A beginners perspective
05-28-2005, 06:18 PM
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A beginners perspective
I've been mulling over posting some thoughts regarding getting started in this hobby from a beginners perspective, and decided since the thunderstorms rolled in a few hours ago, and I can't fly anymore today, now would be as good a time as any.
All things considered, I'm extraordinarily pleased with my choice to get into RC Airplanes. This has been a fantastic opportunity for me to relieve stress from a very high pressure job. But, I have to say the learning curve to get started in this hobby is very steep, at least from my perspective. I'll try my best without becoming to long winded to detail my experiences.
I think first and foremost is understanding the dizzying array of field gear necessary to properly operate my plane. I purchased a Nexstar. So I had to buy all the support equipment and learn how to use it. I didn't have the benefit of knowing of a local flying field or even anyone else who owned an rc airplane, so I had to learn everything on my own. First disappointment was the box the Nexstar came in clearly says ready to fly in 20 minutes It even says so on the website http://www.hobbiconexstar.com/. Then upon inspection of the manual...you are required to charge the receiver and transmitter battery overnight. How could this plane possibly be ready to fly in 20 minutes if this is the case? Next problem for me once I got the plane together was assembling my field box. I bought a Hobbico power panel, an electric starter etc. All of these gadgets had alligator clips on them but my power panel requires banana plugs. I called my LHS to ask how to convert them over and was told I had to solder the banana plugs on. Geesh...I thought couldn't they have just come from the factory with banana plugs?
The terminology is another daunting task. I knew the basics such as the terms for the control surfaces..but the hardware was a different story. Servos, clevises, control horns etc. etc. I was perplexed for awhile about what the heck a TX and RX was.
Fast forward a month or so, and I've flown my nexstar on my own a few times at a local park. After a few close calls with some trees, I decide to do some research to see if I can find some like minded RC'ers out there and that is where I discovered RCUniversere. Now the learning curve is leveled out, but with an added twist. I found out I should be doing quite a bit more in terms of how I should properly care for and operate my plane. I should balance the prop so I bought a prop balancer, I should be concerned about deflection on my control surfaces so I bought a deflection meter, I should really watch out for how I'm charging and monitoring battery's so I bought a voltmeter, your prop should be spinning at such and such RPM so I bought a tachometer...you get the idea. Now I have a mountain of new gear to constantly tweak and monitor the Nexstar and all I really wanted to do was fly my stinkin' plane!
Fast forward a month and I've joined the AMA (per the advice of many contributors to this forum) visited a few clubs and finally joined one. On top of all my startup costs and field/maintenance gear I now have paid dues to the AMA and our local club. The learning curve gets a little less steep as the members of the club begin helping me out. They start saying things like your engine is to rich on the bottom end and to lean on the top end, you need to do this and that to fix it . They might as well said your thermo coupler is discombobulated and for God's sake man the flux capacitor is out of alignment!! it would have meant about the same to me.
So to summarize my experiences....from a beginners perspective
1.) I had to figure out a lot of things on my own that probably seem simple to most vets of the hobby but can be pretty darn confusing to a rookie
2.) I thought that glow fuel and a plane were enough to get me flying...boy was I wrong. I probably spent about as much for support gear as I did on the plane itself. Then spent the next several weeks figuring out how to use all this gear
3.) Once I joined a club I found a lot of help, but at 32 years old, I'm half the age of most of the guys in the club.
4.) Don't try to talk your wife into letting you go to the field and fly on your anniversary
All in all I'm slowly coming up to speed, thanks to all of you and the good folks at my flying club. I've purchased my second plane, which happens to be a seaplane, and the guys at our club helped me fly it. It will probably stay in the garage for most of the season as I continue to learn on my Nexstar.
Sorry this is a bit long, but I thought someone might be able to learn from my experience.
Joe
All things considered, I'm extraordinarily pleased with my choice to get into RC Airplanes. This has been a fantastic opportunity for me to relieve stress from a very high pressure job. But, I have to say the learning curve to get started in this hobby is very steep, at least from my perspective. I'll try my best without becoming to long winded to detail my experiences.
I think first and foremost is understanding the dizzying array of field gear necessary to properly operate my plane. I purchased a Nexstar. So I had to buy all the support equipment and learn how to use it. I didn't have the benefit of knowing of a local flying field or even anyone else who owned an rc airplane, so I had to learn everything on my own. First disappointment was the box the Nexstar came in clearly says ready to fly in 20 minutes It even says so on the website http://www.hobbiconexstar.com/. Then upon inspection of the manual...you are required to charge the receiver and transmitter battery overnight. How could this plane possibly be ready to fly in 20 minutes if this is the case? Next problem for me once I got the plane together was assembling my field box. I bought a Hobbico power panel, an electric starter etc. All of these gadgets had alligator clips on them but my power panel requires banana plugs. I called my LHS to ask how to convert them over and was told I had to solder the banana plugs on. Geesh...I thought couldn't they have just come from the factory with banana plugs?
