RC Plane Tricks

Inversion and Knife Edge

• Flying your plane inverted is as simple as flipping it 180-degrees, and traveling with the cockpit pointing toward the ground. It's a simple trick, but is often the beginning of other, more complicated tricks and stunts. The knife edge is halfway between regular and inverted flying, where one of the wings is pointed directly at the ground.

Barrel Roll

• To do a barrel roll, you need to start turning the plane into a knife edge, then go inverted, and then right the aircraft in a single, fluid movement. This is a very common stunt, and is so-called because the wings create a sort of barrel shape in the air.

Stall Turn

• A stall turn happens when the plane starts heading toward the vertical and stalls out; then, in midair, the pilot causes the plane to rotate downward. Finally, the downward motion of the airplane pulls it back into a standard flight. For a few seconds, the plane is out of control and at the whim of gravity, making this a fairly advanced stunt, but a useful one for situations where the plane stalls out when attempting other stunts.

Immelman and Split S Turns

• The Immelman turn is a useful maneuver for getting your airplane moving in a different direction. Instead of turning around horizontally, do the turn vertically: fly upward until the plane starts curving back over itself. It will be inverted at this point, so right the plane and you will pull an immelman turn. The Split S turn is the reverse: fly inverted, then turn downward until your plane is pointing the right direction and traveling in the reverse to where it was.

Aerobatic Loop

• The aerobatic loop requires making the plane fly in a circle vertically. The plane starts to fly upward, and goes into a full loop in the air. There are two kinds of aerobatic loop: inside and outside. The difference is whether your plane is flying upright or inverted, respectively. At the end of an outside loop, the pilot often rights the plane.

Torque Rolls

• A low-altitude stunt that holds the plane just above the ground, hovering with the front propeller toward the sky. It's a bit like flying the airplane as a helicopter. Sometimes, while hovering, the plane will start to turn. This turning is a torque roll.