cashrc

My Feedback: (2)

I've been flying RC since around 1984 or so..before that I flew a little Ukie and rubber free flight. My first RC plane was a Piece'O Cake, which is nothing more than a 2 channel 2-meter glider with a Cox .049 up front, landing gear and a 2-channel radio-(rudder and elevator) At the time I did not belong to a club, and my finances were limited, so i set out to do it alone. To make matters worse, my radio of choice (and economy) was a little 2-stick 2-channel Futaba..rudder on the right, elevator on the left. There was a large field that was use to grow johnson grass for hay, and it was about 3 feet tall, maybe more, when I made my first flights. Most of those ended up with the plane nose down in the hay, as I got better, I would try to land it closer to me, sometimes I was successful other times not. I made a few repairs in that time, but eventually, I could get her up, fly around till the Black Widow quit, and bring it back without any damage..usually. I was able to teach myself the BASICS of rc flight, but I had a huge open field, a soft "impact zone" and a very lightly loaded, slow flying aircraft. I feel that the Alpha would make a good trainer with some instruction, but not solo, and surely not with the added weight/drag of the floats. You do have an advantage in that you know what makes a plane fly, bank, pitch, what flaring on landing means, power settings, etc. The disadvantge you have, as another poster mentioned, is that you don not have the physical feedback from being in the aircraft when it stalls, climbs, banks, etc. That takes a little time, also, disorientation may be a problem too. My advice? Put wheels on her, and seek out a club or at least a good, experienced RC pilot to help..barring that, put aside the Alpha for a bit, and get a 2-meter glider (rudder-elevator, nothing hot), an Old-Timer, or a Sig Kadet Senior..any of these aircraft can fly slow enough to keep up with, and will fly at speeds that other planes would fall out of the sky at..a GWS slow stick, properly set up and on a calm day would be okay too. Then find a big, open field with high grass, get away from anything/anybody that can get hit, and make a few tentative flights.
Just my 2 cents
Cash