FIRST FLIGHT
Secondly, even though the eHawk
1500 is
very easy
to
fly, if
you
are a novice modeler/pilot, we
highly
recommend that
you
seek the help of an experienced
modeler for
your
first few flights. He can save
you
a
lot
of time and
possible
disappointment by
helping
you get
your
model in the air safely and
getting
it trimmed out
for
you.
lmportant:The radio control system
is
set up to operate
the control surfaces
just
lick a real airplanes as
if the
pilot(you)
are sitting
in cockpit
controlling the airplane.
When
you
want the
plane
to dive,
you push
the elevator
stick forward
(up),
to climb
you pull
the stick back
(down),
to turn
right,
you
move
the aileron
stick
to right
with
elevator up and
vise
versa.
When
you
want to turn
the motor on
you push
the throttle stick forward
and
when
you
want to turn the motor off
you pull
the stick
back.
lt 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
are 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
eHawk 1500 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 eHawk 1500 starts to
get
too
low
for
comfort turn the
motor
back on and
climb
back
uo to
altitude. Practice
this
climbing
and
gliding
until
you
are comfortable with the airplane.
Depending
on
the
battery
you
use
the
eHawk
1500 will
make 5 to
6
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
eHawk
1500 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 eHawk 1500. 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
eHawk 1
500
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
willwatch 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
oractice
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
sailplane's
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
either start rising
or
stop
sinking at
its
normal
rate.
Either case is reason enough to explore further.
Continue flying straight ahead until
you
have
obviously
passed
through the area
of strongest
lift. Now start
circling
in fairly
tight, but smooth circles. Because
of
the thermals inverted funnel shape, the lower the
planes
altitude, the tighter
the
circles need to be. As
the
plane
gains
altitude, the diameter of
the
circles
can
be increased. lf
you
see the
plane
falling
off
on one
side
of the
turn,
move the
circle over
into the stronger
lift. Thermals
are swept
along
by the
wind
so allow
10