Crow brakes are essential for precise landings, however they have a varying impact on pitch trim. In order to use them effectively, the pilot must neutralise these pitch changes, and this has traditionally been a tiresome process involving multiple landings and curve adjustments.
In this post I describe a simple way for the pilot to achieve perfect trim throughout crow range - even before the landing of a new model!
F3F is the Formula 1 of slope soaring. Or perhaps it's better described as F1 practice day, since it's a timed event rather than a race. Either way... F3F will improve your flying skills and help you get the best out of your mouldie - all in a friendly atmosphere as everyone participates in the running of the competition.
In this post, I'll describe what you need to get going, safety checks, and how to enter.
In this post, I'll describe an advanced snapflap mix using Lua. It offers full control over the snapflap curve, via dedicated controls.
Crow brakes are virtually essential for F3X models. They allow you to bring your model down quickly, without building excessive speed. However, deploying crow brakes can adversely affect roll response. In this post I'll examine the reasons behind it and describe a couple of techniques for improving roll control.
The techniques are particularly relevant for OpenTx which does not provide these features built in - you have to cook them yourself! (A few of us do enjoy cooking...)
As we roll into 2012, I'm at last migrating my F3F models from 35 MHz to 2.4 GHz. Yep, it's time to recognise that the world is changing, most competition pilots already having made the switch. And it may seem a little thing, but having a tiny little aerial in place of the enormous 35 MHz fishing rods will make it easier to negotiate the rocks and rabbit holes which inhabit our slopes.
F3F models are fairly demanding in terms of programming (if not quite as complex as F5J or DLG!). Aside from having four-servo wings there are ergonomic and trimming considerations which need to be taken into account, especially for competition work.
Over the years, I've competed in over 140 F3F competitions [as of Feb 2025] and programmed a variety of radios for this task. These include the Futaba FF7 Super, MPX 3030, MPX 4000, MPX Royal Evo, MPX Cockpit SX, Futaba 12FG and FrSky X9D+ running OpenTx. More recently, a FrSky X20 running Ethos.
