bogbeagle

A new guy turned up at our flying site, today.

He was a young, Thai ... no English.


He'd been doing some simulator work with another Thai ... this one a very skilled pilot.


Anyway, the young un had a very nice electric trainer of typical configuration; and 3 flights were conducted, each of about 8 minutes' duration.


At the end of his second flight, the young man made a passable landing.


His THIRD flight was conducted without any assistance and terminated in a decent landing (no way would you have described it as an "arrival"; I really do mean a decent landing). The flight itself, was smooth and slow, with no hint of drama.


In 26 years of model flying, I have seen nothing even close to this achievement. There was spontaneous applause.

noveldoc

My Feedback: (2)

Maybe he was a video gamer. My middle son, who was a big gamer, soloed and landed on his 4th lesson at age 14. All in 1 day.

Tom

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Darn kids......

jlingrel

Hate to think how many trainers bought the farm, and how much money the LHS made from me when I was learning. Congrats to the kid, glad to see people coming into the sport with that potential.

John

bogbeagle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGQ7tU8DylE


The guys have just posted a video of yesterday's fun-and-games. Right at the end you can see Ball's first landing ... at the end of his 3rd ever flight.

Prior to that is some footage of my rubbish glider ... we were just trying to get some practise at the hairy-tow. It should be obvious to you that the "glider" is just an old powered model with the engine removed. Managed 4 minutes and 57 seconds, mind (but half of that was the tow). I need to train up a good, steady, tug pilot.

The helicopter "airlift" was very successful (from my point of view, as the glider pilot). Not so good from the heli pilot's point-of-view ... since he wrapped the tow-line round his rotors. Helicopters have dubious aerodynamics at the best of times ... you can guess the rest.

panhndl

My Feedback: (10)

I'm 38. I bought a Phoenix Simulator in December and a Hanger 9 p-51 Mk II PTS RTF at the same time. I buddy corded once on some type of Tiger low wing plane. Had my friend take off and land for me twice on my p-51, and I've been doing all the work since. My p-51 went in after the engine died (I don't know how to tune an engine) on final so if I'm totally alone, I only fly electrics, now. Otherwise, I have never had problem flying an RC plane.

I think some of us just need to hook up to a simulator for a bit to figure out how things work. Then we can do it. And children are going to be even faster to learn than I was.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I had an older guy (around 30) do that to me. I was astounded that he soloed in 5 flights. I told him I thought he was gifted. Then he told me he had 40 plus hours on the simulator. Still, he didnt do too bad. It was at that point I changed my opinion of simulators and their usefullness. This was about 10 years ago.
Edwin

panhndl

My Feedback: (10)

From my very limited point of view (phoenix simulator) is that it flies close enough to be accurate enough to get you started. The Hobbyzone Super Cub LP is VERY similar to the real thing.

The limited side of it is that you don't know how to do anything else but fly. And fly with a perfect plane that doesn't break, need adjusting, need balance, etc. But as far as the flying bit goes, you can learn all you need to know to be able to solo in a few trips to the field by playing on the sim.

Now I have to learn all the things that "normal" folks learn BEFORE they solo, heh. I'm glad the foamies don't need much adjusting out of the box. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be able to fly at all on my own.

thailazer

Yes, the simulator time sure pays off. A few months back a friend's son gave my ship a go. Within minutes he was flying it with no help from me except advice to keep it in a bit closer. (Kids can see a whole lot better these days!) His friend with no sim time struggled just to keep it upright.