A question for beginners

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I'm preparing a new series of beginners articles and I want to use the forum here as a way of seeking opinions especially from those new to R/C flying.

It's easy for those of us who can fly to assume that we know what it's like for beginners or perhaps forget the shape of our own learning curve. So can I ask those who are new to the hobby or learning to fly just what they find is the hardest part of the hobby? What aspect/s they find the most challenging?

Your thoughts would be much appreciated...Thanks.     

[Bruce Richards]

I know I have been flying for a year now but I still remember my training.

The thing I found most difficult was staying calm and believing that the model would happily stay aloft most of the time if I did nothing. My nerves were terrible and I shook like a leaf for the first 20 flights.

The second thing was only being able to fly on a Sunday with my instructor and get 2-3 flights it seemed to take a long time to progress and was frustrating. As I improved I did find others willing to do training with me at other times. I must say my instructor was superbe.

Finally landing. I have always found this hard and still do although I do the odd good landing now.

I did have a fairly major crash on a low pass where the engine cut and I broke the model in half. I quickly fixed it up and found I was much less nervous after that. 

[birdy]

Ah, well you didn't hang around after my e-mail... Fraid I can't really say that much since I've only had five flights, but so far I would say that keeping the aircraft level, and, when the motor mount broke, knowing how to go about fixing it and then being confordent enough in my abiloties to fly again without thinking it might be unsafe, eventhough on the occasion I put enough epoxy on it as I probably did on the rest of the plane!

[Kelly]

Well I am sort of a beginner, returning to R/C flying after  30+ years.

I have mixed feelingsabout the hobby.

To start flying is a lot easier with the advent of ARF and RTF aircraft plus the excellent R/C flight sims on the market.

The amount of choice ,models ,engines ,radio gear, accessories, covering materials etc is staggering compared to what was available in the 1970's 

The rules and regulations in my opinion have  taken a lot of the fun out of the hobby. I am a member of my local club and have yet to fly with them. I have a boomerang trainer ready  for the  the A-test.

I fly a Ripmax Spitfire in a field within walking distance of my home,  yes I have crashed it once, I am still trying to master my hand launching ( see my 109 blog) and the black art (electrickery) . Oh er and my CX2.

David, I can expand on my comments, if you feel it is relative to your beginners articles?

Cheers

Kelvin. 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Thanks Kelvin, you thoughts are much appreciated - as much as you like - I just hate making assumptions and although I like to think I know what it's like for beginners, I'd like to know what other folks think.

[Lee Burke]

As an almost complete begginer  I was tempted back by an open day at a nearby club I happened upon.  I promptly joined, but bad weather kept the club empty for the first couple of weeks and in the meantime I decided on a begginer's plane (Easy Star) after researching the web.  My LHS owner was very helpful and the model is, of course, simple to assemble.  I have decided to go straight to electric flight though the club trainer is IC.  It took a while to get to grips with BECs and LiPol and Controllers and all the myriad acronyms.  (Ongoing process).  Their meanings as obscure as their function.  I was greatly assisted by the Begginer's threads here, but even so . . .  Battery types and methods of charging, exploding accu's etc take a bit of digesting.   All seems so straightforward, right?  Well, it sure isn't when first come on it.  .  All this info I had hoped to get from my club butsomehow it didn't work like that.  When I went there I could only stand around like dummy as those "in the know" got on with preping their models.    Flight tutoring was only held on two days a week and I was unlucky with the weather for a while.  If you haven't got a friend already involved who shows you the ropes its a bit awkward at first , you don't know anyone and you can't fly and you don't really know what questions to ask.  My choice of Tx was made after trawling the net and the forums but I made sure that a 2.4Ghz was okay with them before I bought it. 

Before my first lesson I had a good few hours on a sim and I found the reality, if anything a bit easier than the sim with its lack of depth perception.  But the sim is definately the way to go for newbies.  I have a cable to connect my Tx to the sim but I think I will buy a dedicated controller sometime soon as  constanly charging the Tx batteries just for the sim and plugging the thing in doesn't seem like a good idea.

