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A three channel RC plane will typically have an elevator and a throttle control, and either an aileron or rudder control but not both. If the plane has ailerons, turning is accomplished by rolling the plane left or right and applying the correct amount of up-elevator. If the plane has a rudder instead, the wing needs to have a significant amount of dihedral (V-bend in the wing). The rudder will turn the plane so that one wing will turn into the wind, causing it to lift and roll the aircraft. Many trainers and electric park fliers use this technique. A more complex four channel model is usually turned like a full size aircraft; it is rolled into a turn with ailerons and then a small amount of ‘back pressure’ is required to maintain height. This is required because the lift vector, which would be pointing vertically upwards in level flight, is now angled inwards so some of the lift is turning the aircraft. A higher overall amount of lift is required so that the vertical component remains sufficient for a level turn. For the perfectionist, a small amount of rudder can be applied when rolling into or out of a turn, in the direction of the rolling motion to correct adverse yaw. Many radio controlled aircraft, especially the low end `toy’ models, are designed to be flown with no movable control surfaces at all. Instead, the planes typically have two propellers or ducted fans, one on each wing and the plane is controlled only by this. Usually the planes only have two control channels — throttle and yaw. In general this results in a plane that flies poorly and is very difficult to fly, though some fly better than others. Some model planes are designed this way because it’s often cheaper and lighter to control the speed of a motor than it is to actually provide a moving control surface.

V-tail systems

A V-Tail is a way of combining the control surfaces of the standard “+” configuration of Rudder and Elevator into a V shape. These ruddervators are controlled with two channels and mechanical or electronic mixing. An important part of the V-Tail configuration is the exact angle of the two surfaces relative to each other and the wing, otherwise you will have incorrect ratios of elevator and rudder. The mixing works as follows: When receiving rudder input, the two servos work together, moving both control surfaces to the left or right, inducing yaw. On elevator input, the servos work opposite, one surface moves to the “left” and the other to the “right” which gives the effect of both moving up and down, causing pitch changes in the aircraft. V-Tails are very popular in Europe, especially for gliders. In the US, the T-Tail is more common. V-Tails have the advantage of being lighter and creating less drag. They also are less likely to break at landing or take-off due to the tail striking something on the ground like an ant mound or a rock.