GLOWFAST

Hi,

I learned to fly on a Twiliter 2 without the assistance of an instructor at all. I built the plane from Model Airplane News plans.

The plane has an OS MAX 10 FSR and this model is a dream to fly. 66 inch wingspan and weighs 34 ounces.

If you want to learn to fly on your own, this is the airplane for you.

Sarges_heroes2003

My Feedback: (6)

ur so gona get flamed here. [X(][]

SemperFitz

My Feedback: (2)

That is a beautiful plane! Looks like an ideal plane to learn on if you don't have the benefit of an instructor. Good on ya! For other beginners, an instructor will always help, but if it just isn't possible, something like this might help ya get off the ground. And yeah, some people on here are gonna flame ya :-) but if it works for you, then it's the right way to do it!

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Nice job on the build! I'm sure it's very forgiving and easy to learn on! So is that your first plane, or does it look so good because you've had plenty of experience rebuilding it?! That's a surprisingly nice job on a first build if it is!

I don't really like rudder-elevator planes, personally, though. I learned to fly on elevator-aileron planes (some with rudder as well, and some without) and like the way they handle much better.

The two biggest arguments against self teaching (IMO) are safety and cost. Most guys learning on their own go out and buy a .46 size ARF. The .46 size engine is more powerful and more dangerous in the hands of a newbie, and when they crash their ARF, they have no idea how to repair it, and have to just buy another one... at about $100 an ARF for trainers, that gets pretty expensive pretty quick.

You built this plane from plans, so when you crash it, you can fix it pretty cheaply, and the small engine is a little safer for a newbie handle on his own (still need to be careful, though).

YNOT

I believe you learned on your own with that bird. People have been learning on FireBirds for a couple of years now. The FireBird series of planes are the same basic 1940's designed free flight birds just like yours.

Great job on the scratch build good to see modeling skills, most other people are spending only a hundred bucks and recieving the same flight performance.

frager14

The firebird planes are more like driving a remote control car than a plane. They do probably help with getting used to controlling something in the air and they might improve your coordination.

2slow2matter

My Feedback: (1)

FLAME [sm=lol.gif] FLAME

YNOT

RIGHT!!!! and that is exactly how the plane in the first post flys, too. In fact, there is a chance the FB's fly a bit better only because of the newer design wing.

Mr Akimoto

Good for you. Many more people could learn to fly on their own if they took an intelligent approach as you did.

Happily for me, my father was a military pilot who liked to take his son out to an open field on Sundays for some flying lessons. I learned on very simple aircraft using an RC system using what were called escapements. My father was an expert at it, but I never quite mastered it. It was a happy day when the first digital radios appeared on the scene.

Today there is a lot of RC stuff for simple small planes called park flyer which I believe one could master on their own perhaps with the help of a simulator. Unfortunately too many people get indocrinated into the usual route of buying a 40 sized trainer and joining a club and the AMA. A pretty boring approrach to flying for people without much imagination or initiative.

Ciao,

Mr Akimoto

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Yeah, who would want to join a club with a bunch of other guys that enjoy flying and can help you out... that's just boring and stupid!

txaggie08

i have to echo that sentiment....def no fun to go out to the field with a good bunch of people and have someone teach you to fly a large plane safely.... no fun at all. that an dthe fact they help you learn some nice aerobtics to you know that doesnt help....

MannyEdge

My Feedback: (9)

I agree with guys. Lets go to a field with no instructor and chop off our fingers. How does that sound? Sound Fun??? And, hang out by yourself. We do not want to learn about safety. Who needs it!!! LOL

MannyEdge

My Feedback: (9)

Hopefully, you can tell I did the boring route - bought a 40 size trainer, joined a club and was taught by instructor. It was so boring to be around people who love the hobby as much as I do. Man, I hate the club. LOL[sm=tongue.gif][sm=tongue.gif]

JD380

My Feedback: (133)

Ya know, flying a rc plane is not rocket science folks. I can tell there are some major egos here. I spent alot of time on the simulator before I took my first flight. Got her up and down just fine, nothing pretty, but I did it. Safety? You need an instructor to tell ya whats safe and whats not? It's real obivious there is real danger on the business end of a motor. I've read a number of threads where the INSTRUCTOR messed up, crashing a plane. They are humans too, prone to make a mistake like everyone else. I have plenty of experience in working on mechanicals. Been making my living turning wrenches for 20+yrs now. I knew that my plane was built and rigged sound, safe to fly. I have a skiboat that will run in the 80's, I do a real thorough walkaround every time before I set it in the water. At that speed things get real nasty if the steering fails, prop loses a blade, or the skeg breaks. Been there. But I'm the only one in it when I turn it up.I do the same with my planes, knowing that I could get someone else injured if I don't. I am a responsable flyer, though I can tell by some of what I have read on this website, some of you won't think so.
Why do so many of you people have blast someone that likes to teach themselves how to do something? I do belong to a club, joined the AMA, but still like a occasional day at the field without a few dozen people around. If it makes you feel good to blast people like me, go ahead.
By the way Glowfast, nice plane a got there, and way to go.
Y'all take care now.

horace315

My Feedback: (15)

you did a nice job on that plane glofast,when i was learning it was on an albatross with 7 foot wing.you could walk faster than it could fly.that helped me to orient to the radio but didn't really help much in flying.we call those planes kites...........they don't do very good in wind.and lordy please dont get bored by joining a club,and if you ever hit anything or body you wont have to bother the AMA for paying damages that is such a hassle......

