I am hoping this will prove many people can train themselves. Or prove me wrong, any result is a result.

You might as well try to prove that there is a moon. It's not that people can't teach themselves--it's that most people aren't willing to do the work to properly train themselves, and in any event the training will be far better when delivered by an instructor.

What work? How is the process much different? Besides a pro talking you through it, there is no extra effort unless you wouldn't bother to put it in because you you have a buddybox. and the people who ask are obviously willing or they wouldn't even ask about it. Most of make it sound like a kamikaze mission.

Before I take time to answer that, are you new? You'd almost have to be to ask that question.

Statistics is one of the three worst lies!

You can train yourself sure,
What happens if you are wrong...

its just too expensive to learn everything on your own flesh (in time, effort, love, craftsmenship, work, problem solving, money).

there are many small but important things you learn from experienced instructor, like five=5 checks on the radio before takeoff []
or that all the flight is actually planed ahead...

if you try to takeoff first time without instructor at the field it sounds like: "WOW everybody stop everything you are doing, come and watch this"


Good luck

You want to 'prove' that people can train themselves? This sounds pretty much self-serving. You want to try to justify your activities without an instructor to us? Sort of preaching to the choir.

If you read other posts, and I can gurantee you that there are literally hundreds of them, about people trying to train themselves to fly RC, you will find the answer to your question.

If you insist on trying to learn to fly RC yourself, without an instructor, well, knock yourself out. Have a ball. Make sure you have a high limit on your plastic, though. Then, once you are convinced that you probably made a mistake, get yourself a good trainer, or rebuild the one you wrecked three or four times, and get in touch with an instructor and go for it.

I don't quite understand the reluctance to get an instructor. I believe the cost is minimal (how about free..) so it can't be the expense. Could it be bravado? Ego? Hmmm?

It's already been proven that a very small percentage of people that try to teach themselves are successful. Why try to change the numbers that prove the point already?

DS.

I believe a person can train themselves. I trained myself 30 yrs ago. My 1st plane lasted 15 seconds, My second went through several rebuilds till I could land without tearing it up. So yes you can teach yourself . Have Fun.

I learned on my own also about 30 years ago at the expense of several airplanes. Came very close to doing severe damage to personal property and people too. Got lucky in that I missed them, except for one building. No credit to me though, just pure luck as I had no idea of what I was doing. All this even though I was maintaining a full scale flight simulator and flying full scale at the time.

Ya want to do it on your own? Get out in the middle of nowhere so you can only hurt yourself. Send video for our entertainment too.

I trained myself on an electric foamy that cost $130 initially for the RTF, and I think four or five extra ARF versions at $60 a pop to repair or replace all of the damage I did. I would venture to say that no one can build an Easystar as quickly or as well as I can! Joking, of course.

Not to mention a couple of little things like props, an extra motor, etc.

You can do it yourself as long as you don't do it near anyone, and you don't mind the cost. I flew for the first 15-20 times at my club's field when I wasn't a member yet. The field is out in the middle of the woods, so there's nothing around to hurt except myself and the trees. Which, coincidentally, is the first place my plane ended up on my first attempt.

Later when I went to four channel nitro planes, the transition was smooth and easy and I was flying by myself after the second week.

In hindsight, it would have been absolutely dumb of me to go out and buy a nitro plane and do it myself. I could have seriously hurt myself in the middle of woods with no way to get in touch with anyone, or I could have simply flown it into the same tree as my electric and ended up being out $300 or so.

There's no reason NOT to go with an instructor if one is available to you. In my case, the electric foamy was more like an advanced toy for me to play with. Nitro trainers, however, are not toys.

Think of a video game that you have plated in the past.

Did you get to the end on your first quarter?

Ok, now imaging that flying is like a video game, but when you lose because you don't know all the "Tricks" it costs $300 instead of a quarter AND you just might kill someone in the process

I also taught myself to fly . For several reasons

1. I`m hard headed.
2. See number 1.

It was spendy and took much longer learning the little tricks that come from someone with hands on experience . Also , if you hook up with the right bunch people , the help you well get is priceless.

Yes you can teach your self to fly , but I found out I would have been ahead to hook up with someone from the start. If I had found RCU sooner , I would have been several crashes ahead of the game. lol But I`m Hard Headed

the last one is misleading, ppl will think you mean succesfully trained by an instructor...you should change it to trained myself succesfully

I taught myself to fly because i didn't know or have anyone to help me. I crashed, A LOT!

After about 3 planes I finally got good at it.

