ORIGINAL: agcatsbest
I have to agree with slg1. All through these forums I read about how you need to join a club and get an instructor. Many, as I did, teach themselves and are constantly put down for being so arrogant as to believe they should be able to teach themselves. We see clubs that look down on "parkfliers" and aren't interested in the "looks" we would get. Then we are told that most aren't like that and we could find a good one. Now, here, out in the open, you explain how you run for cover when "noobies" show up with their sorry despicable excuses for airplanes. You fuss about using up your time on us, time you could fly. You fuss about having to take the time to teach us something and if only we were already knowledgeable about this stuff, it would save you time. Then you make the comment that we WANT SOMEONE TO GIVE US SOMETHING!!!!!!!! And, we have the attitude problem and should feel lucky to get the help. You then say these guys are great because of how many "noobies" they taught!? You are just going to have to get used to us "parkfliers" out here, flying on our own. You have now made it clear we would be a big bother to you! Who wants that? Not me.
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I am not sure what forums you hang out in. I have never seen anyone that taught themselves to fly slighted. Arrogant? No. Expensive? Maybe. Efficient? Probably not.
There are clubs that look down on free flight. There are clubs that look down on control line. There are RC clubs that look down on power planes. There are RC clubs that look down on sailplanes. There are clubs that look down on electrics and/or park flyers. It has always been up to the clubs to determine what they want. Do you believe that a group of park flyers that have managed to find an indoor sight should be forced to share it with 25% IC aircraft?
Let's put this other issue of training out on the table, in the light of day. Maybe then you can understand where some of us that have been around more than a week or two get our feelings.
There was a time when the only way you were going to learn to fly was to build your own plane. Sure, you could buy someone else's, but they were probably going to train you. Most kits were never completed. Interest was lost and the kits went to some great closet in the sky. Those that did complete the kit spent, in most cases, months and months building them. They made friends among the local modelers along the way. The local hobby shop may well have been the source of help for many of them. In short, they were in no rush to rekit all that work.
The friends they made were not willing to watch their efforts disappear in a cloud of balsa dust and helped the newbie learn to fly. The newbie understood why he was going to wait between flights. He had been to the field many times before his plane was finished.
OK, now, let's be realistic. Things have changed. The first timer that built his own plane has become like a dinosaur. ARFs, RTFs, and park flyers are here to stay. That is not bad, but, it is different. One of the major differences is that some of those newbies think that because they could buy into the hobby on a hardware basis, they can demand the time of those that have traditionally trained newbies. Well... newsbreak... it just ain't so. Even the AMA has become aware of the problem. They now allow casual paid instructors at the club level. For those with more money than patience, you can pay an instructor.
If, on the other hand, you are willing to come in, make friends, invest your time and effort, you can still get the same type of training that has always been available.
YOU MAY NOT demand it. You will pay... either with emotional involvement and time, or with dollars. Your choice.