I tell people who are really new to this hobby to be very gentle with the controls and be smooth, treat your plane like a lady. My flight instructor with the full size planes told me that, and I teach that to others with with the smaller planes. I think that's why I solo'd second night at my club with the Goldberg Eagle last year... now I fly Sport Warbirds with working flaps etc. this year.

Plus my old R/C flight instructor is also a FAA endorsed pilot who loves this hobby, and knew I was in full control of the aircraft after taking off, and landing 3 times with 3 touch & Go's. " Keep your wings level, and your fuse level... a little rudder, ail and elevator in your turns keeping everything smooth... you don't need to look away from your aircraft.

The Pro's use spotters, just so they can keep there eye's on there planes. I've seen films of people looking at there control inputs and lost eye contact when they looked up... resulting in a crash. Crash Pro sent me one of them... a guy lost his nice Chipmunk that way. To me it's always sad when I see a plane go in... even the ARF's and RTF needs considerable amount of work to get ready for flight.

On a slightly windy or turbulent day, that second or two of not keeping your eyes on your plane at low altitude can mean disaster. These planes are expensive, and I like to keep my planes and equipment looking new for a long time.

I never take my eyes off of my planes... unless I'm on final, then I will peak at where the edge of the runway is. I haven't lost a plane... nor have I put one in the tall grass in a long time... That's just me.



Luftwaffe Oberst
Aero Modelers Club
AMA District II
Pulaski, NY