sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

A question for the Instructors.

How young of age would you feel comfortable training?

My Step Son Alex is 9 and doing fine with his instructor. (no issue there)

Now my 5 year old Daughter wants to learn too.

I know it's something I'd have to clear with the instructor first..

The question is should I even bother asking?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

From what I've seen that may be a bit on the young side, but don't think I am saying no. I've seen kids as young as 4 learn. But those can be attributed to several factors.... great and patient instructor, parent involvement, attention span of the child, maturity level, and a boatload of natural talent on the kids part. So please don't think I saying no. Just play it by ear. But I can give one huge piece of advice from personal experience. You need to make sure that it's what the child wants to do, not that they are doing it because they think it's what you want them to do. Trust me, I know this from personal experience.

Ken

carrellh

I'm not an instructor but thought I'd chime in anyway.

I talked to a guy (at another club) who had a 5 year old daughter who liked to fly. She did really well in the air but had a pretty short attention span. She might fly until time to land, or she might put the buddy box down after 2 minutes to go play.

j payne

If she is keen to lean to fly I do not see any problems she may need some support for the transmitter in the form of a neck strap or tray her hands may not be big enough to reach around to use thumbs on top of the sticks the main thing at that age is that she learns because she wants to and not be pushed into it some of the top pattern flyers learnt to fly at a very young age I think that Chip Hyde was about 5 when he started to fly pattern

John

JimTrainor

I built a Sig Riser glider with a 4 year old boy and 6 year old girl. The both had a lot of patience for building - they surprised me. They would remain focused for about 30 minutes to an hour of carefully gluenig bits of wood together, and kept it up their interest for 4 weeks, or so, as we slowly glued the bits and peices together a few sessions each week.

I've only had them out to fly it three or four times... but they get excited about the prospect of heading out to fly "their" glider, they like the setup, etc, but their attention span when actually flying is quite short. Maybe five minutes of genuine focus each... Interestingly, I wouldn't say the older one has done a better job flying to date. They're about the same. They are now 5 and 7. I tried the 5 year old with an LT-40 recently. He didn't to bad - surprised me. But I wouldn't say he was enthralled with it.

Keep in mind, they may not be able to comfortably hold a transmitter. Mine cradle the buddy box in their left arm and use their right hand to control right stick - no left stick control. They can handle that.

Be prepared for huge over contol...

p.s. there are two younger coming to follow this pair in a few years [X(]

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

I think "reasoning" happens around 7. I recommend 11 or 12. Some kids might succeed earlier. But you are asking a lot !

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

May want to ask "Vicman" We just cut hm loose a while back!

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the info guys.. keep it up

I think the interest is there.. I just asked as a joke one day when Alex was flying and she said yes.. I asked again today when we we at home. Same answer.

When we go flying she always walks the pits and ponits out airplanes she likes. Plus she helps carry parts from the car and always insists on helping clean the plane when the day is done.
If I don't let her help clean up she gets mad

stunner

i say, try a sim. sims will give a good taste of wht flying is like.

Fastsky

It doesn't hurt to try. I have had friends of my son try it when my son was 8. One of his friends was 7 and the other was 9. The seven year old did better than the 9 year old. If she wants to try it and the instructor is ok with it I would suggest you stand by close enough to step in in case she suddenly panics or decides this flying stuff isn't for her and wants to put the buddy box down! [8D]

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

I know you posted your question to the Instructors which I am not. I am going to toss my 2 cents worth in anyway. I don't think there is a set age. I think we as individuals all develop at our own pace. While 5 yrs of age is extremely young, I don't think it is necessarily too young. I think kids in general these days are progressing much more rapidly than my generation did at that age. I mean when I was in kindergarten we were playing a little, having cookies & milk, then nap time. Todays kindergarten classes are reading! I think it all boils down to the individual child. If the interest & attention span is there than I say yes. I think she can do it. I do think it will take a very special Instructor that knows how to communicate well with a child that young.

I too am planning on teaching my Grand-Daughter Elena to fly at a very early age. I sit back & watch her problem solving skills in total amazement. At 20 months old she can tell you the name of every one of her Grumpy's airplanes & is now starting to learn the names of the different parts of the planes. She enjoys nothing more than to sit with me as I work on them with her little eyes glued on my every move. The amazing part to me is that she will do it for hours, not just a few minutes then off to something else. She appears to be genuinely interested, maybe even fascinated. Unless her interest changes dramtically in the next 3 yrs I plan to give her a try on the buddy box if she still wants to, & the magic number that I decided on is 5 yrs old too. Right now she gets a great deal of pleasure from sitting on my lap & playing with the sim. I think as soon as she has developed enough to learn the difference in the controls & the effects that each one has on the airplane, then she too will be ready to learn to fly. I think she will be able to understand these things by her 5th birthday. ( I hope so )

Now I know we all like to think that our kid or Grand-kid is the "special one" & they are special to us no matter what, but I do believe there are certain kids that are far beyond their age groups. If your Daughter happens to be one of those, & it sounds like she just might be, then I see no reason not to give her a chance if that is what she truely wants.

The worst thing that can happen if done correctly & safely with a qualified Instructor is to find out that she isn't as interested as you thought. No harm, no foul. I say go for it. Give her a chance.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

There it is. My #1 grandson was buddy-boxing at age 5. Look at that Justin Chen youngster- flying 3D with a foamy (solo, no less) at age three.

You've received some excellent advice here. The caveats regarding short attention spans are particularly important; kids this age MUST be kept entertained. That is one reason I think my grandson eventually lost interest; there wasn't anything for him to do between flights but sit around and listen to bumnch of old farts socialize. We did good for a while by bringing our R/C stadium trucks and racing them in the parking lot, but that eventaully got old with the other members.

Above all, heed what RCKen told you; make sure it is what the KID wants to do; not what YOU want him/her to do. You'll waste a lot of time and money trying to influence the kid's interest if it is not really something they want to do for the long term.

#2 grandson turns 5 next month. He has indicated an interest, but I'm waiting until he becomes persistent; and I'm going to start him on a sim.

Appfan

Just my $.02, if she really wants to fly, start her off with one of the back-yard electric flyers. My 4yr old and 7yr old grrls both love the Air Hogs Aero-Ace. The birds charge off of the transmitter (8 x AA batteries). The only down-side is a 15-20 minute recharge after each 8-10 minute flight.

Cheers!

PipeMajor

My Feedback: (1)

It all depends... A former pylon flier from the NW had 2 boys who started flying C/L at a fairly young age. One of them won the Nats AMA Fast Combat champ as a junior. He beat every open flier in the country. Him mom still wouldn't let him start his own engines.

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

OK we gave in and got her a Heli..

Here she is on her first solo flight!!

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

Excellent!!![sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

Thats funny, reminds me of my son when he was around that age. Ask him, "How would you llike to go to the circus?" He answers "ya"
Then ask him if he'd like to be a doorknob, "ya!" God love him he's in his last year of college.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

[quote]ORIGINAL: Cyclic Hardover


Thats funny, reminds me of my son when he was around that age. Ask him, "How would you llike to go to the circus?" He answers "ya"
Then ask him if he'd like to be a doorknob, "ya!" God love him he's in his last year of college. I just thought of something here, doesn't Greaplanes make some r/c blimp. Bet your little girl would love that