levram1

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SPELLINGPOLICELOL!apologiZe.

rgm762

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hey I'll have you know, I is a collage grad u ate

levram1

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LOL.! Itruly apologise then. I used to be an ingineer, now I are one! At least us Kansas boys have a sense of humor> Ex Overland Park resident here.

bogbeagle

Oh!

Is "apologise" incorrect?

levram1

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Are you another collage grad u ate?

rgm762

My Feedback: (4)

no, apoloiSe is apologiZe with a British accent, my spell checker says so

levram1

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YEA, Well I checked Snopes smarty pants. ROTFLMAO!

bogbeagle

My Collins Dictionary informs me that "apologise" is a perfectly acceptable spelling.

The Dictionary was printed in 1982, so I suppose that it could be out of date ... a bit like me.

In any event, let me express my most profound apologies for having so distressed you with my lack of erudition. Shameful behaviour, on my part. It's back-to-school for me. Either that, or into the Study with my old Service revolver. It's the decent thing to do, you know.

rgm762

My Feedback: (4)

anyway back to jesters problem, kiwibob proably gave the best advice for him, be polite but blunt, if the being taught by an instructor is not for them, then so be it. saves alot of time and energy of jesters behalf. it's how our club does it

levram1

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behaviour is spelled wrong. OK, I'm done.

bogbeagle

Which puts me in mind of a tale I heard, related by an English chap who was on holiday in Florida (I think it was Florida).

Anyway, he hired a Tobago and was conducting a sight-seeing trip. During the course of the flight, he quite naturally had recourse to the services of an Air Traffic Service Unit. On receiving the initial request for a service ... and hearing the English accent ... the Controller burst into song ...




"You say Tobahgo, and I say Tobaygo..."

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

Is this English 101?

llindsey1965

My Feedback: (-1)

ok guys just got back from the club field we had a great day of flying , what a beautiful day and what a great bunch of guys , we flew and flew and flew more cant wait for tomorrow !!!!!!! Now that is what this hobby is all about flying and being with your buddies!!!!!!

sebo

There's a lot of poor grammer adn spellin errors in deze threads but we do got our'n points across.
Dis countray is becoming very illiterate..don't belittle us dat's tryin to commmmunikate.

I take it all in stride....sometimes I make mistakes too...as was said, this isn't an English or writing class; we just want to communicate with each other.
Please don't belittle me or my fellow modelers.
Sometimes errors are made intentionally just to motivate subscribers. I do it......This is a great thread.
Sometimes we just type too fast and spell things wrong or leave out letters........SOWHAT?

zacharyR

My Feedback: (5)

OP sound's kinda like a dick


if you don't like the dude you don't want to help him or whatever just don't no ones bending your arm .... to a point club instructor's have to be some what personable don't be one if you dont like the shaggian's of newb's

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Do you guys want to keep to the subject of this thread or do you really want me to baby sit it? It's up to you. I can easily start deleting posts, if that's what you want. Or, I can lock it down and delete the whole thing. Again, it's up to you.

CGr.

sebo

It's been a great thread until now.....keep it going....I have'nt seen such rapid response to a thread in years.
Good subject matter. I used to help fellow modelers but have lost a lot of my flying skills as age has crept in on me.
I too seek help now....The guys at the field are all gracious helpers....trimming and the maiden flights are what I seek most since my reflexes are slowing down.
These helpers (instructors) are super wonderful people and will listen to my input as they help me. No one has refused to assist me yet...I try to be cordial and they do the same.
Life long friendships can be established this way....

If this deviates from the subject matter, just delete it...I will continue to follow anyway.

acerc

LOL

jester_s1

Link119- AMA membership is free until you're 19 if that helps at all. You'll have to pay a few dollars for the magazine if you want it.

And to all others, I'm actually pretty amazed that this thread has been as active as it has. I've seen a multitude of opinions, some helpful behavior, some jerkish behavior, and a significant amount of bad grammer and speling erors promptly corrected by the more edumacated of the group. This is really what I was hoping to get- the general consensus on what the hobby as a whole thinks of guys like this.

