ORIGINAL: drZoidBeRg365
I started with a of all things, A HobbyZone Aerobird Extreme with an instructor, despite his help the plane still hasn`t flown in 4 years. Earlier this summer, I got a FlyZone Skyfly, took to my local field, got in the air, got a great landing and had a blast, I would reccomend it to any first time flyer, its tough, its cheap and it flys great (its worth noting here I`m a teenager) and after my plane crashed in flury of bad ideas, thanks to my friends, the nose even got bashed in AND yet it still flies great I have had to so some minor work, new canopy, new tail kit but thats it
How did you fly the Aerobird with an instructor? Did you replace the electronics so you could fly it with a trainer box?
That's the main thing I don't like about the HobbyZone "beginner" planes, the RTF electronics don't allow the use of a buddy-box/trainer-box. I'm sure it is to cut the cost of the RTF package, and I know they are selling them as "teach yourself" planes, but if the new owners could buddy-box on them with an experienced pilot for the first few flights, they would learn a lot quicker, crash much less, and be less likely to give up after a few flights (and crashes).
If HobbyZone would just use the standard 72MHz airplane band for the Firebirds/Aerobirds, I could use my own radio to teach newbies on these planes. Instead, they use the 27MHz band and transmitters with no trainer capability. It's good they chose the 27MHz band for park flyers, so they don't interfere with local clubs flying on 72MHz, but then the lack of trainer capability ruins the whole RTF package for the experienced pilots looking to assist the newbies.