Originally posted by sdavied
I've been flying airplanes for 15 years, helis for 6.
I recently obtained G2.
P.S. I learned to fly helicopters without a sim and without ever crashing.
Same here... Self-taught R/C plane pilot. My FIRST crash was when I was starting my SECOND year flying with my THIRD R/C plane. The first two were STILL in good flying condition, only switched to a different plane because of wanting more performance. My second plane was a Goldgerg Eaglet 50 which after a few months of flying, I shifted the CG almost TWO INCHES BEHIND the farthest back limit marked on the plans. I also put a solid sheet stab on it with more elevator area, then increased ALL control surface throws to as much as I could get without causing control binding. That Eaglet could develope a spin tight enough that if directly under it, it looked like the engine was falling straight down with the plane spinning around the engine.
I also SELF-TAUGHT myself to fly R/C helicopters WITHOUT any expensive crashes until my third season flying the heli's.
I didn't have any flight sim's until AFTER I could fly heli's enough to do loops, rolls, and other mild aerobatics with the heli.
R/C experience: 23 years airplane, Started R/C heli's in 1993, but due to job conflicts, only really have 8 years R/C heli experience.
R/C airplane flight instructor from 1986 until 1996. Instructing MOSTLY with my own plane & radios until 1995.
1996, Was flight instructing with student's equipment enough to fly nearly EVERY DAY, and only taking MY OWN aircraft out of the house TWICE the entire year.
As far as simulator? If I'd have never "upgraded from RFG2 to RFG2 w/Interlink USB controller, I'd have no problems recommending RealFlight. HOWEVER, with all the problems I've had since "upgrading" and the COMPLETE LACK of honest help from both Great Planes AND Knife-Edge Software's Tech support, I no longer use RealFlight, and CAN NO LONGER HONESTLY recommend RealFlight to ANYBODY.
Have a problem with RealFlight, and REGARDLESS of WHAT the problem is, Great Plane's tech support does NOTHING, and Knife-Edge Software's tech suppoprt blames your problem on "You need to upgrade either your video or sound drivers"
They gave me THAT SAME ANSWER when I notified them that I had just UPGRADED ALL drivers, and the upgraded drivers DID NOT make RealFlight work any better, but had made several other applications on my system STOP functioning correctly.