Let's talk about this one for a second. The problem with this is that when you are self taught you just don't know what you don't know. That may sound a little bit cryptic but it's a very true statement. How can you know what an instructor is teaching you when you have never been with the instructor. How do you know what to teach yourself? I'm sure that most everybody that has taught themself will agree with this as they look back upon their experience. There is a lot more that an instructor is going to teach you than just "moving the sticks around" to fly the plane. While this is not a complete list of things an instructor will teach you, it gives you a good idea of what I am talking about.
Your instructor will teach you to...
[ul][*]Diagnose engine problems[*]Properly tune your engine[*]Correct radio installation[*]Correctly setting up the radio to control the plane[*]Safely starting the plane[*]Deadstick procedures[*]When to abort a takeoff[*]Introduction to aerobatics[*]Answer any of your hundreds of questions that are asked while training.
[/ul]
As I said, this is not a complete list but it gives you an idea of what I am talking about. There are so many more things that an instructor will teach you, but when you teach yourself you don't even know about a lot of these things. And how can you teach yourself something you don't even know about??

Something to think about.

Ken

I taught myself. Had my first flight when I was 18. I was an idiot then (sometimes things haven't changed much! ). Things went well for me, largely because I'd been preparing for years. As I kid I grew up in the shadow of the airport. I was lucky to have--and still do have--great friends that loved airplanes as much as I do. We spend summers playing with different toy airplanes. Not that much as changed.

I did pick up real experience that was invaluable to me. Playing with different free-flight models taught me a lot about weight and balance. The importance of building straight, too. I learned the basics of linkages and hinges with simple control-line models. What's more fun than a cheap .049 trying to pull balsa planks and string into the air on a softball infield? My friends had their father's old control line engines, and we spent time learning the basics of glow by trial and error.

I learned about radio equipment with RC cars. That solved the left-right reversal, too. Having some level of familiarity with servos and receivers took most of the mystery out of that aspect of things when I build my Aerostar. I knew the basics of battery maintenance. I think I was 14 when I got the Aerostar. I'd learned the basics of building with Guillows kits over the few years before that. If you can get a cheap Guillows kit (with the cheap wood inside of it) together and looking good, you can build a quality RC kit.

It took me years to get that Aerostar finished. During that time I'd set up my Fox .40BB Deluxe on a test stand a few times and got it well broken in. That was a cantankerous little engine. It's sitting in a box in my closet, and someday when I'm having troubles with one of my engines I'll dig it out for some perspective. Two of my friends had moved on to RC during this time, too. We spent time out at the club field. My time was just spent watching, listening, and trying to soak it all in. We sat pylons at the annual races. I thought that beer, cigarettes, and heckling were part of a normal evening at the field. They had these little foot-high shepard's poles with small buckets on them for ashtrays, and they always seemed to be over-flowing.

I devoured every book and magazine I could find that had anything to do with aviation and RC. I had a great grasp on the theories involved--probably a higher level of knowledge than I have today. I spent lots of time on computer simulators. This was before RC sims got popular. You'd set the MS Flight Sim to tower view, and hope to get something valuable out of the experience.

My first RC flight went well. My two friends that had already been flying were there, along with a friend who also made his first flight that day. I don't recall too much of it. It took me about a month to put my Aerostar in the dirt. I was trying to do an outside loop and misjudged the altitude.

If I was learning today, I'd hope that I would have the courage to admit that there's no shame in using a buddy box. A few years ago there was a fellow out at the flying field who swore he knew how to fly, had taken lessons, and only needed a slight refresher on the buddy box. I helped him take his LT-40 up, and he was a long ways from being ready to solo. We worked on flying the pattern and making figure 8s. He was getting better, but had real issues on which way to push the sticks. A week or so later he was back again, and he said he'd gotten some additional help in the meantime. He wanted me to take off for him, but absolutely refused to use the buddy box. So instead we played pass-the-transmitter, which is a stupid, stupid game to play. He didn't want to pass the transmitter at one point, and sure enough his airplane found a tree. That was the last time I saw Dan, who was a nice guy, at the field. Think of the time and money he wasted because of pride. He could be actively enjoying the hobby today if he had been just a little more patient and humble.

Why not take advantage of the great people in this hobby that want to share their knowledge and help you to succeed?

This guy is just another Rebel without a cause

"How is the process different?"
Well you have to prove to an instructor that you can safely control the plane
without destroying it, anyone or anything, before you can fly by yourself. When learning by yourself you
only have to think you are flying good, but like Ken said you don't know what good flying is.

"There is no extra effort. "
When learning to fly by yourself you can read the instructions, websites, ect. when you go to fly will you remember
everything you read? probably not. you may have brought your instructions for the plane, engine, radio.
But the extra effort is the safety and proper learning that the instructor will teach you.
How to rubber band or bolt your wing on,
Is the prop and spinner tightened properly
Is there any flutter in your control surfaces,
Is the plane properly balanced
Are the surfaces trimmed to a neutral servo horn, is any linkage binding
Does the plane have the proper thrust angles.
Is the proper propeller on the plane.

Like Ken's list this is a small part of the things a good instructor will check. also
Check radio functions
Teach how to prime engine the right way
Teach proper SAFE starting procedure.
Teach proper tuning technique
Teach how to range check.
The list goes on and on, and the plane is still on the bench hasn't flown yet.

If you were by yourself would you have known to go through all these steps?
Would you do them ALL?