Update: Jerk guy gave me a call today. Maybe jerk isn't best word, because he may actually be an ok dude. He acts like a cocky frat guy, the really vapid ones that the dingy girls go for. So I think I'll call him frat guy from now on. So frat guy called and said he had sold the jet (doh!) and bought a HZ Champ. I said that's good. He said he thought he could fly it on his own "after all, it's only 3 channels. How hard can it be?" (his exact words) He explained to me that he had a pretty good handle on what he was supposed to do with the plane. I asked him had he gotten some flight instruction where someone showed him what to do. He said no. I said, "then you don't have a handle on what you're supposed to do." (blunt and honest, as one poster in the thread has said) I invited him to training day again and explained that sure there are guys who learn all on their own, but the way that usually works is by breaking things and being too hard headed to quit until they figure it out. He said he couldn't afford that so he'd come to training. Then we ended the conversation. About an hour later he called sounding all triumphant because he had decided to fly the plane on his own (am I surprised? No I am not) and he "did just fine with it." I resisted the urge to say what I wanted to say and simply said, "Good." He went on about how he landed it great and took off great and had no problems and I said, "Good." He said he must be one of the rare people with a natural talent for flying who can get it really fast. I said, "Maybe you are." So the door is still open for him to come and learn, and I truly hope he does well with it and has a good time.

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

Or he is a good LIER

jester_s1

Oh I figure any idiot can handle a Champ as long as there isn't much wind. I'm still not too sure what I think of these toy park fliers, but at least they do get people interested in the hobby.

Steve Steinbring

Interesting thread!

I'm a club instructor who was self taught at a time before simulators or when buddy cords were common.

I do have some empathy for those who want to try it on their own, but that can be a hard road and expensive. I used to takeoff, get up really high fly until the fuel ran out, then make a landing (more of a controlled crash) in any direction possible hopefully without damaging the airplane. The thought of lining up with any kind of a runway wasn't within my skill set, or even much considered. Growing up I flew U-Control, and free flight there were no ARF's, we all built kits so I knew how to repair damages, so it kept me in the game. I flew as an outlaw until the local hobby shop told me about a club. Once I joined a club my flying really improved! I gained a lot of knowledge quickly from folks who were more than willing to share their experience. I had been a member of the AMA back in the U-Control days, so I was at least familiar and willing to re-join.

As an instructor you get all kinds of students with varying degrees of aviation knowledge. I don't mind someone who has flown full scale before. At least they have an idea of how an airplane flies, many students come to the field with no idea of the principles of flight, nor are they too interested in learning at first. If a full scale pilot student is a bit too cocky usually it isn't too long before they figure out that their not sitting in a cockpit with instrumentation. They learn pretty quickly that this game is mostly all eye hand coordination, and there will definitely be a learning curve. It mostly only takes the first flight to trim their ego to where they start to listen. If necessary I go a step further and confess that I'm a retired Air Force pilot which usually quiets the full scale boasting. Hopefully then we can get down to business of teaching them to fly R/C.

Some students catch on really quick and others take a good while. I finally finished up with a retired doctor who is now in his early eighties, it took several years to get him to the point where he is safe. I'll stick with a student as long as they are willing to learn, and show up at the field at the appointed time. If they stand me up, or arrive late then I have better things to do with my time. If someone can't be respectful enough to appreciate the knowledge I giving to them for free, then there is most likely a parting of our ways. They can find someone else who is willing to put up with them.

I have divided feelings about simulators at times. The simulator can be a great aid if it is used properly. But it can also develop some really poor habits at the same time. I usually try to assign some homework on the simulator if the student has one. Hopefully they take the time to practice what I've asked flying an airplane similar to their trainer. I try temper their urges to fly all the more advanced airplanes on the sim. There isn't a reset button on their model, and a lot of the freestyle simulator time can result in negative training.

There are a number of things that are problematic for instructors IMO; at least for me.

