opjose

Here is where the Simulator SHINES!!!

Adjust the physics to add a smoke emitter.

Fly the plane out in the sim until it is just a DOT in the sky.

Now yank the controls around hard, and try to figure out the plane's attitude, and do a loop with it this way.

It may appear to be hard to do, if so, turn on the smoke to aid you.

After a while you will learn how to fly the plane even if you cannot tell how it is oriented!

Instead you'll be able to fly it simply because of how it responds to your inputs.

This is an IMPORTANT skill to learn and once you have it you'll be well able to handle surprises while flying.

With the sim you can practice this w/o worry about loosing or crashing your plane.

Another thing to try...

Set your view so that you are at the top of a high tower, or move the pilot high into the air... about 800 feet or so.

Now try to take off and land the plane.

Again it will seem harder than you think at first, until you learn how to fly via responses... it will also teach you how not to rely on depth perception.

This is all a great use for the sim.

QF306

well that is what i did and i found it alot easier to fly my apprentice like a pro

lordmerren

trpastor

My best advice to you is to, read and heed all of Missilman's posts, as he gives excellent advice.

Lm

trpastor

Thank you guys for all your help. Hopefully I will eventually be able to decide which is the right plane/setup to start with.

I'll let you know

Tim

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

I will be purchasing an electric trainer for my Dad for Christmas. I also intend to set him up with a simulator. Thanks for advice on the FMS free sim.

You can get a cheap Tx controller from www.r2hobbies.com Its about $16ish...

beachbrada

My Feedback: (17)

hey trpastor, not sure if you figured this out already but you can add a little window pane on real flight that shows a upclose view of the plane, so that even though it may be way out there and too small to see you can always look at the window that shows the plane up close. Also, I've been flying for about a year now and I just recently got the G4 sim. My take on the sim is that it only helps with orientation, it allows me to practice those cool manuevers without risking it on the real plane. I learned how to do inverted flat spins with the sim and I was able to take that and transfer it over to the real thing. But as far as landings, to me the sim is way too forgiving, hard landings on the sim really don't do any damage to the plane, but in real life it would have most likely snapped the fuselage in half or damaged the landing gear. But it does allow you to get the feel for it and how to manage your throttle. I am self taught but it took alot of crashes with the Sky FLy to get where Im at, so if you have the chance to get an instructor it would only benefit you and your wallet.

Missileman

You can also edit your airplane and increase the visual size without effecting anything else.

opjose

Not any more!

G4.5 ( a free upgrade to G4.0 owners ) fixes all of this.

Ground handling is very very good now.

trpastor

Hey Guys

OK, So a friend who is going to help me let me fly a little tiger moth (super light bi plane) It was a "little" windy with some moderate gusts today. Nothing more than an 8mph gust, probably 3-4 av wind and sometimes still.

I did HORRIBLE... well, I did ok until I realized I wasn't as confident as I though. the first flight I knew I was getting into trouble and landed it. ANd it got worse from there

... but I realized I had been practicing with the nexstar on the SIM with only a 4-5 mph wind. WELL I pumped it up to 8mph-9 with GUSTS and variation I cranked them up to 100%. and I put turbulence height to 15 and tublence strength to 25 and micro turb to 25. WELL it is REALLY blowing on the computer now. I can hangle the nextstar really well still, but the little parkflyer (which flys like the real tiger moth I flew) is having quite a bit of trouble. Falling apart in the sky becuase of the wind.

What would you recommend setting these things at?

Thanks!
Tim

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

I don't reccomend you try the first real flight with Super Cub or Apprentice in 8mph winds. The only trainer I've flown that lands well in wind is the hobbico Avistar. Because of the semi symetrical wing, it does not float and balloon up as bad as other trainers with flat wings . Most park flyers are not designed for more than 5 to 7mph any way. I have flown my SC in 15mph wind with the lipo, but it takes a lot of skill and room to get it back down safely. My advice, try anything you want on the simulator, but don't expect to perform real flying in 8mph wind until you have some skill on calm days!!

trpastor

Hey Guys,

Ok, so I found a SuperStar (HOBBICO) that I picked up. It had a dog chewed up stab (which I had to replace but he had the part) and the frozen up carb. I got both fixed and working and all the servos are lined up. It's in great shape (now) and I got it with the radio and everything with it for $75!

Sooo, I'm pretty ready to fly I think. I've been flying a little park flyer (tigermoth) and I did pretty well in some decent winds. Flew and landed it several times. On the sim, I can pump up some pretty WICKED winds and still fly and land the Nexstar pretty easily.

I've got a friend who's gonna help me out, but I feel I'm fairly ready to go even on my own.

My question would be.... on the SIM... how would you add in the winds? The turbulence, height etc etc.... If you can give me some good percentages and numerical values to enter in, it would be very helpful

Thanks!
Tim

opjose

Go to this thread on Knifeedge's web page ( if you haven't checked out the swap pages yet, you don't know what you are missing! ).

