Adui

Well, my two younger children have been bugging me to let them fly for a while now, (Boy age 13, Girl age 8). Sooo...

I have the buddy cord, and a trainer, So I got brave and took them to the airfield. I know I have the skill (hopefully) to recover from just about anything up high, (Barring airframe failure which is possible, but unlikely for a really good pilot to save IMHO). So I felt safe letting them get some stick time with the Arrow about 5 mistakes high. (Read: as high as I could reliably keep orientation on a cloudy day.)

My Daughter took too it well, sort of.. She had a bit of trouble figuring out that pull up meant pull back on the stick not forward [X(]. But she figured it out, and did quite well for a first time out after I got her to use the correct control direction. What is amazing to me is she didnt loose interest right away, and she DID listen to my coaching .

My son; well he liked it, and wants to do more, but he was quite upset when I kept taking the plane back because he would try to do loops and rolls instead of basic flight as I was coaching.

I plan on installing FMS on the computer they use, and letting them use my spare TX to practice on their own. I have also set the computer buddy box to 60% rates (dual rates) so they effectively have what I had when I was learning, but at the same time I still have full control throws to recover from accidental dives and such.

I know I am probably not really ready to teach, at least from a flying skill standpoint. but there arent really any instructors available on a a regular basis, (I got lucky, and the guys who brought me to solo are there sometimes, but they drive a loong way and gas prices are making the trips les frequent. ) So I am taking it upon myself to teach them at least the beggining. (The group I fly with tells me I am ready to teach them all of it but Im not so sure LOL)

Please note that I already know me instructing them is a less than ideal situation, but I dont really have a regular reliable alternative, and my club including the president thinks I am ready for the task.

Sooo.. My question to the masses is this: considering I have already made the decision to start teaching them, what suggestions do you have in regards to setting up the trainer, (via the radio if posible) and instructing my kids?? (Second note, I am going to be building a Debonair SPAD trainer soon and will be switching them to that as soon as its flight tested)

bbbair

Patience

mclina

Good luck to you. I am in the same position right now. I have been asking our instructors to take the kids up, and shying away from taking them up myself. Like yourself, I am not afraid of being able to recover from their mistakes. I just don't have the patience or the skills to really teach them.

Once they have learned enough from the instructors, I will probably start taking them up more often, but I think that our instructors have a whole different set of skills than your average pilot.

My girls both have SPAD trainers, but I put an extra big battery in my Alpha so that it can handle a whole evening of training for all three kids.

Good luck.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Adui,
Good for you!!! It sounds like you're on your way to being a good instructor. Here are a few tips that help me when I'm teaching people.

For your daughter and confusion on the sticks. When I first start training a student I will talk them through the movements to make with the stick. For instance I will say "Pull up - stick back stick back stick back stick back - stick to center". If you tell them which way to move the sticks then they will see what the plane is doing and feel what their fingers are doing and their minds will start associating those together. In my experience it really helps to overcome confusion on which way to move the stick. Especially when the plane is coming towards them and they have "stick reversal" in effect.

As for your son, keep him on the plan. One the first or second flight will teach them a loop and a roll so they get some fun stuff right away. Then as we get into training I will tell them what we are working on for this flight, for example: figure eights, pattern turns, approaches, etc. As we start the flight I'll give them a minute or two of their own. I'll tell them to go "play" for a bit before we start working. This way they get to "play" before they have to work. It seems to satisfy them and then they can concentrate on what needs to be learned or practiced.

I've always been under the opinion that a simulator used wrong does more damage than good. If your kids take the simulator and start practicing "bad habits" then that will start showing up in their flying. Rather, use the simulator as a proper tool and it will help. So after each flying session tell them what you want them to work on using the simulator. If they go home and actually work on practicing what they learned at the field you will find that they simulator will do wonders of good. But if you let them do whatever they want on the simulator you may very well find them picking up bad habits that you will have to "un-teach" them at the field.

Hope this helps

Ken

Adui

Good info so far, keep it coming!

As for patience, for some reason I am not having a problem with this. I found when I started them in archery that I could be patient with them in a teaching environment. (Who knew grumpy old Dad could be NICE!)

Ken, thanks for the tips on stick movements, I wil try that next time we are out. My sons issue is he's a gamer, loves his games. So I think I will do as you suggest and let him play a bit at the beggining of each flight. I will however insist he keeps it up high to keep my heart from exploding LOL!

Adui

Hmmm.. Better start saving for there AMA.. [X(]

mclina

Kid memberships with no magazine subscription are only $1/year. That shouldn't take too long. Our club dues for kids are about $10.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

What he said. It should only cost 2 bucks to get your kids in AMA. Check with your club for membership dues. Our club has a family membership available that is just twenty dollars above the individual membership fees.

Ken

Adui

LOL just saw that, KEWL kids will be legal sooner than they will be Soloed!

Club dues is only $20 regular, and I think they have a family pass anyhow but I will ask at the next meeting..

draftman1

Hey Audi, good job on the instructor status. I had the same problem with my youngest boy, 12. He would treat the sticks like they were the game sticks. then I put alot on negative expo on his radio, we used a buddy cord, and he finally got the hang of it, then I gradually started to remove the expo. it made a real differnece on his learning. at first he was real frustrated because he was throwing the sticks and couldnt get the gradual part at first. now after two months he is fying the spadstick around like a person with at least a year of flying experiance. it sure it fun to have my two boys and I out flying together. the bigest part is hauling 5 to 7 planes to the field. I gotta get a trailer I quess. cant wait to see that trainer

Adui

Thanks Draftman! You can bet there will be build pics, and pre and post maiden pics on the forums!

