i am planning on learning to fly with an instructor. i have 2 planes, a multiplex easy star and a mustang pts. my question is: is it actually beneficial to start with the easy star, which i understand is a 3 channel plane? will it train me for bigger and better things? or would it be like trying to learn to fly a collective pitch helicopter by training with a coaxial? (doesn't seem to work....)

You are right; no ailerons on the Easy Star.

Main effect is turns will be a bit slower and sloppier. I would not expect major transition issues when you advance to full 4 channel except turns will be quicker and you may lose a bit more altitude with them.

I flew a Kadet Senior 3 channel for a while but got frustrated with the sloppy turns and added ailerons.

Tom

If you hook the rudder into the aileron plug on the receiver and fly it that way you probably won't hardly notice the transiton . ENJOY !!! RED

First times errors will be less costly and easier to repair with the Easy Star.

The number of channels is irrelevant.
Pioneers of radio control hardly had one or two channels available.

In the Easy Star there is an intentional coupling between yaw (commanded by the rudder) and roll, which is what starts and facilitates turns and horizontal circles.
Hence, your rudder's servo should be connected to the right stick of the transmitter, as explained above.

For the PTS, that yaw-roll coupling is less pronounced, and the roll is mainly induced by the ailerons (that the Easy Star doesn't have), while the yaw is induced by the fourth channel (rudder-left stick of the transmitter).

Yaw control is important for planes with landing gear that have to land in a straight line under cross wind.

Since the Easy Star has no landing gear, it can belly-land on grass in any direction from which the wind is blowing; hence, yaw control is not really necessary.

Check these links out:

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

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

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

thanks very much to all of you who took the time and effort to reply, for answering my exact question....

those links you gave were very good btw, even i got it.

G'day SilvermanSteve

Some time back I had a real flying lesson on a Cessna 150. My instructor gave me a basic lesson on what the control surfaces do. It was quite interesting and as a result I now understand what is happening when I am flying my models.

A plane (as I am sure you know) can do three things. It can Roll side to side, it can Pitch up and down and it can Yaw around a vertical axis. It has three sets of control surfaces which affect these movements.

But. And this is where the story really starts, each one as a Primary effect and a Secondary effect.

The ailerons primarily cause the plane to roll but the secondary effect is that it also causes the plane to yaw.

The rudder primarily causes the plane to yaw but it also causes the plane to roll.

The elevators cause the plane to pitch up and down but also effect the air speed.

So the ailerons and rudder both cause the plane to roll and yaw. The amount that they have their secondary effect depends on the wing dihedral (the angle between the wings) and also where the wing is places. So a plane with a high wing with lots of dihedral (like many trainers) will roll a lot when the rudder is used. Your Easystar is like this and so it can get by without ailerons as its rudder causes it to roll quite a bit and this allows it to turn without ailerons.

A plane with a flat wing placed near the centre of the fuselage will not roll a lot when the rudder is used and it needs its ailerons to allow it to complete a banked turn.

Hope this helps a bit.

Mike.

PS. I have an Easystar with a brushless motor. It is a really great little glider - much better than its price would suggest. Performance with the original motor is a bit tame.

Easystars are fun gliders that are very suitable as a beginner's plane.

However given that you'll have an instructor, get into the PTS as quickly as possible.

The instructor will prevent your PTS ending up in a trash heap, while teaching you to fly full aileron control planes.

That will give you more bang for the buck ( time ) on your lessons... and you can always fly the Easy Star when the instructor is not around, after your first few flights.

I have the Eflite T-34 PTS, though haven't flown it yet. It has been described to me as a very easy first plane. The Mustang PTS should be very much the same.  With the droops on the ends of the wings, they will be far less likely to stall out so you will have a very hard time trying to stall or spin it.  If you have an instructor(which I am waiting on), then go with the PTS. <div>
</div><div>I have a UM t-28, and I can nearly flip that little plane with the rudder. It is really squirrely  when I play with the rudder, makes it dance around the sky.  If you know the T28, it is a low wing trainer, with very little dihedral, but since it is also a very thin wing, not flat bottomed, it can do some crazy things with the rudder.  Flying it upside down is a snort, problem is, it is so small that sometimes I dont know if Im up or down when it gets too far out.  A kick of rudder helps me figure out which way it is and can usually right it.  Darn little thing almost barrel rolls with just rudder.  It's a 4 channel plane though, so you should see it snap roll, its just too bad it doesnt handle wind very well, or I would fly it more.  Someday  I will fly my T-34, that should be a blast too. </div>