The terminology is another daunting task. I knew the basics such as the terms for the control surfaces..but the hardware was a different story. Servos, clevises, control horns etc. etc. I was perplexed for awhile about what the heck a TX and RX was.
Fast forward a month or so, and I've flown my nexstar on my own a few times at a local park. After a few close calls with some trees, I decide to do some research to see if I can find some like minded RC'ers out there and that is where I discovered RCUniversere. Now the learning curve is leveled out, but with an added twist. I found out I should be doing quite a bit more in terms of how I should properly care for and operate my plane. I should balance the prop so I bought a prop balancer, I should be concerned about deflection on my control surfaces so I bought a deflection meter, I should really watch out for how I'm charging and monitoring battery's so I bought a voltmeter, your prop should be spinning at such and such RPM so I bought a tachometer...you get the idea. Now I have a mountain of new gear to constantly tweak and monitor the Nexstar and all I really wanted to do was fly my stinkin' plane!
Fast forward a month and I've joined the AMA (per the advice of many contributors to this forum) visited a few clubs and finally joined one. On top of all my startup costs and field/maintenance gear I now have paid dues to the AMA and our local club. The learning curve gets a little less steep as the members of the club begin helping me out. They start saying things like your engine is to rich on the bottom end and to lean on the top end, you need to do this and that to fix it . They might as well said your thermo coupler is discombobulated and for God's sake man the flux capacitor is out of alignment!! it would have meant about the same to me.
So to summarize my experiences....from a beginners perspective
1.) I had to figure out a lot of things on my own that probably seem simple to most vets of the hobby but can be pretty darn confusing to a rookie
2.) I thought that glow fuel and a plane were enough to get me flying...boy was I wrong. I probably spent about as much for support gear as I did on the plane itself. Then spent the next several weeks figuring out how to use all this gear
3.) Once I joined a club I found a lot of help, but at 32 years old, I'm half the age of most of the guys in the club.
4.) Don't try to talk your wife into letting you go to the field and fly on your anniversary
All in all I'm slowly coming up to speed, thanks to all of you and the good folks at my flying club. I've purchased my second plane, which happens to be a seaplane, and the guys at our club helped me fly it. It will probably stay in the garage for most of the season as I continue to learn on my Nexstar.
Sorry this is a bit long, but I thought someone might be able to learn from my experience.
Joe
05-28-2005, 07:34 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
Joe,
I had to chuckle a bit when reading your post. I saw myself in the same situations some years back. What is the old cliche? You're preaching to the choir.
Stick with it; you're going to love the hobby.
One thing to remember however, crashes are a part of the hobby. Eventually, hopefully later than sooner, we reconvert our models to kits.
DaveB
I had to chuckle a bit when reading your post. I saw myself in the same situations some years back. What is the old cliche? You're preaching to the choir.
Stick with it; you're going to love the hobby.
One thing to remember however, crashes are a part of the hobby. Eventually, hopefully later than sooner, we reconvert our models to kits.
DaveB
05-28-2005, 09:04 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
I think the moral of this story is...
1) Join the AMA & a charter club first.
2) Buy your plane and equipment next.
3) Learn to fly your plane at your club with an instructor.
If you join a club first, or at least show up at the club a few times first to get advice on what to get for a trainer and field equipment, you'll be better informed to chose a plane, engine, radio, and field equipment. You'll learn that there are "panel ready" accessories with banana plugs already installed instead of gator clips, and several other important tips. You might even find that the club has a trainer plane for newbies to use, or find that a club member is looking to sell his trainer setup cheap, and you can save some $$$...
1) Join the AMA & a charter club first.
2) Buy your plane and equipment next.
3) Learn to fly your plane at your club with an instructor.
If you join a club first, or at least show up at the club a few times first to get advice on what to get for a trainer and field equipment, you'll be better informed to chose a plane, engine, radio, and field equipment. You'll learn that there are "panel ready" accessories with banana plugs already installed instead of gator clips, and several other important tips. You might even find that the club has a trainer plane for newbies to use, or find that a club member is looking to sell his trainer setup cheap, and you can save some $$$...
