hello,
I am on the verge of buying my first RC plane. I have been looking at several; of the trainers in the .40 class and in my search I have seen a couple of ads for what is called a co-pilot. It seems to be a small disk that evidently mounts to the underside of the plane and if you get it trouble it will leve the plane for you. Do these work? Are they worth the money? There are no clubs nearby and I will most likely have to learn on my own. I would like to keep the number of expensive toothpicks to a minimal, so I was wondering if this would be a halfway acceptable replacement for an instructor.

Thank-you

I think that I would suggest that you spend the extra money on Real Flight Simulator. That will be the biggest aid in your flight training if you are not going to have an instructor. I am not saying that the auto pilot will not help though. Be sure to take a look at the radio requirements though since you will not be able to use all of the features with some basic radio systems.

Here are the details on Tower Hobbies:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...1&I=LXNA35&P=7

Before all of this, I would suggest that you go out of your way to find someone to train you. I have seen what happens when someone takes off and has never flown a plane before. Most of the planes in this sitution do not come down in one piece.

I soloed about six weeks ago.

So, let me say that if you can't find a flying field and an instructor you might want to start out with an electric and build up.

I taught myself on a Megatech Merlin (which a lot of people hate) and Cockpit Master Backyard Edition. When I went to a .40 size trainer two months later I was able to solo after about 5 flights.

There are lots of very gentle electric flyers which are quite fun and won't get you in trouble if you fly them at a local school or something.

GB

I'm going to agree with Matt. I don't know much about the co-pilot, but either way it won't do much to help you take off, land, and get used to reverse directions as the plane comes toward you. I am all for clubs and instructors, but I did learn to fly myself using Realflight G2. After about a month of practice, using the trainer AND some of the other planes on the sim, and using changing wind speed and direction, etc., I was able to fly an Avistar. Granted I was VERY nervous with no one to help, and I have had some rough landings, but never one that sent me home early. Best of luck!!!

As a last resort,if you can't find a club,you might run an add in the paper asking for an instructor or flying friend.
Have a goodun,John.

Buddy:

The FMA Co-Pilot is an excellent piece of electronics. At this writing it will not work with a computer radio set up for flapperons. Therefore, if you have a simple trainer-type aircraft with 4 servos, the co-pilot would be a terrific investment. I mounted the sensor under the fuse. I ran the cable under the wing into the radio compartment. The co-pilot receiver is small and can be mounted right next to or on top of your radio receiver. You plug in the elevator and aileron servos into the co-pilot and the co-pilot connects to the receiver. The co-pilot has a sensitivity setting which can be preset or if you have a 6 channel radio with a variable channel, you can turn the unit on or off from the transmitter. This way you have full control of the sensitivity at any time. After you calibrate the system (easily done) you are ready to fly. By setting the sensitivity to about 30% or so, you will still have plenty of control over the aircraft. If you set the sensitivity very high the plane will "fight" you to stay straight and level. If you get into trouble, just release the sticks. The plane will level out from any dive or roll. You've got to see it to believe it. On windy days it can save you landing jitters. Just line up the plane for your final and then cut back on the throttle. Watch the plane almost land itself. It's a great tool when you're learning.

Just remember, nothing replaces a qualified instructor to teach you the basics, but the co-pilot will help calm some of the butterflies that we have all experienced.

Good luck......................Pat

I currently have the co-pilot set up on a Telemaster .40 and a Futaba T6XAS radio. It will work with flaperons, but you can only put one aileron on it. Makes roll recovery a little slower, but it does work. I initially set it up on Rudder and elevator, but couldn't get the plane to quit fishtailing with the rudder. Looked like it was "swimming" through the sky. So I experimented with the one aileron thing, and it works fine.
RC Pat is exactly right about the landings. Cross-wind landings are a breeze with the co-pilot.
We've discussed this thing in depth at the field, and we concluded that the best thing was to learn on a buddy box with an instructor first. Then, it may help you with landings, etc. I can turn mine on and off using the gear channel. It is a terrific little device though, and works perfectly-IF it is properly hooked up. One guy at our field put one in his plane and didn't check it out before flying. Elevator was reversed, and he couldn't turn his off. Made for an interesting landing. He took it out and gave it away right on the spot.
Good Luck
Randy

I have 2 new Co-pilots for sale as well as a Brand New Realflight G2 Simulator with USB controller, I am asking 80 a piece for the Co-pilots and & $250 for the Simulator with All 3 addons. I paid 325 for it all less than a week ago, and I paid $119 for the Co-pilots. So this is still a great deal on both. And the Co-pilots are a wonderful device that will save you lots of crashes, it will take your plane out of any odd situation and return it to level flight by just letting go of the sticks.

I appreciate all the suggestions. I have a copy of the FMS flight sim, and experience with RC cars, so the reversed controls when coming at me has not been a problem with them (cars). I also have flight experience at full scale (lost medical, thats why RC now). I am still looking into the club or instructor, as that is my preference, but I may still do it alone. I have found a club about 40 miles from here and have not been able to contact them yet, but hopefully I will be able to find some help in that area.

Thanks again

Get a knowledgeable flier to trim your plane and make sure everything is sound. As far as learning, get Realflight G2 and be able to land on the runway 10 out of 10 times with all the planes. If you can do that, you are competent. What I did was practice taking off, doing a stall turn, then land. Take off again, tail slide, and land. I could do this 8 out of 10 times, then I started flying the trainer. Nerves were my only issue. Flying as a breeze.