Range Check; The First Flight - Kavan BETA 1400 Kit Bauanleitung

CHOOSING THE FLYING FIELD. WEATHER
Flying Field
The flying field should be a flat grassy area. There should be no cars, persons,
animals, buildings, power lines, trees or large stones or any other obstacles
that BETA 1400 might collide with within the range of ca 150 m. We highly
recommend you to join a local model flying club – you will get access to their
flying field along with advice and help to make your first steps into model
flying much easier and safer.

RANGE CHECK

Perform the range check as described in the instruction manual of your
radio. Ask a friend to hold the transmitter, and walk away holding the
model in a regular flight position in the height of your shoulders. The servos
have to respond to control inputs (control stick movements) without any
glitching or jitter, with the motor off and at full throttle within the range

THE FIRST FLIGHT

Now the most important advice in this entire manual:
During the first flight we recommend that you have the support of an
experienced RC pilot.
There is no shame in asking for help – new full size aircraft are test flown by
skilled factory test pilots – and only then are regular pilots allowed to take
control. RC model control requires some skills and reflexes people are not
born with. It is not complicated to gain these skills – it just takes some time;
this will vary with your natural talent. Full size pilots start under the supervi-
sion of a skilled instructor; they learn to fly at a safe altitude at first, learn
landing and take-off techniques, and only then are they allowed to fly solo.
The same principles apply with RC models too. Please do not expect that
you will be able to put your model in the air and fly it without any previous
RC experience.
Many will have gained skills in controlling their favourite computer game
character by hammering the control buttons or sticks. For model flying this
skill will have to be unlearnt!
The sticks movements required to control your model are small & gentle. Many
models including BETA 1400 are happier if you let them "fly by themselves" for
most of the time, with small and gentle stick movements to simply guide the
model in the required direction. RC flying is not about stick hammering, it is all
about small stick movements, and observing the effect of that stick movement.
Only later is it possible to anticipate the effect of larger stick movements that can
be dangerous to your model in the earlier stages of model flying.
Step 1: Hand launch and initial trimming
The model must be launched into wind every time. Throw grass into the air
to observe the wind direction.
Turn on your transmitter.
Connect and put the flight pack into the battery compartment and secure
the canopy.
Hold your model with the wings and fuselage level (refer to the drawing) – it
is better to ask a friend to launch your model than to do everything by your-
self – you can then concentrate on the controls.
Launch the model against the wind,
fuselage and wing level
Give the model full throttle and launch your model with a gentle push
straight and level. You will feel the point at which the model is trying to fly
naturally. Do not give it too strong a push. Do not throw your model with
nose up, or greater than 10 degrees down. The model must have a certain
minimum speed from the very start to stay airborne. It is not enough to just
"put" your model in the air.
If everything is OK BETA 1400 will climb gently. If your BETA 1400 loses alti-
tude, pull the elevator stick very slightly towards you (just a little!) to achieve
a steady climb.
FLYING
Weather
Calm summer evenings are perfect for the maiden flight. Your BETA 1400 is
a light thermal glider that is the happiest with wind under 5 m/s. DO NOT fly
when it is raining or snowing, on foggy days. Thunderstorms are clearly not
the right time to fly either.
stated by the radio manufacturer. Only prepare to fly if the range check is
100% successful.
CAUTION: Never try to fly with your transmitter in the range check (re-
duced output power) mode!
Step 2: Flying
Keep your BETA 1400 climbing until she reaches at least 50 m in height, then
throttle back the motor just to maintain the level flight. The real flying fun
begins now.
Please note:
BETA 1400 is not a large model, so do not let her fly too far away. Please re-
member you can control your model only so long as you are able to see the
model's orientation in the air. The safe range of your radio is much further
than the range of your eyes!
How to control your model?
In contrast to cars or boats, aircraft fly in three dimensional space which
makes full control more complex. Turning the steering wheel left or right
makes a boat or car to turn left or right, applying more throttle the vehicle
speeds up – and this is it. Moving the control sticks left or right has more
effect than simply turning the model. The aileron and rudder control will be
explained later.
Please note: the control is fully proportional – the more you move the stick,
the more movement of the control surface. The actual stick movement re-
quired is mostly quite small, and almost never from one end stop to the
other!
Elevator controls the model in the vertical axis; apply up elevator and your
model's nose will raise (and the model will climb if it has sufficient power),
apply down elevator and your model will descend. Please note that your
model can only climb if it has sufficient power applied. Your model will not
necessarily climb simply because you have applied up elevator, and will nor-
mally need full power applied for a safe gentle climb. If the climb angle is too
great, or the power applied insufficient, your model will lose flying speed
until the minimum (stall) speed. At the stalling speed (when the airflow starts
to break away from the upper surface of the wing), your model will start to
feel as though it is not responding as normal to control inputs, and then drop
with little warning – apply down elevator to regain flying speed and full nor-
mal control.
Ailerons control the angle of bank. If you gently move the aileron stick to
the left, your model will start bank to the left as long as you are holding the
stick. Now if you return the aileron stick to the centre position (neutral), your
model will maintain the bank. If you want to resume straight flight you have
to move the aileron stick to the opposite direction.
Rudder of a model without ailerons (you might be already familiar with) con-
Wind
trols the angle of bank, which then controls the rate of turn. Natural stability
of your model keeps the wings level in normal straight flight. Since your BETA
1400 features a "full house" controls including ailerons that are the main
means how to control the angle of bank, the use of the rudder is slightly dif-
ferent. You can even start to control your model without use of the rudder
- but you will learn lately the correct coordinated turn actually requires both
aileron and rudder inputs.
Any turn requires an appropriate bank angle – BETA 1400 will fly nice big and
safe flat turns with only a small angle of bank. During initial flights never use
a bank angle of greater than 45 degrees. By planning the direction that the
model will take, normal turns will be made with less than 30 degrees of bank.
Move the rudder to the left a little way, and your model will bank into a gen-
tle turn. Increase the rudder input a little more, and your model will continue
turning to the left, but it will also start to descend (this is a good time to move
the control stick to the centre to allow your model to recover from the dive!).
Why does your model descend when only rudder is applied? Once the rud-
der leaves its exactly vertical position it also starts to work as an elevator
turned down telling your model to dive. When in a banked turn to maintain
level flight it is necessary to apply a little up elevator to counter the effect
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