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Flying
Ok, so you've built your plane and you've read the all-in-one guide, right? You have haven't you?
You should now be ready to fly.
I cant emphasize this enough, choose a good field for your first flight!!! Make sure the field is nice and open, and that there are no trees immediately around you. Football size or bigger fields are ideal. Secondly, wind, the Slow Stick doesn't like it, its not impossible to fly in the wind, but it gets a lot tougher. Try and make sure the wind is at 5MPH or less on your first flight.
Step 1
When you get to the field its a good idea to do a range check. keep the antenna down on your transmitter and walk basically as far away from the plane as is feasible. Have a friend stay with the plane. When you are a good distance away, make sure the plane still responds to your control inputs. If it doesn't, or if it glitches heavily then you need to check a few things. First off, make sure that both the batteries in the transmitter and in the plane are fully charged. Secondly, make sure that the antenna is extended on the transmitter (hey, we all make mistakes) and that the antenna on the receiver is attached with a good connection. If neither of those are the problem, then you might consider moving to a different area to fly, as your current place may have interference.
Step 2
Once you do a range check, you must do a pre-flight on the airplane itself, make sure that all control surfaces move, and that they move in the correct direction, because once the plane is in the air, if the controls are reversed, you aren't going to think about operating the transmitter backwards, you'll just panic and watch as the plane crashes (ask me how I know).
Step 3
Make sure all your control surfaces (Rudder and Elevator) are trimmed straight. You can trim them out in flight later.
Step 4 (Take off)
You are now ready for takeoff. There are two schools of thought on this, so I will cover them both. No matter which way you decide to go, you need to follow the following directions carefully. First off, make sure you have a long runway if you choose to do a Rise Off Ground (ROG) launch. The Slow Stick takes off in a short distance, but there is a good chance you might be touching down again soon if this is your first flight. Secondly, MAKE SURE you are taking off into the wind. Taking off with the wind will have disastrous results. Ok, now you must choose how you plan to have your plane take off, this is where people get divided.
Hand Launch- This is exactly how it sounds, you basically toss the plane into the air. Some people advocate this method based on the theory that if something is wrong, you will have time in the air to correct it. I think this is true for a plane that has already been flown, but for a new one its risky. That is just my opinion, however. To do a hand launch, stand facing into the wind with the plane in one hand and the transmitter in the other. Give the plane full throttle and throw it forwards and up into the air. Grab the transmitter and hope for the best.
Rise Off Ground (ROG) Launch - This is, in my mind a little safer for the first time flyer. To do a ROG, place the plane on a smooth flat surface, facing into the wind. Give it full throttle and wait till it gains a little speed. As it gains speed, the tail should lift up a little. Give it some up elevator, and it should begin to climb. It is at this point that the advantage of the ROG comes into play. If the plane starts acting weird (fluttering, extreme climb angle, servos glitching, etc) you can just kill the throttle and give it some down elevator to bring it right back down without (hopefully) breaking anything. Also, there is the added advantage of having both hands on the transmitter in those crucial first few seconds.
Step 5 (Flying and landing)
Now that you have the plane in the air, you can get a feel for how it flies. If there is anything fundamentally wrong with the plane or how it was put together, you would know by now. Honestly, with most planes, barring some sort of catastrophic electronics failure, getting the plane in the air and the first few seconds of flight are usually the most scary. Anyways, once it lifts into the air, keep it at full throttle so it can climb up a ways. I know many first time flyers don't want to take the plane up very far for fear of losing it, but trust me, the Slow Stick is agile enough to get out of most any trouble you will find up high.
Take the plane to 100 feet or so and just begin circling in one direction for a while. You will note that the plane requires some up elevator to keep its altitude in turns. If you want, change direction and fly the other way While you are up there you can trim the plane out to correct any tendency it may have to turn one way or another when there is no rudder input. Also, the plane should fly relatively level at half to 3/4 throttle. If it doesn't you can trim the elevator up or down to correct this.
Depending on your battery, you may have to land as soon as 5 minutes into the flight. To do so, get the plane facing into the wind again and cut the throttle. The plane will start to descend. As it nears the ground (at 3 or 4 feet of altitude), give it a little up elevator to keep the nose up (not so much that it stalls) and to bleed off some speed, and with any luck, the plane will touch down gently. The Slow Stick is actually very easy to land because it floats so well. You can bleed off almost all of the speed and still land just fine.
Many new pilots are concerned about landing, but with the Slow Stick its a breeze, there really isn't any way to mess it up short of ramming it into the ground. Of course you will nose it over in the grass a few times, and perhaps break a prop or nine, but that's all part of learning.