back to index 14, 15, 16. Setting Control Throws, Balancing, and Flying 14. Setting Control Throws 53. Below are the suggested control throws. These rates are a good place to start; however, feel free to adjust the throws to match your flying style once you the glider properly balanced and trimmed. Elevator: 4-5mm total movement Aileron: 10-12mm total movement 15. Balancing Glider 54. Balancing the Alula is a fine tuning process. Small, lightweight, flying wings are inherently very sensitive to CG (center of gravity) location. Being off by 1mm can make a large difference in how the glider will perform. Before flying, we recommend balancing the glider on a balancing stand made of two sharpened dowels or pencils spaced about 2-3 inches apart. We have designed the Alula so that very little or no nose weight will be required for balance using the suggested radio equipment. Make sure to set the points of the balance stand directly at the CG location designated on the plans. This location is 25 mm (plus or minus 1mm) behind the leading edge of the wing, at the pod/wing junction. The glider should sit level on the dowels when balanced at this location. Add nose weight if necessary. Again, you will have to test fly the glider to verify the precise CG location, and as a result you may have to add or remove very small amounts of weight to fine tune the balance position. The above procedure will give you a good place to start, and most importantly, the Alula will fly with the CG at this position; however, a bit of fine tuning may be necessary to get the best performance. 16. Flying, Finally! Well, its time! Pick a nice flat and open area, preferably grassy, to test fly your new Alula. Make sure everything is functioning correctly and gently toss the glider into the wind. We strongly recommend starting with simple javelin-style launches (overhand), until you get the glider properly trimmed and balanced and accustomed to flying it. Make trim adjustments until a nice flat glide is achieved. Once you have achieved this, you can progressively try harder launches and eventually side arm launches. Always launch into the wind; your launches will be higher and less effort will be required. When proper trim and balance is achieved, the glider should track almost straight through when in a dive. It should not exhibit the tendency to tuck under in a dive when down elevator is given. If the glider has the tendency to nose up strongly as airspeed in increased, the glider is most likely nose heavy. A Few Notes on Side Arm Launching the Alula While side arm launching the Alula, grasp the wingtip at the spar, with your thumb on top and index finger on bottom. Never snap your wrist while launching, as this will cause the glider to yaw excessively after launch, thus decreasing the height of the launch. Try to pinch the wingtip to prevent the glider from pivoting between your fingers, and always keep your arm straight and fully extended during the entire launch. If you are having trouble launching this way, one trick is to release the glider a little sooner than you usually do. Often people release too late, and this results in the glider being launched oblique to the wind direction. This results in an ugly, yawing climb after launch. Happy flying! All text, images and other content © 2003 Richter R/C. All rights reserved.