Well..... The words i told u so would pretty much sum up this story. I don't have an instructor and have been taxiing around my yard for about a month now. This weekend I built up the nerve to fly. I was confidante and also prepared to face the conciqueces of a crash. I lifted up and landed about 5 or 6 times and on the last go round I got "dumb thumbs" and pulled up when i wanted to go down, plane went high in the air then behind a building and i couldn't see it anymore then i heard it die[:@]. Plane (from my point of view) is totaled and like jdewolftx my engine was buried in the mud with my plane sticking straight up in the air with the wings broke in half. I was able the salvage all my electronics but my engine lost the idle screw (broke clean off). But my engine is salvagable either with a new carb. or idle screw. I have read numerous threads about yall telling ppl (DON'T FLY WITHOUT AN INSTRUCTOR!) but did anyway. I have plans to buy a new trainer and either buy a sim or find an instructor. By the way the plane was a hanger 9 easy fly 40, engine was o.s. fp40, elecs. was jr. Anyway i just wanted to post my sob story so someone else would read this and think twice about trying to fly by themself. Oh and just so yall know i was no danger to no one but myself i was in my yard by myself with nothing but crawfish fields around my house and the nearest neighbors a good mile away. LIke i said i was prepared to face the conciqueces but i didn't know that it would hurt this much! Any positive responses would be helpful. Thanks.[&o]

I only had a smart ***** reply, but I will keep it to myself seeing as you are hurting soooooooooo much. At least you knew what was going to happen, you just didn't know when. Chin up and rebuild the plane and get back into the air.

at least now you realize your mistake and you sounds like your not going to let that happen again. myself i bought a trainer, the sim, and got me an instructor. and i even ripped the landing gear off this morning. wasnt my fault, engine died on takeoff but things will happen and we can just forge ahead.

Jesse,

I know how you feel. In a clear case of Perserverance overcoming Intelligence, I too decided that I would teach myself to fly. To go one better, I would also build my own planes from plans. I figured, "Hey, the first guy to do this MUST have taught himself to fly, I can do it too..." After crashing 5 planes in short, but very exciting flights, I got the RealFlight Simulator and put in a few hours on a plane that bounces when you crash. My next flight was perfect (in my inexperienced opinion of the time) and off I went. After I crashed that plane, I joined a local club and went in as a complete novice. Buddy box and everything. I let the instructor teach me everything, even the things I thought I knew.

The upshot is that I have the pride in being a self-taught pilot with alot of knowledge of the finer points I would never have thought of without alot of re-inventing the wheel.

If you still want to teach yourself, more power to you, but you will almost certainly experience more heartache, even if you buy a simulator. Know what you're getting into and LAUGH about it when it happens. My brother started with me and we videotaped our exploits as a learning tool to analyse what happened right before the bang. It makes for very amusing watching now...

It can be done if you are really determined to do it. As an old friend used to say, "Speed costs Money. How fast do you want to go?"

Ed

I've experienced the same feeling of stunned shock and desolation. At least mine was with a SPAD. You get over after a few months. It sounds like you are now on the right track. Do what I did and don't make the same mistake again. Get an instructor. After a few weeks on the buddy box you may be ready to solo.

-Scott

If you plan on teaching yourself to fly, here's a detailed list of things you're likely to do wrong:


1. Everything

if i were you, I would get the airmadillow series plane, you have everything u need for one right now, so go to www.kombat40.com

I want to apologize for the lack of sensitivity in certain responses. I can tell you most of us have been where you're at and actually know how you feel.

Please look at the damage carefully, often times a dismal carcass can be rebuilt. Please don't lose heart, this was just a learning experience.

We hope you find some help in learning. Often, clubs will be interested in helping you preserve your initial investment. If you cannot find help at a nearby club or with a neighbor who flies, then by all means ask for assistance here. There are certain things you can do and equipment you can select to improve your chances on the next try, if need be.

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

also, look for people in your state who might help you learn how to fly

Am I the only one who noticed this? What the @#$% were you doing flying near any buildings? Buildings usually=people. Model airplanes kill people. Dead people are not a good thing. The dead airplane is truly a lucky escape for you -- it could have been ever so much worse for everyone -- the rest of us included.

Ok, go lick your wounds.

Then, get a new plane - Put it together - Load it up in the car with a few cases of those mudbugs, and drive up here.

I won't let you leave till either you can fly, or the crawdads run out

Jesse-

I checked the web to try to find clubs close to you. AMA District VIII's website [link=http://www.ama-dist-8.org/Clubs/clublistla.html]here[/link] lists all the clubs in Louisiana. It looks like either the Acadian club in LaFayette or the Kamikaze Klub in Opelousas wouldn't be too far away. I recommend calling the contact for each and checking them out. If, after you learn to fly, you want to fly on your own, so be it. We all need a little instruction to start out.

-Scott

Britbrat, perhaps you only noticed what you wanted to notice. Sounds like he was far away from people. To him, maybe a wood shed is a building. Lighten up a little. The man wants positive replies.

Jessekib,
If possible, post some pics of the damage, and I'm sure someone can tell you exactly what you need to do to get it into the air again. Most balsa planes can be fixed after a crash. Of course, there are those occasions when a new kit would be much easier. I will say this, soft mud tends to help salvage aircraft more than hard ground!

Britbrat, perhaps you only noticed what you wanted to notice. Sounds like he was far away from people. To him, maybe a wood shed is a building. Lighten up a little. The man wants positive replies.

Jessekib,
If possible, post some pics of the damage, and I'm sure someone can tell you exactly what you need to do to get it into the air again. Most balsa planes can be fixed after a crash. Of course, there are those occasions when a new kit would be much easier. I will say this, soft mud tends to help salvage aircraft more than hard ground!

