Maybe what you need is a different appraoch here. Maybe just think of the nasty instuctor the same as a miserable teacher at school. You don't quit school because you have 1 bad teacher, you just do what is required and next year you will have another teacher. In this case you do what is required to pass your wings test and then you won't have to deal with the guy anymore! Learn what you can from the net and hopefully other flyers at your club. As far as repairs goes, its not realistic to expect anyone else to repair your plane. If your instructor is half way competant, you shouldn't have a bang up while training anyway. After you pass your wings, fly the heck out of the trainer for a season before rushing out to get your 2nd plane and make sure that its a kit, not an ARF. Best of luck.

I agree about building your own kit. You will learn valuable skills in structure and repair. Its kinda like the sink or swim analogy; you'll have to learn sooner or later....Pick up an easy kit and start learning...you might find out that you enjoy building as much as you do flying (as I have)

COMMON GUYS GIVE CYCLICHARDOVER a break,,

It's hard to put something across on these boards without the valuable asset of VOICE!!! I'm sure he doesn't mean it the way it comes across..
But I know what he's saying!!!!!!! I also play with my engines a lot and in doing so have became pretty damn effecient at it. I get guys to ask me to help them out, and sure as h*** 20 minutes later they're tweeking it again.(not all of them) I have one friend inparticular that is always on me to see what's wrong with his engine and when i do it's the same story again,It's running like a clock going inverted, and climbing without hesitation. the next day or the following day he's got his fingers on the needle valve because something's wrong (SO HE THINKS). The last time he asked me for help I kindly negated.
It is enjoyable to help get some new guy or girl started in this here fun hobby/sport but again I understand what he's saying about someone supposed to show up and doesn't. We don't get paid for what we do and If he's like me he wouldn't take it anyway but it's only proper etiquite to show up for an appointment. there's many days I don't even fly in order to help get someone else in the air. I had a new guy (PUT ONE IN) two days ago and he asked me what he did wrong? I explained what I observed and I told him to buy a FLATBOTTOM airfoil this time. (he was flying a SEMI-SYMETRICAL WING) it would give him more time to react because he wouldn't have to fly as fast. HE put his into the SUN and the gent helping him couldn't see it to save it. His remark was "well I've been flying this one for three weeks now" DDDAAAHH Yea you crashed it too because you couldn't react to it. I won't give him any other advice.. And I'm not being an A**!!!!!! it's my time and if you won't listen to what I have to say then don't ask.. and that's sure not saying I'm right all the time either..

RON

COMMON GUYS GIVE CYCLICHARDOVER a break,,


I also understood where he was coming from. When you have been in this hobby long eneough you find those that ask for help, or advice then ignore what you have done. My flying friend and I were taking turns teaching this dipstick to fly, and we were ready to kill him. He would screw the adjustments up on his engine, we would get it right and then he would screw with them again and then ask someone who didn't know how to adjust an engine to fix it, the engine went lean and it fried. He blamed us for that little fiasco! He wouldn't listen to our advice on how to control the plane (he's a banger!) and to this day he is dangerous when up in the air. When a person gives of his time and then gets ignored then one gets tired of helping, and yes the temper gets a bit short. You have to remember that we are out there to fly our planes, but we still stop what we are doing and help the new ones. I can't even begin to guess how many times I have gone home with a plane that didn't get flown that day!!!

HI Trey3670,
hope we didn't scare you away from joining a club,most clubs have there ups and downs, the good really out weighs the bad,at a club a person gets lots of information from existing members,also gets to see a lot of different equiment in use,myself and some of the club members that I've become friends with over the years,will load our planes in the 5th wheel and go to different flyins on the weekends,and different events,seems like at most events I meet more flyers and get invited to more events and clubs to fly at,plus most clubs have cookouts and all types of fun fly events,flying is only a part of this hobby/sport,the camaraderie with all the flyers and people involved with R/C is the best part. Hate to see you miss the best part.
Have a goodun,John.

Stang2b !!
I think you should GET OUT of the hobby !!
Pack it in, then pack up the wife,, your son, your daughter,
and head north to Tenn.. Like, 'git out of DODGE'..
Us old people don't want some young kid like you around to bother us when we are trying to fly our damn planes. You
always bother us and give us grief! You should take up a hobby
that makes you warm and fuzzy, like sheep ...
Robby :sunsmiley

Well Robby thats exactly what the hell I'll do, Pack my **** and head north, already bought a fresh sheep on ebay, hes got Her waitng for me when I get there. Thanks for ruining the Hobby for me its all you fault, You upset me but, introduced me to a guy with a sheep farm, thanks for the help..LOL

As a novice pilot, I would like to see my club (and every club) charge lesson fees. I think it is very rare for people to appreciate something that is given for free.

Obviously, they couldn't be much, but even $5 per session would at least make you think that you should listen enough to get your money's worth. Charge in advance and you might cut down on the absenteeism. I firmly believe that flying at an AMA field is a priviledge, not a right.

