E-Flight Apprentice
09-04-2013 | 09:05 PM
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From: Cedar Creek,
TX
What he said! I bought the Phoenix 4 program but my LHS let me upgrade the DX5 to a DX6i. I paid the difference between the price of the two transmitters. Doing so gave me a programmable TX with room for 10 planes. In spite of people telling me that I couldn't possibly do so, I taught myself to fly the Apprentice on the simulator. The program is very close the the actual flight characteristics of the model. If you don't mind a suggestion, utilize the part of the program that lets you modify weather conditions. Start in calm conditions and as you progress increase wind speed, gusts, and crosswinds. Keep making it more difficult until the plane is impossible to fly. I spent most of a month practicing on the sim for an hour or more every day and used a structured progression of difficulty. Flying the sim in perfect conditions will not prepare you for the real thing. When you are ready I'd suggest you get an instructor if possible. If none are available in your area then at least get an experienced pilot to make the maiden flight and trim the plane for you. I had an experienced friend look my Apprentice over and give it the first flight. Then I went out in the evening when there was no one else around (read that as no distractions or danger of an air-to-air with another plane) and made my first flight. I took off, flew the pattern, and landed in one piece. After my hands stopped shaking I did it again. Three times. Was it exactly like the sim? No, the plane was more responsive to control inputs and had a tendency to increase bank angle sharply when turning cross-wind. The time on the sim allowed me to quickly apply counter aileron and get things back under control. That, I think, is the real value of the simulator. It had ingrained corrective control responses so I didn't have to think about what I needed to do. Coming at me or going away, I had been there before.
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