Stick 40

Hi,

I ran into a guy the other day that I knew way back, and he showed an interest in flying RC. I offered to let him fly the club trainer on the buddy box and we set a date.

He came out and flew two flights without me having to take the plane back. He had control to a great level, never let it get OUT there and held alt. to a good degree. He flew better then the guy I have been training. I asked him if he had ever flown rc planes or ran rc cars etc and he clamed he had not.

Is this possable?

The best student that I ever had soloed in 3 weeks and he could not do that.

sticks

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Everyone's different. If he's into video games its very possible, kids these days are taking months to out fly guys (like myself) that have been doing it for years.

Stick 40

he said he did not do any simulaters , etc.

sticks

ZERO-322

My Feedback: (2)

Some people have a natural ability , I know that my first flight and first solo in one ....was with a 2 meter powered glider went off without a glitch , had a ten min flight and landed it pretty close to were I intended , I flew right out the gate , however Glow and other types of models later on proved to be a little more challenging , and I have had my share of crashes since then (learning curve) but yes it can be done , after that first flight I was hooked ! LOL

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I hovered a helicopter in one tank of fuel (back in the mechanical gyro days) and was doing aerobatics at the end of the first weekend. Guys at the field were threatening to throw holy water on me.

Stick 40

Ok,

I was wondering if this was rare or what, I have not tought that many people but a few. This guy could solo in three or four flights, if he had his own plane. I don't do take off and landings with the club trainer.

They need to be more involved.

thanks

sticks

WCB

It's not all that uncommon from what I've seen. A while back a young fella that regularly flies with us brought his 17 year old cousin with him. He put the 17 year old up on the buddy box flying a 40 size Pulse. Within a few minutes that kid was flying the heck out of that Pulse. I couldn't get over how well he did. As best I can recall I think he said he had never been on a simulator or flown anything before.
I agree with an earlier post saying kids playing video games have an edge. They develop great hand and eye coordination. The controller on a Sony PS3 has joysticks that are placed very similar to the sticks on a transmitter.

Stick 40

I can see the younger people falling into this better than us oldies but goodies. This guy is retired and around 60 years old, give or take a couple of years.

I just got to believe the age thing makes this very rare. Keep the stores coming, I almost did not believe this was possable.


sticks

tryan02

I been helping teach a guy on the other side of the spectrum 70 years old and just not getting it. Oddly though I take him out we fly OK no crashing anyone else takes him out they loose him and he buy's parts we are not using buddy box having trouble with the setup in our radio's. It frustrates me when someone else flies him and cant recover for him.

As for myself I started in march this year with a 40 size JR trainer then moved up to the parkzone t-28 trainer, then a 60 size edge 540 and current is the 180 size extra 260. Lot of planes in one season of flying RC.


OK I flew planes about 22 years ago and decided to start flying helis 2 years ago so falling back into planes was simple.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Be careful here. Yes you will get folks who seemingly rocket up the airmanship ladder however its not possible to impart all the knowledge they are going to need in a relatively short time. Often times just exposure in the pits seeing how others do things and operate engines what works and what does not. Things such as this and other bits of knowledge you certainly will pass on to him are the things he will be deprived of.

In short there will be holes in his airmanship and that no doubt will come back to bite him later.

Being in a rush to solo someone does him a disfavor no matter how much they push you.

John

Stick 40

I am in no hurry for him to solo and I miss stated how soon I think he could solo. It would be like 3 to 8 flying sessions,and thats with 3 or 4 flights each session. I work people all through the pits in what to do and not do them , and show and then have them do it over and over to get it right.

