ORIGINAL: mbilar1
First, forgive me for asking questions in new threads that might be connected to my other threads.
I love restoring, recovering, rebuilding glow trainers, I flew U-control as a kid. I've yet to fly RC, yet alone solo.
I have tried the simulator over and over when I visit my only two local hobby shops in this large metro area who are still alive for airplanes in Kansas City. (Hobby Haven in OP and Charlie's in Raytown). Two for a whole city! There are a couple of HobbyTowns which seem to do well with the RC car/truck people.
Anyway, I crash over and over again on the simulator in the hobby shop. I've yet to buy a simulator because it would cost more than another trainer I can buy on Ebay and enyoy restoring. I doubt my skills to actually learn to fly! Every time I go out to the local field and ask questions, while there are very helpful people, I feel like I'm imposing on their time since our nice days are few and far between. There have been people who are willing to train, but I just know my skills are not ready.
Should I spend the $ and practice on the simulator? I have an idea that learning via buddy box will actually be easier than simulator, because the plane gets so small on simulator I can't tell which way it's going.
Is there any hope for me actually flying or should I just keep taking my enjoyment out of modeling?
Simulators are useful tools, but if you want to learn to fly then you need to go fly. Training with an instructor on a buddy box is more valuable than practicing on the simulator for a number of reasons. Simulators can't answer questions for you. Simulators can't teach you how to pre-flight check your plane or tune your engine. Simulators can't crack a joke that makes you laugh when you weren't having that great of a day.
Simulators can help you learn control orientation. They also give you flight practice over the winter or during the rain storm that cancels training night at your club. Even the best R/C flight sims don't truly model realistic flying conditions all that well, however. I also agree that planes on the computer screen become impossibly small all too soon, and I found simulator flying more difficult than the real thing when I first started flight training a couple of years ago.
Your skills are good enough to begin training on a buddy box. The only prerequisite is that you need to be able to see a plane while it is in the air, and that you can hold a buddy box in your hands and move at least the right stick around to control the aircraft. Getting comfortable with tracking the plane while it is in the air and turning it smoothly will come with practice. Much later, take-offs and landings can be attempted after your basic flight skills have been improved.
The folks at your local R/C club aren't bothered by your questions. R/C flyers love answering questions, and they love helping new pilots dive into this hobby. They offer advice and make suggestions; they might even pitch in with maintenence or repairs when a new pilot is stumped on a project. If somebody doesn't want to take the time to help or answer any more questions, they'll get up and walk away from you or just go fly their plane.
With a decent flight instructor and a buddy box, it's impossible for you to crash a trainer no matter how bad of a pilot you think you are. The instructor will have total control of the aircraft via the main radio system, and only give it over to you when you're ready. If you get into trouble, the instructor can take control back in a fraction of a second and put the plane back into stable, level flight.
Get a trainer, a field box, and a flight instructor and spend the effort to get some stick time out at the field. There is no substitute for practice, and the more you try to fly an aircraft the more comfortable you will be with them. Great RC pilots aren't born, they're made.