I have had about 5 years experience with MIcrosoft's FSX Deluxe. It taught me some aeronautical fundamentals.

I was able to successfully take-off and land jets, twin turboprops, single pistons, DeHavilland floatplanes and Bell helicopters even Boeing 747's which feel like a flying brick. Have even made a few successful authorization landings in the Bell Jet Ranger and some power-off landings in fixed-wing planes.

If I were to ever try an RC heli, I would want the ones that are controlled like a real heli with collective, cyclic and torque pedals. I tried a freind's toy heli with the counter rotating main rotors a couple years ago and that thing bounced all over the place like a rubber ball off the walls of a brick room. Mechanically, very unlike a full-size Jet Ranger helicopter with a steady governed engine speed, single main rotor and collective/cyclic pitch control of the blades and pitch control of the tail rotor. You cannot accurately and stably fly or hover a rotorcraft by simply throttling the motor. I gather that RC helis that mechanically fly like full-size helis are expensive. Helis need very subtle control input for precise and steady maneuvering. Cheap heli toys lack fine controls.

Would a person with so much flight sim experience be ready to brave an entry-level electric RC trainer made of foam on a sunny windless day?

I would prefer ailerons for control since in flight sim I almost never used the rudder which seem to have little or no effect on aircraft directional control. A plane or a fast-cruising helicopter needs to bank to effectively turn like a motorcycle needs to lean. On the flight sim jets, I had such devices as speed brake and spoilers and the function of arm spoilers as well as reverse thrust and feathering the props on Beechcraft King Air turboprops.

I don't gather landing flaps are common on RC planes also.

There are a few point of knowledge that will translate over from flying in the cockpit to flying RC, but the general skillset is pretty different. It takes some time to get orientation right as the vehicle turns but you don't. The good news is that the path of learning is very well worn, with fixed wing trainers remaining virtually unchanged since the '70's and the process of learning collective pitch helicopters being fairly stable since the '90's. A human instructor is the most valuable tool you can have. So first decide what kind of aircraft you really want to fly, then get with an instructor to show you the basics. If it's helicopters, the 500 size is a good sweet spot between cost and flight performance. Smaller helis are much more twitchy and get tossed around by the wind a lot more. For planes, the Eflite Apprentice is a great choice if you want to stick with small electrics, but if you are planning to join a club in order to fly bigger models pick any company's .40 or .60 size trainer and get the field equipment to go with it.

Flying a SIM from the cockpit (FPV) is not going to help you much for flying an RC model. Yes, you understand the basic aerodynamic fundamentals but there are several key differences. Most importantly, it is initially very confusing controlling an RC model when it is approaching you versus flying away from you. Coming at you, your brain says I want the plane to go to the right (your right), so you push the stick right, but in actuality that makes the plane go left. Likewise when the plan is inverted, the elevator and rudder are backwards from what your brain may tell you to do (and, yes, you will unintentionally get upside down at some point). Second, there is no physical feedback or instrumentation whatsoever to give you cues as to what is happening or what to do. Third, you are much closer to the ground and things happen much more quickly. It takes a while to learn no to panic and over-control the plane.

An RC flight sim like Real Flight or Phoenix (there's a few others as well) provide a more useful training experience. Even then, it is highly recommended to have your first few flights with an instructor at an RC club (almost always no cost). Not to say you can not do it on your own but be prepared to crash a bunch. A high-wing, slow-flying, foam plane will ease the process but you can count on crashing a bunch while learning and hopefully the plane survives. Be aware, like the little RC helicopters, the real small foam planes don't fly very well or realistically. And the larger the plane, the more open space you will need to fly it. Its easy to underestimate the space needed until you're in the air and then its too late.

The best route is to visit a local club (see modelaircraft.org for clubs in your area), see what planes they are flying and equipment they are using and inquire about flight instruction. They can help you avoid buying the junk toys that are out there, make recommendations as to a good plane, power system, and transmitter system, and get you over what can be an expensive hurdle of your first few flights. I've been an instructor pilot and had naturals that could get the hang of it in 1 flight and others that took several months to become self-sufficient.

Yes, I believe the smaller scale craft have much less mass and therefore are more sensitive to wind and motor torque all else being the same. Extra weight has a stabilizing effect to the craft. On a flight sim, the aircraft physics are based upon the weight of a full-size plane and chopper. How those tiny little doves fly so elegantly and how those tiny little hummingbirds hover almost still is beyond me.

That should be "autorotation landing"

Flying a cockpit simulator as a training aid of RC flying is not a good idea at all. Although the principals are the same, flying RC from the ground, and flying in a cockpit are two completely different experiences. Having said that, the RC flight simulators are a great training and practice tool. With the better products, the simulator experience is very close to actual RC flight. I use mine for practice whenever weather conditions or whatever prevent me from going to the field. And, you do need to learn to use the rudder. True, many planes can and are flown alerion-only, but for solid flying, you do need a bit of rudder for a lot of manuvers, especially in you landing touch-down, whne alerion control only is a crash just waiting.

