Goal: Fly comfortably and incorporate sport maneuvers.

Aircraft Setup

Start with a 3D capable plane like a Crack Yak. I recommend anything from the 32" Backyard Series from Twisted Hobbys because it is the sweet spot of size, performance, and durability. Good servos are worth the extra money. I like the 9x4.7 prop running on a 2S 500mAh battery.

• Set your Rates and your Surface Travel to maximum (I often set mine to about 120% but it depends on the model) and Expo to 50-70%, some people like the Rudder to have less than the Aileron and Elevator.

• Trim and set CG set to neutral. I'll be making a video on setting CG in the future, but you want it to fly straight and level when hands off, and slightly fall off during the inverted upline test. 

Skills to Start With

Before true 3D practice, basic flying is needed. Try to fly with intent and plan out your first few maneuvers:

• Straight lines (much harder than it seems like it should be)

• Smooth turns (without losing altitude)

• Figure 8s

• Mix of fast and slow flight

• Coordinated rudder use (using rudder and aileron in turns)

• Flat Turns using the rudder to turn and aileron to keep wings level

• Half Loops

• Precision landings

• Crashing with throttle off, wings level, and usually pulling elevator

• Rudder, Rudder, Rudder

Goal: Become confident with the airplane in every orientation.

Basic Aerobatics

• Begin to incorporate loops (inside and outside) and rolls (both directions)

• Use the Split-S, Immelmann, 1/2 Box Loop, and Flat Turn at each end of your flying area to turn around 

• Knife edge passes with both the canopy and the gear towards you

• Blend in longer periods of inverted flight until you can do entire flights inverted

• Stall Turn / Hammerhead 

• Slow Roll and 2-Point Roll... maybe 4-Point Roll

• 45° Upline/Downlines

Chain these together so it looks like you did it on purpose

For example:

• Hammerhead - Loop - Immelmann

• Immelmann - Outside Loop - Split-S

• 45° Upline - Split-S - 2-Point Roll

• Hammerhead - Knife Edge - 1/2 Box Loop

• Split-S - 1/2 Roll - Inverted Flat Turn

Goal: Harrier becomes natural, able to precisley control direction.

This is where real 3D starts. Harriers need elevator management, rudder steering, wing rock correction, and throttle control.

Once in a Harrier, you are doing true 3D where the wing is fully stalled. The Throttle becomes what controls altitude, the Elevator controls the speed. 

Start high (15-20ft):

• Reduce speed

• Add elevator

• Maintain altitude with throttle

• Steer with rudder

• Keep wings level with small aileron inputs

Practice both:

• Upright Harrier - in all directions. Away, toward, left to right, right to left.

• Inverted Harrier - in all directions. Away, toward, left to right, right to left.

Daily Practice Drills

Spend full batteries doing:

• Large Harrier circles

• Large inverted Harrier circles

• Transition back and forth between slow flight and Harrier

• Harrier Figure 8s

• Knife Edge Harrier

Don't be in a hurry to master the hover, The fundamentals are far more important. 

Get up early and practice when there is no wind. Just a little wind brings you to harrier instead of hover.

Hover Training

• Start with harrier and keep adding elevator until vertical

• Throttle to maintain altitude

• Canopy towards you

• Big movements at first, then lots of little corrections to fine tune

• Start at 15ft up, get closer to the ground as you gain confidence

• Into the wind

• Short attempts only

• Throttle up to bail out

Focus on:

• Rudder = left/right balance

• Elevator = fore/aft balance

• Throttle = altitude

• Ailerons = countering torque and wing leveling

Do lots of short hover entries instead of trying to “save” bad hovers.

HIGHLY recommend the Realflight Hover Training Challenge. 

Snap Rolls

Cuban 8

Box Loop

Waterfall

Wall/Parachute

Humpty bump (both up and down)

Spin (upright and inverted)

Knife Edge Spin (positive and negative)

Knife Edge Loop

3D Turn

Snake

Rifle Roll

Mountain Tops

Tail Slide

Funnel Hover

Elephant Walk

Santi Slide

Weeble Wobble

Once hovering feels stable:

• Try hovering with the gear towards you for 5-10 seconds, then switch to canopy, repeat. 

