waist high doing touch and gos..

Hi!
Misham...If you don't join a club it will take much, much longer to learn to fly, if you ever will learn! Remember learning to fly is much more difficult than driving a car.
You join a club to have somewhere to fly! Not to chat with people!

If I say I will join a club will everyone stop suggesting it?

This is a pretty common belief for people that want to start flying and believe they can do it themselves. The problem with it is that the plane rarely cooperates!!

While you plan on keeping it "waist high" the plane may not stay there. Especially if the plane is out of trim. What happens a lot for people is that once the plane lifts from the ground it will climb to substantial altitude before you know what's going on. And now you have to deal with a lot of different things at once, which usually doesn't end well. While it is possible to teach yourself to fly as there are people out there that have done it, the reality is that it's not a common skill. I would say it's only 1 or 2 in a hundred people that can successfully teach themselves to fly. And those that can do it never do it without having lots of repairs along the way. They will do a lot of damage to the planes as they teach themselves to fly. Many times people that are trying to teach themselves to fly will simply get too frustrated and wind up quiting without learning to fly.

Joining a club changes that and puts the odds in your favor of learning to fly. The club experience isn't the "crowded mob" that you seem to want to avoid. Most clubs are a very friendly place where like minded people get together to enjoy the hobby they love. Nobody is going to make fun of you as you learn, nor will they put you down for mistakes that are made. We've all been there in the hobby and we remember that as we help new people get started in the hobby. You might be pleasantly suprised just how enjoyable being in a club situation can be. There are times I will go to the field to fly and wind up just "just shooting the breeze" with my buddies and not fly at all that day. And you know what? I have just as much fun doing that as I do actually flying planes. But anyway, I'm getting off track a bit. The club is going to give you a great route to learning to fly with the least amount of stress.

The members here are not "harping" about joining a club or seeking help just to be mean.  You need to realize that most of us here have been helping people get started for a long time, and we have seen hundreds if not thousands of people trying to get started, and we've got a ton of experience with this. They are recommending this to you simply because it's true. They are giving you the best advice that has proven hundreds of times to be successful in getting people flying. There is nothing wrong with having ideas on how to do things, but many times those can be wrong. I know for myself that I defintely was that way. I had ideas of how I should go about learning to fly, and I will be the first to admit that my ideas were dead wrong. Had I gone the route of what I thought was best I would have destroyed a lot of planes. Luckily I found an instructor who helped me learn to fly safely. So please realize that the people here are only trying to help you get a start in this hobby that we all love so much. They aren't being mean at all, just trying to help.

Hope this helps

Ken

lol... <span style="font-size: 9pt">what you decide to do is always up to you, but you should keep in mind, as some people already said, flying a plane is more complex than driving a car, let's put it this way, can you actually injure someone with an RCcar? Ireally doubt it; can you do it with a plane? You sure can! I've seen guys losing their fingers with them. Ifyou want to learn by your own is ok, but it would be harder and more frustrating and eventually you'll get bored and probably you'll quit.</span>

I only gave the advice I did simply because hearing this person talk...they could have been me to the "T" about 12 or so years ago when I first started out in the hobby. 

Even though I was given the name of a local club and a members number to call by the guy at the LHS...I declined to do so because I didnt want to have to humble myself amongst strangers and be ridiculed because I knew nothing(at least in my mind).  I thought I would be able to do it on my own, afterall its only a toy plane...how hard could it be??? LOL

Needless to say I totally destroyed my first plane before I had ran even half a tank through it.  I salvaged the engine and electronics and built an Air Core trainer that rarely flew and I crashed almost every flight(definitely can blame this on my lack of knowledge of setup).  I got to the point of giving up and did just that.  It wasnt until last May that I got the bug again and decided I was much older and wiser now and would seek help.

I did seek out a club in my area...went a few times to the field (our club will let anyone come and fly 3 separate times before the requirement of joining AMA and the club itself) and felt it out.  I already had built an ARF trainer and was ready to join the club.

I learned more about flying in a short month of so last year than I did the entire almost 2 years I struggled on my own.  I can now take off and land without problem and have flown several of my planes with great success.  I only have had 1 crash since I started back and that was my own fault with changing out a radio set and the controls were reversed.  And even then I was able to salvage the plane with only minor damage.

Ultimately, its up to the individual though.  If they dont want to join...none here can make them.  And I can only speak for myself in saying that joining a club was the best thing I ever done.

its not a matter of humbling myself... or thinking people are being mean..

I'm not a 12 year old kid.  I'm a grown man and I'm anti-social.

I don't like dealing with people.
I don't like going to the grocery store because the cashier will invariably want to chat like we're old friends.

with the advent of the internet there are countless forums, how-to's, tech manuals, videos, walk throughs all at my fingertips in the comfort of my own home.

I enjoy learning things on my own.
Joining a club would be more like something a Judge would sentence me to if he wanted to truly punish me.

Ive ordered a simulator and I'm reading everything I can get my mitts on right now.
It's going to be a long time before I consider building anything of my own so I don't yet need to worry about construction yet.

it's possible that I wont be able to do it myself at which point I will hire someone to teach me.

