ORIGINAL: -pkh-
ORIGINAL: sawdust
...If you move the stick toward the nose of the plane, the plane comes toward you. If you move the stick toward the tail of the plane it goes away from you. This always works. It is an absolute truth...
Rules of thumb like this are oversimplified and are NOT always true.
If the plane is directly in front of you, and flying straight at you, then what??? Moving the stick towards the tail (forward) makes it dive into the ground, and moving it towards the nose (backward) makes it climb. If you end up underneath the airplane, then what?? IMO, these "rules of thumb" are just a crutch that some beginners use, but they don't do them much good in the situations described above.
The idea behind picturing yourself in the cockpit of the plane is to get you to change your control perspective as the plane's orientation changes, it is NOT intended to make you think the control perspective never changes. It is a complicated thing to learn, and the best way to learn it is lot's of practice. Again, a sim is the perfect tool to learn it.
When flying right side up the method of nose/tail is not an over simplification. It is a fact - a truth. Applying nose/ tail method when flying upside down is just slightly different. But we are talking about getting beginner RC pilots orientated with turning.
But there is a lot more to flying than turning right and left. And I agree that practice is the most important aspect in learning to fly. But nose/tail can help learn orientation.
One other point is that a plane is almost never flying exactly directly toward you. If it is coming toward you it is usually either flying to the right or left of you. If by chance it is flying straight toward you, choose a side and apply the rule. Think about it. When a plane is coming toward you the rule is easy to apply.
But I agree stick time in the air is the key to learning to fly - Practice, practice, practice. Simulators are also useful. Thank you for the comment.
Todd