The_Lost_Otter

Hi i have never flown a plane in person, but i have the G3.5 flight sim. i have at least 100 hours on it if not more. I can fly many planes, I can do torque rolls, hover, knife edge and so on. I just want some recomendations on what you think would be a great learner plane. What should i look for in a plane??

Thx.

Mr67Stang

Firstly, welcome to our world of airplanes. The simulators are great! BUT, they do not teach you everything you need to know. Your car experience will help, especially if it was nitro cars as you will be pleased to learn nitro plane engines are easier to tune and last decades as aposed to a season or two. I have a 40 year old engine that still runs strong. Before I recomend a single plane I will advise you to get with a local club and an instructor. Almost any trainer airplane can get the job done and you may find one at your local club that is either cheap or even free to use for newbies. By your post it seams you will want to progress towards 3D aerobatics but I urge you to progress to it and not jump to it. Now their are several trainers out their (good first planes) and everyone has their favorites. I am fond of the ones that have semisemetrical airfoils like the Hobbico Avistar and Hanger 9 Arrow. You can speend as much as $1000 on your first set up or as little as about $350 after you get all of your feild equipment. At the top of this forum you will see a sticky thread with a list of good trainer planes.

Give us a better idea of what your looking for as far as budjet and power type (nitro/electric).

The_Lost_Otter

There really isn't a budget,I do want a trianer with 3D capobilities. This is not going to be any thing that is going to be bought soon. I am just looking for some ideas and it can be eather electric or gas.I want a gas more because it would be cheaper.


You seem very helpfull. And yes i do drive nitro cars, What would you think would be a good trainer.

I also want one that it does not get old after awhile.

jetmech05

You seem a bit confused Mx314. A trainer is a trainer, it is a forgiving airplane that isn't too fast. That gives a student time to think. A 3D airplane is an aircraft capable of doing 3D aerobatics. Do you see the difference?
There is not a 3D capable trainer.
Might I suggest a trip to your local field, talk to an instructor there, see if he'll take you up on an introductory flight. Get his input on your first plane.

pupmeister

I agree with Mr67Stang , the best way to choose a trainer is to go to your closest airfield and speak to the instructors there and get there advise on what type of trainer to purchase. At the same time you can get recommendations on which brand of radio to purchase if they use a buddy cord system at the club.

Be very careful when comparing the simulator to the real thing. They make a great training aid you will definitely be ahead of the curve when you start out at the field when compared to a person that has never had a go on the sim. By the sounds of your description you will really be at an advanced stage of learning when you start, however simulators tend to give you a false sense of security and they allow you to develop bad habits since all you have to do is reset the sim if it all goes wrong. I also found that take offs and landings are a lot easier in the sim than in reality. I think that some of this can be attributed to the lack realism in the sim and some of it to the fact that you don't worry about getting it wrong in sim (and that you don't have all the senior pilots watching you in the club making you nervous).

Although the trainer will not be as capable as a 50% IMAC plane, if you watch this clip [link=http://www.flyinggiants.com/gallery/data/504/attachment.wmv]Trainer 3D[/link] you will see that your trainer is quite capable of doing a lot more than most people believe it can. Although personally I am not capable of flying my trainer like this, I am quite capable of doing all the basic type of aerobatics such as loops, inverted flight and rolls with it.

The most important thing of all is to get to your closest RC airfield and find an instructor to train/guide you. Please do not ignore the comments that were posted here and think that since you can fly the advanced planes in the sim, you can go and buy one and fly it on your own. That will be a very expensive way to end your association with this hobby since you WILL crash it long before you are capable of anything as advanced as hovering or knife edge flights (You will most probably crash it on your first flight).

Cheers
Pups

Insanemoondoggie

3D planes and Trainers are very different from each other in design and performance .
Trainers are designed to teach you the skills needed to move into 3D and has a stronger airframe , which well handle the {Ut-Oh`s} better. 3D plane are built so light , that a hard landing will break them.
I just moved into 3D a month ago. On 3D rates there is no room for error . I have had a few humbling experiences , at which time I drag out the trainer and go back to the basic`s for a while.

jetmech05

Insane you are so right, I love our hobby er sport er whatever it is we do. I've been humbled very well. A time or two myself
Alas, I am but a stain on the sheet of life.

Have fun

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Mx, My comp wont pic up that trainer3d vid, but the only way to 3D a .40 trainer is to put a .90 on it..and people do...100 hours on a sim will help but it wont be the same as 5 minutes in the air,,I recommmend glow trainers, but if you are really wanting to get to 3D, then electrics is probably the quicker way to go...glow, you want a .40 trainer, then a tiger or midstar or fourstar...then you can try a twist or over power a Stick or something like that.....Rog

opjose

With ample time on the sim, you'll still need to go through all of the initial stuff, however you'll progress VERY quickly...

With that in mind, join a club and see if you can use their trainer for the initial training sessions.

That will get you in the air and practicing with the real thing...

Then start looking for what may be considered a "second" plane, not a 3D one. But do this only after consulting the instructors.

One option would be something that will make the transition with you to aerobatics, such as the PTS series or other low wingers.

Kevin1963

I fully understand where you are coming from on this one. My advice, get the most inexpensive trainer that still has good quality. Spend money on a radio and engine that you can remove from that trainer and put into your second plane. If you fly quite a bit, you very well may be bored and done with that trainer in short order. Some people continue to fly their trainers ... most don't from what I have seen.

