fliers1
Posts: 534
Joined: 11/30/2001
From: Lockport, NY, USA
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Sharpy01
....again, Richard........seeing as you are silly enough to hang around here.
Why can't we, with Clarence's blessing of course, present his method on MAAC's website done up nice and pretty complete with pictures, etc. Members are always looking for this type of info on our website................ Why not an instructional page showcasing his method?
Whatcha think.........and no lawyering BS about liability yada, yada. We are not talking about endorsing anything as the "only" way, but offering options. You could even offer up something related to buddy-box's as I don't believe we have anything like that on there either? Even an insurance company would applaud the effort to display "safe" methods of learning as opposed to what most of us did ..............and were lucky enough not to kill anyone.
Marc
No problem, glad to help anyway I can. You can show this to anyone, but I don't know if anyone saw this link before, but here it is again: http://www.amadistrictii.org/column/2004/2004-09%20Column.pdf
Testimonial of sorts:
pcinc
Status: New Heliman
Registered: May 2005
Location: Western MA Buddy Boxes - Revisited
I have to chime in and tell you al of my experience on this subject. First a little bit about the RC hobby and myself. I have always had an eye for RC Heli’s but never had any exposure to the hobby. Last July I bought a used Raptor 50 and met with an experienced Heli guy at the local field to check it over for me. He set it up, checked it over, then started to teach me to fly it. I was doing Ok until I tried hovering in my backyard and crashed it pretty good. It was way too tight an area for someone as new as me to be flying in. After this, it was suggested to me to pick up a trainer lane and learn to fly it and it would help in learning to fly the Heli. I got an already set up complete LT 40 Kadet. I started on the Buddy Box and could fly around at a fairly high altitude, but could not take off or land. This spring was a continuation of that. Between my work schedule and the wet spring we had here I didn’t get as much box time in as I would like to have. Now it’s been close to a year and I can’t fly on my own at this point. I have had a couple of different instructors on the box but never seemed to progress to the point I hoped to be at. I read a post from fliers1 (Clarence Ragland) here on RR stating that he could teach anybody to hover in a couple of hours. I PM’ed him and after a couple of exchanges Clarence stated he could not only teach me to hover but also fly on my own in 2 days. Talk about skeptical? I made arraignments and met up with Clarence to take him up on his theory. First day, the wind was blowing 20-25 mph and I figured the day to be lost. Not Clarence. He got me up in the air and started on taking off and landing approaches in the wind. We did this for a while then switched over to the Heli. First flight out, I’m a nervous wreck. My knees were knocking and the sweat was just pouring. I couldn’t even think about controlling the right stick. We ran a tank of fuel with me trying to hold a steady altitude and the nose straight ahead while Clarence controlled the right stick completely. The next thankful went a little better. I managed to be able to think about the right stick and control things somewhat with Clarence assisting when I got things out of whack. None of the flying with the Kadet or the Raptor was on the Buddy Box at all. I used my radio with my thumbs on the top of the sticks (something totally new to me) and Clarence reached under my thumbs and controlled the stick when needed (a technique Clarence calls the “Ragland Technique”). He was in continuous communication with me every minute I was in the air. This gave me a positive feel of how much stick movement was required for each move. At the end of the first day, I was further along in my flying than I have ever been in the last 10 months. I still had doubts about hovering and flying on my own by the end of the 2nd day so I extended my check out one at the hotel I was staying at more day.
Day 2, I started off with the Heli and hovered 2 tanks of fuel with minimal assistance on the second thankful. We switched back to the Kadet and did take off and landings one after another. The wind was not blowing as hard as the day before, but kept changing the direction it blew across the field. Clarence worked with me on all the different areas of flying effected by the changing winds. We worked on throttle control, upwind legs, down wind legs, landing approaches and take offs. At this point I was getting mentally overloaded and we took about a 2 hour break. I cooled down, re hydrated and freshened up back at the room then had a little lunch. I met Clarence back at the field and started right in on the Heli. It all started to come together. I hovered a couple of tankfulls with minimal assistance. I switched back over to the Kadet and did take off and landings one after another. He even had be do a dead stick when he didn’t believe me when I told him the crazy beeping was telling me I’m about to run out of fuel. Spent the rest of the afternoon practicing take offs, landings from both directions and figure eights crossing at midfield. Fired up the Heli one more time and hovered the entire tank without assistance. I was able to control it, fairly stable, and recognize and make corrections when needed. Mission accomplished! I was comfortable with all aspects of flying the Kadet and hovering the Raptor. I cancelled the 3rd night and went home.
Having been through both the Buddy Box and Clarence’s method, I have to say the “Ragland Technique” is far more effective. I would recommend getting hooked up with Clarence or anybody that teaches by this method to anyone that wants to learn how to fly either planes or Heli’s. It’s very effective with both. Since my instructional time with Clarence I have flown at my field a couple of times. I hooked back up to the Buddy Box the first time up to make sure I could get oriented at my field and be able to pick out my marks for landing. Next time out I completely went Solo. I flew 6 full tank of fuel all on my own. Then I fired up the Raptor and hovered 2 more tanks of fuel completely on my own. Everyone was impressed with what I had accomplished in 2 days. I even got a comment from a member that used to fly heli’s on how steady I was able to hover in place.
Sorry for such a long post, but I just had to share my experience with everyone. I’m not trying to knock the Buddy Box system at all here. After this experience I have to say it’s not the most effective way to learn. I have seen a number of folks at my field learning on Buddy Boxes and they are still on them.
Drop Clarence a note if you want to learn to fly (even in the wind). His e-mail is fliers1@aol.com
Here is a link to an AMA newsletter about Clarence teaching people that never touched a radio before.
http://www.amadistrictii.org/column...4-09 Column.pdf
Peter, now flying on my own!!!!!
Take care,
CCR
< Message edited by fliers1 -- 12/14/2005 7:02:34 PM >
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> M.A.A.C. >> RE: I'm sick of MAAC 
RE: I'm sick of MAAC - 
RE: I'm sick of MAAC - 
My theory is the less I fly the plane the better as it usually knows what its doing much better than I do 