I just purchased Real Flight basic I have mastered take off and crashing. I have no knowledge what the different parts of a plane do while in flight. Can someone please explain baasic flight operations such as rudder,alerion, etc? How do you turn without losing altitude and crashing? Do you use only rudder to turn?

Thank you
Paul

Watch the short video on this page:

http://www.gettingairborne.com/air.html

Turning is usually a combination of aileron to bank the plane and elevator to keep the plane level

These may also help

http://blogs-modelairplanenews.com/m..._-_Webisode_1/
http://blogs-modelairplanenews.com/m..._-_Webisode_2/

Typically beginners start with the "yank and bank" method of turning.

If you use the ailerons to put the plane into a banking turn, the planes wing will lose some left because the wings are not level to the ground anymore. This will cause you to lose altitude. If you give a LITTLE up elevator when turning, you can maintain your altitude while turning.

When learning, never bank the plane more than 45 deg. Any more than that, and the plane starts to fall like a rock.

Welcome to RCU, Paul.

A lot to read here:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bga.html

An airplane is controlled in 3 axis while in flight. the 3 axis are roll, pitch, and yaw.
Roll axis is the wing tips moving up and down...the ailerons control the roll axis.....the ailerons are at the back of the wing and move opposite of each other...left one up and right down and vise a versa.....ailerons are controlled by the side to side movement of the right stick......move the stick right and the right aileron goes up when you're looking from the back of the plane forward....
pitch axis is the nose of the airplane moving up and down....pitch axis is controlled by the elevators...the elevators are at the back of the horizontal stab.(the little wing at the back of the plane) they move together both up or both down. The elevators are contolled by the fore and aft movement of the right stick
Yaw axis is the nose of the plane moving left or right....the rudder controls the yaw axis...the rudder is at the back of the vertical stab and moves left or right with the side to side movement of the left stick....
Now that is the very basics......and I won't go further to keep from confusing you....
To turn you probably won't need rudder you can use just ailerons....but if you do use rudder you'll probably have to reduce aileron throw or actually use opposite of rudder to keep from rollong over.....
Sims are a good tool...but there is no substitute for stick time....have you gone to your local RC club yet?

Yes I did stop by the local club last week a few were flying. I did have a member tell meto call and he would bring a plane and buddy box for me to try. Just wanted to get a basic feel for it on a sim first. Thanks for all the help.

Paul

The Real flght simulator has atrainingpart in it. You should see an icon at the top of the page that says training. I hope this helps.