What is the proper way to set the elevator control?

Well, here is another good topic, and one that maybe I can learn a little more. Sometimes there's confusion about pulling and pushing on the stick.
...when I began to RC, I had it so that when you push up on the stick, the elevator rises. Down, the elevator also goes down, and thus the plane to, simple right?
Then I noticed, with all my flight simulators, that when you pull DOWN, the plane in fact RISES, so then I reversed the servo. But I also noticed then, this can cause confusion when flying...I changed it back to up stick, makes plane go up...
Now the question is, which way is the (right?), or most common set up for the elevator stick?

Tobias, the convention here in the U.S. is to make the right stick mimic the functions of the control stick in a full size aircraft. Left-right on that stick is connected to your primary roll control (ailerons if the model has them, or rudder if it doesn't have ailerons). The FORWARD-BACKWARD motion of the right stick (notice I did NOT say "up and down") is connected to the elevators. Get used to thinking of it as "pushing forward - pulling backward" instead of "up and down" motion of the stick, it will be much less confusing.

In flight the aircraft behaves as if it was suspended on a frictionless ball joint located at the center of gravity. In a full scale aircraft, and an R/C model, when you pull back on the stick, the elevator goes up, which pushes the tail down, which causes the aircraft to pivot around the C/G, making the nose go up.

Let me say that again, without the explanation:

PULL BACK on the stick, elevator goes up, nose goes up. PUSH FORWARD on the stick, elevator goes down, nose goes down.

Some R/C'ers in other parts of the world (and sometimes here in the U.S.) put the elevators on one stick and the ailerons on the other. Even then, they still pull back to make the nose go up, push forward for down. It's an old and well established convention, dating back to the earliest days of aviation.

This is a universal convention, regardless of whether it's an R/C glider or a full scale Boeing with a hundred paying passengers in the cabin. This is also the convention used by the flight simulators you mentioned. If you don't follow it, you will have EXTREME difficulty flying anyone else's models, and they will have extreme difficulty flying yours. Also, if someday you decide to get a pilot's license, you will have all kinds of trouble getting used to the controls of a full scale aircraft. The really ugly part is that if you continue to operate your controls the wrong way till it's mentally ingrained, then later go through the mental gymnastics you will face learning a full scale aircraft's controls, your old, backwards way of doing it is likely to jump back out of your subconscious and bite you right in the middle of a crisis. A recovery from an inadvertent stall at low altitude, or during a botched landing flair is NOT a good time to suddenly forget which way to move the stick! Change your model to match the convention now, before you get the wrong setup burned any deeper into your brain!

As far as the elevators seeming to be backwards when inverted, and the rudder and ailerons backwards when the model is coming towards you, this is inherent in R/C models; you just have to get used to it and learn to mentally "shift gears" in those situations. It's the natural result of trying to control a moving object while standing somewhere other than on that object. This is a big part of the reason why R/C models are in some ways more difficult to fly than full scale aircraft. It helps to try to mentally put yourself in the cockpit of the model, and there are also some memory aids you can use to help with this. In any case, building and flying R/C models will develop your visualization skills tremendously. This could be a great asset for you later in many careers. For example, visualization skills are fundamentally important in most engineering jobs, as well as for pilots, air traffic controllers, military commanders, ship captains and navigators, legal work, accident reconstruction, detective work, any kind of artistic work, operating industrial machinery,... I presume you get the picture!

Also, is it just me, or is it natural that when you first start, you panic sometimes and forget which way to use the stick to gain or lose altitude. Like I said, when you first start flying, things are a lot different, and you're thinking about so many other things, and you're not that very relaxed either.

This is absolutely normal, just about everyone goes through this. Don't worry, as you gain experience and the confidence that goes with it, the panic and confusion will pass.

Don Stackhouse @ DJ Aerotech
djarotec@bright.net
http://www.bright.net/~djwerks/