"V" Throttle Curve

[llbr22]

From December through March, I learned to be a decent 3D plane flyer. I've now been flying heli's exclusively since April, and my poor plane just sits.

I do want to take it out one of these days.. but now I'm afraid my throttle management will be overtaken by my collective management, and every time I go inverted, I'll cut the throttle. So...

my question is, has anyone tried to do a V curve on the throttle of a plane to keep the left stick motions slightly more consistent between the two species (planes and heli's)?

I'm thinking about experimenting with this (with a throttle hold switch assigned as well).

I guess the thing I'm more afraid of, is not so much loosing a plane to dropping power, but loosing a heli because I decided to go negative pitch while upright (or vice versa).

Just curious...

[Ace4]

I think it just depends which you are more used to. I flew helis for awhile before I ever tried a plane, and for awhile I would cut the throttle on the plane when going inverted. I eventually got out of it by forcing myself to think about it more when flying the plane. You just have to get yourself into a plane or heli state of mind before flying either.

I don't see a V curve being helpful on a plane if you want to do 3D, since you won't be able to do stalls and hovering would be difficult depending on where the throttle needs to be for that plane.

[llbr22]

Thanks for the input.. I've been visualizing this quite a bit.. and I since it's a pretty easy setting to make on the radio in the field, I may try it just for kicks to see what happens. I could hover ok on a 3D plane, before doing heli's, and I wonder now if I essentially cut that travel on the left stick in half, would that make it harder? or will my new found skills with my left hand from collective management help deal with that (i.e. I pinch when flying heli's, where before I only would use my thumb).

I'll report back if I ever do get around to trying this.

[BarracudaHockey]

I fly both every time i'm at the field and I can't even imagine setting my plane up that way.

[llbr22]

I know.. weird, random..but fun for me to think about none the less. :-)

[stevec]

you could get a variable pitch prop and call it 4D they do some crazy stuff with negative pitch props...

one of the wierdest things I can imagine is taking off backwards but it has been done.

for normal flight I cant imagine having full throttle on a closed setting but I come from fixed wing.

/Steve

[Mojappa]

I also fly both and it's best to just learn both the normal way from the get go and just train yourself to fly according to what's in the sky. I make it a point to switch between the two on the sim to make sure neither one dominates the other as far as muscle memory. Itsfun to try to think our way around things like this but more beneficial to learn to overcome the differences and be aware of them automatically. The only habit that's made it's way to my plane flying is flipping the IU switch which I caught myself doing a few times on my 3D planes 30sec into the flight, that was a pretty easy habit to break though.

[llbr22]

Originally Posted by Mojappa

The only habit that's made it's way to my plane flying is flipping the IU switch which I caught myself doing a few times on my 3D planes 30sec into the flight, that was a pretty easy habit to break though.

Good comments.. What's the IU switch?

[xspare]

Idle up.

[invertmast]

This idea sounds more like a good way of hurting yourself or crashing the plane more than anything.

Learn each the correct way and be done with it.

[llbr22]

Well.. I've already learned the 'normal' way. (I'm a pretty good 3D plane pilot).

But I do agree.. safety first.

[PC12DRVR]

I fly the tail on my helis, and fly the nose on my airplane, (weird,, I know) no issues from it, I just learned helis that way on my own 22 yrs ago , and now I don't feel like re learning the rudder. I feel like it helps me seperate the two flying styles ironically.

Occasionally I do lower the throttle when I'm not supposed to usually after fying my 700's alot and neglecting my Yak, but its usually not an issue and happens only once in a while and I remember really quikly not to do it again