hhhhhhhhh

if u dont acheve 1st time. rebuild and try again

Willdo

Good on you JD,
Some people can work things out for themselves, some people have to be taught, that's how people are.
Generally the ones who live in the country with few people around, have to figure it out for themselves and the ones in the cities (or close to) just have to do what they are told, (for other people's safety). - but with the benefit of simulators, the right plane and a bit of commonsense, it's not really too difficult.

ckangaroo70

My Feedback: (51)

Very nice Plane Glowfast! Glad to read of your success with it, and I am sure it is a great flyer. I think you made a good choice for a Plane to teach yourself on. Teaching yourself to fly is not an impossible task as long as you go about it much like the route that you have taken. Learning to fly on a 40 size Trainer by yourself is not an impossible task either, but the odds are really stacked against those who try. A few might succeed, but most will end up with a Plane going home in a garbage sack. Some people think it is arrogant when someone suggest to a new pilot that they should learn with an instructor, and a buddy box. I don't see it this way. I see it as one flyer just trying to give another flyer the best possible advise they can give to someone in regards to learning. Can you imagine the ***** chewing I would recieve from a new pilot if I told him or her that they didn't need an instructor, and that flying a Plane is easy? What do you think that new pilot is going to say to me once they take my advice, and crash that Plane on its first take-off. They would come back on here, and say "I thought you told me it was easy"! I think alot of new flyers misinterpret what an experienced flyer is trying to do when they say go get an instructor. People don't suggest these things because they think someone is stupid, and uncapable of learning on there own. They say these things and pass along this advice out of personal experience, and mistakes they have done or seen, and that they would like to see a new pilot avoid. Its a new pilots choice how they spend there money, and how much of it they spend. I could care less about this. What I care about is seeing someone succeed in this hobby, and be able make it to a point of pure enjoyment. Crashing one Plane after another no matter how much money you have is not only expensive, but it is damaging to a persons confidence, and thus they may decide to go for a much less stressfull hobby, and one less detrimental to their morale. So to all, please remember that there is a difference between a "FLAME", and another person genuinely trying to help another person out. Some may not appreciate it now, but many will later.

Connery

Good job GLOWFAST, it's nice to see another one like myself that didn't have the resources around like an instructor and taught yourself to fly. Just ignore the flamers, you do what YOU want to do and enjoy the hobby.

JD380

My Feedback: (133)

Y'all, I didn't mean to offend anyone about the 'rocket science' statement, I wish not to offend anyone that sought a instructor's advice and experience. We all have our own way of doing things. My first flights involved a large amount of 'dumb luck', accented with lots of time on a G2 simulator ( it happens to have a PT40 like what I fly). Flying these planes is not the easiest thing to do (I vote flying a kite is), but not as difficult as some make it out to be.
See y'all around.[8D]

Charlie P.

No flames here. That plane looks like what we were building for free flight in the late 60's & early 70's. A very sensible way to start. With three channel (rudder, elevator & throttle) and the proper center of gravity balance point it would be the way to go. The Duraflite Butterfly is a similar design. A lightly powered glider with lots of dihedral.

I was self-taught on a two channel glider (a Sig Sirius), and that's after years of free-flight and control-line, but I still got burned trying to build and fly a Sig Kadet on my own. Gravity was less forgiving of the heavier airplane and my poor attempts at take-off. With a little more luck I probably would have been OK. But, as it happened, I lost interest and spent 15 years not flying anything.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

No one has blasted Glowfast here for teaching himself.

A few of us may have "blasted" Akimoto for calling those who join clubs "unimaginative" and "boring".

No, flying RC planes is not rocket science, and if every goes right, things are pretty straight forward. However, when things go wrong, the experience of the instructor can likely save you a trip to the hospital and even save your plane.

txaggie08

i gotcha beat n boats.....friend has one that will top at at close to a hundred lol...

mrbass111

that is a nice job. i wish i had that kind of skill. but what i would be wondering is. can he go from a slow glider that he learned on to a 46 glow and not have any problems. speed kills and i would think that transition could be a bad one?

tsands

My Feedback: (3)

I personally feel that a person should get an instructor to learn to fly for two reasons. The first reason is safety. Before you learn to have control of an airplane it can spin around and go places that you can't imagine very quickly. The second reason is to save ones self alot of money. What I don't understand and may never understand is why people always have to throw in the occasional shot about maybe having to go to the hospital and all this garbage. The way some talk on here makes it seem that a person should NEVER eat alone(you could choke), never weed eat your yard alone, never mow your lawn alone, never walk down into your basement alone(you could fall down the stairs and who would be there to help you). The list could go on and on but the way some people make this hobby sound and the reasons they give are blasphemous. This hobby requires COMMON SENSE to stay safe. This is no more dangerous than ANYTHING else one does dozens of times a day. PLEASE everyone use common sense and stay safe while enjoying our wonderful hobby (you can be hurt) but your odds of being hurt while walking across the street are much greater. All I'm really trying to say is I don't understand why there are CONSTANT references to hospitals and medical care and the like on here ALL THE TIME. USE SOME COMMON SENSE AND WELCOME TO THE GREATEST HOBBY IN THE WORLD.