Balsa Master

slightly off topic but only half way.

how do you go about heating a spark plug without electricity? are they bent on hand cranking a deisle engine? oh wait you still need to heat the cylinder... mesa thinks that the whole car thing defeats the amish pourpose, however idrather ahve an under powered car on the road in front of me than a horse trotiong at 7 mph... although, its a real test to see if you can keep from staling your cargoing up hill behind a horse.

now to keep it on topic, lemme read the topic,

learned through a friend, i love my planes too much to plant them because i was too lazy to ask for help.

jettstarblue

They were probably Menonites.
True Amish aren't SUPPOSED to use electricity, gas engines (any size) ect. BUT.........I digress........Taught myself to fly first with an electric glider (pulse rudder, on/off motor), then a Cox E-Z Bee, then a Ace High MK II with the Cox engine on it, then went to a full 4 channel/OS.40/Goldberg Cub. Only lost the first for 24 hours, only crashed the EZ-Bee a couple of times, and repaired it/flew it again the same day, and the Ace powered glider had 118 flights on it, and was working on the second engine (Cox Texaco endurance) when the fuse folded up in a loop. It had gotten weak from all the hand launches. The Cub was flown a lot, in all weather, and went through many gallons of fuel before it met with mother earth and became one with it.
Still flying after 16 years, no I not a beginner, but I check the beginners forum to help out beginners from time to time. I instruct now.
I learned on my own because I wanted to.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.


Jetts

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

I'm both. Self taught and with an instructor.

I bought a Cox EZ Bee myself, before I knew about clubs, the AMA, any of that. (Hobby Store owner never mentioned any of THAT!) Anyway, first flight was about 15 seconds and involved a lot of porpoising, into a stall. That 15 seconds was all it took to get me hooked though! ) Took quite a bit of time to rebuild the nose of that thing.

For those who don't know, the EZ Bee is an all foam "glider" with a Cox .049 in the nose. Two channel, rudder and elevator. You start the engine and it runs full throttle until it's out of fuel. The plane can not be described as overpowered.

I had a lot of crashes, climbed a few trees, had to make new landing gear, and construct a new nose outta' bass wood. But I got to the point where I could keep it in the air for it's entire flight. (Probably all of 3 to 4 minutes, tops.)

Then I found out that there were actually others people doing this. So I went to a fly-in that I'd seen advertised, then I found a local club, bought a Great Planes PT-40 and an OS 40 FP. It was a pattern pilot that really taught me how to fly. The experience with the EZ Bee helped a little, but not all that much.

Hey wings,
Why'd you have to choose the most obnoxious post written in the past two years to illustrate your point? Very few people here treat beginners poorly. I don't argue with anyone about how they should learn to fly. I highly recommend an instructor and probably always will, simply because it's safer and usually cheaper. You say you argue with people, why bother? You have your opinions, others have there's.
Dennis-

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

Almost all the posts of people that have learned without instructors mentioned the same thing. Odd circumstances where there was nobody close by to teach them. Also they recommend that if there are instructors available and with good attitude then by all means learn with them.
What I have also noticed is that there is a recentment towards all of us that learned on our own. As if the people that learned with instructors feel inferior and therefore the negative comments.
Everyone is different, some people learn faster than others and there are many that actually talented to learn on their own. Lots of people have taught how to play a music instrument on their own. Does it mean they know any less? Of course not....
Stop the hatred




Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand. Ignorance, prejudice and fear, walk hand in hand.

cirrus

Wow, a Rush fan. I guess all engineers like the same stuff.

cirrus

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

RIGHT ON BRO!

[sm=thumbup.gif]

Skitchen8

Nice attempt at an analogy, but playing a musical instrument and flying a plane are two completely different things. You can make a mistake with a musical instrument and not shred yourself or others to pieces, you can make a mistake with an R/C plane and kill or badly maim people including yourself. Playing a musical instrument you can learn by reading a book that tells you how, you cannot fly a plane just because you read a book. Why do you think that the FAA requires you to log so many hours of flight time in a plane before you can even think about flying solo?? I personally think that it should be made law that you must have a proper instructor to fly an R/C plane the same way it is with a real plane, and the AMA should become a mandatory thing. You can't buy yourself a brand new cessna and fly it one day because you don't want to pay for instructions or because there is no instructor near you, its just not safe.

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

Its funny that you say that because a good number of books have been written to learn how to build and fly R/C. I learned from one back in 1974.









