I skimmed through most of the posts on this topic, so forgive me if I repeat information previously given. When turning, don't forget the effects of wind. When turning downwind, you will typically need more elevator to keep the plane level due to the loss of lift on the wing from the downwind effect. When turning into the wind, you will tend to climb due to the increased amount of air over the wind, causing more lift. This will vary greatly depending on a number of things that include, but are not limited to: wind velocity, crosswind or down the runway direction, your airspeed vs windspeed, shape of your wing, size of your wing, size of your control surfaces, etc. It's the same in a full size airplane, and it all takes practice practice practice. A good instructor is the best tool you have for being successful. Don't be afraid to change instructors if there is a communication problem. Some people just talk a different language than others... or so it seems.

fly as much as you can and when you get stuck on something work it out on the sim. get some fomies to practice with when you cant make it to the feild.

Try a different simulator.
[link]http://www.flying-model-simulator.com/[/link]
This one taught me.

And here's a link to a program that will download and install a hundred or so different models
[link]http://www.tti-us.com/sim/aircraft.html[/link]

Try and stay away from 3D and find something that looks like your plane
Some of the 3D planes are Tailheavy,

I have been flying for less than a year, But I found out that sims are cheap to repair.

i think the flight simulator will teach you a lot among the most important is:

1. REACTING TO YOUR PLANE. the plane will often not do what you want it to... whether that's your real plane or your simulator plane. what you need to do is learn how to cope with that. instead of fearing that your plane isn't trimmed right, fly it out of trim then trim it out. there are many times i put all my trims out of whack and fly. i would NEVER do this on my real planes. but i would on my simulator planes because it helps me fly a poorly trimmed plane. trust me... there are many times that you will fly with a plane out of trim whether it be because of a maiden, a loose battery, a warped or loose wing, or just a mistake like dialing in the wrong model on your tx (i've had all those happen to me!).

2. ORIENTATION. simulators are usually flown on a small screen that once the plane goes a little further away, become inadequate in terms of detail. this is a great time to learn orientation of your plane based on the inputs that you input. when the plane is far enough away that you can't easily tell its orientation, you need to learn to determine the orientation of your plane based on how it flies on your inputs. then try to fly your plane back. this is critical in real life and simulating it on the computer will save you money. i've seen people that have literally flown their planes so far and unable to bring them back often thinking they are flying toward them when they're actually flying away. they ultimately lose them in the horizon and risk their plane hitting some innocent person far far away.

3. RUDDER USE. it's easy on the simulator to use the rudder to combat the wind. i often crank up the wind and try to land doing the crab. i often put the planes in a slide to slow them down. in real life, the only plane i've ever put in a slide is a trainer and my cub. and my it's great fun!!!

i recently purchased RF 3.5 and i'm surprised how easy it is. i'm a little perturbed because it think it's even more a video game than it was before. the stalls are predictable, the landings can be super harsh, everything is so easy. i'm like a pro in 3.5 when i was a beginner in 2.0. i think i fly okay in real life and do all the standard aerobatics but in 3.5 i'm able to hold knife edge like there's no tomorrow then go directly into a hover. sure i'm not doing it for hours (hovering) but i can hold a steady hover for five ten seconds before losing it. but rarely do i ever crash. i must say 3.5 gives someone a false sense of security. if i were go out there and try to hover a few feet off the deck, i'm sure my funtana would be a pile of splinters!

to keep myself entertained in 3.5, i purposely crash my plane to break off a wing, a rudder (that's fun) or the landing gear and try to fly around. completely unreal!!! so my caveat is that simulators, while useful, is, as everyone has said, just a simulator. learn from it what it can teach you and move on.

my two cents.

Good advice posted here.

Guildsolutions:

Don't be discouraged. You've done VERY well, but you may not be realizing this yet.

We have guys at our club who have been in training for YEARS.

Most newbies take at LEAST a full season before they solo, and usually come to the club with months of experience on the sim.

If RC planes were extemely easy we would not have instructors nor sims.

Take heart from what your instructor said.

Do as he mentioned. It will help you get basic orientation and turn training down... but consider it to be only an adjunct to the real thing.

Give lessons 3-4 months of classes, before you assess yourself.

"Most newbies take at LEAST a full season before they solo".

They do? Wow, I didn't know that. Must be short seasons up there.

Some take longer than others but a full season just to solo??

It's a zen thing. A coordinated level banking turn requires aileron and small amounts of elevator and rudder added in. It is difficult starting out to throw differing amounts of stick deflection when you are trying to think about all three at once. Eventually you'll get so you can throw 20ΒΊ of aileron along with 5ΒΊ of opposite rudder and 10ΒΊ or elevator, but initially your brain will want to do them all in equal amounts. Practice, practice, practice. Work out one control at a time and then work on blending them together.

Also, try switching perspectives (chase plane, zoom, etc.) to observe how the model is reacting to your throws.

In pylon you can "cheat" and bank the plane on it's ear and then turn by giving up elevator. If you apply a little elevator in with the roll it lifts the nose to hold altitude.

I can remember my first real instructor having me do big, expansive flat figure eights for whole tanks of fuel, over and over. Gets you practiced up in keeping level in the turns.

Yup. No "short" seasons.

We tend to get only one or two certifications during the training season, then those that have gone through it tend to certify early the following year.

Classes are held every two weeks.

Those that do certify quickly have either had prior experience or a LOT of simulator time to lower the learning curve....

Last year 8 new pilots certified total. We have about 230 members in the club.