He does not have a plane and I don't know if he will take up RC. He goes in for heart work soon and won't really have a chance to start this fall. What ever happens ,happens.

sticks

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Another morning I can't even argue with John, there goes the cream in my coffee!!
Summer before last I had three students, two just turned 60 and one was almost 13. Day one the 13 year old would have been able to solo. I held him back a day, the next weekend I turned over my radio to him after flying the box three more times. No shaking knees or sweating fore head?? The kid flew the rest of the day all on his own.
The other two took up the rest of the summer then did there solo, two summers later they still have some problems, one is much better then the other but still asks for help sometimes.
The kid didn't fly at all this year, he listened to the other old pilots at the field telling him how advanced he was so he bought planes way over his head and lost them for reasons John stated.
The two old farts are still at it plugging away every chance they get.
So yes, there are people that can fly from day one but as hard as it is you want to try to keep them on the trainer as long as you can so they can really learn the basics. The kid crashed his 4* 60 then he went over to a 60 size Extra for some reason. Well, the reason was a lot of us fly Extras so the kid just really wanted one.
I do prefer older students too, they listen and take there time learning something new like this. That was my last young student, no one under 16 anymore, once they can drive they can get themselves to the field, just something for instructors to think about.

j.duncker

My Feedback: (2)

I used to do a lot of instructing including school days where kids got 3 minutes on a buddy box. One natural who was solo on day two and a couple of kids who flew out the three minutes without intervention from me and were clearly in control and making it do what they wanted it to do.

They all had lots of video game experience - good thumb eye coordination!

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I find that most of my gamer students tend to bump the sticks instead of smooth fluid movements. I have to unteach that in the beginning.
Edwin

bogbeagle

There is a saying that, " you fly with your head, not with your hands".

Hand-eye co-ordination is not a sufficient condition for good piloting. It is only a very small part of the story.

Bright people, whatever their ages, make good pilots.

anuthabubba

My Feedback: (102)

My Dad was an ag-pilot/crop duster for over 25 years at the time (mid '70s) I taught him to fly RC. He had some problems translating his years of experience with the felt feedback from an airplane's controls to the spring tension on the transmitter sticks and visual cues from the plane. Once I convinced him to let the trimmed plane fly freely until he wanted/needed to make a flight path change he progressed, fairly quickly.

Terry in LP

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Sounds like a good idea Terry. I just started training a full scale pilot yesterday. He had a very hard time with over controlling and perspective. But he is only on his first 3 flights. I expect it will come to him by about flight 6 or 7, or so.
Edwin

Stick 40

They say that pilots of real planes are hard to teach RC to. They think they know a lot about flying and it gets in thier way. The one guy I soloed in three weeks was a pilot, lear jet no less with instructer rating in the full size lear jet. But he was still the fastest, at least till this new guy showed up.

The guy I am talking about it around 60 years old, and I got to think this makes it a little more rare? We went up for the second session of three flights, and in 6 full 10 flights I had to take it back one time.

sticks

jimmyjames213

My Feedback: (2)

i taught myself how to fly a year ago (i was 16). once i bought a plane that actually had some power (gws slowstick) i could fly in circles, takeoff/land no problem, i would break props quite often but the airframe stayed in one piece.
i have yet to see anyone that could so what i did. i have taken about 20 people up on the buddy box and watched quite a few more.

Stick 40

it must be that some people are not bothered by the "plane coming at them thing".

It was real hard for me to learn because of the direction change. This guy seems real interested in becoming a member, and he's a nice guy to boot.

thanks

sticks

Luftwaffe Oberst

I soloed after 2 flights on the "Buddy Box" at my club. But I flew the full size planes for many years and knew it was about the same in flight handling, just that I'm not in the R/C plane itself. I personally haven't seen a kid or person right off the street fly a plane once and ready to Solo. Is that what you are saying? It does sound odd, but because I haven't seen it, I can't say it can't happen.

For many years I turned my body in the same direction the plane was flying. But now I can face my low inverted plane and know without thought how to control it. That's something you can't do with a full sized plane when you're in it.

Pete

Stick 40

Yes its kind of like what you did, the guy is not going to solo that quick. In fact he goes in for open heart sugery in a week or so and then is layed up for a month. I don't think he will solo till next spring or summer. He is talking about getting a plane to practice take off's and landings. I don't do take off's and landings with the club trainer, even though I am temped with him.

He does not turn to face with the plane eather. The one time I took it back was because it was very low and I did not know if he could get it back in time. If it had been another 50 foot higher he probably would have gotten it back under control.

sticks