Worried it might happen. I plan on getting a plane soon, and flying over the summer.

IMO that's one of the major problems with pass-the-box that the buddy box cures. It simply allows the student too much time to get in too much trouble. If the instructor had been able to interdict sooner the crash may have been avoided. Unsteady newbies should not be allowed to fly into unsafe areas by their instructors.

Unsteady newbies should not be allowed to fly into unsafe areas by their instructors.
I remember my first instructor. He was standing about 15' away talking to a buddy (and ignoring me) while I made one of my first flights. My engine was too lean, heating up, and slowly dying. I tried to maintain altitude, but my trainer was giving up fast. I hadn't even flown enough to know I was in trouble. When he finally noticed, I was about 20' high with the engine almost dead, and full "up" elevator. He rushed over and grabbed the box but couldn't prevent the snap stall, roll over, and subsequent spin in. It crashed hard, tearing out the whole fuselage forward of the leading edge. That was the last of that trainer and the last of that instructor. He didn't even apologize.

Dr.1

I have never crashed on a landing ....but my instructor crashed my first plane on the first flight (On the take off) it ended up in about 1000 little pieces . the bad thing was it was a Kit and I spent alot of time putting it together.

is that the one he crashed in your profile? jeeeez...thats too bad. i had a plane crash on takeoff too. it was the first time we tried to get it up and actually, it got up about ten feet and the engine quit. down it came like a brick. i know how you feel. mine was an arf plane so it wasnt as bad as yours. you probably could have taken off yourself blindguarden.

G'day Mate,
Don't worry about things that might happen, In fact don't worry at all,
It's a fact that worrying won't help, if it has not happened, & if it has happened, it's too bloody late to worry.
So, find a club, watch the Club instructor, & see how he/she flys, if you are confident about their abillity, get all the info you can, about a plane, radio, motor, & so on.
If not happy with them, find another club, but don't worry about anything, just enjoy.

No my first landing went okay but again my instructor helped me a lot. I was not using a buddy box or a trainer cord or anything like that. I had the radio and was listening to his guidance. Before I tried my first landing I had flown the plane many times with my instructors assistance. I made many low speed passes to just relax and let the plane come down to the ground by it self and too learn how the plane flies.

Have I crashed planes on landing? Sure have and most of them have been not being familure with a plane and trying to force it to land.

I have taught a couple of people how to fly and when I teach them to land I teach them the same thing that was taught to me. Just relax and let the plane come down and let it land. The biggest mistake I see is when someone does not allow their plane to land and the force it to land. Some planes land faster than others, some need to be flared to land properly All need a pilot who is failure with the plane and confident in their skills. With those two skills and the lack of dumb thumbs almost all can land a plane and not hurt it.

Is landing hard? Yes for a beginner, not so much for an experienced pilot. The beginner is nevous and does not know his plane that well to understand what he/she is seeing. All they see is a plane coming at them and it "needs" to land. Unless it is close to running out of fuel or a dead stick it does not need to land right now. Get back in the throttle and try it again.

the single best thing you can do is make those slow passes and as low as you're comfortable with. try it a few times in a row and you'll be amazed how good you can do it.

I've flown with all the instructors in our club but two. Each has their good points and well, some not so good. But, lets face it, if I have the plane on take off and do something stupid, there isn't an instructor out there that can save the plane at that point. There is a point where the training wheels have to come off and a couple skinned knees are expected. Being somewhat clumbsy, I get my knees scrapped more than most. Also, if there is a radio failure, structural failure, or the likes, no one has control and again the best instructor couldn't do anything to save the plane. The plane that I lost may have had a mid air with a bird. A couple days before, it landed with about 10 square inches of covering torn out of the horz stab. There might have been a crack in the wood that I didn't see when I recovered it that let loose mid flight. Who knows. I can hardly blame it on my instructor. The only incident so far that I felt my instructor of the day caused was the failure to go to idle before taking control to shut down the engine.

Don

Where do you fly down there?

I crash on every landing. I get the plane down though!

That gets a tad bit expensive, doesn't it Swager?

I really wouldn`t worry about it. You and your instructor will no doubt fly many approaches before you land. Also, you`ll become familiar with your plane. You`ll probably be making an approach just like you`ve been doing and become comfortable with, and you`ll just say, " I`m gonna set her down " and she`ll just float right in. That`s what happened to me.

I trained on a buddy box. My instructor had me practice landing approaches and would take over when it got in close.
He wouldn't tell me when he took control so I had to keep going as if I still had it.. On the 3rd or 4th run he didn't bother to take over..

I didn't know I'd landed until it was on the runway. Best landing I've ever made too..

We all admire you for your determination! You will get better. Do you have a simulator and home computer? Also, sounds like your instructor could be a little better at keeping you out of trouble. Hang in there you will get there.

i've heard that only one in three landings is really picture perfect....mine is more like one in ten....haha. but i'm getting better. hey, what the heck....might as well test out the suspension...thats what i say. i've put em down pretty hard and nothing's happened. these birds are tough. good luck

We have a field next to Questa College. Take a look at our web. SloFlyers.com
I'm still working on the web trying to get it presentable, but there are some nice shots of the field.