I am going to purchase the Alpha trainer. I was just looking for some feedback with the Alpha trainer and was wondering how the flight sim that comes with it is...is it realistic enough?. I decided to go this way because I had purchased a Parkzone J-3 cub which is a wonderful plane, but the minute there is any wind your flights for the day are pretty much grounded. The flying club I joined has instructor's and they all recommended getting into something like the Alpha trainer if I was serious about joining the hobby just because you are able to fly them if there is a bit of wind and have some decent power when needed as well. I have gone to 3 nights of lessons and have not been able to fly my cub once because there was to much of a wind. Everybody else there had there trainer's flying around all night...nuff said my mind was made up. I will still fly the cub of course on calm days, and there is nothing wrong with having a backup plane either. Input would be appreciated...

The only input I can give is you are choosing the right path. Listen to what your instructor says and if you have any questions ask him first.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes
PS: I have flown my trainer in 10+ mph wind with 15+mph gust

The Alpha is a great choice. Go with the 60 size as a larger plane is easier to see thus you feel more in control and it is more stable in wind conditions.

i think the Alfa is a good choice too, it will be ready for flight in less than an hour after you open it from the box... since you have a little experience you might want to consider the Arrow, it's basically the same as the Alfa except it can do some of the aerobatics a little better than the Alfa and it's still a trainer.

Another good trainer to get is the Hangar9 Mustang.... it's a good looking plane and flys like a trainer..... i started out with the Alfa because the Mustang wasn't available 4 years ago but if i had to choose between the two i would buy the Mustang.

Here's the thread about the Mustang..... http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3102050/tm.htm

Just my 2 cents here, but my first plane was an Alpha 40 ARF. Long story short- it didn't survive too long. I had to rebuild parts a few times and couldn't help but notice how poor the construction was. The glue they used to construct it was sort of rubbery. Anyway, I kit built a Sig LT-40 after that, a far superior plane IMHO. The Alpha is a faster plane and probably handles wind better but I'll always prefer my LT-40.

I have instructed several students on Alpha 40's and they all did well. I agree with your instructors that parkzones are simply underpowered for ANY wind and IMO not good training aircraft. IMO you need a solid plane with enough power to get to a safe altitude where you can learn to maneuver and give your instructor room to assist you safely. Small electrics like the Parkzones leave you perilously close to the ground for too much of the flight during training phases. Not to mention charging times and other problems.
I have no experience on the Alpha sim so I can't help there. I would expect that it would help though.

The alpha is a very good airplane, and is very well built for an arf. It will last as long as any sig offering that is also an ARF. You can't compare ARF quality to kit built quality.
Secondly, it will not be ready to fly in an hour. It might be assembled, but the batteries need to charge overnight before flying, so be aware of that.
Good luck, and welcome to nitro!!!

I HAD an alpha trainer 40. I loved it. It flew in winds up to 30 mph. I found it easy to learn on and easy to control. The sim that comes with it is not the highest quality but it will teach you stick control.

Hi: I have had two Alpha 60's. I currently still have one. They are very good, stable planes. You can learn rolls and loops, stall manuvers, fly inverted, so they are not
just fly in a circle planes. They are a lot of fun. The Evolution .61 engine is a excellent engine. I have had absolutely no trouble with either one.

Follow your instructor's advice and you will be soloing right away.

Jim
AMA 821369

The Hangar 9 Arrow and Alpha Ready-to-Fly trainer packages are widely regarded as some of the highest quality on the market. The flight sim that comes with it doesn't have to be great, it just has to help you practice your "toward you vs. away from you" orientation as you get more and more comfortable with the sticks. I trained on the Hobbico Nexstar, and the sim included with it wasn't best-in-class, but it was good, it helped me learn quickly, and it was a great comfort when training night got rained out that I could still fly at home on the PC.

Your Alpha won't be your last plane, and your bundled flight sim probably won't be your last RC flight sim. Both are a great start.

pitcrew 232 is right!!! the .60 size is a great plane larger planes are easy to see more stable in high wind conditions. Not to matter Hangar 9 makes a great plane. I just bought the Ultra Stik and I love it.

I have also looked at the electric Multiplex Magister trainer...electric might be a bad word for some of you sorry!. Anyways, just wondering if anyone has heard or had experience with that as well from what I have scene and heard it seems to have some pretty awsome power for an electric trainer. The Alpha trainer is pretty much the way I am going to go probably, I am just wondering about maintenance price tags when you buy a gas motor over electric???

For sure the Multiplex is out, I was doing some more research on it, the flight times only last about 5 minutes or so once tricks are added to the flight plan...unless you add a stronger power source of course. Alpha here I come...

I have just switched from Alpha's to Nextar's. I have had four wing failures with these planes in less than a year. Three have folded at the center and one about eight into the right wing. In all fairness, these airframes were the ARF's not the ready to fly versions and have been flown by many students. The RTF's have reinforcing tube for a wing support versus a piece of plywood. Also the tail sections are always breaking from hard landings.

Good Luck!

Greg Shane
2nd R/C Flight School

Bought the Alpha 40, nothing really to set it up which was great. Took it out to the flying field the other night, but the instructor could not make it. I decided to give it some fuel and fire up the engine anyways...started right off the hop so that is a good thing. Anyways, I was wondering if anybody has or know's of any sites that have videos of the Alpha 40 in action? The video link on RC Universe here is not working.

I have flown both and owned an arrow if you have a bit of training the arrow will be more fun for a longer time then the alpha
some things I would say to do to either of them is go ahead and glue the tail on as it's not the strongest setup
and I would add some epxoy fillets on the firewall since it can come loose on a hard landing other the that they fly great
later on with the arrow you can easily add a another servo to the wing for flaperons that makes for even more fun and the flaps are great to slow down the landing speed
JMTC

Have had the Alpha up a couple of nights in a row. I am very impressed I must say, the instructor did most of the flying the first night, basically checking the trims and making sure that all was well. The next night, I did most of it (on a buddy cord of course) but he was confident enough to let me land it pretty much right away, which went very successful. The plane floats in the sky if you want it to or give some throttle and you can have some fun, which is great for learning. Hanger 9 has done a wonderful job with this plane and for anyone who is looking to start with this as a trainer it is highly recommended. The only thing I would suggest is, do not try and fly it by yourself if you are inexperienced this plane carries a good amount of power for a trainer. I am going start going out by myself a bit, no wings on, and just getting use to controlling it for take off and taxing around the air field.