You will probably get by with a needle valve in the carb but we obviously can't tell about the plane. The sim is a good idea but the instructor is the best bet. He can even advise you on repairing your plane. Hope the building was just a barn or something. Don't kill the mud bugs, MinnFlyer will never forgive you, better ship some to him for safe keeping. I'm self taught also and it was expensive too, not recommended. Not going to list the things I hit or almost hit with my planes, my dumber days let's say.
Keep at it and good luck.

Bruce

Thanks alot for all the replies, good and bad, mostly to the good though. I am thinking about that kombat 40 on http://www.kombat40.com/. do any of you have any suggestions about this plane, is it a 4 channel plane and how much easier or harder is it to learn with. If you do recomend a balsa trainer, what about the tower hobbies mkII 40. I think i will try to locate an instructor before my next "go round" for sure.
Oh and minnflyer no crawfish were hurt in the process. "thank god".

I have not flown an Airmadillo plane, but they are basically just SPADs. See www.spadtothebone.com. You can build something similar yourself for cheap. Contrary to popular belief, they are not crashproof. A little more durable, but they can still be severely damaged in a crash.

A balsa trainer normally has a lighter wing loading than a SPAD-type plane, and can therefore fly slower (easier for the beginner). I have a Sig Kadet (balsa) and a SPAD Debonair. THe Kadet is easier to fly. Because of it's heavier weight, the SPAD does better in the wind. As far as balsa trainers are concerned, the Tower Trainer should be as good as most any other. There are differences, but they are small.

Keep telling yourself, "I will get an instructor. I will get an instructor."

-Scott

jessekib-

Of the choices listed, I like the Tower plane the best. You can take your existing gear and put it in there immediately and fly. Repair old plane, if able, while flying the new plane. Also consider Alpha 40 ARF. Although you won't be able to get it from Tower, Horizon Hobbies has it for $115 plus shipping. I have worked with several students using this plane and had great success. The Tower is unknown to me but probably fine too. Others will probably comment on it. One of the guys on my field has a kombat 40, I personally don't like it at all. Again, personal opinion. He has been unable to get it to fly reliably if at all, crashes regularly and hard for HIM to control.

Good luck and get instructor. Notice a theme here?

Bruce[

yeah biuld a spad they are fun. only like a 30 buck plane.

Jessekib,

Any plane that has the word trainer in it will do. Yes some are larger then others but the simply fact is that most .40 size glow trainers exhibit nearly identical flight characterics as a beginner you won't be able to tell the difference or care.


I too would suggest getting an instructor... good luck

Did we mention that in MOST clubs that the instructors work for FREE with members? A great price for the value.

I want to apologize to everybody for my previous post. It was not appropriate in the context of the thread. I do want to let you all know that I meant no harm and it was not meant to be malicious, but my attempt at humor was a little out of place.
In the "meet the newbies" thread I said that I was new to the hobby. THat is essentially true, other than a very brief (and expensive) trip down RC lane about 20 years ago. I bought and built a CG trainer. Either an Eagle II or Eaglet (can't remember which) and thought that I could handle flying it all by myself. To make a long story short, the plane left the ground, immediately started to roll left in a climb until inverted. then headed straight down. It's taken me 20 years and a lot of reading here to figure out that I was in too steep of a climb, and the reason for the roll, despite full right aileron and rudder was a stall on the left wing.
Believe me, this time I know better.
And I promise to try to be more sensative with my replies in the future.

I don't think that unless you can fly well on the simulator you should try to fly any trainer on your own. Unless you have a huge huge field that you can keep flying straight forever, I would recommend you to get something like a park flyer.

Actually the airplane I would recommend a first time flyer is the Multiplex EasyStar because it really is a friendly plane to fly and it's very safe because it's foam and a pusher. You can see the video on hobby lobby. The guy literally puts the TX down to throw the EasyStar and doesn't pick if up for a while as it flies away. This is a good beginners tool.

Another way to practice before you get flying is to invest in a cheap remote control car. Of course, a plane is not the same as a car but the orientation is important as well as the ability to proportion your input and compensate for over input. I don't mean get a car and crash it all over the place. But set up a track from cups or something and try to get that car through it without touching the cups. Remember, you can't follow it. You must stay in one position preferably a distance away. This excercise will help you with one of the most difficult things in flying, plane orientation. Furthermore, it'll give you a better idea of throttle control. Rather than on or off, as most beginners do, throttle control is very important to good flying. In fact you should be able to fly your trainer with just rudder and throttle as long as you have dialed the plane up for level flying at half throttle (glow only... beginner RTF electrics will generally need 3/4 throttle to stay level at a speed safely beyond stall speed).

After this exercise, you should be able to fly your EasyStar. Just remember, give yourself time to react. If you jam the stick any which way and when it's going the wrong way you can't save it, you'll lose the plane. If you give yourself time by not turning too fast, going up to fast or anything too fast, then you can fly "slower". Most importantly, as soon as you can turn, try to gain altitude... 3 mistakes high is best place to start doing more advanced things. Lastly, if you ever lose control, let go of the sticks. A trainer and the EasyStar will fly straighten itself out all on its own.

If you do not heed my advice and go for another glow trainer, make sure you try to negotiate for a volume discount. :-)

-OR-

Drive as far as it takes to get to a club that can give you a few lessons maybe even buddy box you. In fact, just having someone trim your airplane out on its maiden flight would be invaluable!

Doh!!! Somehow in all of the mental turmoil over flying near buildings, my brain deleted the "mile away" part. Sorry[&o]

I also highly recommend an instructor. The flight sim is an excellent idea if an instructor is completely out of the question. Second recommendation is a cheap and extremely easy plane to fly; the electric Lazy Bee on gas. If I've got 6' under my plane I've got enough airspace to get out of trouble!