G'day

I recently gave a flying lesson to a guy like you. He had bought two models and headed out to fly with similar results to you. He came to our club and I let him fly my trainer with me on a buddy box. By the end of his second flight he was happily flying the model around with no help from me. This is not unusual for a younger person. He will learn to fly quickly and be a good flier within six months if he keeps at it.

There are several things which makes flying a model difficult.

1. You are not in the model so you initially have to imagine you are or you can become disoriented very quickly.

2. You have to do several things at the same time in a three dimensional world.

3. Like most things, you have to learn to fly automatically and that takes time.

4. Models, especially small ones, can be hard to see and this makes the job harder.

But don't panic. You will quickly learn all these skills and most important, what you learn will be come automatic reflexes so that you will eventually find your fingers just do what they need to do without you having to tell them.

A simulator is a good thumb teacher but is no substitute for the real thing. By all means keep using it, as it will help, but real airtime is what you really need.

Hang in there, find a club and welcome to the world of model aviation.

Mike in Oz