I would say just fly for a while and see what you find yourself naturally doing. If you like to see how precisely you can fly you are probably a pattern/imac guy. If you like to just fly around you will probably like warbirds or even a Big old Cub. If you like to chase the other pilots around,,, Combat. Or you may like scale aerobatic planes like edges and extras but just want to fly a big ol pretty aerobatic plane around in circles. If you like to see how crazy or how close to the ground you can get then you will LOVE 3D. Some guys build so that they can fly, others fly so that they have an excuse to build..

It wont be hard, you will naturally head towards what interests you.

I personally like flying a trainer and just boring holes, it relaxes me. I also like pattern because it helps me to perfect my skills. Then I REALLY like 3D, its just fun to see what I can figure out how to do, 3D is the sport of men who arent afraid to crash. Then,,,, back to trainers so I can relax.. Oh yeah! I LOOOOVE foamies, little electric 3D planes. They fly incredibly well and will do most everything the big aerobatic planes will, but the risk/fun factor is way higher!


Mike

I really get a kick when, at the end of a students session, I get to fly the trainer around before I land. I forget how forgiving they are and how much of a challenge I get out of trying to eek out every ounce of aerobatics from such a basic plane. That's always fun!

This is a 13 year old 4star that I now teach my son with. It's still one of my favorites. Oh yeah, when you get tired of flying you can always pass on your skills and knowledge to someone else. That's always rewarding and fun too!!

I also taught my Dad to fly when he was 77. He bought me my first kit - a Goldberg Falcon. The plane in the picture is a Goldberg Eagle. I've got to stop this - there are just too many great memories in this hobby.

A TIP TO OUR NEWBIE WHO STARTED THIS THREAD. I just noticed in the picture of me with my Tx. The white patch on it is a preflight check list. I put them on all my Tx's. It comes from all the check lists used as a private pilot. I started it after I forgot to extend the antenae on a maiden flight of a Sig Cavalier. It's never happened since.

Very nice looking sailboat.

I raced Santa Barbara class for about 3 years, 1974-77, before I went into the Air Force. That big boat followed me all over the globe. I finally sold it to a friend in Heidelberg, Germany because it had some shipping damage that I didn't have time to fix. I sure do miss it. []

I would love to get another big boat like that but since I'm currently living in interior Alaska, I'll wait until I get back down to the lower 48 before starting a search for one.

Don

I'd say a large part will be what your exposed to at the field.

I travel a fair bit with my planes and my trailer, but if I wanted to say fly pattern competitvely I'd have to drive at least 4-5 hours to compete if I wanted to more than once a year - same thing for pylon (which I beleive would be even further) - same for IMAC. It's very hard to get into competitive flying cold turkey, IE go buy a pattern plane and teach yourself how to fly the sequences - if not impossible.

If you want to fly anything non-competitevly it's easier because you build it then fly it. You don't need others around to fly it.

My field is the "ultimate" trainer field. Out of 120ish members I'd say 50% can't do a roll with any success aftery flying more than a year. I'd say maybe 10-15 could even identify a snap roll and perhaps 10 could actually perform one on command. Out of those 120 members maybe 5 can identify a waterfall/elevator etc.. and only 2 can hold a hover.

Its a great field but it's not the place to pick up tips on advanced aerobatics obviously. Just pointing out that what your exposed to will make a huge difference. I doubt many if any members who come to our field will ever be great aerobatics if they fly weekends only because they'll never really see any to get any interest going.

id agree your going to be influenced quite a bit by what is flown locally. racing, Q-500,club 20, pattern , giant scale , fun fly etc. also expect your tastes to change some(maybe a lot) as you gain experience / get older. electric flight is not what it was 20 years ago.neither is scale modeling which were mostly the expert catagory until this thing called "fun scale " came along. there is a growing old time/ vintage RC movement flying the "classics" with modern radios /engines.