Re: Re: Re: How Long Does It Take To Learn RC Flying?
[QUOTE]Originally posted by gpmikemorse
[B]
1. You say the buddy box is almost useless in preventing crashes on landing. I disagree. The buddy box can save a plane from many types of landing errors, such as flying too slowly or too fast, being way off the runway, etc.
Not if the airplane is, say 2 ft off the ground, has a ground speed of 22 ft/sec (15mph), and the student suddenly panics and bangs the sticks hard over. In this scenario, the instructor would have to let go of his button and effect a control correction in less than .1 sec in order to save the airplane. Again, even if the instructor could accomplish this superhuman feat, the control inputs needed to save the plane are not felt by the student (because of the activation of the buddy-box system) and therefore the student does not learn. With kinesthetic instruction, the instructor's fingers are already on top of the student's fingers, (with whatever force is necessary) to prevent the panic move by the student...and the student gets to feel what he or she should have done with the stick to make a good landing. Since the airplane will land without damage, the student will get another chance to "get it right" in about 35 to 40 seconds on the next landing attempt.
2. I agree your method sounds better for the student, but it seems to me that the average time to learn with kinesthetic is about the same as for learning with a buddy box.
Now we are talking about what it means to be a skilled solo pilot. My standard is quite high, with the student having to demonstrate at least three consecutive good landings (while I video tape the demonstration) with a taxi back to the pilot's station. In other words, it's not just getting the plane down, but doing it with precision...over and over again.
Is the only benefit of kinesthetic over the buddy box that you don't crash airplanes?
No...but I think you might agree, not crashing the airplane is a pretty nice part of learning to land. The other part is that the student feels the correct inputs and can try to pick up on those feelings over and over again until he/she gets it right.
My question is where does the instructor stand (instructing an adult)? Side by side, or behind with arms around?
I normally stand to the right side of my student and generally need to correct only the right stick, since the left stick is already at the idle position (all the way down) and the rudder is not generally needed until after touchdown. I don't want my student to "present" the control box to me in any way, but rather to just fly the plane, realizing, the controls will be adjusted (by me) if necessary.