Did you ever "Fly-by-wire"?

[BTCat]

I was thinking the other day (my new year's resolution was to think on one day each month), The first "remote control" thing I got was a little trainer plane with a Cox engine and the stings for controls. The engine started with a spring on the prop and a 6 volt battery attached to the glow plug on the top. My first blade strike, for which I still have the scar 35 years later, was from this plane. Dam thing was hard to start. I fought and fought with it one cold day and finally got it to start. It started to sputter so I reached right through the prop to adjust the throttle. The bone in my finger stopped the prop ;D. Wrapped it up and started it again ;D

Any of you guys have one of those? Who remembers what that little trainer plane was called? PT something, I believe. I can still smell the fuel...

[Solitaire]

Yep, had the same thing when I was a lot younger. A Cox .49, if I remember correctly. Too old to remember the name of the plane, though. Control line flying...never did master it properly.

[BTCat]

Jan 23, 2010 21:54:10 GMT -6 Solitaire said:

Yep, had the same thing when I was a lot younger. A Cox .49, if I remember correctly. Too old to remember the name of the plane, though. Control line flying...never did master it properly.

You are right about the engine. I dug around on Ebay and actually found one just like I had:

cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Cox-PT-19-FLIGHT-TRAINER-Engine-Power-AIRPLANE_W0QQitemZ370325006189QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item563917276d

[Solitaire]

Bringing all this up reminds me that I still have a .60 motor off a scratch built somewhere in storage. The plane is long gone but the motor, fuel tank and landing gear are in a box stuffed away somewhere. I should see if I can make it work with one of my planes, but I don't think it had throttle control.

40+ years old...it's likely seized by now.

[Dave]

Funny you should bring this up BT. Just this past week a couple of us at work were talking about the same thing. Seems I remember having a P51, don't recall the engine size but I do remember it having that spring on the prop to help start it. I too have a scare on my left index finger from that sucker. Bad thing is it only lasted one attempted flight.......straight up and then straight down Never made a complete circle.

Dave

[scarface26]

I used to fly "Combat" type fly-by-wires. The ones that didn't have a fuselage; just a wing, an elevator, and a vertical rudder that was angled out so it always kept the wires tight. While trying to lean the engine out with the needle valve, there was a good chance that you would get your knuckles shaved. A first aid kit with lots of bandaids was a standard part of your gear. BTW, some people still fly these things, although I don't know why. Stevens Aero here in Colorado Springs, still makes two control line planes (balsa), and they tell me that there is a control line club up in Denver.

[19000rpm]

The fly by wire "control line" planes were great with those little cox engines. Anyone that didn't bust a knuckle on one of those must not have ever tried to start it. ;D

I was in before the spring type. You just flipped the prop and hoped you'd get your finger out of the way if it backfired.

I never had the PT 19, but had a Spitfire, Goshawk and a few more. Never could fly them very well. Generally more than two circuits ended up in a complete rebuild. What I wouldn't have given for a foam plane then.

There are still some of us old coots flying those things. Not me though. I'm spoiled with foam planes and electric motors that are less, but not entirely, likely to bite me. ;D

Happy landings

[akphill]

I had that one also plus several others the last one i had died a hard death tho had it in the baseball Field all to myself.
When this kid comes along and starts watching inching his way toward me I kept backing away with each circle then he inched a little more and the next time around I was doing an eye level flight and wouldn't you know it that kid had inched to close nailed him in the side of the head knocked him flat on his back. I thought I had killed him the plane just exploded into a hundred peaces when I went over to see if the kid was OK he got up balling said he was OK ran off home.
But the plane was just all done. Funny thing tho the next week i seen the same kid going through the learning curve of flying string airplanes makes you wonder

[elkmaster01]

Oh wow,,,,,yea,,,there I was,,,it was springtime 1977,,in the parking lot of the local grocery store. I was 17. My buddy started it,,,no spring, just flinger flip,,,,,he had no idea what a plane was all about and he didn't notice that the motor was running BACKWARDS,,,LOL. I was 'on-the-line' when he tossed it and it came right back at his face. He ducked it but got tangled in the line and it buzzed right down the side of his leg. He didn't need stitches but his 'bell-bottoms' were trashed,,LOL.

Then a Cop pulled up and jokingly asked, "you got a pilots license to fly that thing?",,,I quickly pulled out my private pilots license and said 'I sure do'! He got a kick out of it but declared the parking lot a 'no-fly-zone'.

We did actually fly that thing about a dozen times before the repeated crash-landings were too much!!

I'd forgotten all about that thing,,,,it was a one-day hobby!!!

[BTCat]

I can't recall ever damaging that PT19. I do remember getting dizzy flying it . I tired to build one from scratch out of balsa. I got the wing built and some of the fuselage before loosing track of it. I could only afford to buy one piece of balsa at a time. I lived near a high school with a lot of open space. There were quite a few people with larger balsa planes flying on a good weekend. I haven't seen anyone fly one in years, though.

[Solitaire]

You want to talk about dizzy...

[Dave]

All I can say is....beat that elk

Dave

[r/c basher]

They were before my time. But were you able to control elevator and rudder with them or did you just spin them around you in a circle and hope they didnt crash.

[Solitaire]

Rudder was not hinged but canted slightly right to put outward pressure on the control lines to keep them taught. These things always flew counterclockwise.

The control lines (upper and lower) controlled the elevator so you could change elevation and (if you were good at it) do loops.

I don't think I made more than one circuit before nosing it in. The flying time to repair time ratio was way worse than flying helis.

[BTCat]

Jan 24, 2010 16:07:54 GMT -6 r/c basher said:

They were before my time. But were you able to control elevator and rudder with them or did you just spin them around you in a circle and hope they didnt crash.

EVERYTHING was before your time, Basher. I have jeans older than you ;D I can't remember for sure, but I believe it only had elevator