Flying Indoors

If you are lucky enough to have a large gym to fly your Delta Dart, you will not face many of the problems that outdoor fliers face, such as wind, trees, and planes going out of sight.  Just the same you will have to closely control the flight path of your plane within the boundaries of your building.  The plane will have to circle in a rather small circle to keep from bashing the walls and ceiling excessively.

Video Clip of AMA Cub not Turning (mpeg 2.4 mb)

Flying in a Circle Indoors

Flying in the confined space of a gym indoors may require that your Delta Dart fly in a small circle. Normally indoor planes are flown in a circular pattern to the left but if your plane flies to the right, it might be best not to adjust to the left as this will create extra drag. The torque of the propeller turning will cause the plane to the left assuming it is not overpowered by warps to the right. Problem is because of the larger amount of power in a rubber motor at the beginning of the flight, the left turning tendency will be much greater the first part of the flight and less as the flight progresses.  Result could be, plane hits a wall.

Video Clip of Methods to Induce Turn (mpeg 3.4 mb)

Never a problem when flying outside, indoor fliers will often have to contend with their models bouncing off large steel girders and often getting stuck there. If you should be lucky enough to have an indoor flying site with a smooth ceiling, bouncing off the ceiling is not such a bad thing, but normally this is not the case.

This is where selecting the proper width and length of rubber motor will be important. If you are limited in rubber sizes, 3/32" width rubber would probably be a good choice. Start with reduced turns and observe how high the plane is flying at the top of the climb. Increase turns and observe again. If the plane is coming very close to hitting the beams at reduced turns, create a new motor that is longer and start your experiments over.

For maximum performance, it might be necessary to bump the ceiling on occasion, but be sure you have a method to retrieve the plane such as a long pole.

AMA Cub covered with Reynolds Crystal Wrap cruises close to exposed ceiling.