Expo... It was suggested I use that instead of low rates by one of our club guys, how much would you say is a good amount to use? As easy as it is to program in, I might just as well use that over dual rates...

draftman1

I went down to about neg 50% on my futaba. I had a little low rates also. but with just the low rates, he was still moving the sticks too much with throw

Adui

Kewl! I will set up the buddy box tonight while its fresh in my mind.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Better than using expo try setting a low rate setting. When you set expo it still has full travel if you move the sticks completely to one side or the other. Expo only changes how the control surface moves at less than 100% control throw. But if you set a low rate in (using dual rates) then you will reduce the total amount of throw. This will work a lot better for helping them overcome over control on the stick. With expo in when the move the stick all the way to it's limits you are still going to have the same amount of control throw on the control surface regardless of how much expo you have dialed in.

Ken

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

The skills you want to develop in your kids as students are primarily putting the plane where its supposed to be, not just preventing a crash. To do this, you want to make sure they master both left and right turns, and returning the plane to level flight coming out of every turn. This is best taught by just having them fly repeated figure eights, with the cross over right in front of you. Once they can keep the plane where they want it, move on to approaches.

You will find that trying to teach a beginner on the buddy box will improve your skill as well. Don't let them do anything that makes you nervous, and don't be afraid to take control before they get in trouble.

The SPAD Debonair is a WONDERFUL trainer. I still have one, and its going with me on vacation to do some float flying. Its built like a tank, and with a few modifications is a fine air craft. It "aint purdy", but everyone thats ever seen one fly is impressed.

Good luck,
Brad

red head

When you are practicing a certain manuver ( example : figure 8's ) I suggest that you not do more then about 8 at a time then go to something else for a bit. People ( especially kids ) get bored if stuck at one thing too long . Oval patterns in different directions between figure 8' s helps.
I also like to let the student have a little play time before getting down to work. Something you may try for your daughter :: hold the trans in front of her like a steering wheel in a plane and show her that the stick is moved back to go up ( just like the wheel is pulled back to go up ) and pushed forward to go down, use the trans, as the planes wheel. This has helped me a few times with a student.

ENJOY !!! RED

Spoofer

I am in the same boat as you.

My two girls (8 and 10) are also very interested. I put them on the SIM and told them I would buy them a plane once they could meet some minimum goals on the SIM which they did sooner than I expected.

I have two transmitters and a buddy cord but did not want to teach them on the nitro so I bought them a Slow Stick. It's electric and very inexpensive. I found a place to get Li Po's online for 15 bucks and picked up three of them. I have been teaching them for a couple of weeks. One of the nice things about the Slow Stick is that I can take them to any decent sized local park, pull out the plane and we are flying in minutes. They are having a blast and I feel this is a good way to get them started.

My very first time taking one of them up, I switched over control to my daughter and she immediately entered a full speed dive for the ground. I had the elevator servo reversed on her transmitter.

plugin

Adui, the single thing that I most appreciate from all the things my instructor taught me was the way to think about the plane when it's coming towards you. It was so simple yet so powerful that it provided all the confidence I needed to improve my overall flying skills. He said "When the plane is coming towards you and it's not flying level, push the aileron stick towards the side of the plane that is dropping". I know it sound obvious but as soon as I got that burnt into my brain, it became a natural instinct and nowadays I don't even notice if the plane is coming or going in terms of the corrections I need to make to the plane's roll attitude. Another thing that was taught to me that has proven to be worth is weight in gold (if such thing is possible) is not to learn systematic routines for certain situations, but to be able to look at the plane and understand the inputs it needs to get it to fly like you want it. For example, instead of thinking "When I'm banking and the plane turns around, I have to give opposite stick input to get it into level" you should be able to watch the plane and understand which input it needs regardless of the previous things you did.

I hope I was clear enough

Adui

Just re-read from start to finish, and I will probably keep doing that to keep all the good info fresh in my mind!

A little more info on my kids regarding attention span etc so you can tailor new stuff to that.

While I had them up, they traded off during the same flight. This was in part because they are just that close, and like to share EVERYTHING. (Weird I know, but hey Im not complaining!) The second reason, at least in later flights, (They flew a portion of three flights Sunday) was obvious loosing attention span. My son, as I said, got frustrated because I wouldnt let him fly beyond his capability. My daughter would stop "Because my eyes are tired" I think truly she just wanted to go sit with her big brother, and try to cheer him up.

So, my game plan for next time is this: 1st flight for BOTH of them will be teaching them a high altitude loop, and a full roll in a shallow climb. Then, each time they take over for there turn they will get a chance to play a bit before starting the work as Ken put it. Hopefully this progresses to full flight training sessions for each of them. Well my bird stays up for 15 minutes and has plenty of fuel to spare so 10 minutes of training time is probably the limit, it was for me when I was starting out and I'm an adult, (Read older kid with more expensive toys )

jetmech05

I taught my daughter to fly when she was 9.....
Always anticipate the need for power (throttle) it's easier to pull back power when not needed, than to apply power when you need it...
I'll explain...When I teach anyone my throttle is rarely below 1/2...takeoff, landing, and approach training I am always at full throttle. This way if the student gets into trouble all I have to do is fix the attitude of the airplane, power is there....If for some reason power isn't required then all I have to do is retart the the throttle....
Altitude and speed are life in aviation..
Now go have fun