I have a feeling that some of you gentleman have some "full-size" seat time. Does that "full-size" experience translate well to the "scale" world? Once a "Stick-And-Rudder" Man.... Always one, right?

A few that fly RC also fly, or have flown full scale, but the concensus seems to be, that while having knowledge of how an airplane flys and operates, it really doesn't help much when learning RC.

You can't "feel" the RC plane, turns are reversed coming towards yourself, a myriad of little differences.
Dennis-

I've logged a few hours of full scale training in a Cessna. Got so I could take off and land without the instructor touching anything. You learn the truth about how the climb rate is dependent on engine RPM and the speed is controlled by elevator trim. Just the opposite of how some of us control our overpowered models. But as far as helping with the actual hand/eye requirements of RC flying I don't think it's much help.

I've logged a few hours myself. You're right. Other than knowing the "physics" of flight, it probably doesn't help at all. I know when I've tried driving RC cars, and they come towrds me, I'm all over the place!

I started with RC planes, and it helped me a lot when I learned to fly real planes. Only drawback is that I had to get rid of a few bad habits

I've taught a few full-scale pilots to fly RC. In general, they take less ground schooling, since they know what's going on. The ones who don't have a "I'm a pilot so I know how to do this already" attitude do seem to learn a bit faster than your average student, but the "big-bad pilot" types seem to learn slower, as they have to get over their ego and un-learn a bunch of assumptions.

Ditto, they are simillar, but different. Some aspects of one help the other, while some aspects hinder.

Personally, I prefer RC... It's much more fun doing a high-speed low inverted pass when you know you're not going to die if you screw up

No big head here, fellas. I'm a pristine canvas ready for the artist's brush. Ditto on the not gettin' killed, MinnFlyer!

I'm a professional pilot and have been flying full scale for over thirty years. I've also been involved in model airplanes for over 45 years, and r/c for the past 25. I think the only place the full scale helped me in r/c flying is that I understood take offs, landings, and aircraft maneuvering. I find that when I teach students, it takes a while before they understand the concept of "flying" the airplane. But, I don't think my hand/eye coordination was any better than anyone else. The best students today are the video game kids. Unbelievable coordination. They will make awesome full scale pilots someday!

Yeah. My kids regularly beat the stuffing out of me on the stinkin' Playstation! Too bad, we're probably looking at the next to last generation of combat pilots to actually sit in the aircraft and "work". These RC skills will really be handy in the future (I think...).

Been flying RC since 1957 and teaching others for most of that time. My worst students have always been the full scale guys. Until they forget what they think they know about flying and concentrate on RC flying they have problems. Luckily for me, I learned to fly RC and fly full scale at the same time.

My license is so old that it isn't the same as my SS number. I flew free flight for some years before I became a full scale airplane driver. The basics of what makes an airplane fly came in handy while I was learning. As far as any help with RC, again the only good thing was I knew why models fly. I was, and am, a model designer and builder. I do this for my own amazement, not for other people unless they want to copy something I bring to the field. I have a few designs on a 3"X5" piece of scratch paper. The over all experience helps in both full scale and modeling. I build kits too because I admire other people's work. As far as "scale" I build what I like. If it's an aircraft I've actually flown I get pretty picky. Always liked and now prefer
WWI scale. All this being said I'm still an intermediate pilot at best. Don't mind the crashes they're just excuses to start building something new.

Heh... My CFI was a WWII B25 pilot. He told me many times that HIS instructor had Private Pilot License #8! Can you imagine that? (Who signed off on the Wright Bros. log books, I wonder? )

Well: Unofficialy i have flew a friends plane at one time had about
30 hrs in before i decided i didnt have the guts for it was going for my license. LOL
In some ways i think RC flying is harder. I know my friend is a good real
airplane pilot but he has tried rc and decided it wasnt for him. He thinks
RC flying is for KIDS. I guess Iam still a kid.LOL