im looking at finnaly taking the plunge. and have flown a little (just enough to find out its nothing like flying an actual airplane since your outside the plane) and was wondering what the general opinion is on training w/ the simulators. i know my local hobby shop has a trainer that comes w/ the simulator software (cant remember the name though).

If your not planning on joining an R/C club anf getting help from them in learning to fly, a simulator is a necessity unless you want to go through a loot of airplanes in the process. If you do get help from a club, a sim is a help but not essential.

Good luck,

Mike

Do a search on "simulators" in this forum... you'll find LOTS of information.

Any simulator is better than no simulator. they all can help with learning the control reversal due to the airplane comming toward yourself.

Some are better than others at the physics modeling...

Its fairly hard to stall a model in the RipMax simulator. But when you crash it leaves a debris field appropriate to the impact. (playing with how far you can spread the pieces can be entertaining... )

FMS has better physics... but not as good graphics as even the RipMax sim.

Real Flight has one of the best flight physics engines and the best graphics.... you pay quite a bit for it.

Microsoft Flight Simulator, from Tower view is not a bad RC simulator. Good flight physics (especially the newer version) excelent graphics and 1000's of airplane profiles for free DL all over the internet.

ok cool ill try and find that search button and no i wasnt planning on joining a club at least not yet as i have a few hundred acres of fields as a back yard. just wanted to make sure it is possible to train enough w/ a simulator so i dont crash the very first time out.

There is never enough sim time to guarantee no crash first time...

Strike 1..... a beginner
Strike 2..... an untrimmed aircraft
Strike 3..... engine starts

thats true. and the main reason ive waited this long. but anything to reduce the chances. and im sure during the "learning process" ill get plenty of wear and tear on the plane if it doesnt get totaled. but everyones gota start somewhere.

I just got my Nexstar in the mail 2 days ago!! I put my plane together, charged it, checked and adjusted the plane to the best of my ability. She's sweet. Hopefully when you get your plane you will see how nice looking and delicate it really is. Then I'm sure you won't want to risk your new baby without an instructor. At least for the first few flights to bail you out if something were to go wrong. Not that anything ever goes wrong. Right?!?! Not to mention the good advice your instructor will have for you.

I can't wait to hear it fire up for the first time. And see it actually leave the ground in a controlled manner. I've been fighting the urge to go out and start it up. Cause starting it up would lead to just "taxiing around". And then taxing would go well so I'd be practicing a take off run or something, man I'd have it in the air in a matter a minutes. Wondering if I'll be able to get it back on the ground in one piece. Not worth it. Need a rookie buffer of some sort. Hey! An instructor!!

Instead, I've just been playing the hell out of the simulator. I'm thinking, "man, i'm really getting the hang of this. I've just greased like 10 landings in a row." Then I turn on the wind. LOL. New ball game. I've been practicing landing in winds of different speeds, crosswinds, and different gust levels. Figuring out what works, and what doesn't work. Such as practice manipulating the throttle and surface controls. Tons of fun.

I can't imagine trying to learn to fly without this simulator though. Only getting 10-60 minutes of flight time a day with an instructor. That would take forever to get comfortable with the whole reversal situation. It's a good way to get your practice in, no matter what the time of day,or what the weather looks like outside, or IF the instructor has the time to meet with you. With the simulator you get all the "dumb thumbs" worked out. Well... a lot of them anyways. And with out the pressure of wrecking your new investment. Or the pressure of wondering what that guy they call an instructor, watching your every move is thinking. Just sit back and learn from your mistakes. Consequence free!!! Wish it was a full verion of Realflight.

Hey dkf,
Boy I'm getting tired of reading that same post. You must have it stored on your hard drive. You trying to run up your post count?
Dennis-

To improve your flying skill in the shortest time possible, I would say that a sim is necessary.

I fully agree with what has been said before, simulators help; LOTS.

I would like to add that Aerofly Pro seems to be the best for physics. I only have maybe 2 hours total on RFG2 so im not the most experienced with it. But out of the box AFP is waayyy more realistic than RFG2, but again, I have limited time w/ it and maybe some minor adjustment parameters could help it along. FMS is the first place to start if you dont want to spend $130-200+ on a sim, lots of d/ls for FMS and AFP on the net which make them a little more reasonable.

I figure I've crashed over $100,000 worth of models in the sim... Would have difficulty affording that in the "real world"..

Cheers!

Jim

Where can I download the FMS flight simulator?

FMS homepage -

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

Cheers!

Jim