05-28-2005, 11:30 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
I agree with your story. The instructor is kind of an odd thing though. What you learn to do in RC is muscle memory. I for one, can't just look at sticks to see how to take off or do a certain menuever. An instructor, would much rather be called a plane saver. All they need to do is save the planes. You just need to know the general jist of what things are and how to do them. The day i learned the most with my instructor, is when he let me burn 3 tanks of fuel, just getting to know how the plane reacts to ceratin inputs. I did try some aerobatics that day, but It let me know whats gonna happen if i do this and such. Thats just my opinion on instructors.. Mine was a very good one and he did a wonderful job.
05-29-2005, 12:00 AM
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RE: A beginners perspective
My instructor(s) did much more than saving my plane a few times. They taught me how to trim the plane (there is more to it than having it fly straight and level), how to fly smooth, how to do loops (it's not just pull the elevator all the way back til it's done 360 degrees) and other aerobatics, engine tuning, engine and plane safety, covering, how to build light and straight, etc. I feel sorry for students who think an instructor is just there to "save the plane".
05-29-2005, 02:00 AM
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RE: A beginners perspective
Joe thank you for your post. it is an excellent reminder of the frustrations that frequently occur with new folks that go it alone initially and do not heed the itemized chronology that pkh posted. Doing things as he suggested undeniably has the highest success rate with the least expendature and frustration.
Chad, someone who is there to only save the airplane is not an instructor. This person is in fact a baby sitter! Perhaps I can explain the difference since I do perform both functions on a regular basis. For a wide variety of reasons many folks some of whom may be very talented pilots but through no fault of the own may not be able to fly safely. Perhaps they only have one arm, maybe their vision is failing or perhaps they like me cannot stand up to fly and see over the safety fence. I have babysitted a fair number of folks with these problems most have been fine pilots and some I can only envy.
Now for the instructor with a new student this is an entirely different situation. He must convey to you the student knowledge of what is going to happen and why it is happening and then demonstrate it to you where you may practice it and then he must posses the knowledge to properly critique your performance, anylyse and explan your mistakes then he must make decisions from this of what would be an appropriate method or technique to improve your performance. The list goes on and Piper hit on many of them in his post.
Just for the record: Someone who is there to only save the airplane is not an instructor, He is a BABYSITTER.
John
Chad, someone who is there to only save the airplane is not an instructor. This person is in fact a baby sitter! Perhaps I can explain the difference since I do perform both functions on a regular basis. For a wide variety of reasons many folks some of whom may be very talented pilots but through no fault of the own may not be able to fly safely. Perhaps they only have one arm, maybe their vision is failing or perhaps they like me cannot stand up to fly and see over the safety fence. I have babysitted a fair number of folks with these problems most have been fine pilots and some I can only envy.
Now for the instructor with a new student this is an entirely different situation. He must convey to you the student knowledge of what is going to happen and why it is happening and then demonstrate it to you where you may practice it and then he must posses the knowledge to properly critique your performance, anylyse and explan your mistakes then he must make decisions from this of what would be an appropriate method or technique to improve your performance. The list goes on and Piper hit on many of them in his post.
Just for the record: Someone who is there to only save the airplane is not an instructor, He is a BABYSITTER.
John
05-29-2005, 07:02 AM
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RE: A beginners perspective
I agree with a couple things posted here.
1) Joe, Your frustration is the primary reason we try to recommend to newcomers that they visit a club first. Ask questions, learn about equipment and terminology, etc. It's a lot quicker and less expensive than your approach. (Most people don't want to hear it though.)
Club members, at leasy of you were at our club, would have saved you some money too. The deflection meter, tach, and prop balancer are not needed. And you should be asking, "how do I set the bottom and top end?" if you don't know. Guys are usually happy to show you, but may assume you know what they mean because you had already flown when you showed up at the club.
I agree with John about instructors too. Plane savers is far less than what a real one does. We do all that stuff that Joe missed out on.
Dennis-
1) Joe, Your frustration is the primary reason we try to recommend to newcomers that they visit a club first. Ask questions, learn about equipment and terminology, etc. It's a lot quicker and less expensive than your approach. (Most people don't want to hear it though.)
Club members, at leasy of you were at our club, would have saved you some money too. The deflection meter, tach, and prop balancer are not needed. And you should be asking, "how do I set the bottom and top end?" if you don't know. Guys are usually happy to show you, but may assume you know what they mean because you had already flown when you showed up at the club.
I agree with John about instructors too. Plane savers is far less than what a real one does. We do all that stuff that Joe missed out on.
Dennis-
05-29-2005, 12:01 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
I agree with all the replies that the best way to get into this hobby is to join a club, have an instructor, do the research, join AMA ...
