looking for my first Plane
 

liek the title sais im looking for my first plane. I have joined the AMA and a Local Plane club and ive been going and watching and they have Flight Trainers that teach you to fly and so on. Ive been really interested in planes and im sure ill get flamed for this or what not but I dont want to start with a Total Noob plane. My bestfriend and his son are experts also in the same club and whati was told is that they basicly link up with my plane and if i start to make a mistake they can take over with there own Radio.

what is the best way to go about this? I was concidering a Foam such as the cessna 182 but i hear some bad things about it. Would love your help.

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

You are not going to make a bad decision if you start with an Alpha 60.

http://www.hangar-9.com/Products/Def...ProdID=HAN2725

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

is there an RTF i could get into that is good and what about electric?

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

check this out, a lot of good choices

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4537845/tm.htm

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

thx

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

yep ... http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HAN2600

excellent flying characteristics and very predictable performances. When you are ready exchange the 3-bladed prop with a 2 blade prop and you have got yourself and entirely new type performance aircraft.

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

ggraham; good suggestion, but sadly they've been discontinued, might get lucky and find one in a store though

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

Hi Capone,

Go to SIG Manufacturing and check out the SIG KADET .40 ARF. And I hear they are going to Discontinue making this model and they may have a close-out price.

Regards,
Ken AMA 1528
Contest Director
Intro Pilot
Club President TORKS in OKC

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

Capone
Two suggestions. If you go to Google and enter the HAN part number for the Alpha 60, a list of stores that might have one will come up. You can then call around and see if you can find one. That's worked well for me in the past to find Hanger 9 products.
OR you might consider a Goldberg Protoge. It's an ARF carried by Tower, also 60-sized, and is easy to assemble and it flies just great.
Good luck

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

ive been thinking about this and ireally would like to get into an electric. are there any good electric RTR's? is electric worth it?

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

Hi Capone.

You'll get different opinions on which trainer to get and whether to go with electric vs. glow. I'll try to be as objective as possible;

First, there are basically two ways to go; You can try to learn somewhere all by your self in a park or school yard on a relatively inexpensive RTF (ready to fly) electric plane. In this case, the investment and commitment is relatively small. If you don't like it or don't have success you can just walk away without having spent too much. You may have success, or you may crash a few learning on your own, but it can be done.

But usually, the best way, if possible, is to join an R/C club that gives flying lessons (sounds like that's the path you've already decided to take). This usually takes more of a commitment because of the Club dues, AMA dues, and the nature of the plane they will probably tell you to buy. But if you stay patient and get good instruction, it might seem like it's taking a long time, but you'll be a better pilot in less time than trying by your self. In a club situation, you'll also be exposed to much more R/C "activity" just by watching the other guys and seeing their models. If you learn in a park all by your self, you'll be...all by your self.

If you join a club, just about any high-wing airplane designated as a "trainer" should be fine. Visit the club and talk to the guys you might be taking flying lessons from. They will probably feel more comfortable teaching you on whatever plane they prefer/recommend and the learning process will probably be easier. Most of the time, clubs teach new pilots on .40 cu. in. glow-powered trainers (wing span usually around 70").

Electric is great, but there's a few added elements such as the cost of batteries, chargers, and power supplies. There's also the time waiting for batteries to charge between flights. If you purchase enough batteries so you can show up at the field with all of them charged so you don't have to charge them at the field, you may have a small fortune just in batteries because they are expensive. The nice thing about electric is, of course, it's quite and clean, but initially all the extra components I just mentioned can add a few more hundred dollars to the investment. The other problem with electric can be the flight time. Most electric trainers fly for around six, MAYBE eight minutes, but with glow-powered planes you'll get at least 10 - 14 minute flights. This gives you much more air time to learn. Personally, I would recommend a glow-powered plane. By the time you have soloed and can fly all on your own, you'll be much more knowledgeable about what is available and will be able to make a better decision about what kind of electric plane to get next.

Visit your club, talk to the instructors and listen to what they say.

And good luck!

Tim

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

nothing wrong with electric, but each has it's own set of pros and cons, electric's biggest pro is that it's cleaner, no fuel to buy, worst con is probably waiting for batteries to chg
one suggestion is
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXSGY1**&P=0

sorry, krproton was faster

RE: looking for my first Plane
 

if you are going for electrick i would go for something like the easy pigeon or early bird. Howver if you are going for glow i would recomend a speed air 40 and get an instructor to teach you with the buddie lead