The hate never stops.

wings

I think it should be a law for people to have liscence to mow their lawn. Those blades are very dangerous and if you are not taught properly you could turn it over or you could run over others.

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

Wings, you crack me up!

Skitchen8

cappio: I didn't say there weren't books written, I said that it would be extremely hard to learn things like that out of books. Things like flying require real world practice because a book can't tell you exactly how much you need to adjust your rudder for that 10mph cross-wind. Books however can be invaluable in the building process, the same as there are books written about building anything, because building doesn't have so much of a grey area if you follow instructions. If I told you to taxi to the runway, go full throttle for 32 feet, give 5 degrees up elevator, 5 degrees left rudder, 2 degrees up elevator in order to make a turn(a very elongated turn at that) it might be successful if the conditions were the exact same as when I developed those instructions. Say there is is a 50mph head-wind, the field is kind of rough, and you are at an altitude of 10,000 feet, flying conditions will be a lot different, and you cannot possibly write a book for all the situations.

Wings: lawnmowers for the most part travel at very slow speeds (and lawnmower races are controlled events) and do not pose so much of a danger. An R/C plane could easily travel 75+mph, and given the third dimension of up requires more control than your average lawnmower.

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

Tim "the toolman" Taylor's lawnmower had a jet turbine and supposedly went 90 mph......ugh ugh ugh!

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

Besides, I think the low availability of oxygen would make anyone pass out after a short time at 10,000 ft....[sm=lol.gif]

Skitchen8

do you know what time it is??

and thats exactly my point, you would pass out and most likely crash your plane into the US embassy in France... or at least the ground.

RC-Captain

All I can say is whether using an instructor, or tryting to go it alone, a beginner RC pilot should not start with any OS planes , A. they are very dangerous , B very expensive to fix , C. harder that a slab of concrete to land without power, and D. must I go on [&:]

so the choice is yours start with a EP palne and crasp the concept of flying or hope you can react on your on the way the simulator or instructor taught you

I have two simulators ....no instructor ......and today Im flying a plane with out a problem .....it took a lot of cheap planes and alot repairs , and alot of mistakes to learn but atleast when I crash now I understand what I have done wrong

Examble I upgraded my freedom flyer to a three channel transmitter with speed control "wow remember I never had an instructor" but for some reason the tail servo reversed itself from the standard set up "left tail goes left from back veiw etc.." it only took me two attempts to fly , to fiqure this out .......and this is the type of challenge that drives me in this thing called RADIO CONTROL.

good luck and practice hard !

Skitchen8

and land easy

RC-Captain

and land easy
you got that right buddy !

jettstarblue

Skitchen8;
I've maimed more people (myself included, -8 stitches in my forehead with a Les Paul) with my guitar than with all the planes I've owned, and yes I taught myself guitar too.[X(][X(][X(]
Mowers-don't even get me started..............

Jetts

RC-Captain

Im not sure what the heavens you are getting at ,,,,,if you need training wheels to fly RC planes then use them ........I always tell the less competent people to aquire help when needed !

PS the learning curve varies from flyer to flyer .=)

jettstarblue

Mr. Fiends' quote-"Im not sure what the heavens you are getting at ,,,,,if you need training wheels to fly RC planes then use them ........I always tell the less competent people to aquire help when needed !"

What in the heavens are YOU talking about Mr. Fiend? Training wheels??!![X(]
I TEACH people to fly!!! BTW training wheels are for bicycles.... I was refering to the fact that I have caused more bodily injury to humans and other small creatures with my guitar (playing) than I have with my flying........as for my competency, I'm not sure what you are getting at...only my doctors know for sure...but I'll ask the class that I was asked to put on a flight and science demo for, or maybe the class I am giving a guided tour of the Womens Aviation Museum on Tues. Sheesh!

Jetts

cappio777

My Feedback: (2)

I am going to start a soap using this forum called As The Prop Spins...............this is too much freakin fun!

[sm=lol.gif]

RC-Captain

jettstarblue

sorry dude I didnt read sketchin8's previous post ,,,,and just to let you know hes on TILT with the killing and what not ....I have never in my entire 34 years life heard of some one getting killed by an RC airplane .....

jettstarblue

All in good fun, my fiend, er, I mean friend!!

Jetts

RC-Captain

no problem STAR TEACH I mean BLUE

Skitchen8

I've never heard of somebody getting killed by a lawnmower, does that mean that it doesn't happen? No. Just the other week I read a post on these forums about somebody getting killed by a helicopter.