I am a RC Heli pilot with a Raptor 30 been flying for 6 years and I want to get into planes a little. I am also an airline pilot and have done G3 to death with both heli's and planes. I can hover a plane on G3 along with light aerobatics(not that I am looking to do 3d at all). What plane should I get for my first without having to worry about wrecking it and building another from scratch. I was looking into a sturdy birdy or aerobat but heard they have downsides.

Thanks


P.S.

I have a 9c and also a .40 size for the airplane.

Get yourself a Kadet Sr. ARF. You should have a leg up on flying, since you've thrashed the sim. Being a pilot (full-scale) doesn't necessarily help much beyond understanding aerodynamics and flight basics. You have no physical inputs in a model as you do in a plane; yoiu're well aware of that from heli flying.

The Kadet is a great plane, easy to fly, but offers more flexibility than most trainers because of its size (makes a great towplane, camera platform, candy-or parachute drop plane, etc) A .40 will fly it, but a .60 size will make it sing.

skydemon02,
Welcome to the world of flying with wings!!!! Stay away from sturdy birdy and aerobat. They have a great sales pitch saying that they are "durable". They may be that, but they fly like a brick with wings (IMHO). As said above, a Kadet Sr. would be a good start. An LT-40 is another good one. A Goldberg Eagle 2 is a great start. But, considering your stick time with heli's and on the sim you might be ready for something a little hotter. I don't recommend the Hanger 9 PTS for everybody because it's not a trainer for every new pilot. It is hotter in the way it flies, and I like to consider it an "advanced" trainer. By this I mean as a trainer for a pilot as he moves up in his trainer, or for those pilots like you that already have a good start on stick time or those that are "naturals" at this. The P-51 PTS from Hanger 9 might be just what you are looking for. Check it out here : [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=HAN2825]Hanger 9 P-51 PTS[/link] . Yes, the link that I gave you is for the entire package. But they do have the ARF coming out soon (if it's not already out), so you can get that and use your own radio.

Hope this helps

Ken

AHHH, A Heli guy going to planes. I did the same thing several years ago. I flew Heli's for 5 years and then made the jump to planes. It was VERY easy to do too. I soloed on my first flight. I really kinda ticked off some plane guys they wouldn't believe I never flew a plane prior to this. I also had allot of Sim stick time.Not to mention the winds where 10-15 mph that day

All that said, get a regular trainer style plane, I liked the Sig LT 40 but I found that in no time I wanted more out of my plane. You could very easily learn on a Sig 4Star or something similar. It wouldn't take but a few flights to be able to land it. Yes, you could skip right over the trainer thing. Just have someone there to watch and help initially.

The key is you already have all you need to do the flying, you know reversed controls. You will be FAR more at ease with a plane than a Heli too.

Good Luck and let us know how you do.