Can the experienced folk out there let me know when a beginner plane flyer becomes an intermediate plane flyer ?

What is the criteria ??

$X amount of dollars spent repairing crashed planes....
X amount of hours in the air........
or just a gut feeling?

It all comes down to how well you can fly and what you are flying. Almost anybody can be a expert with a trainer, but try a 20 thousand dollar turbine powered F100 or F104 and see just how much you DON'T know how to fly. [8D]

What you fly and how SAFELY and SMOOOOOOTHLY you fly says it all.[8D]

Jet Jocks suck, blow, but don't go 3D!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try & beg a ride, using a buddy box, on a buddy's fast low-wing sport plane. If you can safely handle the speed & sensitivity of the machine, you're an intermediate flyer.

You should have asked me this question two weeks ago while I was in Melbourne. I would have watched you and told you if you qualify :-)

Welcome aboard, Ravencsr.

You'll notice that beginning flyers are learning everything, like flying straight & level, making turns without losing altitude, and taking off and landing.

Experts don't have trouble with any of that, they can fly many different types of planes, and they do special things like wild aerobatics or formation flying or perhaps flying scale models with lots of gimmicks, using the flaps & retracts, channel mixing, etc. all as a matter of course.

Intermediate flyers are somewhere in between

Good luck,
Dave Olson

To me it is when you stop letting the plane dictate where it will go.
If you fly the plane where you want 100% of the time then you are an internediate pilot.
Many guys just go out to keep the plane up until it runs out of gas or they get tired and land. Just bang the sticks and see what she will do. If you fly that way for 20 years to me you are still a beginner. Put the plane where you want, how you want 100% of the time with very few mistakes, then you are an intermediate pilot!

Try this.... When YOU the pilot feel confident and completely in control of your aircraft at all times no matter what attidute altitude or pitch its at. Full throttle or dead stick you have control. Dont worry about what everyone elses opionion is of your flying because everyone is different. And so are their opionions as to when someone should be considered an intermediate piliot. If you posses all of the above then noone can deny that you are indeed an intermediate pilot no matter what your style of flying is.

Interesting question. I`m sure there are as many opinions as there are RC pilots. Can someone ( such as myself ) ascend to the intermediate level if he/she is happy flying BASIC aerobatics with a 4*40 or simply enjoying a nice day flying their semi-scale PT-19 low and slow on fly-bys just to enjoy the way it looks? OR, does it take moving up to the " hotter ", more nimble and unstable aerobatic aircraft and " pushing the envelope" successfully?

Who cares![:-]

Its a relative term. At what weight is a person "FAT"?. At what height is a person considered "TALL"? What age is considered "OLD"?

What speed is considered "SLOW"?

A complete beginner has no flying skills and knows nothing about rc flying. An expert is highly knowledgeable and skilled. Anything in between is intermediate right?

Right. You're also right in saying it's a relative term.

I've been flying for about 9 years now, and can put the plane (pretty much any plane) where I want it and when. I can do most aerobatics without too much difficulty, with most planes. (As long as the plane can do them. )

I'm also asked quite often to do maidens and trim flights on other people's planes, frequently take beginners up on the Buddy Box, and usually have guys just asking me if I want to fly their plane. Because they just want to watch it fly for a change.

I consider myself an intermediate pilot.

Pilots that fly national and international competitive pattern, and guys that have flown at TOC or Top Gun, I consider THEM to be experts (or the guys that could give them true competition).
Dennis-

Good point I agree 100% with that as I see myself in the same catagory, and yet incompetent to those guys who can fly a 40% better than I can walk.

Parrotman, as long as you have complete control over that plane while you're flying around in circles or doing basic aerobatics, I would definitely say you were an intermediate. Like others have stated, I don't think that it's what style you fly, it's your level of expertise and control over the plane.

So now that that's defined, how do you define an "advanced" pilot?

Thanks Glow, I`ve always kind of felt the same way. While it`s not my interest or style, I DO admire the skill of the really accomplished aerobatic pilots ( one was my instructor ). I do consider them to be " advanced " pilots. If that means that I`ll never be an "advanced " pilot, then that`s OK with me. I will say, however, that even though DB considers himself " intermediate ", the actions he describes himself doing qualify him as " advanced " as well, at least in my humble opinion.

Well, thanks. But as Wings said, it's all relative.

I suppose I could be called "advanced" just as well as intermediate, just so long as no one tries to label me "expert". [X(]

I guess my point was, that while I consider myself intermediate, there's no reason that someone who's advanced to the point of flying comfortably, and controlling their aircraft reasonably well, can't also call themselves intermediate. Because it is a relative term.
Dennis-

Just my 2 cents,

nobody mentioned the ability of the pilot to set up the plane and engine to actually make it safe for flight.
i think there's a lot more to it than being able to fly and land the plane.
Installing servos, programming, setting endpoints, trim and balancing etc is as important as being able tuning/breaking in your engine and keep your batteries in good shape.
Are you able to do that on your own or do you still need help with it?

I've seen a trend lately, where people just buy planes, let others set it up
and fly it first, buddy box until they can handle it. plane after plane until they can land the spitfire.
but they don't know how to install a swivel ball link on a servo arm.
intermediate could last for years....

In my opinion, flying a hotter more nimble plane does not always dictate that you have advanced to the "intermediate" level. To me it is more of what you feel you are ready for. I also have a 4* 40 and do things with it that most people at my club would never dream of, but I have made some minor mods to it like sealing the control surface gaps, added carbon fiber tape to the wing joint, different tailwheel, increased the throws, yada, yada, yada. I still break out my LT-40 (converted to taildragger) and do low and slow just cause I want to and can still do what everyone at my club would call adavnced intermediate manuevers. I practice IMAC basic and some of the sportsman schedues with the 4* 40 and my goal is to be as precise as possible. Once I am as precise as I want to be, then and only then will I move to a Cap or Sukohi and an Extra.

Now on the other side I own a Twist and nearly every time I go to the field I take it up and practice some very basic 3D stuff to help sharpen my reaction times.

Moral of story: Only you will know when it is time to move up to other levels of flying

miamiflyer, very good point!