We got in some freeflight flights with our Pee Wee .020 and the old Atwood on the Wagner Dakota

Bob, Indeed, it is the engine's torque that makes a free flight plane turn in circles.

In theory (and in absence of wind), when chucking the plane by hand without the engine running, it glides straight ahead. In flight, with the engine running CCW with a right hand prop, th port wing will be lower than the starboard wing. This is caused by the reaction of the engine opposite to the CCW turning prop. Once the engine stops, the plane will start gliding straight ahead, which is not very desirable as it flies away in any possible direction, depending at what moment the engine stopped. The thing is to give the plane a small weight at starboard to make it circle to the right when gliding, but this weight may not be too big or to far away from the centre line because it wouldn't go to the left when circling when under power!

In the below video, my Flying Sorcerer climbs to the left and glides back circling to the right but not in tight enough circles. The weight was fixed just inboard of the starboard rudder and this was not far enough. I now fixed it outboard of the rudder. You can't move it too much at a time as this will also influence the climbing to the left which will be less tight. Also the wing weight needs to be at the C of G of the plane



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8wb5mZs9_g



On my new Wing Ding, I fixed a weight to the starboard wing but it was difficult to see what the plane did exactly, I flew in the late afternoon and there was a slight South Westerly wind, so the plane went away from me.



Lieven