Q-47: When I transitioned from three channel functions to four, I had considerable difficulty steering the aircraft with my left hand. Are there any tricks that might help in this transition?
A-47: This question relates somewhat to the inquiry concerning the
steerable-nose-gear function. If you started with only three-channel control of
the rudder, elevator, and motor throttle, you did your ground steering and
flight steering using the rudder and your right hand. Even an aircraft with
aileron control, but no landing gear, would be flown just with the right hand.
But then you moved up to the full four flight-control functions, and you have
the aileron and elevator control using your right hand while the rudder and
throttle is operated by your left hand.
Initially that takes a lot of getting used to. It is one of the reasons I like
to get my students up to full four-channel control as fast as possible. Once you
learn to steer with the left hand, usually you will have no trouble going back
to a three-channel-control aircraft. It becomes intuitive with some experience.
You should try to reduce the amount of nose-gear steering (rotation of the nose
wheel) to make turning less sensitive while maneuvering on the ground.
Another big help is to employ some exponential (expo) rate control on the rudder
channel. This is available on the more advanced RC transmitters and is another
reason why I recommend these RC systems, even for the rank beginners.
Using expo rate control, the rudder action is desensitized around the neutral
position. A large amount of rudder command at the transmitter control stick
produces a relatively small amount of nose-wheel (or tail-wheel) steering. The
effect is to soften the control response around the neutral position, which
tends to smooth out your turning maneuvers. I use expo rate in one form or
another on almost all of my models. I hope you will keep that thought in mind.