
to try and always face your body near the direction the
planes is flying. This means that you will have to look
over your shoulder at times, but many modelers find
this an easy way to learn.
THE FIRST FLIGHTS
You should always use the first few flights to get
accustomed to your new airplane and its flying
characteristics. Keep the model upwind and climb to
a good comfortable altitude to cut off the motor and
trim your Soaring Star for a glide. At altitude cut the
motor and start your glide. Have an experienced
modeler adjust the trims of the transmitter for you until
the plane will glide straight and level without any other
control input. Once the trims are set practice making
smooth turns in both directions while losing as little
altitude as possible. When the Soaring Star starts to
get too low for comfort turn the motor back on and
climb back up to altitude. Practice this climbing and
gliding until you are comfortable with the airplane.
Depending on the battery you use the Soaring Star
will make 2 to 3 good climbs up to a nice thermal
searching altitude from single battery charge. Once
the ESC shuts off the power to the motor you will
need to set up for your landing. Continue to make
smooth gently turns while lining up the Soaring Star
with your landing strip. Once you are set up to land
keep the wings level and let the model settle in for an
nice gentle landing while adding up elevator to keep
the nose up slightly as the plane slows down. Make
several flights like this to really familiarize yourself with
the characteristics of your model and to learn the glide
and distance covering abilities of the Soaring Star.
Once you have mastered a good “comfort level” you
are ready to start searching for thermals which will
really increase your flight times.
THERMALS
Thermal soaring is one of the most interesting and
challenging types of flying there is. Believe it or not,
your Soaring Star is capable of flights thousands of
feet high, lasting for several hours, and covering
dozens of miles. The following paragraphs will help
explain how to take advantage of natures energy
sources called thermals.
“Thermal” is the term applied to columns of rising air.
This air is rising because it is warmer than the
surrounding air. A dust devil is simply a thermal which
ahs picked up some dust. Even a tornado is very
similar to a thermal, but of course much stronger.
Thermals occur when the sun, or other heat source,
heat the air in one location faster and/or warmer than
the surrounding air. Darker surfaces (plowed fields,
asphalt parking lots, etc.) absorb the sun’s energy
faster than lighter colored and are generally good
thermal generators. This warmer air is lighter (less
dense) than the cooler air and thus rises. The rising
air naturally starts to rotate, much like water going
down a drain, and forms an inverted funnel shaped
column that usually gets larger with altitude. This
warmer air often contains water vapor which
condenses as it reaches the cooler air high above the
earth forming big puffy Cumulus clouds that
experienced sailplane flyers will watch to determine
where the thermals are forming. Thermals vary in
strength, but often contain air that is rising at speeds
over 1200 feet per minute. Some thermals are so
strong they can even rip a sailplane apart, especially if
the plane is flying fast when it passes through the
thermal.
THERMAL SOARING
It takes lots of practice and concentration to thermal
soar like the Hawks and Eagles. Since the pilot is not
sitting inside an model sailplane, he cannot feel the
thermal, he can only see his sailplanes reaction to the
thermal. Therefore, the majority of the time, unless
the pilot is paying careful attention to the plane, he
may not even realize that plane is near a thermal.
Since most thermals are relatively small, less than a
hundred feet in diameter near the ground, the
sailplane will rarely fly directly into the thermal and
start rising. More likely, it will fly near a thermal and
the wing closest to the thermal will rise turning the
plane away from the thermal. So as you can see, an
inexperienced pilot may bounce around between the
thermals with ever knowing that he is encountering
rising air.
In order to take advantage of thermals, you need to fly
smoothly with as few control inputs as possible.
Watch the sailplane carefully and it will tell you what
the air around it is doing.
When a sailplane does fly directly into a thermal it will