Flying RC: Tips & Tricks
Event, Meetup Photo Log
Safety in RC Flying
is Our Only Option
After getting clearance from the "Tower", airplane and pilot "take the active." Sometimes using the "force" alone may not work. Using a radio transmitter may make flying much easier.
On a more serious note: to enhance safety, just like full-scale aviation pilots flying into uncontrolled airfields, we must communicate our intentions to one another. We do this by announcing to the others on the flight line what we are going to do.
For example, announce when beginning to "taxi" onto the runway, when powering up for "take-off", and entering a downwind for "landing".
Careful pilots announce "landing" again on final just in case someone suddenly decides to walk onto the runway. Also, it's very important for a pilot who must walk on the runway to retrieve an airplane to clearly announce, "on the runway" before entering the runway surface.
Videos
Click on image for videos around Carson Valley.
RC Tips, Tricks, and Learning to Fly
When transitioning from a prop driven airframe to an EDF jet,
check out the piloting tips for flying EDFs by viewing Michael Wargo's YouTube EDF Jet Flying video. Link below
https://youtu.be/lqZFVVMj5nw?si=TBheE_hUpAxTcNxd
How to Find the Forecast Winds and Temperature at our Flying Field in Gardnerville
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
1. One of the best websites for current and NWS forecast weather conditions at our RC Flying Field can be accessed using the yellow link below this image of the weather page, shown to the left. This link has been localized to the area around the Field coordinates.
Once you open the NWS site, click the Hourly Weather Forcast link (highlighted on this image with an Oval), you will be directed to a page shown in the next image below.
This current Hourly Weather Forecast page shows you the latest forecast weather data in graphical form by the hour and for up to six days out. These hourly forecast graphic pages give you temperature, wind chill, wind speed & direction, sky cover, and precipitation probability from the current time and day to six days out. The closer the forecast time and date, the more accurate the forecast will be.
I learned about safe RC Flying from this…
Piece of cake, I thought. I'll just grab my Bat-Safe Box containing a set of LiPo batteries, load the vehicle, and head out to our Flying Field. Thinking that I had charged the batteries the evening before and did not have to wait for the batteries to charge, I could leave for the field that much sooner. Upon arrival and anxious to fly, I switched on the radio, installed a battery in my PA Addiction, and connected it to my plane's ESC connector. I would realize in a few minutes that if I had taken off, a crash would likely have been the result instead of fun flight and a happy landing. Why?
Fortunately, I had just purchased a new *Battery Capacity Tester that tests LIPO and other types of batteries. Having the new battery tester handy, I decided to see how it worked by double-checking the charge status (or capacity) of the battery I was using before taxing out to takeoff. This Battery Capacity Tester may have saved an expensive airplane from a disastrous crash. The tester indicated that the battery I was going to fly with had only a 34% charge level. What happened? It turned out that I had intended to charge the batteries after the previous day's flying session, but had been interrupted in the process and one of my batteries did not get charged.
Coming so close to unknowingly flying with only a 1/3 charged battery promoted me to add another safety rule to my preflight routine: "Always check the capacity of a battery (motor or receiver) before flying."
* Battery Tester link; https://a.co/d/6OIZ7RN
Inspect Electrical Connectors Often
X
√
Loctite for use with plastic hardware?
Using Loctite to secure fasteners in plastic has been topic of discussion around the SBF Club lately. The best information on this issue is probably the Tech Data Sheet for Loctite 425, a dark blue, cyanoacrylate-based adhesive that's designed to lock metal and plastic fasteners. It's recommended for metal, nylon, polyester, and many thermoplastic materials.; link to see Data Sheet.
Tech Talk - Spektrum's SAFE® System
What is Spektrum’s SAFE® (Sensor Assisted Flight Envelope) technology? Let’s break it down:
1. What SAFE Mode Is
• SAFE is Horizon Hobby’s stabilization and flight-envelope protection system.
• It’s more than just a gyro or AS3X stabilization—SAFE includes:
◦ Leveling mode (keeps wings level automatically)
◦ Pitch/roll angle limits (prevents over-controlling)
◦ Panic recovery (returns aircraft to level flight with a switch)
2. SAFE in Horizon Hobby “BNF” Planes
• Many Bind-N-Fly (BNF) airplanes from Horizon Hobby come with SAFE pre-programmed in the receiver.
• These are usually the Spektrum AR636/AR637T/AR631 series with a special “SAFE-enabled” firmware and model file.
• In those cases, the SAFE programming is locked to that airplane’s flight characteristics (CG, throws, weight, wing shape).
• The end user cannot fully reprogram SAFE for another plane in those locked receivers.
3. SAFE Select vs. AS3X
• AS3X = gyro stabilization only (user can configure with Spektrum Forward Programming).
• SAFE Select = factory-loaded SAFE modes, switch-selectable on/off, but not customizable by the user for different airframes.
4. Can a User Add SAFE to Any Plane?
• Direct SAFE programming is not user-transferable.
◦ You can’t take a receiver from a Horizon Hobby BNF with SAFE, put it in your scratch-build, and expect SAFE to “just work.” The programming is tied to that model’s setup.
• Workaround options:
◦ Use AS3X-only receivers (like AR637T or AR6610T) and set up gyro stabilization manually—this gives smooth flight but not SAFE envelope protection.
◦ For SAFE-like features on a custom model, some flyers use third-party stabilization systems (e.g., Lemon Rx with stabilization, Aura 8 flight controller, Bavarian Demon).
5. The Bottom Line
• SAFE is only available on specific Horizon Hobby models (BNF/PNP) with SAFE-equipped receivers.
• It cannot be user-programmed for arbitrary models (outside Horizon’s pre-configured library).
• If you want stabilization on a custom airframe, you’ll need to configure AS3X or a third-party gyro system, but you won’t get the full SAFE “panic” and “angle limit” modes unless you’re flying a Horizon Hobby SAFE airplane.
Note: Written by CHAT GPT5 in response to a prompt to explain this SAFE® feature by J. Shrawder