Living in rural America, I had to teach myself to fly. It works best if you spend many hours on an RC flight simulator like Real Flight learning how to fly from the ground (not the cockpit). Then, advance to flying with a teacher who can "buddy box" with you.

My brother is a General Aviation pilot and he thought he could learn to fly RC while spending a weekend with me. He crashed over and over and finally gave up. He could not grasp how the flight controls are reversed when the plane is coming toward you. So, the cockpit skills do not readily transfer into RC skills.

I spent many hours on Real Flight and Phoenix and then finally bought a Hobby Zone Super Cub. Even then I crashed almost every time I tried to fly. Remember, there was no one to "buddy box" with me. Finally, after many many crashes I began to stay in the air and land safely. Landing was truly the hardest part for me to learn. I then moved on to a Fun Cub to learn ailerons and flaps. That turned out to be a very good move for me.

Learning to fly helicopters is much different than fixed wing planes. I suggest you decide which you prefer, practice for about 40 hrs on a sim, then go to your nearest flying club and ask if anyone can teach you to fly. Get a slow and simple plane (eg, Super Cub, Apprentice) and expect to crash; you will. Then practice, practice, practice. You will have lots of fun. You will learn to fix your crashed plane and finally you will learn to fly and land safely.

I wish I lived closer. I would be happy to help.

Tom

I taught myself to fly on a TF Schoolmaster, 39 inch span, 20 oz, with Cox 049. I had flown some free flight gliders and rubber powered models, and that taught me what I needed to know. Of course, no one does it this way anymore, but the physics of flight haven't changed. I'm now a club instructor and have taught people on small electrics to large glow powered trainers, and I've learned a few things.

First, you are much better off with rudder than ailerons. The reason rudder didn't seem to do much on your sim is that the planes you "flew" probably had little dihedral. The dihedral induces the roll when you give it rudder. The advantage for the beginner is that when you release the stick after a turn, the plane returns to level flight by itself, because of the dihedral. Beginners flying an aileron plane with little dihedral get in trouble coming out of turns. They have to give opposite aileron to stop the turn; then they over-control and that's when they start to lose it. Put the rudder control on the right stick where the aileron will be later; with dihedral the rudder is rolling the plane like ailerons would.

Second, the guys above who warned you about control reversal when the plane is coming toward you are absolutely right! It's one of the hardest things to learn and will quickly get you into trouble on your own. I would do things like keep the transmitter pointed in the same direction as the plane and look over my shoulder, and visualize the task when I wasn't flying, and try to remember to point the stick at the wing tip I wanted to lift when the plane was coming toward me. All these tricks kept me from disaster and eventually I learned.

Third, bigger is not better, power is not your friend. A small, light, rather low powered plane reduces the anxiety and helps you stay out of trouble, and less momentum reduces the damage...to the plane and to anything it hits. Train yourself to think of the throttle stick. When in trouble, pull the stick back and let it come down on its own. This is where rudder/dihedral helps too...the plane will let itself down.

If your sim taught you some basic aeronautics that's great, but when it comes to motor skills needed to fly a model it is probably useless. Have fun!

Jim

Fsx should have a setting where you can fly the plane from the ground, I think it is in "view" if I'm not mistaken. Granted not as good as a flight sim program but will work somewhat.

Having taught a lot of modelers to fly, I've noticed two things about students. Licensed full scale pilots are the hardest to teach and have the worst failure rate. It's due mostly to ego, but it's clear that cockpit hours definitely aren't a positive overall. The next hardest group are the people who show up looking for 5 or 10 minutes of help, all they'll need since they've already learned to fly on their pc at home. That group actually has included a few who have done great from the start, but the majority struggle with a personality deal like full scale pilots.

There is a major failure with pc simulation. Depth perception and model location perception (situational awareness). No matter how good those students are that've mastered the control input for "coming at you", they usually have a problem with depth perception. It's not surprising as there is zero depth perception when staring at a monitor that's about 24" from your eyes. Their first landings are usually aborts. They're not familiar with how far out their downwind leg should be, just like all students. But their base legs are almost always short as they turn onto final way early and outboard of the runway. And if left alone would land off runway.

Most I've taught who really did learn "coming at you" from RealFlight or such, really do have an advantage. It usually only takes a couple of flights to get them oriented. Then most discover the real world always has "turbulence" turned on, and is usually turned way up. I've seen a couple who didn't like the real world after discovering it couldn't be switched off. They never got comfortable. Different strokes...

We fly our real models outside. Desktop simulation can help. Don't expect it to do more than that.

Your Microsoft cockpit time hasn't simulated a thing we do flying a model. There are a number of RC simulations that have helped beginners. And one significant detail of them is they either come with a simulated TX or have a way to hook up one.

In fact, flaps on models is quite common nowadays, as are retracts and such.

However, finding a decent trainer with flaps isn't a good bet as most trainers are mfg'd to an entry level price point. And foam has helped move that price point even lower, although that really isn't really very beneficial if you'd really like to FLY a model airplane.

Hi!
I would say that flaps should not be used at all on most model planes and certainly not on a trainer.
On a scale plane you should have it as it represent a detail that full scale plane has but on a sport plane...No!