I've explained most of the realism settings for wind and weather there, so no point repeating it...

[link=http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14708&page=1&pp=15&highlight=realism+settings]Click me![/link]

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Your friend probably knows this if he's been flying very long, but be sure not to set the mixture to lean. Most people who start flying gas/nito without good help tend to set the mixture too lean. A lean engine runs good on the ground, but dies shortly after take off or when the plane is pitched up. Good luck on first flight!! Let us know how it goes!

trpastor

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to double check with him that it's ok.

I'll let you know!
Tim

trpastor

Hey Guys! Test flew today!

He took it off for me and got in the air then I flew around a bit and he landed it after it dead sticked on a loop.

Then we went up again, I took it off and flew it and it dead sticked and I did an emergency landing.

Then took it off flew and then landed it semi successfully. On the runway, but I came down hard at the end and bounced up and nicked the prop (killing the engine) and floated down to a soft landing.

It was cold as HELL today and a little windy (about 10mph) so that was the last flight.

Can't wait to get out and try it again! Thanks for all your help!
Tim

Missileman

Prop strikes on landing are normal while learning. I can't count the number of times I did that but you will get better as you go and before you know it every landing will be smooth and gentle.

trpastor

Well that's good to know that it's not "too" bad then. But I too think I can do better with a little practice. Thanks for the encouragement!
Tim

jwohlfeil

My Feedback: (2)

I recently got my first plane also and let me give my opinion. You will crash. And if you're as good a pilot as I was when I first launched my plane - it aint gonna be pretty.

I too had a similar experience, when you ask other pilots they will always try to steer you into a radio you can grow with, and a plane that is a good PLANE and not a TOY. What I found is that I crashed about 12-15 times FULL SPEED nose down into the ground. Before I could string a bunch of flights together without a crash.

Because of that I recommend the Hobby Zone Firebird Freedom. It's a RTF for about $140. The propeller is behind the nose so it can handle the crashes better than a plane with the prop on the front. Also, the replacement parts are affordable (wing - $15, tail $10), and you will likely be buying some of these.

While learning to fly you really need a beater that can withstand the abuse, my Firebird Freedom keeps on going with a few adjustments after each nose dive crash. I can give you some specifics if you need them.

I don't think the Cub could have survived.

HEMICUDA

trpastor,

Congrats on your GLOW trainer purchase. Finding a used bird saves major$ and you won't feel as bad when
you have minor accidents with it. I learned from hanging around the club field and talking to other guys
after my lessons from my instructor that alot of guys, buy a new high-wing glow trainer, learn to fly it, then
learn to fly at it's max potential, then move on to their 2nd, 3rd and fourth planes. They discover that they
never really fly their trainer anymore and since it's not in "new" (but working) condition, they are more
than happy to sell it to someone new to the hobby. That's exactly how I'm picking up my used Hanger 9
Arrow 40, complete with everything including radio.(even though I don't need the radio gear, it gives me
4 extra servos to work for down the road.) I'll Be honing (sp?) my skills further ( I finally soloed last month)
and quicker than I could with my Electristar. Even though the Arrow 40 is a little beat up but perfectly
air worthy, I'll keep it after I move up to scale and warbirds. It'll be perfect for winter use with skis and
float use over/on the water. If it's still in good shape when you move beyond it you can keep it like above
or sell it to another noob to keep the chain moving![8D]

Hemicuda

trpastor

thanks for the congrats! Yeah, I did pretty good overall. I can't wait to get back out, but I"ve been too busy. The sim has helped a LOT. I really could have probably flown without him there at all, but when it dead sticked the first time, it sure was nice to hand it over to him rather than sweat it. That's one thing I didn't practice on the sim, though realistically that's how I landed a lot on the sim (was 0 power).

I will keep that in mind! The water floats sounds fun! So you can get water skis/floats to land and take off on water?

Good luck with yours too!

HEMICUDA

trpastor,

Take advantage of an instructor if you have access to one. I had to drive an hour away to the
nearest club and then ask around because no one wanted to take on a student. Even if you can
barely fly alone you can improve faster with the experienced help.

Some planes I've seen use floats on snow in addition to water. I'm gonna star with just skis
for snow only.(can't use on water) My piloting skills aren't to be trusted over open water yet,
so I don't want to have my plane go down river. In snow it's ok. Check out dubro.com for
the skis. They come in two sizes, parkflyer size and .25 to .60 size (large trainer perfect)
I'll be ordering the latter for my Electristar and they'll work on the Arrow 40 too![8D] Go
to the vids section here a RCuniverse and type in the search bar skis or floats and d-load
some vids.

Have fun and keep posting your exploits!
Hemicuda

HEMICUDA

Correction, I ment Alpha 40 not arrow, I R tired, I go bed noww!

Hemicuda