Flying Your New Postage Stamp  By James Goss     The Postage Stamp is not a trainer so you don't want it for your first plane. If you can already fly a trainer with precision you should be able to fly the Stamp while at a safe altitude. If you can already fly a hot fun fly, then you are in for a real treat because you can fly the Stamp two feet off the ground and hover it all day if you like. Having flight experience still requires that you get familiar with the Stamp before you start hot-dogging at ground zero. This is an unconventional plane to say the least because it operates on thrust and only receives a small amount of lift from the wing. Even though the wing is flat there is still some lift created due to the disturbed airflow over the wing. So you must understand that it is mainly the prop thrust that keeps you in the air.      You can take the Stamp off the same as you would any plane, get it moving down the runway and apply back stick. It will rotate in a short distance and you will be in the air before you know it. Once in the air you need to reduce the throttle so the plane really slows down to a nice cruising speed. Fly it around at this speed and get it trimmed so you are comfortable with it. If it still wants to fly too fast for you to feel relaxed, all you have to do is point the nose up about ten or twenty degrees and the Stamp will slow to a crawl. The main thing to remember is fly slow!!! This plane will give you all the excitement you need and without the high speed required by other fun fly planes you have flown in the past. You can fly this plane around like a helicopter and if you crash you don't have to set down and cry like a newborn baby. This plane is crash resistant and most of the time you can get it back in the air immediately.      When it comes time to land the Stamp bring it in like you would any other plane and when it gets a couple feet above the ground, point the nose up and bring the throttle up at the same time. The Stamp will set down in a vertical landing with the engine still running. With a little practice you can do vertical landings from any height. Most pilots for their first landing with a Stamp will attempt a conventional landing and set it down with too much forward speed, this usually results in a nose over and dead engine. The Stamp has very long landing gear designed for vertical landings so the prop will not hit the ground and kill the engine during it's timber.      After you are really comfortable with the Stamp you will need to start flying a few feet above the ground and really start to have fun. You can take off, reduce the throttle, and stay within a few feet of the ground for the entire flight. All you have to do is keep the nose up and the Stamp will become so stable you will not believe it. I like to fly around in this helicopter mode while doing patterns such as figure eights, circles, squares, crosses, and an occasional low altitude loop and flat spin. It is good to use the rudder for your sharp turns with the Stamp. With rudder and elevons together you can turn on a dime and instantly be going in the opposite direction. You must remember that for sharp turns you have got to bring the throttle up before you start the turn in order to maintain altitude. Flying one foot above the ground you can't afford much altitude loss.      The helicopter mode is the final phase in learning to fly the Stamp. Some pilots catch on in just a few flights while others require a little more time. It took me quite a while before I was able to fly in this mode. One of the reasons being I didn't know the Stamp was capable of doing this type of flying. It was over several months that I slowly seen what the stamp could do and one day there it was, the Stamp was hovering around like a helicopter and I had pretty good control of it. I was amazed, and still am, at how well the Stamp responded and how it could hover with ease. So it really makes a difference to know ahead of time what a plane is capable of doing. Working with the unknown will slow anybody down so this is why I like to demonstrate all the Stamp's moves before a first time Stamp pilot takes a Stamp to the air. If you already know something can be done, then it is just a matter of practice until you can also do it. This is one plane that will allow you to do just that. You will be doing tricks with this plane that you never thought possible with your other planes.      I have said many times that the Stamp will improve your flying ability no matter what style you have been flying. I will use my own experience as an example. I have flown with the rudder for many years and thought I was at least average when it comes to rudder control. I would still catch myself thinking at times which way the rudder should go for correct input. While flying the Stamp in its helicopter mode it requires constant rudder input for the nice crisp turns it will do. This has got to be the best rudder practice there is and I think it has really helped me to be able to instinctively input rudder commands. Repetition is a good way to learn and flying the Stamp in its helicopter mode you get plenty of it. Other skills will also improve, but I think the rudder input will be the most noticeable.      If I had to select one characteristic about the Stamp that I like above all the rest it wouldn't be hard. Above all I like the fact that I can fly the Stamp in close where I can see it well and keep up with it. In another article I describe orientation awareness and how it will be improved by flying the Stamp. As time goes on I see this more and more to be true.