Salinas H.

Don't worry about which will "convert" to full-scale as the answers is "neither". I was in avaition club in college and accumulated 15 hours of fixed wing/single-engine and an hour of glider in full size (and finished ground school) while also getting to fly r/c (mode 2) when I was first learning both. There is no real similarity among sport or most models, though a trainer or J-3 Cub model can be flown as "real".

How often do you confuse your thumb with your feet? The feeling of the rudder pedals has no r/c equivalent. The sensation of turn and bank has no equivalent. The horizion stays put and the aircraft moves (opposite of the visual inputs you get in "real" flight). You NEVER land at yourself in real flight and have to compensate for reversed visual tracking.

The theory and control movements are the same, but the sensations and muscles involved are MUCH different.

Also, in theory, I would say mode 3 makes the most sense (swap the rudder and elevator functions so the left stick is ailerons and throttle). Should make it easy to do nice coordinated elevator/rudder movements.

I've only ever flown mode 2 and it's too late for me to change. However, I think if it offerred significant advantages I would see more people using it. We have six "real" pilots in our club and no one out of 35 members flies mode 1 that I know of. In the last club I belonged to there were half-a-dozen of the pattern pilots (and the same guys were also Quickee-racers) who flew mode 1 but even then the majority of both were using mode 2. You get used to either, I imagine. Flying R/C is a conditioned reflex.

I also note that in R/C, real flight or even driving cars - some folks make the motions and others slip the vehicle on like it was a suit and become part of it. The modes may attract different personality types or spacially diverse mind sets. That is, one mode may suit you better but there is no best among the modes (1,2, 3).