I'm just wondering, is a stooge required if a timer is controlling the esc?

I'm glad you asked this important safety question. We all need to get the word out on this issue.

The short ans is: .... NO it is not required. BUT, we should all use a stooge or helper on every ECL flight!.

I agree with what Dennis said.

Even if we ECL flyers know that our systems are very reliable and we have our set 30 sec. of no motor run before spool up we should still use a stooge or helper when flying. It really is unsettling for the non E CL flyer to see our planes "unattended" before Take off, and it is not fair of us to make them feel ill at ease. And it also makes us "look" unsafe in our procedures, even if we think we are safe. Appearances are still important. (in CL more than most places ;-).

A few years ago, before I discovered (stumbled on it actually ;-) the sloooow spool up (and went on a compain to convince everyone to use it) we used to have our motors go from idle to full power almost instantly. This allowed easy grass starts, just like a full power up wet system.

Now that we all use the slooow spool up, which gives outstanding scale like high scoring take offs, you MUST use a stooge or helper to avoid almost a sure prop strike on grass. I let my motor spool up to about 1/2 power (depends on length of grass) before pulling the stooge string. In about 350 stooge flights on grass I have never had a prop strike. 

Like Dennis said, on pavement there is not this problem. At contests with pavement, I have the helper hold it until I am holding the handle. Then I give him the signal to release (and I have told him before hand to back away from the circle on this signal) then about 15 sec later the plane starts to move all by itself for it's slow taxi and take off. This looks cool and very scale like to start the flight. :-)

IMHO: For both safety, and for appearances, we all should use a stooge or a helper, on grass AND on pavement.

Again, thanks for bringing up this important safety issue. 

If you guys would use trike gear you wouldn't have to worry about prop strikes 

My last ship was my first trike and do believe everyone after this will also be a trike. Only thing you have to get use to is to not try to raise the nose before it has enough speed to keep the lines tight. Too early and it could very well chase you around the circle.

A LH rotation propellor allows the prop torque reaction to make the airplane roll to the right, away from the pliot (if you  are flying CCW)  It is a good thing.

Hi All,
It's not the roll, it's the spiral airflow induced yaw, which is now outboard with a left-hand prop.
Asymmetry?  That's why the first thing Hunt and I discussed was a couter-rotating twin. The pusher prop works so well  that we may not bother.
later,
Dean

sorry not flaps AND rudder

flaps AND rudder ... I think if I change the rotation, I need to to change both to puth the model to previouse position ... at least that is what I had to do when I tested pusher prop

Rob
Just when the airplane is accelerating to flight speed it can be at risk (too strong a word really) to torque.  Rolling in (outboard wing up) can ruin your whole day, rolling out (o/b wing down) Is a lot easier to deal with.

Normally with IC with a launch helper or a stooge the engine is running full speed at launch and the airplane quickly gets to flying speed - and airspeed usually masks the torque effect.  We've been launching our electrics while the motor is still spooling up (see Rudy's post above) so it comes up to speed slower and is also exposed to torque effects - you can see the o'b wing riding high on take-off. 

Of course once you get airborne then you can start doing tricks on PURPOSE!

I think the real issue, having it actually happen to me, is that when the plane starts rolling slowly, it is prone to any field imperfection which can easily turn it in towards you or bump the nose down and cause a prop strike  .  So yes you need to be careful about the spool ups being too slow. Thats why I have my ESC set to spool up as fast as possible.

To stooge or not to stooge, the question depends on the field condition. If we just cut it and it is nice and smooth, then maybe I'll risk it. If it needs cutting, then I'll use the stooge.

I have flown plenty of IC planes (the Fox 35 powered Skyray tests last week for example) with one main wheel. Here the torque rolls the inboard wing into the ground making it easy for the leadouts to snag --now that is scary at any power setting! So even with a stooge (or a launcher) I am backing up pretty fast with my hand held up high to try and keep the leadouts above snag level.