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113.
The fourth most common cause of a poorly performing glider is radio equipment that
is setup incorrectly, has faulty components, flat batteries or suffers interference. Double
check that everything is functioning correctly and that the elevator and ailerons are moving
in the correct directions. When viewed from the rear, the elevator should move up when
your transmitter’s elevator stick is pulled back for “up” control and should move down when
the elevator stick is pushed forward for “down” control. When your transmitter’s aileron
stick is moved to the right for “right roll” control, the right aileron should move up and the
left aileron should move down, and when the aileron stick is moved to the left for “left roll”
control, the left aileron should move up and the right aileron should move down. Fully
charge both your transmitter’s and receiver’s battery packs and perform a “range check”
prior to your first flight. Don’t forget to also always make sure that no one else is using the
same radio frequency as you prior to turning on your transmitter at the flying site.
LAUNCHING TECHNIQUES
The Booby is launched by hand. It can be a little awkward to launch effectively by yourself at first
but becomes much easier with practice. If there’s plenty of lift and you can launch from the edge of
the slope the simplest and easiest method is a side-arm launch holding onto one of the Booby’s
noses or a wingtip with one hand and gently throwing it into the lift like a discus. If more power is
needed, the method that works best for me is to grab onto the leading edge of the wing’s central
panel with one hand, with you fingers on top and thumb below. With the glider tilting slightly away
from your body (so that the wing clears your head!) and your transmitter ready for use in your other
hand, its a matter of throwing it with a fairly straight arm (like a cricket bowler or someone
throwing a hand grenade) releasing it with it’s noses pointed at the horizon. If you are not confident
in launching it this way it’s a good idea to have someone launch it for you, especially for its first
flight. They’ll be able to do it easier with two hands, one on each nose, so that the bottom surface is
resting on their palms and their thumbs wrapped around over to the top surface. Another way is to
grab onto each of the fixed trailing edge pieces with fingers curled around to the top surface of the
wing. With both of these techniques it’s then a matter of holding it over one’s head and throwing it,
keeping it pointed at the horizon.