• Use L aileron to initiate torque roll

Again, the Realflight Evolution Hover Training Challenge will really help here. 

Known to be one of the most challenging 3D maneuvers to master. The Rolling harrier provides some specific challenges that make it particularly difficult. 

Prerequisites

By now you should be much more experienced and comfortable with the Harrier, Inverted Harrier, and Knife Edge with the canopy both in and out. Slow Rolls and 4-Point Rolls are the best practice. 

The Four Positions

Know which control supports the airplane in each attitude:

• Upright → Elevator

• Right wing up in Knife Edge → Right Rudder

• Inverted → Down Elevator

• Left wingup in Knife Edge → Left Rudder

The elevator typically needs less input than the rudder.

Stick Inputs

Try to complete each input seperatley:

Rudder Right - Rudder Neutral - Elevator Down - Elevator Neutral - Rudder Left - Rudder Neutral - Elevator Up - Elevator Neutral

First practice Four-Point Rolling Harriers

Harrier while stopping at each of the four positions. Focus on altitude and heading control.

Connect the Positions

Start rolling continuously while maintaining a harrier attitude. Roll slowly and focus on smooth inputs.

Common Mistakes

• Rolling too fast - steeper angle of harrier needed

• Not using enough rudder

• Blending the inputs together too much - you shouldn't ever have rudder and elevator at the same time

• Devote time to rolling BOTH directions. otherwise you will have to relearn it the other direction later. 

Key Tips

Think of the rolling harrier as a continuous transition between upright harrier, knife edge, inverted harrier, and knife edge—not as a separate maneuver. The smoother your rudder and elevator inputs, the easier it becomes.

The simulator is THE tool to use. It will all start clicking there, and then you can try it with your plane outside. Once you get it working on a foamie, then push yourself to try it with your bigger balsa planes. 

At this point you may need to get yourself into a balsa plane as the lighter EPP models really don't have the weight to carry inertia through these maneuvers. I like the 60" or 67" planes from Extreme Flight, Pilot, Skywing, Apex, and AJ. 

• Pop-top

• Crankshaft/Lomcovak

• Pinwheel

• Blender

Here is an example routine to practice, feel free to adapt or modify it so focus on a specific maneuver.

• Takeoff

• Harrier - Fly a controlled nose-high pass across the flight line.

  • Stable Attitude

  • Consistent Speed

  • Directional Control

  • Inverted for more challenge

• Harrier ½ Circle

  • Lower is better

  • Inverted for more challenge

• Hover - Hold a hover for approximately 10 seconds.

  • Positional Control

  • Stability

  • Recovery

  • Torque roll and Tail touch for more challenge

• Waterfall

• Knife Edge Pass

  • Ideally one wing span distance off the ground

  • Gear towards the pilot for more challenge

• Pop Top (sub with different maneuver if model cannot PopTop)

• Crankshaft (sub with different maneuver if model cannot Crankshaft)

• Pilot Choice

  • Knife Edge Spin

  • Elevator

  • Wall/Parachute

  • Blender

  • Pinwheel

  • Rolling Harrier

  • Other

• Harrier Landing

Here is a Google Doc Checklist that you can keep track of your progress with.

Training Structure

Every Flying Session

25% Precision

• Lines

• Loops

• Cubans

• Rolls

50% Core 3D Skill

Focus on ONE maneuver only:

• Hover day

• Harrier day

• Knife Edge day

• 4-Point Roll day

25% Freestyle

Have fun and experiment.

Simulator Training

A simulator speeds up learning massively. I recommend RealFlight. 

Best sim habits:

• Practice low

• Practice recovery

• Reset often

• Spend entire sessions on one skill

10 sim hours can save many airplanes.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Flying Too Far Away

3D should be:

• Close enough to see attitude

• High enough for recovery (1.5 mistakes high)

Moving On Without Mastering the Basic Skills

We are all excited to get onto the fun stuff, but without the basics everything will will end up looking sloppy and disorganized. 

Fastest Way to Improve

The biggest accelerators are:

• Flying with better pilots

• Try a gyro

• Video review

• Simulator practice

• Repeating one maneuver for many flights