Rick Lindsey

I'm just wondering what most people do with their trainer after they've learned to fly. I see lots of advice for people to select engines and radios based on what they'll need for their second plane rather than what they'll need for their trainer (i.e. get a larger or "better" engine than you really need for your trainer, since you'll want to move it to your second plane). Personally, I don't plan to gut my trainer until I crash the thing beyond repair, but am I alone in that approach?

Dewey2

My Feedback: (24)

well i have 4. or two is to just fly around. sig kedet the blue one the other is a 12 foot telomaster not built yet pull stuff and drop paroshoot people. the other is a avistar race it and hover torque rolls. the other is the one i learned on yard dart just look at it.

donhef

Well, I've already crashed 1 Avistar, rebuilt it into a taildragger and have a second one now. I'll be keeping mine for as long as I can, or until my Son or Daughter wants to learn to fly. By then I expect both of them will have been re-built quite a few times. (the planes that is!)

Looking forward to either an Easy Sport 40 or other 40 sized plane so I can switch out the second planes gear and 46 FX. Gotta save somewhere to send said kids to college!

Crashem

keep it. Some days a trainer is all you'll want to fly.... Nothing like sitting in a lawn chair and putting around the sky with a trainer

TerrellFlyer

keep it ,some days it 's fun to fly,also good to train others with and most trainers make good float planes

FHHuber

Actually... you start learning aerobatics with it. you should litterally fly the wings off of your trainer. (which may take 20 years... if you are lucky)

Or use it for your first R/C combat airplane. .40 size trainers do just fine against other .40 class combat planes... they just lose the mid-air collisions.

Some minor changes such as shifting the CG to the rear limit and a comon 4 channel trainer can do a lot of stuff.

iflynething

Well, my 12 yr. old flying buddy has a Superstar .40 Select....he got a new Futaba 6EXA and put dual rates and an O.S. 52 on the nose.....that thing has unlimited vertical.....he also fiberglassed the middle of the wings...(if you saw how he flew you'd understand!!)......I am thinking of donating my Superstar .40 to my club......I like to see people get involved.....and usually once they fly one, you see them about 2 months later with a plane of their own.....I would technically still "own" the plane...but would like to help out the people who don't have the money right now to get a plane or just want to "try it out."

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Crashem has it right, no matter your level you will have days where slow lazy flights are just as rewarding as any flying you can do. These planes are also good for taking off the dust and cobwebs we get over the winter or longtime layoffs. Keep it....This is why I always tell beginners to get the better stuff like bb engines, etc.

cap10b

Good question
Now is your time to give back to the sport.

1. Volunteer to teach.
2. Bring the young people (male, female don’t matter) into the sport.
3. Volunteer some air time to old timers, the ones that want to learn but too proud to ask.
4. Share your sport with others and be a good ambassador to the community.

Why!!!

We aint adding flying fields to the sport, urban sprawl is taking fields away from the sport. We need people like you and the students you bring into the hobby so our sport stays strong. Our club is negotiating a new field over 55 acres in a 860 acre park. The AMA is helping us convince the park board how important model aviation is to our country our community.
Its spooky how many of today’s wheels in the Armed Forces, NASA, Civil Aviation, Corporate Aviation have built and flown models at one time in their lives and many still do just like we do. I've never been a cheerleader for the AMA but brother ....

Ya Gotta Believe !!

"Keep em Flying"


JDS

fw190pilot

Keep it its a good plane to test new radios engines ect on. if the old trainer goes splat that is a lot better than the new plane radio engine that you just bought.

Denjones

Put skis on it! If you don't have snow, I guess that won't work but come north and fly in the snow.

Woodsy

Keep it, you never know when you will need a trainer, lazy sundays, breaking in new engines, teaching some one, trying floats or skiis, settling the nerves after you smash another plane, club fun flys for bomb drop etc.

i think newbs give up on there trainers waaaaaay to soon, a good trainer will do 90% of basic aerobatics, and fitted with a no dihedral wing 95%, most newbs are fixated on there second or 3rd plane and never realy fly there trainer to 100%

Teachu2

My Feedback: (133)

I like to have a trainer available at all times. I picked one up used a while back for $150 complete with a 40FP and a Futaba 4FM in it. Like new for less than half the price. Took it out to test fly a receiver the other day and enjoyed it so much I didn't take another plane out of the trailer all day!

gus

Well, I answered give(loan) to the new guy, because my wife, brother, and good friend are all under my mentorship. They are all learning.

Still my plane, but it;s doing the rounds. Between my brother, and good friend, we do the same with all our tools too (table-saws, routers, dremels, etc.) One person buys, and it all goes into the friendhip "library" adter the purchaser has taken the honorary "first dibs".

Once they have their wings though, they will all probably go other directions. I am thinking IMAC/pattern style. My wife is partial to SPAD, brother to soaring, and friend to scale. Go figure.

gus

Woodsy

"My wife is partial to SPAD" that'll be the $$$ talking, she's thinking of what she can spend the savings on

ooooo

A few months back, I flew mine really high one bright sunny day.....then switched off my Transmitter and watched it fly off into the horizon.
Next day on the news...tv/radio.... I heard a plane landed in Ireland, then some guy claimed he did it and transatlantic flight. Bummer, I should have thought of that, then I would be famous.

Ok Ok....it's just a joke....... I still have it hanging in my garage for someone to train on......

Ducted Fan Dan

My Feedback: (2)

I use mine to experiment with, currently I am working on Full Aircraft Recovery Technology (FART). It deploys a parachute and lands on the ground, wheels down with no power.

ooooo

Hmmmm.....that give's me an idea. I can use my trainer for another project For Underpriviledged Children in Korea, Mexico @ Egypt.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I agree with those that say many students get rid of their trainers too fast. My advice to them is fly it till the covering comes off. did I follow my own advice?? you bet I did. Tower trainer 40. I learned to fly on it and just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. On about the third student I was teaching on it, the covering starting coming off in huge chunks on every flight. I stripped it and recovered it, and it's still flying today. As said above, it's fun to just putt around on your trainer occasionally. And it's nice to have for intro flights, or to teach someone. And there have been times when all my other planes where on the repair bench and the only thing I had left flying was my trainer. Flying the trainer is much better than being grounded!!!!

for all those that still take their trainers out sometimes, think about this...
Remember when you learned to fly, and you thought that the trainer was moving just so damn fast??? take it up now and you'll wonder how a plane can fly soooooooo slow!!!! always good for a laugh

just my 2 cents worth.

wings

Put the pieces in a box and keep for miscellaneous parts and wood.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I sold mine after 115 flights to a new flyer.

wings

Wow, you count your flights?

That seems kinda cumbersome.

If it goes up and the engine quits and you have to bring it right back down, does that count as a flight?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I know that this is probably going to open up another discussion, but here is what I consider a flight. I consider a flight as the time from when I turn on my receiver to when I turn it back off again. I do this because during a 'flight' I may do 10-15 touch and go landings, or come down to adjust the motor and go back up, etc.....

With that being said, my trainer currently has 223 flights on it.

raptor5900

My Feedback: (4)

no one wants to buy my avistar[]

Born to Fly

Keep it and pass it on to your children and then grandchildren and then auction it as an antique plane.