G'day

I recently taught a bloke to fly by email. He bought a Super Cub and a Radian powered glider. It ended up being the Radian glider that taught him to fly because it knows how to fly.

Foam gliders are great for learning. They are tough, reasonably easy to repair and cheap. They are mostly three channel. This is not a problem so long as you set them up with the rudder on the right (aileron) stick. Then the transition to four channels is a non event as you will have learned the reflex for flying with ailerons without realising it.

After he mastered the Radian (and repairing it) he moved on to the Super Cub and was able to fly it almost immediately. He has since graduated to a Corsair and Me 109.

One of the things that really helped him was fibre glass packing tape. I suggested he get some and put thin strips along the wing leading and trailing edges and also along both sides of the fuse and underheath too. This adds a lot of strength for very little weight and makes the model far more likely to survive crashes. It is good for repairs too. Another friend is currently learning with a Multiplex Easy Star (great plane if you replace the standard can motor with a cheap brushless). On its second flight he spectacularly pranged it and it looked like a complete mess but a little glue and lots of tape and it is now flying really well again. It does look pretty terrible though.

One of the big advantages of the Easy Star is that it is a "pusher" with the engine behind the wing. In the event of a prang, the engine and prop are protected and unlikely to be damaged.