[birdy]

Yeah, I know what you mean with the sims; Planes get all pixalated, you have to fly low so you can see the runway, and its all to easy to practice crashing!

[Lee Burke]

The Realflight G4 sim (maybe the previous ones too) allows you to set the zoom so that the ground is always in sight; that helps enourmously in setting up for landing, but its still very difficult i find to know when you are lined up okay and not too close or too far away.  Its easy to fly into trees and things since there is little real sense of depth.  But I have no problem with the graphics.  Like you say, Birdy, its hard to fight off the indiference with which one can treat crashes.  Bad Habit 

[Louis Benjamin]

hi,

Idon`t know if anyone else has got it but i found a r/c flight simulator on the internet called "Clearview"....not a great name i must  admit, but the program is!! it`s proved invaluble after not flying for so long. you can download dozens of aircraft, flying sites etc. you can change wind speed,direction,turbulance,gust,thermals.....check it out

Think it cost £20 for the activation key. go to http://rcflightsim.com

[Lee Burke]

Sounds good, Louis.  The price is reasonable. In the beginning I used the free FMS  Although the graphics are not as good as the luxury products it is good enough to get the feel of RC flying.  FMS is at http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

I guess any real discussion of Sims rightly belongs in the Gadgets, DIY Electronics and Simulators folder, but one thing tends to run into another.

[birdy]

I have fms too, but I got it as an e-sky package...

[Helidel]

Lee your post 02/06 (and others)

Don't just hang around your new club members ASK .. I fly during the week 'cos I'm old and I often see newbies standing about and don't really know whether the're waiting for someone or what!

If you ask, you'll be helped, but you might have to wait  a bit ..  

helidel 

[Lee Burke]

Thanks for your comments, Helidel.  Integration always takes a little while and people who are totaly new to the activity do not always know what questions to ask and sometimes simply do not have any questions to ask.  Or they might simply be shy.  I think there are still such people around   Hanging around, or perhaps a better way to put it is, mixing with and meeting members is is a two-way process and new members should be recognised and greeted and made at home as soon as possible by club members.  If you see a newcomer standing around looking lost it might be a good idea to go and have a chat with him.       In all the clubs I have ever joined, in whatever sport, the process is always about the same.  It takes a while to find your feet.  Its very quick if you are already accomplished, a bit longer if you have to pick everything up from scratch.   But of course, there always friendly souls willing to give time to new members.    Nevertheless it inescapable that the newcomer is out of the mainstream of activities at least untill he can fly.   I was unlucky that the weather virtually closed down flying training initially .  

[Phil Winks]

My experienceon my return to the sport about 2 years ago was much what has been said. it can be awkward to integrate with club members, I experienced this for about my 1st 2 visits with not knowing the form on the field etc. luckily I dropped on an extremely nice chap on about my 3rd visit who took me under his wing so to speak and the rest is history as they say. so my advice to any new comer would be get known by the lads at the patch and don't be shy very few will laugh out loud if you ask a silly question, and DO NOT spend any dosh till you've had some advice from at least 3 different people, the more the better.

[Alex Hasell]

Very intereting i will have many posts for you david as im only on my third issue of RCM&E i think i qualify as a begginer 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I'd be very interested to learn how it's going Alex, are you with a club or teaching yourself?

[birdy]

When people say you should ask erlier they do not seem to understand that when you do you feel intrusive and rude... And there arn't really any moments where someone isn't really doing anything...

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Carl Muff]

hi all

the hardest thing i found was joining a club near to me ,the first one i appoached was very clicky and after having a word with a jay models have found a club that i,m looking to join .

 i learnt to fly myself we looking back leant to crash more than fly but now can return home with the plane in one piece ,although think i would learn more with a club .i did use the flight sim and found it a great help on the reversed controls when towards me ,and alls this site has been a great help too

thanks  

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Well done, sound like you're getting there Carl,

What models did you teach yourself to fly with ?

[Carl Muff]

first it was a gws slow stick then moved on to a cclee piper cub even doing a few loops lol  i,m trying a foamee p47 with not much luck although thats more the model ,its under powered and have a gws tiger moth which just needs a battery .

