Hello guys,
As you may guess I’m a rookie (complete). I’ve just bought a Art-Tech Cessna 182 4 Channel electric. I’ve no experience in flying planes before I bought this plane. I’ve taken it out on two occasions [&o] (I’m awaiting the reports from both crash investigators). Yes I crashed both times.
The first time I nosed it into the ground and bent the prop shaft also smashing the front cowling. Not to worry I have found that the replacement parts are cheap £6.00 for a new motor etc.
The second flight was a bit better as I hand launched it and took it up to about 40ft. I managed a good football field circuit (some dodgy moments on right turns by not adjusting the rudder and allowing the nose to drop). Then a complete mess of a final right turn saw the plane nose once more smashing the wings, motor etc. Never mind it’ll fix and I’ve found that some tape works wonders on polystyrene.
Ok so I now know that it’s not easy and I now have the greatest respect for any person who can keep one of these things in the air for more than 2 minuets. My question is:-
Are there any videos / DVD’s that may be helpful? I cannot afford any of the flight sims yet (the wife may murder me if I spend any more money on my crashing addiction yet). I’ve thought about a local club but due to work commitments I have limited time and I don’t know anyone else enjoys this hobby. Any advice tips etc would be of great benefit. The plane came with the FMS flight sim but my pc has great difficulty in accepting any devise apart from a mic in the mic socket. I was wondering if I could get a USB cable which may work on the Art-Tech transmitter?
Thanks in advance for any replies.

If it's any consolation, KevT, your starting experience sounds a lot like mine a couple of years ago. I bought an Aerobird Challenger and spent a fair amount of time crashing it into a local soccer field. I spent a lot of money on replacement wings, tail assemblies, and propellers.

I ran into a local flying club that offered me a training flight on one of the club's glow trainers. The flight instructor took off and got the plane 3 mistakes high, then I got the controls via a buddy box. When I got in trouble, the instructor just let go of the training switch on his radio and took back the sticks.

It was amazing to me how much more authoritative the controls were on the big 4-channel glow trainer. I would tell it to turn, and it actually responded! That was quite a change from my Aerobird Challenger. After a quick 5-minute training flight, they had me hooked. I joined the club and bought my own glow trainer and put the Aerobird Challenger away in the closet.

The funny thing was, after about eight or ten weeks of flight training, I pulled the Aerobird Challenger back out of the closet and I found I could fly it much better than I had previously.

Small electric planes are much more succeptable to wind buffetting, anything above a gentle breeze makes them difficult to control. Small electric planes usually lack control authority. Turning them can't be done suddenly, you have to stay on the sticks to ease them through turns, but you also have to be careful not to overcontrol the plane.

I didn't have much luck learning how to fly my electric RTF by myself. I believe if you can get your FMS simulator working well, it should help you with regard to practicing control orientation and whatnot. If you can't find a local flying club to help you get started, however, I'm afraid you'll just have to keep stockpiling the spare parts you'll need until you finally get comfortable with your plane.

Even though you have limited time you would be better off in the long run by spending that flying time with an instructor. The ones that I have dealt with were willing to help me and would schedule a training session that fit into both of our schedules.

There are very few new pilots who are successful at teaching themselves how to fly. Besides learning to fly, an instructor may possess knowledge and experience with other things like motors, radios, sims, etc.

Think of it this way, the time you spend in repairing the crash damage could be spent flying. The money you spend for replacement parts, new airplane, etc could be spent at the local pub with your instructor as you discuss how well you are progressing in learning to fly...

Good luck!

For some good reading, http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=2199644 . This is a forum on the Cessna, and a few guys on there have succesfully taught themselves to fly. If you can't get the mic input to work, try the line-in to see if that will work. First thing you need to do is to take the connectors on the aileron control horns and move them to the outside holes. This will make it easier to control. You will need to use a small drill bit to enlarge the holes on the control horns, and don't over-tighten the threads on the connectors into the control horns, they should be able to rotate, but not wobble. Use some blue locktite to keep the threads from backing loose. While you have the wing off, check the connector on the servo horn. The one on mine was loose.

Thanks for the good advise guys. I think that I'll look for a local club and try there. Also thanks for the link jrcaster will look now. By the way how addictive is this hobby its got me hooked and i aint even got anywhere yet.

More than you can imagine..........How deep are your pockets?

It doesn't matter how deep your pockets are, How many platinum credit cards do you have?