Great thread topic Jester. Something that most trainers almost always show up at the field with new fellows is excessive nosewheel throws and simple electronc reduction usually results in insufficient rudder throw.

A great deal of time is lost in getting nosewheel linkage properly set up even sometimes resulting in lost flying days for the student. The alternative is sometimes going ahead and flying it anyway which is unfair to the student as it negates any real learning about ground handling especially takeoffs.

So to answer the question about the Ideal Trainer Characteristics, I would suggest that an ideal trainer would have nosewheel linkage designed so that it would be difficult for the newbie set up wrong. perhaps the steering arm would have only one hole at the end and was of sufficient length to avoid excessive nosewheel throw. In addition the instructions would be clear in need to keep the nosewheel pushrod in a closer hole at the servo.

John