I'm new to RC control (control line many years ago)and have bought an electric glider (3 Channel). Is it better to use the rudder as intended on the left stick or swop it to the right in place of the aileron.

The therory being when I move to a plane with ailerons i'll be used to turning using the right stick or am I talking rubbish.

From : Don Stackhouse

No, that's definitely not rubbish at all, and it's an excellent question, one that a lot of beginners have trouble with. On our 2-meter Chrysalis and Roadkill Series J-3 Cub and Curtiss-Wright "Junior" (which were intended to be both excellent sport models and excellent trainers, including training for building skills), we include fairly thorough diagrams for exactly how the controls should move in response to the transmitter stick motion, specifically because beginners historically have trouble with this.

The answer is that in a model that uses rudder instead of ailerons, you should plug the rudder into the receiver such that it works off of the "aileron" stick on the transmitter (typically the right stick for most of us).

The typical setup (at least in the USA, where what's called the "Mode 2" control setup predominates) tries to mimic the controls of a full-scale airplane. The right stick on the transmitter typically works like the control stick or yoke in an aircraft (i.e.: roll and pitch, which is ailerons and elevator on a "full-house" aircraft), while the left stick performs the functions of the rudder (yaw) and throttle.

This is also why we "pull back" on the stick for "up" elevator, NOT "push up". This is an airplane, not some video game programmed by someone with little knowledge of aviation, and the convention for all of aviation is to pull back on the stick for up elevator.

The key here is that the right stick is used to control "roll", or bank angle. In a model with rudder plus dihedral instead of ailerons, the rudder becomes the thing that controls roll, and therefore should be controlled by the right stick, not the left.

Of course there is another way to accomplish the same thing if you have one of those fancy computerized transmitters. Some folks like to plug the rudder into the rudder channel on the left stick, but then mix that channel 100% to the aileron channel on the right stick. With that setup, you can control the rudder equally well from either stick. You can use the right stick to master controlling the bank angle in flight, then use the left stick while on the ground to master ground steering skills.

Note, you will probably need to reduce or turn off this mixing altogether if you add ailerons in the future, as it can cause some other problems. However, it can be a useful learning tool until then.

Don Stackhouse
DJ Aerotech