Anyway, with a bunch of time and money involved, I don’t want to fly it :green" and I don’t know of anyone that is experienced enough to teach me. So, assuming there has to be an r/c’er or two here, I’ll ask you for some tips. More importantly, I’d like to find some online sites that have some training tips, preferably with video.
There are RC plane simulators that you can learn most of it. Here are links to some. . I have tried a couple and it is pretty difficult to adjust to the way that controls change as the plane flies away from you and them towards you. These can help you get used to that. Other than that, I have heard that you really need an instructor for lessons so you don’t crash it on the first try.
Definately, definately, definately get a R/C flight simulator.
I got Great Planes Realflight a few years ago when I had more time and space for R/C flying, and it helped a great deal. It’s not 100% accurate because you have a 17" porthole to view things from, as opposed to real life wide angle vision, but they definately help with learning coordination and the most important thing - landing. A good flight simulator isn’t cheap (they can be almost as much as the plane itself!) but they are without a doubt worth the investment. Busting up a plane after you’ve spent hours building and admiring it is a sure way to lose motivation and give it up for good. Then you’re stuck with a broken plane and a bunch of equipment taking up space that you’ll never use again.
Also spend the extra few $$ for a radio system that can have a trainer or buddy link. This allows someone else at the field to fly your plane, and switch controls over to you. That way they can take off and land and give you a safety net in the event that you run into trouble. Definately worth the money.
I learned to fly and taught others to fly with a trainer link. It is the best way. The concept is simple: you have a wire from the master radio to another radio that serves as a slave. The instructor uses the master radio, then hands off control by holding down a trainer switch. When there is trouble, she releases the trainer switch and regains control of the plane.
I learned before the age of simulators, so I can’t vouch for them. There is something to be said, however, about learning to plow it in on a computer before putting your new trainer on the line. But there is also something to be said about dealing with depth perception, the sun, various crosswinds, disorientation, trimming a plane, plane handling foibles, how the plane handles near stall and what it looks like on final, and other wild cards that I don’t think a simulator will address. If you do buy a simulator, I would definitely still do the trainer link for at least a few flights. I would not fly the plane on the first flight, either. I would let an experienced R/C pilot deal with at least the first few minutes, in case the plane is squirrely or requires a lot of trim or adjustments. If you have a glow-plug engine, you will (probably) also need some help on the first start-up of the engine, especially if it is a new engine requiring break-in and adjustment.
That said, there are some steps you can do right off the bat. Practice taxiing, in a left or right hand pattern, to get the hang of controlling the plane when it is coming at you or going away. This is easier to do on short-cut grass rather than concrete. If your radio does not have a trainer switch, you may go hang out at an R/C club and make some friends and find somebody who has a trainer, proven in flight, who is willing to teach you a little. R/C people are usually only too enthusiastic, it is a great hobby, and usually only too happy to welcome people into the rather small community.
Another suggestion: Park that plane for a little while, and go buy a cheap GWS ‘park flyer’ made out of foam. You can build it in an evening, it’ll cost you like $50 or so, and you can learn to fly it yourself. They can fly almost as slow as you can walk, giving you lots of time to develop your reflexes and learn to orient yourself. You can fly them in a schoolyard, and with electric motors there’s no mess, setup time, etc.
Once you can fly the wings off of your park flyer, move up to your bigger gas bird. Even then, find an instructor to teach you.
It ain’t easy. I’d reccomend finding a club (yeah I know it may seem a little dorky) and there will be someone to help you with that. I am sure that the shop where you buy these kinds of things could help you find one. I saw my brother try to learn on one of the “easiest” to learn and it was still quite difficult.
It’s been introduced to a couple of trees. :smack: I assume I just don’t have the tailwings set right. They’re the only adjustable part of the plane. It’s supposed to be easy to learn with, but…well this is** duffer ** you’re talking to.
The nitro plane I have came with a remote control that has a toggle switch for “training” mode that edwino mentioned. Maybe I can find someone in Fargo that can help teach.
(unless someone is within 4 hours of Grand Forks, I love trips that get me out of this damn city)
A simulator can’t give you everything, but RealFlight can be set up to give crosswinds, trim, and stall handling. Disorientation happens on its own.
They WILL help you with landings. You won’t be able to perfect them, but it will cut down on the amount of busted models you have in real life. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to break pixels than pine.
And, no matter how exeperienced you are, you’re going to break stuff from time to time. All the guys at my RC club break aircraft from time to time, it’s part of the deal. The better you are, the more often it’s a minor break that’s repairable but even the best have an out-and-out crash on occassion.
sigh Tell me about it. I flew from when I was 12 to when I went to college. (It has been over 10 years since then). I got pretty good; in Houston it is not a problem to fly most weekends of the year. Since my dad was into it, this often meant both Saturday and Sunday and occasional weeknights during the summer. We flew a lot.
About 6 months before I left for college, I was doing fast inverted low passes with my Super Chipmunk model (I loved that plane) and then pushing up inverted half loops (Immelmans but starting out inverted). I lost the plane in the sun, reflexively pulled back, and it came down straight into a two foot puddle of water. I had to dig the O.S. 0.91 4-stroke engine out of about a foot of mud; the plane was shattered to about mid-fuselage.
I built a P-51 after that but it didn’t handle as well and I was going off to college anyway. That’s when I stopped…
Rule one of R/C aviation is that every airplane is doomed. Do everything you can to make your planes last longer but accept that as a given. I highly suggest using a training cord. You can work without one but sometimes there isn’t time to hand the transmitter back to the instructor. I augered in my first trainer after going into a death spiral. I looked at the guy instructing me who just said he probably should have taken the trasmitter from me but I was doing really well until that point. I wasn’t happy about it but I didn’t dwell on whose fault it was.
I too used a foam trainer. I can tell you this; 5 minute epoxy is good stuff.
I finally bought an ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) and took it to a local RC strip. A friendly RC’r walked over and asked me if this was my first time with a plane like this. I said yes. He asked me if he could preflight the plane. With very little pressure he tugged on the aileron and it came away from the wing. Actually both pulled out.
When I installed the ailerons I put some glue on the hinge and pushed it into the wing. Apparently the tightness of the slot kept the glue out. My new found friend brought back a straw and some epoxy (the good 5 minute stuff). He mixed up the glue and sucked just a little into the straw. I then pinched the straw and slid into one of the hinge slots. He then pinched the straw forcing the glue into the slot. After filling the remaining slots he pushed the hinges in and then the ailerons. 5 minutes later, a tug on the ailerons showed that they where not going anywhere.
We fired her up and I taxied her to the runway. I let my new aileron body take her off and trim her out. Once she was up to a respectable altitude he gave me the controls. I hate to think what would have happened had I attempted the maiden flight.
His club was and is the San Gabriel Valley Radio Control League or SGVRCL. I can’t thank them enough for their help. May you find a club member that is so helpful!
FWIW
Jim
