How To Land An RC Jet

RC jets are one of the most fun RC vehicles that are on the market especially if you are a speed junkie like me. Some people prefer the subtitles of rock crawlers it’s other RC vehicles but personally I love RC vehicles that simply go fast! 

RC jets certainly fit that description! 

Of course the main issue that people have with RC jets is how to properly land them without damage. If you don’t do everything right you will end up with a damaged jet or worse will run it into someone costing you a trip to the hospital! 

The first thing I will mention is that if you are not 100% used to flying a normal RC plane you shouldn’t attempt to land an RC jet. Most of the mechanics are the same for take off and landing but since RC jets are typically much faster there is far less room for error than on a normal RC plane. 

Once you are comfortable and even proficient at landing a normal RC plane then you are ready to move up to the jet. 

Landing your RC jet

There are many different nuances to landing an RC plane that are all important to remember each one is important to keep in mind especially when you are newer to flying an RC plane

Approach

Your approach to the landing strip or area is vitally important as you ideally will want to be going as slow as possible during the approach while also not stalking the plane. 

You will want to give yourself plenty of room as well so come down close to the ground towards the start of the landing strip and then level off before touching down. At this point your plane should be just an inch or two above the ground so if something goes horribly wrong not much damage will be done to the plane. 

Ideally you will continue to give the motor power until you are ready to touch down. This is why it’s important to start near the front of the runway to give yourself some room. Obviously you don’t want to run out of runway and destroy your RC jet! 

You will want your plane to be going as slow as possible when you are about to land. That way the power that you give it will keep it from stalling but won’t speed it up too much. The slower your approach is the better as long as you don’t stall. 

If you bring your RC jet in for a landing and it is too fast it will bounce all over the runway ultimately leading to damage. Although some planes must land faster than others depending on their stall speeds you will ideally want to land your RC plane at as slow of a speed as possible to make the touchdown as gentle as possible. 

You will want to have as long of an approach as possible before the runway so when you turn to land you have plenty of space to slow your RC plane down before you even get to the runway. 

Don’t go too slow

Finding the exact right speed can be difficult if you are newer to flying RC planes or even if your RC jet is different than the planes that you normally fly. If you get too slow when you are still in the air then your RC plane will stall and will likely fall out of the sky when it gets close to the ground. These type of stalls are or coming in too fast is where most RC planes get damaged. 

Just like Goldilocks in the old story you want your plane speed to be just right. 

Landing your RC jet

Now that we’ve discussed the proper approach techniques and speed let’s move on to the actual landing of your plane. 

When you make the last turn and are ready to land your RC plane you will want to fly the plane with the nose pointed towards yourself so that way you can tell exactly how fast the plane is going and how far off the ground it is. As you start to bring the plane down you will simply turn it slightly to line it up with the runway. 

Now I know that pointing the nose at yourself seems counterintuitive but if you do that it’s much easier to see exactly the angle the plane is coming in at so all you need is a slight adjustment to land it perfectly on the runway. If you are trying to point the plane down the runway instead it’s really easy to have it pointed off to the side and not notice it. 

That is why you will want the nose pointed at yourself when landing your RC jet. 

Another important thing to remember when landing your RC jet is that you can easily use the elevator for speed and the throttle for altitude. Yes this seems backwards but when landing slowly you will only be using the throttle to keep your RC plane from stalling so when you hit the throttle the plane will go up slightly. You will the. Just feather the throttle as your plane lands to keep it from stalling or to keep from hitting the ground hard. 

One important thing to keep in mind when you are landing your RC  jet is the wind. 

Many people get freaked out when the wind is blowing as they are afraid of what that will do to their landing but all you have to do is let your plan go with the wind and instead of approaching the runway like normal you let the wind dictate the approach angle. 

Once the wind causes your plane to angle differently towards the runway then all you have to do is slow it down and land on the runway from that angle rather than the one that you would normally land from. It is much easier to let the wind change the angle of your approach than it is to try and fight the wind with your plane! 

You can even use the wind to your advantage as often you can land even slower with the wind helping you which in turn will make the landing much softer as well. 

Conclusion 

I hope this article has been helpful and you have learn more about landing your RC jet than you knew before starting. 

Ultimately landing an RC plane or jet is something that requires a lot of practice but the more you do it the better and better you will become. Over time you will be able to avoid stalling or even land in much shorter distances but ultimately landing your RC plane is about one thing, getting your plane down safely. 

If you are able to learn how to do that regularly no matter the obstacles presented by the wind or other factors you will find yourself enjoying your flights much more since you no longer have to worry about landing properly.