If a local field will let you use their trainer, even better. My trainer is now in the basement and not being used at all. I'm going to donate it to my club where it will get some use.

N429EM

Humbling?

Make sure you get good and bored with a trainer, before trying to advance to anything else.

Just last Saturday, I tried to re-maiden a 3D/Pattern hybrid. I was/am nowhere near ready for an aircraft with that much sensitivity. The real world is quite different than the sims. Although, the sims are a great way to become accustomed to radio controls. My Freestyle is still MIA. Up in a tree, tall grass, or water (God forbid). And, the search goes on.

Have fun,

EJ

The_Lost_Otter

What about the NEXSTAR AFS? I know 3D and trainers are very different, I just want one with some capabilities of 3D flight.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I've put together a list of planes that make good trainers and second planes. All of them on the list are proven planes that are well suited for successfully letting students learn to fly, or advance to a second plane. Check out the list here
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4537845/tm.htm] Looking for a trainer- what's available. (Updated 1-19-07) [/link]

Hope this helps

Ken

The_Lost_Otter

[link]http://hobby-lobby.com/tel40gas.htm[/link]


Is this a good plane??

Or would this be better??

[link]http://hobby-lobby.com/telemaster-mini.htm[/link]

opjose

"3D" planes are different animals.

They have large control surfaces with high deflection.

They tend to be mid winged planes ( as opposed to high wing trainers ) and posess good axial roll, while having NO self righting capabilities.

The Nexstar does not fall into this catagory.

That said you can perform some aerobatics with the Nexstar, as you can with most trainers.

If you get one, you'll tend to keep it for a good while.

3D planes are notoriously BAD trainers because of their characteristics.



AFS? Well, let's say that you should DISABLE it immediately...

AFS has been the cause of many lost Nexstars at our club.

opjose

The mini Telemaster is a 3 channel plane, and it will not teach you aileron control ( ahem, how to fly a "real" RC plane... ).

The 40 telemaster is more of a usual trainer.

Remember that the price of 89.00 only represents the airframe.

You will spend more for all of the required components.

Were you looking for a KIT instead of an ARF?

The_Lost_Otter

Kit or arf or fine. The kit would be better so i have some thing to do over the summer.

I know I will need covering, Ect...

pupmeister

I am sorry that the link does not work, but it has been blocked (change) by the RCUniverse software. I think this may be because it is hosted by a competing forum. I thought because this forum specialises in larger RC planes there would not be a problem, but I understand RCUniverse's policy and I do not wish to offend. If you really want to see this clip, search on google for a pilot that uses the nic name 3dubya and you should be able to find the video.

Cheers
Pups

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Pups,
Yes, that site is filtered out here on RCU. But not because we don't want to link to their site. That is filtered because of actions from them in the past. RCU is not afraid of competition and normally we don't limit links to other sites if that link answers a question of give information pertenant to the thread discussion. But at time the actions of other sites force us to take measures like this. RCU wishes this wasn't the case, but in reality we have to.

Ken

pupmeister

Thanks for the info RCKen,

I understand that sometimes these steps need to be taken.

Before anyone makes a comment that I should post the video on RCUniverse or any were else, I do not feel that would be ethical and thus I will not do that.

Cheers
Pups

Pacific Planes

If you have that many hours on a sim and can hover, do torque rolls, and knife edge, you would be fine with just about anything. If I were you, I would start out with a 12-20 oz Yak 54 and fly it for a couple weeks. Then load whatever you want. My first plane was Yak 54 with a .56 glow on it. I flew it for a week, then converted it to electric. Also, even with aerobatic plane you can fly them on low rates until you get comfortable with high rates. I know many people disagree with this method but I think you should be more then fine with just about anything. You would get bored with a trainer after a day.

opjose

Sims are great to acquire the basics.

Extreme proficiency in the sim does NOT equate to real world experience though.

A person who is very good with the sim will take a relatively short amount of time to acclimate to the real thing, but that does not mean that the process should be skipped over.

The sims cannot mimic all the nuances of a real plane nor provide training for all of the typically seen situations.

Bill Lowen

funny, I don't remember my heart pounding and my knees shaking when I was on the sim. Do it right, join a club, get an instructor and have them help you find a trainer. I have seen 3D and it is not easy to do. An ARF is not that expensive. Buy a good radio and engine and like people say, you can put that on your next airplane when you master your trainer. If you get a trainer with a semi symetrical wing and a powerful engine, they can be quite fun to fly. My skyraider has an OS 55 AX, I did have an OS 46 AX and it is quite healthy. Half throttle gets it off the ground. One of our 3D guys even got it to hover for a few seconds. plus landing is not always easy, specialy in the wind, and that nice big fat high wing provides plenty of lift for nice stable landings. my .02 anyways...

opjose

Exactly!

And a good $.02 it is...

Don't forget the bugs, tuning, setup issues, and all those other things that tend to make the very first flights so "intense"...

Bill Lowen

yeah and like you said, trying to trim an airplane with shaking hands and you heart going a million miles an hour is a feat itself on a trainer, I can't imagine doing that on a YAk or Edge. Funny I never noticed the bugs though, they were there I could feel them, but its amazing how much you tune out when you are in full terror mode.