Currently I am in training with my flight club learning to fly on a LT-40, while this is a great plane and I am having a great time I have begun looking at the next plane I want to fly.
While reading reviews I have noticed people referring to skills on certain planes as intermediate and advanced. This make me wonder, 'when will I be considered intermediate' The question that I have is this:

How would you classify a person from beginner to intermediate to advance. What do they need to know to be intermediate and advanced. If it is possible to break these up into parts. I want to purchase an intermediate plane and wonder if this is a level I will be at when done with training and I have a number of good flights.

Thanks everyone

By "Intermediate" you are completely comfortable with your trainer, and able to do many stunts with it, including short inverted flights.

Landings even with a cross wind are a non-issue for you.

You've progressed to low wing tail draggers with no dihedral and can deal with left yaw and other tendancies.

You've also likely dealt with a new out of trim plane too having learned to fix the trims on a maiden.

Most of your landings on both low and high wingers are greased in, looking almost effortless.

You don't worry much about deadsticks, and you've lost the beginner tendancy of flying the plane too far out.


At "Intermediate" you still do not have the skills to deal with a Warbird or a snap happy plane but you are developing them.


By "Advanced" crashes not directly due to a hardware failure are almost a thing of the past.
All of your landings are greased in and the wind is your friend.

People come to you to maiden their planes, and you can spot and correct all sorts of configuration/setup errors.

When by yourself you keep the plane very close in as you have ample control and can execute stunts in a tight box.

You've mastered most 3D manoevers, and can perform full field circuits and low passes with the plane inverted.

You know how to set up planes well, and have experience in small to large scale planes.

You're able to handle EDF's, short tail planes, high loading planes ( e.g. Warbirds ), and you don't nose over nose heavy planes, or planes with the wheels too close to the C.G.

As you move beyond "Advanced", it's time to look to Turbines!

Thanks for the clear layout, this clears up somethings when looking at future purchases. My next plane that I will be getting will be a eFlite T-34 mentor kit. While this is a low wing it will be a little more of a challenge and I will be able to fly it and do more practice they I can on the high wing. I want to be flying warbirds as my goal but I know that this will be a long time before I am at the level to fly one of these true warbird planes.

I would say the most important thing to know is how to change your "level" in your profile. Then you can call yourself an "expert" and dish out all sorts of "expert" advice (not just plain old advice). Seriously though, by the time you can solo you can fly the T-34 you're interested in. You may even find it easier to fly than your trainer.

Thanks Smith, I guess I will change my listing right now.....

I was hoping that the T-34 would be a good choice for next plane since I really like it.

I was also going to build a Big Stik .40 as another glow plane to fly. My friend was saying that the Stiks were fun to fly, easy to fix, and great flyers for learning manuvers and tricks.

The classification is going to depend on your discipline. I am "advanced" when dealing with .25 - 1.20 size glow sportplanes. I have no status when dealing with Jets...don't know the first thing about them. Likewise, I have no status dealing with Q-500 aircraft. I'm sure I could eventually figure these things out, but for the time being I don't worry about it.

If you don't have any interest in jets, or 50cc plus, or electrics....why should you learn them? You can still be an expert in whatever "field" you like the best.

It is all relative, a beginner will ask others for help, an intermediate will not ask for much help, but won't be asked for much help, an advanced pilot will be the one that everyone asks for help. But it is still about what one's skills are in, some may be great at electrics, but know nothing about tuning a glow engine. Some may be able to fly every plane, but have not "cared" about prefect precision or perfect 3d. I was around to help my friend who has been flying for 30+ years maiden his giant p40 today, and he was nervous about it, he did fine, like I expected him too, but he was actually shaking after the landing.

I have heard some say that a deep pocket is a good substitute for experience in this department.. *snicker*

In my humble opinion............it doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is if you're having fun doing whatever level flying you're doing.

Anyway, everybody is advanced...............at something.

Nah, though I've seen deep pockets used to try to replace foolishness though... crashing plane, after plane after plane at much expense.

What is that definition for insanity, something about doing something over and over again? Heh.

You said it brother! Or how about those guys that never need help, except when its time to go collect the pieces?