| Put simply, Adz':
High wing aircraft are recommended for beginners because they tend to be more stable in the roll axis due to the pendulum effect of the fuselage being beneath the wing. This is especially true if there is also any dihedral present. These things combined give an "auto-stability" effect, that is, if the aircraft is left alone in a bank it will roll back to wings level by itself (eventually!). If there is little or no dihedral present then the effect is reduced.
Nope, it's not much to do with wing loading, but a low wing loading will make life much easier. For a start the aircraft won't have to fly so fast to develope enough lift, which in turn means it's flying slower which always helps a beginner, and also if the pilot gets it into a stall the recovery will be much quicker than a heavily loaded wing.
It's debatable what type of model is best for a beginner to learn on. That argument could go on for ever! But generally speaking a lightly loaded high wing model with plenty of dihedral would be a fairly safe introduction, even if you won't learn much about flying from it!
If you want a safe route for teaching yourself, do what I did. I had a six foot span glider with a simple Clark Y airfoil and plenty of dihedral and an 049 glow motor on the nose. Later, when I became confident I fitted an .09. That first model was a Veron Big Impala (with plastic moulded wing ribs!) with just rudder and elevator control, and the motor was a DC "Quickstart", which used to take me about fiftenn minutes to start! I probably got more fun and more reward going down that route than the guys who were taught to fly.
Reminds me of this:
…..but I don’t think it bigoted to say that self-taught flying produced the better and safer pilot. Some did not survive, of course, but those who did, because everything was self-taught and learnt at first hand, never forgot.
‘Sky Fever’
Sir Geoffrey deHavilland
So, yeah, teaching yourself is far more rewarding if you begin with a PG. (powered glider) |