Top Flite TOPA0910 - Manual (Page 34)

T
akeoff
Bef
o
re y
ou get ready to tak
eoff
, see ho
w the model
handles on the g
round b
y
doing a f
e
w pr
actice r
uns
at
lo
w speeds
on the r
unw
a
y.
If necessar
y,
adjust
the nose wheel so the model will roll str
aight do
wn
the r
unw
a
y.
If y
ou need to calm y
our ner
v
es bef
ore
the maiden flight, shut the engines do
wn and br
ing
the model bac
k into the pits
.If y
ou ha
v
e
been r
unning
the engines f
or an
y e
x
tended per
iod of time pr
ior to
tak
eoff
, top off the fuel, and then chec
k all f
asteners
and control linkages f
o
r peace of mind.
If y
ou are taking off from an asphalt r
unw
a
y
there is no
need to use flaps f
o
r tak
eoff
.
If y
ou are taking off from
g
rass y
ou will not need to use flaps as long as y
o
u
allo
w the plane to gain adequate g
round speed.
If y
o
u
ha
v
e
a shor
t g
rass field, if it has par
ticular
ly thic
k g
rass
or rough conditions y
ou might consider applying 1/2"
[13mm] to 3/4" [19mm] of flap
.When the plane breaks
g
round be sure to maintain a shallo
w climb out and
retr
act the flaps as the plane begins to pic
k up speed.
When y
ou’
re ready
, remember to tak
eoff into the wind
and point the model str
a
ight do
wn the r
unw
a
y.
As the
model gains speed begin adding ele
v
a
tor to achie
v
e a
smooth tak
e-off
.
Gain as m
uch speed as y
our r
unw
a
y
and flying site will pr
actically allo
w bef
ore gently
applying up ele
v
ator
, lifting the model into the air
.
At
this moment it is lik
e
ly that y
ou will need to apply more
right r
udder to counter
act engine torque
.
Be smooth
on the ele
v
ator stic
k, allo
wing the model to estab
lish a
gentle climb to a saf
e altitude bef
ore tur
ning into the
tr
affic patter
n
.
Flight F
o
r reassur
ance and to k
eep an e
y
e on other tr
affic
,
it is a good idea to ha
v
e
an assistant on the flight line
with y
ou.
T
e
ll him to remind y
ou to throttle bac
k once
the plane gets to a comf
or
tab
le altitude
.
While full
throttle is usually desir
ab
le f
o
r tak
eoff
, this model
flies more smoothly at reduced speeds
.
T
a
k
e
it easy f
o
r the first f
e
w flights
, g
radually getting
acquainted with it as y
ou gain confidence
.
Adjust the
tr
ims to maintain str
a
ight and le
v
el flight.
After flying
around f
or a while
, and while still at a saf
e altitude
with plenty of fuel, pr
actice slo
w flight and e
x
ecute
pr
actice landing approaches utilizing the flaps
.
Y
ou
will find that the plane ma
y balloon slightly when the
flaps are deplo
y
ed.
A small amount of do
wn ele
v
ator
will minimiz
e this and as the plane slo
ws the
ballooning will stop
.
Y
ou ma
y wish to mix in 1 to 2
deg
rees of do
wn ele
v
ator to the flaps b
ut it is best to
w
o
rk
on the amount of mix after the first flight.
Contin
ue to fly around, e
x
ecuting v
a
rious maneuv
ers
and making mental notes (or ha
ving y
our assistant
wr
ite them do
wn) of what tr
im or C
.G.
changes ma
y
be required to fine tune the model so it flies the w
a
y
y
ou lik
e
.
Mind y
our fuel le
v
el, use this first flight to
become f
amiliar with y
our model bef
ore landing.
Landing T
o
initiate a landing approach, lo
w
er the throttle while
on the do
wnwind leg and lo
w
er the flaps
.
When the
flaps are deplo
y
ed y
ou will find that the plane ma
y
balloon slightly
.
A
small amount of do
wn ele
v
ator will
minimiz
e
this and as the plane slo
ws the ballooning
will stop
.
Y
ou ma
y wish to mix in 1 to 2 deg
rees of
do
wn ele
v
ator to the flaps b
ut it is best to w
o
rk
on the
amount of mix after the first flight.
Allo
w the nose of
the model to pitch do
wnw
ard to g
radually b
leed off
altitude
.
C
ontin
ue to lose altitude
, b
ut maintain
airspeed b
y
k
eeping the nose do
wn as y
ou tur
n onto
the cross
wind leg.
Mak
e y
our final tur
n
to
w
ard the
runw
a
y
(into the wind) k
eeping the nose do
wn to
maintain airspeed and control.
Le
v
e
l the attitude
when the model reaches the r
unw
a
y
threshold,
modulating the throttle as necessar
y to maintain y
our
glide path and airspeed.
If y
ou are going to
o
v
ershoot, smoothly adv
ance the throttle (alw
a
ys
ready on the r
ight r
udder to counter
act torque) and
climb out to mak
e another attempt.
When y
ou’
re
ready to mak
e y
our landing flare and the model is a
foot or so off the dec
k, smoothly increase up ele
v
ator
until it gently touches do
wn.
Engine Out Pr
ocedure
One of the pr
imar
y concer
ns e
v
er
ybody has when
thinking about flying a twin-engine air
plane is
“what if
an engine quits?”
While this is ne
v
er a desir
ab
le
situation, through our pre
vious flying e
xper
ience with
other twin-engine models and our flight testing and de
v
e
lopment with this Cessna 310, w
e
ha
v
e
de
v
eloped a model that will not suddenly react
une
xpectedly if an engine quits and can be controlled
w
ell enough to get her saf
ely bac
k to the g
round.
Thankfully
, dur
ing str
aight-and-le
v
e
l flight, if an
engine does quit the plane will not do an
ything
sudden or une
xpected.
The first thing y
ou m
ust do is
recogniz
e that an engine has quit and then
deter
mine which engine it is
.
When an engine does
quit the plane will g
radually y
a
w to
w
ards the dead
engine and will soon begin to lose altitude
.
At this
point y
ou m
ust decide if y
ou are going to tr
y and land
on one engine or kill the other engine and attempt a dead-stic
k landing.
W
e
ha
v
e
flo
wn left and r
ight hand
tur
ns on a single engine
, tur
ning into both the dead
engine as w
ell as the engine that is r
unning.
Both
situations will require the use of the ailerons and the rudder
.
The k
e
y to making the tur
ns on a single
engine is to steer the plane with the r
udder and use
the ailerons to k
eep the wings le
v
el.
T
u
rning with just
the ailerons can result in a stall or a spin depending on which engine y
ou tur
n into
.
T
u
rn
ing to
w
a
rds the r
unning engine will result in a tight
tur
n so it is impor
tant to tr
y and mak
e a flat, g
radual
tur
n, making the tur
n
with r
udder input and k
eeping
the wings le
v
el using the ailerons
.
W
hen tur
ning into
the r
unning engine the r
udder and ailerons will be v
e
ry
responsiv
e so g
radually input the controls
.
When making a tur
n
into the dead engine the tur
n
will be m
uch wider
.
Begin the tur
n with the r
udders
and use the ailerons to mak
e an
y needed correction
to k
eep the wings le
v
el.
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