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sitting in the cockpit. If you fi nd this diffi cult, try turning your
back to the plane when it is fl ying toward you and watch the
plane by looking over your shoulder.
Don’t forget about your fl ight timer. Be sure to allow yourself a
minute, maybe two, to plan and execute your landing approach.
Use the time until landing to experiment with the ailerons
and elevator. As you progress with your pilot skills you will
fi nd yourself turning mostly with a combination of ailerons
and some up elevator. Try this out. Remember, BEGINNER
mode will reduce the effectiveness of this and you will prefer
rudder turns for now. When you fl y in ADVANCED mode you
will make aileron turns more frequently.
Landing
At this point you only have a minute or two left on your timer so
it’s time to prepare for landing. Don’t worry if you overshoot your
planned landing spot or come up short. As long as the plane will
touch down in an area free of obstacles (and people), just let
it land. You’ll have plenty of chances later to hone your landing
approaches. For now, we just want the plane safely down with
a little battery charge left. If you have enough fl ight time left
in your battery then you can afford to try a couple “practice”
landings before the real thing. This means you would approach
your landing spot and reduce throttle, but actually targeting an
imaginary runway 15 or 20 feet in the air above the real runway.
When ready to land (or to try your practice landing) you will
need to reduce your altitude. In BEGINNER mode the Sensei
likes to fl oat. You will have to push some down elevator (push
the elevator stick up) to point the nose down. Keep the throttle
at about the halfway point. No need to do a full speed dive
and the reduced throttle will conserve battery. Once you are
at about 40 or 50 feet altitude, make your fi nal pass with
the wind, parallel to your runway. Use the rudder to turn into
the wind and begin to line up your approach. It’s okay if the
plane comes in slowly. Let it take its time. Reduce throttle to
1/4. Assuming you are standing near your ideal landing site,
don’t forget that while the plane is coming toward you the
rudder control appears backwards. Moving the stick to the
left will make it appear as if the plane is moving to the right
in relation to yourself. As the plane approaches, you should
have a good idea if it needs to hold altitude a little more or
descend a little quicker to reach the landing point. If you need
to descend, lower the throttle to idle. If you still think you may
go long, slowly add a little down elevator which will point the
nose down. If you are going to come up short, add a little up
elevator. If that isn’t enough, you can always add a little throttle.
We don’t want the plane coming in too fast, though, so only
add a little if really necessary.
The Sensei should just be six or seven feet high and about to
reach the start of your runway. Move the throttle to idle and
prepare for touch down. If you do nothing now except watch,
the WISE gyro stabilization system will bring your plane down
and plant it on the ground without damage. You can do better
than that though… Just as the Sensei is about to touch down,
use the elevator stick to pull some up elevator. This is called
“fl are”. The purpose of fl are is to pull the nose up to glide the
plane onto the ground and let it roll to a stop. This does take
a little practice to apply the right amount of fl are at the right
time. As you get more fl ights under your belt, spend some
time doing touch-and-gos until you get this right.
Open the battery hatch, disconnect the battery and remove it
from the plane. Now it is safe to turn off the transmitter. If the
battery is warm, allow it to cool before putting it on the charger.
Before Your Next Flight
Well, you have safely gotten your fi rst fl ight out of the way.
Congratulations! When the battery is cool to the touch, put it
on charge so you can get back into the air. If you need to write
down any notes from your fl ight now is the time to do so while
they are fresh in your mind. Start thinking about your next fl ight
and go into it with an idea of what you may do differently. Inspect
the model and be sure that everything is still connected and in
good condition. It is a good habit to always give your models a
visual inspection before each fl ight.
LANDING
Flare
