The stick bangers thread

[49dimes]

My .02. Well ailerons are pegged but rudder/elevators arent.

Typically I fly Expo (Pilot 30% Edge) with 40% on ailerons L+R. 60% up ELV 85% down ELV(just adjusted from 60%)
and 40% rudder. When I do rolling harriers (practicing) I find myself spinning the plane to fast (with aileron) all of a sudden from my thumb drifting away outwards on the stick. Any recommendations that might help an older thumb flyer? I think it is more of a "range of motion" issue but if some one or you have experienced this what ya do???

The reason I ask is you stated "you keep aileron pegged". You controlling roll rate with "blipping the throttle" and keeping the nose up?

 

[s-washington]

I am not a fan of expo I run 15% on all my stuff. I find most people are using way to much and when they get in to the slow Alfa stuff it fells like mosh and are way behind it. If you can set up a DR switch just to change expo keep the travil the same and switch expo while flying to what you like then it is easier to fin tune it

 

[crashflow]

IMO expo is to make a plane less pitchy around center when using increased throws but you don't want to mask the extra throw with a bunch of expo.

 

[Flyingjon]

I am not a fan of expo I run 15% on all my stuff. I find most people are using way to much and when they get in to the slow Alfa stuff it fells like mosh and are way behind it. If you can set up a DR switch just to change expo keep the travil the same and switch expo while flying to what you like then it is easier to fin tune it

Same here. I run 15-20% all around on my planes.

 

[49dimes]

Flight conditions it is then. I had been flying high rate and expo from take off to landing. Thanks! I have even been told by the better pattern pilots that most do not use a lot of expo either. Me personally.....I don't want the plane to show my hands a shakin!!! Steady as a "rock"!! NOT.

 

[s-washington]

It is just for that if you want to get real crazy you can length or shorten your sticks. The sorter they are the more sensitive they and because of the lest travel to get to the end point.

 

[AEROSHELDON]

This is all great info.

 

[jhelber08]

Typically I fly Expo (Pilot 30% Edge) with 40% on ailerons L+R. 60% up ELV 85% down ELV(just adjusted from 60%)
and 40% rudder. When I do rolling harriers (practicing) I find myself spinning the plane to fast (with aileron) all of a sudden from my thumb drifting away outwards on the stick. Any recommendations that might help an older thumb flyer? I think it is more of a "range of motion" issue but if some one or you have experienced this what ya do???

The reason I ask is you stated "you keep aileron pegged". You controlling roll rate with "blipping the throttle" and keeping the nose up?

I guess I don't really focus on controlling the roll rate per say but yes throttle and attitude plays a big part (at least to me) in the equation. I can't really put into words how to do a rolling harrier. I think alot of people get stuck in trying to time it to some kind of rhythm. You can't really time it to a rhythm cause you got to account for wind and such, you have to time it to what the plane is doing. My best advise is to practice it until you get sick of it and focus on what the plane is doing and not what your hands are doing. Once you get to where you can do something that resembles a rolling harrier then you start working on steering and managing altitude. What helped me was to basically (with a lot of altitude) do it until I got the plane all out of whack but instead of bailing, learning to correct it without stopping rolling. Once I got to where I could correct my mistakes the steering just kinda clicked.

As far as range of motion, I like slightly shorter sticks for that reason. I also stopped using a neck strap too because it really felt akward when I started rolling the opposite direction from what I learned. I found that I liked to hold the radio a little lower and the neck strap wasn't long enough. Maybe @Terryscustom could design a radio tray belt buckle!

Sorry if this doesn't make since, ive been up since 2 this morning long day of travel, I'm literally drooling on myself trying not to fall asleep. Good news is I'm home from offshore which means hopefully some flying will take place in the next day or two if the weather cooperates!

 

[Bunky.F.Knuckle]

This is probably a hard question to answer. How do you learn what rates and expo to setup? Is it all by trial and error, or personal preference? I am relatively new and it seems that I just stick some numbers in and fly, not really knowing what I am doing.

Rates and expo are a full on personal thing. Im a huge expo advocate. When learning 3D, you want learn to be smooth on the sticks also. I use 3 rates, all on 1 switch. I tend to run a bit more expo on elevator on my low rates than others, due to some pitchiness I dont like. I always set up my birds nose heavy. Then adjust cg later.

My normal expo settings are 40, 50 and 60%. I like a soft center in my radio programming.

Getting a feel for rates on the ground, during set up, will come with time. I can visually set one up for me in less than an hour. I spend alot of time setting up 4 servos on the wings. Balance mode is great!

 

[Terryscustom]

I am not a fan of expo I run 15% on all my stuff. I find most people are using way to much and when they get in to the slow Alfa stuff it fells like mosh and are way behind it. If you can set up a DR switch just to change expo keep the travil the same and switch expo while flying to what you like then it is easier to fin tune it

+1000!!!!!!!!! I taught myself to fly two years before I ever joined a club or really saw anybody else fly in person, and never used expo on anything and never used rates on anything. When I started in 3D I added a little expo because the planes got more capable but I still rarely use dual rates. I set up rates just because I buddy box lots of people on my planes but that's the only time I use them. I got second place last year in IMAC with a plane set up for 3D and I flew high rates the entire time.

You just have to find the correct mix that works for you and don't be afraid of the plane, especially if you have the ponies on the nose to get you out of trouble.

@49dimes what I did when I was struggling with rollers was this:
Set the ailerons on their own dual rate switch and practice rollers with low rate ailerons (since they are pegged anyway) and high stabs and rudder. Eventually I just kinda started being able to fluctuate the aileron stick without thinking about it. Also, if you are like our friend @aarestor that looks like he's getting lost with his rudder you can also do rollers with no rudder input.....just get used to moving one stick at the right time first. They don't look that great but it is good training. Then you'll also find out that it takes VERY little rudder to clean up your rollers.

Last thing I learned with rollers is too pick a direction to push your stick with a little more emphasis to steer them. For me its down elevator (forward sick) and I push when I see the belly of the plane coming in order to steer the plane straight or around corners and loops. This is how I started anyway.