I will not join a club.

Clubs are great! I know I am spoiled with ours we have the best people and we get together allot and fly together. These are some great guys I fly with not a bad apple in the bunch! Made some lasting friendships! Its more then just the help you get its the people of the hobby, Either way you go good luck with it, because it is by far the hobby of all hobby's




My girlfriend told me if I gave up RC airplanes I would have time for other things, WHAT OTHER THINGS?

Well, I guess the only thing left to say is..."good luck to you". You may just perhaps be that 1 or 2 out of 100 that RCKen mentioned. Time will tell.

But we are strangers to you and you was able to ask for help here if you had not you would have bought an plane that would have been way over your head! There will be more mistakes asking for help will keep you from making them. There are so many guys out there would just love to be asked to help that will not be judging you they just want to get you in the air so you can enjoy this great hobby period........! But as said before good luck either way!

I don't belong to a club. I have belonged to several over the years though. In Calif. if you didn't belong to one there weren't a lot of good places to fly and club fields are usually pretty nice. In the area I'm in now I have a lot of places I can fly and see no one else, miles of flat too. Nothing like a nice dry lake bed for a landing strip. I have a lot of choices but RC planes is a social hobby. It's one of the places you can buy, sell and trade with other guys. Find out where to buy items at a good discount, who is having a sale, what products are worth spending money on. Every field, club or open land has a anti social or two, trust me, you would be left alone after the first day or two you showed up. Doesn't take long for the guys to pick up on things. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be bothered with a crowd of people. Where I fly there is a pretty good size group of guys on any given weekend. It's up to them if they want to BS during flights. In RC planes you tend to have a lot of down time between flights. Sometimes it's nice to have someone else to enjoy the hobby with, or not?

Im glad to see there are others out there like I am. Awesome post!!!

[/quote]
<span style="font-size: 9pt">can you actually injure someone with an RCcar? Ireally doubt it</span>[/quote]

Well, I don't know what kind of rc cars your used to, but mine weighs 26lbs. and goes over 50 mph. Trust me, if I hit the right jump and you get railed in the head, it's gonna do a lot more than injure you. My boat weighs half as much, same speed. Already had one scary moment with that thing trying to be an airplaneduring a turn and heading towards me on the beach. You do not want to have THAT prop hit you!!! Any fast moving rc (car / boat/ plane)can get you.

Hi Mishkam
New to Rc flying myself and bought a Simulator by DYNAM USB RC Flight Simulator, Graghics I thought was not that good however was having a blast on it and my kids and Friends do eveytime they show up and since it came with a 6 channel Transmitter I was ahead already.
I found another Simulator that had a Demo and it was like being right thier and upon joining the Forum I found out that the Best Transmitter to use with CLEARVIEW was Dynam 6ch Transmitter I already had..............Still so much to learn as in throw rates that can be changed with Clear View and learning X axis, Y axis and then swap over to the Heli side and it gets even more confusing LOL
I have Bought a top Wing 55" Cessna 185 chould have it by the end of the week for $160 and since I Dream of the P51 have a 57" I just could not pass up today home Sick from Work.
Hope this might help, Simulator is a Blast anytime Day or Night.





Vinchinzo
From Missouri

Ive already had a post about finding a trainer on here.. im in my research mode right now.

I saw the biplane and of course the videos of it made it look easy... the kid advertising it made it look easy... and I knew it couldn't be that easy. So I asked here on the outside chance that biplanes were more stable or something.

mainly because I LIKE BIPLANES.

with what ive been told about them since posting it's one for down the road and I'll stick with the select piper


I'll continue to do my online resarch, my reading watching tutorials etc.

I've ordered the Dynam 6ch Transmitter/simulator as well... expecting it early next week.
Ive got the rest of the winter to practice.... which with the rate snow is dropping in KC might be sometime in august

Only if you mean it..

CGr

I will join a club........



I really mean it......

Thats good, I think this will help you in allot more ways then you could know, I wish you lived closer and I would teach you using my plane my fuel and my radio's as I have done for many. But I know there is someone just as eager to teach you as you are eager to learn! Be prepared to make many lasting friendships and we will see you at War-birds over the Rockies here in the near future! These fellow RCers are 2nd to none, And you will soon find that out, Good luck!

yeah.. see you there.

Have you considered joining a club??

Hey man join a club get a whiff of the politics and then go get a set of golf clubs

Hey we are just trying to get him a better chance of learning to fly, I agree not all clubs are created equal but most of them have that one guy that loves to help the newbie! After he learns it will be up to him if he wishes to stay in the club, but the odds are so much better for him if he does find a club for his learning period! Its also good to learn from someone that can help him with the safety part of the hobby, We all know there are allot of does and donts that go with this hobby!

Hairy...some people just dont get it. Thoes that are not social people never will...its not in there personality. Thoes that enjoy being around others that share a common interest are the ones that truly enjoy the clubs. We have a few guys that because of health or age can no longer fly, still come to the meetings and to the field on sunday because they can still enjoy being around the guys that make this a great (social) hobby...