I'm sure Joe would have followed this approach if he had known.
The problem is that many people who get into this hobby do not know this before hand. If he bought this trainer at the LHS, why didn't they advise him? Why are the descriptions on the box of the trainer so misleading to a beginner? Why can't the manufacturers or retailers provide a very basic sheet of suggestions on where a beginner can obtain help?
Scott
I'm sure Joe would have followed this approach if he had known.
The problem is that many people who get into this hobby do not know this before hand. If he bought this trainer at the LHS, why didn't they advise him? Why are the descriptions on the box of the trainer so misleading to a beginner? Why can't the manufacturers or retailers provide a very basic sheet of suggestions on where a beginner can obtain help?
Scott
05-29-2005, 02:01 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
I was talking about getting the plane around safely, not engine tuning and such. A "babysitter" as john calls it, can teach you how to do the basics. Land takeoff and fly around. The honly thing they need to tell you are instructions. Then you can try thing high at first to see the reaction.
05-29-2005, 02:23 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
ORIGINAL: saramos
I agree with all the replies that the best way to get into this hobby is to join a club, have an instructor, do the research, join AMA ...
I'm sure Joe would have followed this approach if he had known.
The problem is that many people who get into this hobby do not know this before hand. If he bought this trainer at the LHS, why didn't they advise him? Why are the descriptions on the box of the trainer so misleading to a beginner? Why can't the manufacturers or retailers provide a very basic sheet of suggestions on where a beginner can obtain help?
I agree with all the replies that the best way to get into this hobby is to join a club, have an instructor, do the research, join AMA ...
I'm sure Joe would have followed this approach if he had known.
The problem is that many people who get into this hobby do not know this before hand. If he bought this trainer at the LHS, why didn't they advise him? Why are the descriptions on the box of the trainer so misleading to a beginner? Why can't the manufacturers or retailers provide a very basic sheet of suggestions on where a beginner can obtain help?
05-29-2005, 03:01 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
MountaineerFan36... Great post!!! Some great replies also!!!
It did put a smile on my face.. As I was one that "was" going
to go it alone... Glad I did not!!! Clubs saves you money!!!
And gives you Tons of knowlodge... Not to mention great
times and Great Friends.... And I agree whole heartily an
"Instructor" is is far more than a babysitter!!!
It did put a smile on my face.. As I was one that "was" going
to go it alone... Glad I did not!!! Clubs saves you money!!!
And gives you Tons of knowlodge... Not to mention great
times and Great Friends.... And I agree whole heartily an
"Instructor" is is far more than a babysitter!!!
05-29-2005, 04:26 PM
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RE: A beginners perspective
Thanks for all the great replies.
Certainly I'm not and advocate of my method of entering this hobby, and my frustrations/experiences in part is what led me to submit this post, perhaps someone may learn from my mistakes.
I have wanted to get into RC Planes for about 17-18 years. Ever since I was a teenager basically, but was never able to, primarily due to financial reasons. When I finally found myself in a position to be able to afford to get into this hobby I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was rip rearing ready to go fly! So even though I was aware of the AMA per recommendations listed in the Nexstar instruction manual, I regarded the recommendation to join the AMA and a local club as one may regard the 47 caution labels on a step ladder. You're aware of them but don't really pay much attention to them. So essentially my inpatients is what led to many of my mistakes (please don't tell my wife that)
Joe
Certainly I'm not and advocate of my method of entering this hobby, and my frustrations/experiences in part is what led me to submit this post, perhaps someone may learn from my mistakes.
I have wanted to get into RC Planes for about 17-18 years. Ever since I was a teenager basically, but was never able to, primarily due to financial reasons. When I finally found myself in a position to be able to afford to get into this hobby I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was rip rearing ready to go fly! So even though I was aware of the AMA per recommendations listed in the Nexstar instruction manual, I regarded the recommendation to join the AMA and a local club as one may regard the 47 caution labels on a step ladder. You're aware of them but don't really pay much attention to them. So essentially my inpatients is what led to many of my mistakes (please don't tell my wife that)
Joe
05-29-2005, 06:46 PM
#13
RE: A beginners perspective
ORIGINAL: MountaineerFan36
When I finally found myself in a position to be able to afford to get into this hobby I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was rip rearing ready to go fly!
Joe
When I finally found myself in a position to be able to afford to get into this hobby I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was rip rearing ready to go fly!
Joe
Good for you Joe, you have a great attitude and I can foresee many wonderful adventures for your future in what for many becomes a lifetime passion.
John[8D]