"Most make it sond like a kamikaze mission"
IMO in a kamakaze mission it was understood the plane was getting destroyed. so yes for the most part it is
a kamakaze mission. ALMOST every self taught person here will say they crashed, some alot. I don't see alot of people posting that they took their brand new plane out, having never flown before, and took off flew for 8 mins and greased a landing. Even those of us that had instructors probably couldn't say that.

my first flight was an accident. my first plane was a tranner but i never got to fly it(dad crashed it madden flight) my second was a big stick and my dad was going to teach me how to fly BUT he decided it would be better to teach me to taxi first so he gave me the radio with no buddy box and sad try taxing around some and hold up elevator while doing it and he walked back to the truck and i started taxing it around some and i was going down the runway going with the wind and got going pretty fast i turned around and started going into the wind AT THE SAME SPEED next thing i know the plane is in the air heading straight for me. So i didn't know what to do so i duck out the way and when i turned around the plane was heading in for a one point landing and i pulled full up elevator and the plane landed PERFECTLY turns out I'm a natural when my dad got me in the air with the box he only had to take over once. When he first gave me the controls i over controlled it (the throws were set at max) but after that i did fine

Stupid subject......... NEXT! Really, if you really think you could fly your plane successfully you would have already done it and be telling us about it. Get an instructor and you'll have fun, be satified with the results, and learn a whole bunch in the process or you can just try it on your on and more that likely crash and buy and new plane. It's your call. Everytime I flip the trainer button and turn the flight over to the student I say "it's your airplane"

Another thing to add here on the subject of instructors, and using them or not. They are a great way to make friends and meet people at the flying field. When I instruct somebody it's always turned into a great friendship that lasts to this day. From friendship with the instructor comes meeting and becoming friends with others at the field/club. It's just human nature to be hesitant to try and insert yourself into any group of people, so most new people are intimidated to try and meet the existing fliers at any club. But when you are with your instructor he will introduce you to the "guys" and get you involved with them. Trust me, beginner's are always treated great at most fields.

On the other hand, when somebody new shows up to the field and pulls out his <insert name of plane here> and nobody knows it everybody automatically becomes susicious of them. And it's exactly why you think it would be, because nobody knows them or their flying skills. First meetings like this usually get worse over time because first impressions are lasting impressions.

I know that all of this may sound silly, but it's not because the people side of this hobby is a HUGE part of it. If I was out flying by myself I wouldn't fly near as much as I do now. A great part of any flying day is spending time with my flying buddies. And in the winter when we can't fly we usually meet for coffee on saturday mornings!!!

Ken

I did not teach my self, I did fly buy my self the first year without any instructions from anyone and I made many flights and never crashed the first year either.

So with that said, I did fly all on my own, but I was missing so much other information that is really needed until I did hook up with other flyers. So to say you can FLY by yourself is one thing and saying you are LEARNING is another thing. If you do not know what you are looking for then how will you know what you are looking for. An expericed flyer will help you in that field.

I went the instructor route and am glad I did so. Like someone mentioned above, the benefits aren't just in the air but also in getting to know the other guys. While most everyone I've met at the club has been quite friendly and encouraging, without the instructor I'm just another newbie, you know?

by the way your question is slanted.it takes more than one flight to learn everything needed for proper flying the rest is practice.
there is crosswind take offs and landings,deadstick manuevers,side slips to lose altitude in a hurry without gaining airspeed.don't forget about properly trimming an airplane.flight instructers are also the fields test pilots for new planes or at least they used to before arf arrived.

I should mention that after my year of flying the Easystar, then moving to an Avistar, then Thunder Tiger Spirit 3d, then my Seagull Harrier 90 with a 60 size Extra and Four Star 60 in various states of build/repair, my instructor is by FAR the best investment I've had in this hobby. Any questions I have are quickly and thoroughly answered, any nervous jitters I get with a new plane are taken care of by him taking the plane up and handing me the transmitter, any engine tuning, prop, throttle control, movement, anything else you can think of is taken care of with "Hey Vic, can I ask you a question?"

He regularly sits with me every weekend for at LEAST 30-60 minutes and goes over the plane, makes suggestions for improvements, tells me what he thinks I am and am not ready for, etc.

Once you hook up with a good instructor, everything falls into place because no matter what goes wrong, questions you have or problems you have, there is always that person there to help you out. Sometimes, it's a VERY simple answer to what you thought was going to take days of repair.

If he's not there, any of the other club members are happy to help.

There is just no reason not to go with a club/instructor, especially starting out with glow planes where the potential for injury is much higher in my opinion. If I had it all to do over again, I certainly would have made joining a club my first priority.

ALWAYS get an instructor to teach you. If not, you might as well put your plane, wallet, and credit cards in a pit and light them on fire.

It took me a while to get my wings, but that's because I was in a bad training program. Not enough stick time. I did solo, sort of, on my first flight. I didn't have a buddy box. The instructor took it up and handed me the controller, then told me what to do. He never had to take it back until it was time to land.

I couldn't answer the poll. "almost crapped myself" wasn't a choice. And I had an instructor.