One - all the different types of radios we have to deal with especially the programmable. The programming is different between radio brands with each of the companies having numerous models, with features constantly changing. A lot of time has to be spent studying manuals to learn how to properly program. Flying analog is so much easier in many ways.

Two - A new student shows up at the field with his/her new airplane wanting to fly, but the airplane is not airworthy. Our clubs position is that the student should present an airworthy bird to the instructor. Since the student most often has no modeling experience I often find myself taking the airplane and radio home to correct the issues to make it airworthy. Ending up with hours of time (at our club we aren't allowed to charge) to just make their first flight. It would be nice if they all had the knowledge, but its the exact reason why they come for instruction.

Three - I am not a baby sitting service! Mom or Dad will not leave the field not to return for hours on end, where I am left with the custody of someone's child. When the lesson is over I want to either fly for myself, or leave.

Four- Just because I am at the field does not always mean I am there to instruct at all times. I need time to fly for myself sometimes its hard for the student to understand that.

My students are always my students and when they need more advance training I'm there again for them. I try to impress on them after solo to stay with their trainer for awhile practicing what they have learned before stepping up to a more advanced airplane. I usually will fly an aerobatic sequence with their trainer to show them there is still much more that can be learned with their trainer before moving on.

Overall it is very rewarding seeing someone come into the hobby, be successful, and enjoy all that R/C airplanes and their club has to offer.

bogbeagle

I've been losing sight of the original question behind this thread, so I just reviewed the very first post.

The OP says, "But there's something I still haven't learned and that's how to handle guys who come along and have ideas in their heads about what they are going to do that simply aren't going to work .... guys like this aren't viable to become successful RC pilots IMO. So what do you do with them?"

Years ago, I belonged to a large club; and it was reckoned that the annual turnover of members amounted to about 1/3 of the total ... we lost a third of the membership, each year. Of course, we also gained a similar number of new members, each year. There remained a "core membership" of about 20 faces, from a total of some 140. Most of that "core" are still flying, some 25 years later. if they haven't "fallen off the perch".

What I'm saying is that the aberrant behaviour is exhibited by the chaps who stick at the hobby, rather than the huge numbers who dabble-and-quit. WE, the ones who've been at it for 10, or 20, or 30 years, are the abnormal ones; at least in the statistical sense. Most people don't find enough satisfaction in model flying, to keep them at it over the long term. Your wife was right, model-flyers really are a bit weird.


Further, how do we measure "success"? Am I a successful pilot because I meet your standards ... or because I go home smiling?

Nowadays, innovation only comes from those people who "break the rules". That's why your economy is in such a mess; the "rules" stifle innovation; you do the same thing next year, that you are doing this year, 'cos it's illegal to do anything else. Same here, of course.

You might evenrate your flying experiences as "successful", because you learned that model-flying isn't for you; in the same way that I discovered that knitting isn't for me. (I tried it and got chucked out of the club because I ignored the safety recommendations ... knitting in the pits area.) Perhaps we discover our strengths by exploring our weaknesses. "Whatever is left after a whole bunch of failures ... well, that's what I'm good at."

Steve Steinbring

bogbeagle,

Your make some good points! One thing about this hobby is that there is something for everyone. Many pilots will never go much further than their trainers while others go on to flying pattern, scale, 3-D, IMAC, and some guys just like to build. I think success is measured in being happy in your own skin with whatever level or direction you choose to take in our hobby.

Back to the original question a few things which I didn't address before:

A great deal of the problem comes from ignorance about R/C. For many Newbies having never flown R/C standing at the side it appears that there would not be that much difficultly from their prospective in mastering what appears to be a toy airplane that they see flying. This is often especially true if someone has flown full scale airplanes, as they feel they already have a handle on it. It is up to the instructors and others to educate them, and if they can't be convinced then let the cards fall where they may. However, it won't be at our field due to the inherent dangers involved.

Safety is the main concern in our training program and in that program we want someone to a least crash safely, so there are rules.

rgm762

My Feedback: (4)

steve; if i may, i would like to add a 5th problem;
all those planes that come marked "teach yourself how to fly" on the box