Hi

Ive been flying Real Flight G2 for a year now and flown a friends Tower Voyager once or twice. Will the practice i get with Realflight constitute me not having to purchase a trainer plane?

thanks in advance :bananahea

Hey SatelliteHead,

I also have the G2 simulator but I bought it after I learned to fly with the trainer. IHMO, there is not much flying difference between the two however flying with an instructor I was able to learn from his experience and he gave invaluable advice and tips, and I was exposed to real situations - ie the human element (other fliers) and real flying conditions which I feel are lacking in G2.

Some clubs may let you try out a trainer plane (check out flight) with an instructor. Why not go along and see if this can offered and at the end of the flight decide for yourself.

Go for it! And happy flying!

Look at it this way. You will go solo very quickly!

When you flew your friend's Tower Voyager could you take off and land the plane?

no , i didnt take off or land the Voyager!

I guess if you felt comfortable flying the voyager, you could get something that wasn't a trainer and get on a buddy box until you can solo it........you'd just be starting at a more "advanced" level.......I don't think many beginners could fly a voyager around, so it seems to me that you're ahead of the learning curve....

(this is all assuming that you didn't come close to crashing it!

I would suggest a high wing plane with some dihedral, but not necessarily with a flat bottom wing. Something like an Avistar with a semi-symmetrical airfoil would be good.

My experience with the sim is that it doesn't teach landing very well.

I would strongly suggest you purchase a trainer. There is a lot more to learning to fly than just flying in a circle. I would suggest a Sig LT40 as a possible trainer. Equip it with an OS 46FX and you will have a plane that will satisify your needs well after you solo. The OS46FX will be an engine you can you use in your next airplane. I have instructed several students with this plane and they all loved it. Give it a try.

Then again.... the most difficult parts (in order of faillure) are landing, taking off and flying )
Yes you can try to solo .. errr solo..... unfortunately the skyvista by hobbico is out otherwise it'ld be perfect for you, slow landingss and can take abuse :bananahea
I gues you may try skipping the trainer, but beware a hot rod is a no-brainer
Don't overpowr the plane and get one with a semi-simetrical airfoil
Regards,
Patrick

You definatly need a trainer. Although you have a good basis using the sim, a real plane is a lot different and not as forgiving.

I think you could handle this plane. The takeoffs and Landings are easy yet it will let you try more aerobatics. I have flow many of these and you can land this plane tail first without stalling it.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for all the great advice!

Im leaning toward flying with an instructor with a buddy box at our local flying field.

thanks again

With a good instructor you can learn to fly on a pattern airplane. It's not as easy, though. Ask your instructor's advice on what he would be most comfortable teaching you on. I've been flying for over 30 years now and I still like to occasionally fly the trainer I learned on. Yep, it's still in one piece. So don't worry about investing in a trainer. If you don't want to keep it after you have some experience, it should be easy enough to sell to another newcomer. Good luck with whatever you decide.