ORIGINAL: Bill Lowen
funny, I don't remember my heart pounding and my knees shaking when I was on the sim.
Do it right, join a club, get an instructor and have them help you find a trainer. I have seen 3D and it is not easy to do. An ARF is not that expensive. Buy a good radio and engine and like people say, you can put that on your next airplane when you master your trainer. If you get a trainer with a semi symetrical wing and a powerful engine, they can be quite fun to fly. My skyraider has an OS 55 AX, I did have an OS 46 AX and it is quite healthy. Half throttle gets it off the ground. One of our 3D guys even got it to hover for a few seconds. plus landing is not always easy, specialy in the wind, and that nice big fat high wing provides plenty of lift for nice stable landings. my .02 anyways...
I don't disagree with you but I was told the exact same thing. I started looking around for a trainer then ended up going to the local field on training night. As I was introducing myself I got into a conversation with a one of the local pilots. I ended up going to a soccer field with him right down the street and flew a couple of his foamies. On the second flight I was taking them off out of my hand. He then instructed me to load anything I wanted to fly. He told me not to get a trainer (because he thought I would get bored with it) and I think it was the best decision I have made yet. I have now been flying for about a month and I have three Yak's (52, 46, and 31 inch wing span). I will admit that I get a little nervous with new planes sometimes but nothing you can't handle. Now I am getting ready to load a 35% bird.
I think this is a great hobby and there are a lot of ways that you can learn how to fly. I guess it all depends on the person. I went flying again yesterday and it was training night. There were a couple guys at the field that have been flying for 8 months now and they are just about to solo for the first time with their trainers. Then there are a couple other guys who have been flying for 4 months and one of them already has a 36% Edge with no crashes to date (I watch him hover ten feet off the ground). I know the sim isn't the exact same as being at the field but I am a strong believer in it. I think if you can fly a small aerobatic plane on high rates then you could fly just about anything you want. It is so cheap to load a 12-20 oz balsa plane that I would give it a shot. If you crash then keep all the servos, speed controller, motor, etc for a later date after you fly a trainer. Everyone here has given you good advice, it comes down to what you think you can do. I was able to hover, knife edge, and fly inverted circles on the sim before I even tried flying at the field. When I went out my first time I could do all the same manuvers. That is the only reason I gave this advice. I wish you the best of luck when getting ready to load your first bird. Having someone with you the first coupel times is definetly a good idea. Let us know how it goes and the best of luck!