And, if the club wanted, it could use that money to "award" the novice pilot with a hat or t-shirt and wings. I'm 39 and I wouldn't mind a pair of wings (that I'd earned).

In fact, I considered offering the one good instructor money to meet me on a different day than the regular "training night". In our club, there are no standards for instructors and some of them are pretty bad. The instructor-coordinator is worse at landings than I am.

On the engine tuning topic, I haven't heard anyone who whines about the student's fiddling with the knobs say they had walked the student through the process (with his/her hands on the knob). I STILL haven't been able to get anyone to do that for me, they just want to set it up and move on. That's fine the first few times, but eventually, I want to understand how to do it myself.



GB

Wow,

there seems to be some bitterness all around Our club was suffering similar fates until we organized our student times. Wed evenings 6-dusk and Saturday mornings from 9-1 are only for students. Guaranteed instructors and everyone flies. Before that we had fliers avoiding the field lest a bunch of students show up looking for attention.

Students can fly with an approved instructor other times but they are explained up front not to expect a guaranteed flight outside of student times. They are welcome though to make their own arrangments.

It's worked great, at least the last 3-4 years I've been there.

Do we have tweakers? Sure! One student gets his plane adjusted, then tweaks for over an hour each session, flies 1 or 2 times, tweaks some more and goes home. He likes to tweak; regardless of the deadsticks. That's his part of the hobby. We've explained to him again and again how to do it but he likes his own "method". Aggravating? Yes but most of us like tweaking it right again anyway; great practice.

Do we have no shows? Sure! but all the students are expected at the same time and we take 4 up at a time so it only means that the other students get more flight time.

Do we have some that don't listen? Sure! We say, "left, left Left LEFT" guy still stays straight. Best solution was to take over the plane and fly for about a minute. The student asks why we're doing it we just reply when they are ready to listen or at least acknowledge we are talking, they can have the controls back, otherwise we'll land. Gets the point across fast. (there have been students we'd like to just give them the transmitter and walk back to the club house but we vetoed that idea .... not sure why though )

Do some never seem to say thanks? Sure yet again! But when a guy, who you probably wouldn't even know outside the hobby, brings coffee and donuts the following week and genuinly says "Thanks" to everyone who helped get him there.... well this is the kind of member we like to focus on.

There will always be personality conflicts, folks being idiots on both sides but there is also the rewarding factor seeing someone get their "wings". It can make a grown man cry

Focus on the good, the bad can crash on their own

Bob aka Nuker

Thanks for the life preserver. You know, having toom any people and not enough can yield similar results eh? I guess if it a small club and a club ownedor lease field and you ask to join and they say yes, They should be nice enough to train you and get off your back.

Bob/Nuker,

I believe everyone in this thread really just wants an enjoyable hobby.

I think its great that your club has two student sessions. Ours is probably smaller than yours and has one training night (Thurs) and the a regular club fly on Sunday.

On comment I'd like to make is that you described getting 4 people up at once. Our club on training night has been know to let 3 or 4 newbies up at once. Since I soloed, this became a big problem for me since I fly fairly good patterns and like to fly figure 8s. However, 2 of our trainees are frankly awful at flying the pattern. With them weaving around the sky in random directions and random altitudes the near misses can ruin a whole evening. Fortunately, I am proficient enough to fly treetop patterns and stay well below the mixing bowl.

So, I guess I'm just suggesting that some thought be given to reducing the number of planes in the air as students become more proficient. Maybe you do this with your two sessions.

In my case, I've basically given up on training night since I soloed and moved to Sundays. Everyone is still understanding, to the point of holding back while I do low approaches and shoot touch and goes. For my part, I try and hold back until it looks like there are less experienced guys ready to fly. But, there is still a lot I'd like to get out of the instructors (basic aerobatics, engine tuning :-), etc.) however, with the mayhem I began finding training night more trouble than it was worth.

Anyway, I think the moral of this thread is that the training experience can set the tone for a pilot for life, either for good or bad.

GB

fees to learn, had a guy that had that idea, but it was ignored cos it was seen as a $$$$ sceam and would undermine the culb training, even tho its sparce.
now you have to be a B pilot to use a buddy box system, a lot of pilots that are good and better than me, wont now take it, just so they dont get a tranny shoved at them.

Hi Ghostbear,

I did post a smiley at the end of that statement; please don't look for evil thoughts that aren't there .

As for 4 fliers, a large part of our training is attitude control as well. So you can be doing figure 8's at 100 feet, someone else can be doing patterns at 200 feet. Manouveurs should be flown at a single altitude (loops start and end at the same level)

Once the students get their wings, they need to have flown with the experience of having others out there; otherwise those first few "wings rated" flights could prove hairy.

The club has successfully been at this for at least 6-7 years that I know of (I haven't been in it that long)

Different strokes for different folks I guess. (get it strokes?? some like 4-stroke, some like 2-stroke ???)

I'm goin' home now

Bob aka Nuker

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