I learned to fly in the 1970's with the old method of handing the transmitter to the instructor when you were in trouble. You got a landing a week and no one got good at it. I broke a lot of balsa. Then I relearned in 2000. I did most of the learning on the simulator and it is key. If there is a problem on the landing on the simulator, you will have the same broken sound from the real plane. You can learn to fly very expensive planes in wind. You can learn to do aerobatics that no one thought possible prior to simulators. You can also figure out if you like a plane or will ever be able to fly it. The simulator is essential.

When I relearned in 2000, I couldn't get enough instruction time at my club so I went to Hobbies Aloft in Monterey http://www.redshift.com/~rccfi/ . Sure enough I got my 120 landings in two hours just as advertised. Wow! It was hard to get back to Monterey for another day but I knew how to land after a day. I got my blue card and then used the simulator and a trainer to take off and land until I was really good at it. My trainer needed a new nose gear once, and a new engine mount once, but it still flies today and my kids are learning on it. Every day I would go flying I would spend 30 minutes on the simulator prior to flying at the field. The first flight on the simulator was shaky, the first flight on the RC plane was fine.

I teach a different approach to landing than I was taught at Hobbies Aloft. But when I teach, I use the skills I learned in one day at a paid RC flight school. I also insist students get a simulator. I won't instruct students that don't have a simulator.

Paying someone for their time is part of life. If your time is valuable and their time is valuable and the plane is valuable, pay for the time. I strongly recommend people use paid RC flight instructors, if they are in a hurry. I have thought about taking paid flight instruction for Jet training or Helicopter training. I pay for all kinds of courses for my profession, why shouldn't I pay for high quality instruction in RC? I am learning to be a private pilot and it costs $200 an hour for plane and instructor (instructor is $65 an hour). Why should RC flight instruction be free?

If time is valuable, people pay for instruction. That is reality. That being said, I don't charge for the instruction I give, and I have now taught a number of students, but I am less available than a paid instructor.

Gichucan,
I don't know where you're from in LI but the field I've visited seems to have very helpful instructors. It's in Nassau. I haven't flown yet but went there to check out the field.
Everyone seemed very helpful.
I was thinking I would join the club that flies there to get instruction and I hope I don't have the same experience that you have had.

Does the club supply the BB or should the student bring his own?
Would it make it easier on the instructors?

Hello,
I'm out east in suffolk county. thanks for asking... I have since been getting mixed reviews about"paid instruction" some like it some dont. I hate using the"everybody has their way of doing it" -but it's truenot everybody feels the need for an instructor some have a great need for it. I guess i just got sick of a stampede of people crowding the one or two instructors as they arrived at the field like they were the 2nd coming.... well this summer has come and gone now it's the sim for the winter and building(ASSEMBLING) a few ARF'S... Perhaps next summer i'll be good enough to fly at your field!
thanks Giguchan

actually i forgot to mention.. i bought my own BB they were cheap enough this way i did not have to wait for the one BB to become free or to have to re trim it everytime this way i have my own and know what condition it's in.
Giguchan

Check at the Pine Barron Flying club in south jersey they have a very good instructor he charges $40 an hour his name is Ken.

Hello,
thanks for the reply... I will keep your friends name and information.. but i 've decided that when i do do this i will travel to the school upstate NY.... I just did not have the time this year... what with work and traveling... abroad... the person here(NY) i do trust, kept incontact with him so when i do this there i wil go... things have changed a little at my home field(i belong to a few clubs) meaning that some folk have crashed planes and given up for the season. some have decided the hobby is too much for them, and some stop flying this time of the season for other hobbies(hunting season preparation) I'm glad that i did not get flamed as much as i thought i was going to because some folk don't like i idea of paying for something that is "supposed" to be free
for that i thank the people who replied..
Giguchan

thanks for the reply....

A professional is someone who accepts money for their services. We have professionals who will teach you to drive a car, fly an airplane, sail a boat and even train your dog. Some of them have certificates of achievement but many do not. In all cases the amount of money spent does not equate to the level of expertise received. But, in the case where certification is required, we at least know that someone, or some organization, feels that this person is at least competent and qualified to receive money for his (or her) services.

In some of those cases there are people who will give you instruction for free. Uncle Fred can teach you how to drive, aunt Bertha can show you how to set a spinnaker, and your neighbor Roscoe is more then willing to help you train your dog. Just keep in mind ... you get what you pay for in those cases.

Isn't it about time that RC flying moved out of the shadows of "a bunch of adults flying toys" who were all taught to fly by "some other guy who knows how"?

We’ve progressed from the days when everyone built their own radios and their own balsa and tissue airplanes to flying professionally built 50% airplanes using the latest computer technology, isn’t it time that the internal workings of the sport advanced to? In my opinion, we need to be a legitimate sport with paid, certified instructors ... available at every Club.

If we had that, people like giguchan wouldn’t have the issues that he does ... or would he?

Hello,
thanks for the reply... I know that there are people who think the the hobby should be all free.. ok so beit. i am willing to pay an instructor. he does not have to be a pro- just some who can do it better than i - one who is willing to teach... i'm not asking a lot here....if someone is charging a lot of money i look elseware... till i find someone who can give me what i want -at a price that we both agree on.
thanks for the reply.
Giguchan