[Snorbitz]

I built a Precedent T180 a few years ago and i've only recently been in the position to learn to fly. When it came to the crunch i decided that it would be a good idea to learn with an ARTF rather than risk hours of work so i transfered all the radio gear into a new Boomerang (a plane recommended by my local club) ,picked up a good second hand Irvine 53 (through the club) and on a very foggy day a few months ago my instructor did the final safety checks and test flew it / trimmed it all up for me. The following week with not a cloud in the sky i was ready for my first go. I was nervous of course but the buddy link system gave me that piece of mind so i could concentrate on what i was doing and being told. Learning to fly is not easy and requires you to use a whole lot of senses all at once that i was just not used to using. I can confidently say that i would have crashed big style several times over by now if it not been for the buddy system. This weekend was my 5th outing and about my 7th flight and my instructor reckons i'm doing just fine...i've done a couple of touch-n-go's already and he thinks it won't be very long before i'll be one my own. I'm learning on mode 1 and while it does feel slightly strange (coming from the playstation era) i'm sticking with it for now as i can see the reasoning behind it for a learner. I had spent many hours looking into exactly what field equipment i needed etc etc and it was nice to not have to beg and borrow on my first day out. I wasn't in a rush and funds are tight so i couldn't just throw hundreds at my new hobby so the internet has proved invaluable. Its probably taken me 3 or 4 months over the winter to get my kit together. Plane restraints for less than a £1 out of a broom handle and some pipe lagging, Cof G guage for about the same from bits of wood and a few left over servo horns (works a treat!!).It all adds up and while i would be the first person to say some things you really should not skrimp on i.e Radio Gear savings can be made and lets face it with things the way they are in the real world every little helps. I have to say that the best decision i made was to go to a club, Yes it does take a week or two to become a familiar face but people are naturally cautious of new faces so don't be put off if nobody rushes over with a cup of tea on the first week. Everybody learns at different speeds and i know i'll crash someday just like everybody else but by going down the club/trainer route the enjoyable times will hopefully far out wiegh the picking up the bits moments. If someone was to ask me what the hardest part has been so far it would be pulling the throttle back to idle on my final approach and having the confidence to bring it in first time from what seems like miles away. . Who knows maybe the T180 might get an outing before the end of the year.

[Alex Hasell]

David not a happy camper just spent an hour and a half writting for it not to send my post saying it was to longggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Simon Wyse]

I've had my first model a little over a year now and am still learning - getting to my clubs' field on a regular basis is proving difficult, due to the weather and other commitments. Weekends are only the real option for me, so progress is a bit slow at the moment.

Saying that, I'm getting the hang of it - no major incidents yet (touch wood), only a couple of broken props and a heaving landing in a farmers' field - tall crops helped there, otherwise I'd be rebuilding! My plane (a Flair trainer with an OS 46LA strapped to the front) was kindly given to me as a present from my brother and family, after I expressed interest in the hobby as a result of my brother introducing me to the local club. The plane came with everything and he got it up and running and away we went. So, talking about the flying aspect alone, I would say I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

It's when you begin talking about the myriad of other elements in their own right I become completely baffled! Lets see now, engines - what size to use and when, how to set them up, run them in etc, building - what glues to use and when and why, materials etc, radio gear..etc etc etc, and don't get me started on electric! I shan't go on otherwise I'd be here all day! This is one area of the hobby that I'm very keen on getting into, as I'm building up knowledge to begin my first scratch build - the Hawker Typhoon by Tony Nijhuis in last years' special. Common sense would say I should start with something less complicated, but there's something about this aircraft that's so appealing. We shall see how things go, but I must the articles in RCM&E have proved very useful.

Well, i hope my comments are useful.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Paul and Simon, many thanks and good to hear you're coming along nicely. I hear so many stories of crashes and bad instruction that it's good to see that you're being looked after.

I agree, just getting to the field can be the biggest hurdle, it takes a very understanding partner sometimes.

Simon - aim for a cheapie low wing trainer first like one of the Black Horse Travel Air types before the Typhoon....you know that anyway I'm sure.