Originally Posted by
H5487
DO NOT buy an ARF to learn how to fly. I'm not against ARFs (in fact, I have several myself) but I think they send the wrong message to a newbie; and that message being that it's okay to crash because you can just buy another.
Harvey
I am going to disagree with this. The beginner should buy an ARF trainer, ideally one you can get spare components for. You can not build the same model from scratch for twice the cost of the ARF. The ARF will almost certainly come without warps or CG problems and will usually fly well from the gitgo. He will have fewer problems to sort out and if he has a crash can get back in the air quickly.
BUT he or she should be encouraged to buy a kit and start to build it at the same time as he / she learns to fly. Gently discourage any tendencies to buy a Spitfire or a P 38 and direct them to an Ugly Stick or similar.
One person I taught to fly insisted on building a Avro Vulcan with a pusher engine as his first model. I was impressed when he finished it as he had one leg and only one working arm.He did realize that he did not have the skills to fly it even after he had soloed and flown a couple of ugly sticks.