Sherminator

is the Hanger 9 Alpha trainer a good first plane for someone who wants to get into the hobby and is on a budget? is it reliable and relatively easy to fly? also, would any of you say that it is easy to transition from flying real planes to rc planes and if not what problems might i encounter?

any help you might have would be greatly appreciated
-the sherminator

Crashem

Sherminator,

Try using the search feature both of your questions have been discussed in depth and you will find a lot of good info.

Now the short answer is yes the alpha 9 is a good trainer for the money. As far as budget goes expect to pay anywhere about 300-550 dollars to get into the air.
I'm not even going to comment on whether being a pilot will help you. Instead search for a thread entitled "He flys the big ones" it pretty much somes it up

Good luck and welcome RCU

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

That plane and a lot of others will work fine. Big planes don't help. Get yourself a good trainer and an instructor and head out for some fun. It is a blast.

PaPa-NeGeorgeo

My Feedback: (3)

I friend of mine who flies both rc and full scale planes told me that rc planes are actually harder to fly as your not seated in the cockpit. Being a real pilot couldn't hurt but i dont think it would give you the experience in rc as you would like. Orientation is the big thing that beginners, like me, have to get use to. This doesn't really have to do with anything in a full scale plane as turn right will always mean turn right it never switches.
Anyways welcome to a great hobby im sure youll love it,

Papa

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Flying full scale is very helpful only in that you understand banking with ailerons and holding the nose up with elevator through a turn. But you have to master the perception problem i.e., when the plane is coming toward you, right and left are reversed. And many a plane has been lost because "I thought that tree was MILES away!"

RC-Lew

I'm in the same boat in a way, some of my "old old equipment" isn't very great nowadays (AM radio, ancient batteries).

There is a review on RC Airport, as well as this site. Do a search for "trainer alpha hangar 9" and you'll also find a .pdf review from a magazine. Seems like a good plane.

You can get the Alpha for $280 from rcsuperstore.com If I do decide to take the plunge that's where I'll probably order it from (cheapest I've seen it.

Part of me still wants to build though But it's more expensive than getting an alpha

GL, it's a tough choice, I know

kramer

My Feedback: (61)

CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL HOBBY SHOP FIRST

PigMan Buggerus

My Feedback: (6)

Sherm the most important piece of advice that I would give is this: "Find an instructor." Find an RC club and see if they have a training program. Not only will it save you much frustration and in some case much cash, but those guys or galls will be a great source of information. Oh yeah, having a LHS makes life a whole lot easier, so make sure they are there when you need them. Listen to Kramer, go support your LHS. You will have a need to go to one, one day, if you don't support them, they will disapear. They are starting to disapear from around here.

Woodsy

Come on guys your slipping, were 7 replies in and no one mentioned SPAD.

Most of the trainers these days are good quality and provided they are well built (assembled for ARF) should provide hours of training fun, one of the things thats not often mentioned is that some of the ARF planes can be hard to repair as the coverings are not reshrinkable and they are built to a price, you realy need to decide which way to go ARF gets you in the air quicker and you dont have the emotional tie of something you built but building gives you repair skills and an understanding of how it all "works".

also have a look at www.spadtothebone.com it has some good options for durable low cost planes from trainers to scale.

kramer

My Feedback: (61)

I think we covered most of it on the last one LOL,
BUT now that YOU mentioned it go to spadtothebone.com and check out the deb

Charlie P.

Sherminator,

"Real" aeroplane skills do not convert to R/C skills. At least not for me. I flew for 20 + hours before I ever was allowed to apply down elevator back when I was going for my pilot's license. You have to educate your thumbs, and the control movement is in fractions of an inch, not bold strokes. And as MinnFlyer pointed out, the apparent controls reverse when the plane is headed at you. It's also a lot harder to line up on approach.

I had (and am having) good luck with an RCM Trainer 40 with a Thunder Tiger Pro-46 engine. The two faults I found are that it floats forever when trying to land and the nose gear was too limp. I take off in 60 feet at full throttle and have to drop back to about 75% to maintain level flight. Here are my observations of the seven other planes my "flight school' group owned: Duraplane is difficult to hurt but is a dog. Hobbico Superstar is rugged and flies well but does not "stunt" much. The Sig Astro-Hog is beautiful, flies very well, but is hard for a beginner to taxi. Sig Kadets are very good IF you put the more powerful engines in them. (I tried to teach myself to fly with a Sig Kadet I built 20+ years ago. I built it WAY too heavy and it ended up a total loss.) Don't let someone talk you into a low-wing, symmetrical airfoil for your first plane (we had one guy show up with a Quickie-500 type pylon racer that he bought used at a hobby shop. It was hot and tail heavy, and the instructors could barely fly it.)

Find an instructor. The "buddy-box" system is the best possible way to learn. And definately have an experienced pilot pre-flight the plane and give it the first test flight (it will need trimming adjustments).

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

And here I thought we were getting better

Ghostbear

My friend and I started out on the same weekend last May, he was a full-scale pilot and I was not. I spent more time in G2 than he, though he spent some.

I soloed several weeks before he did. He felt he had more skills to "unlearn" and that's why he was a bit slower than I. My many years playing computer games had made me quite comfortable with the 3rd person perspective of RC.

I think everyone's point is that you shouldn't be overconfident because you fly full-scale.

Contact either your LHS or you local clubs and ask about an orientation flight. One time around the field at the controls will tell you everything you need to know. In MOST cases, that is that you need an instructor.

As to trainers, I would recommend... actually whatever you can get that tickles your fancy AND is (preferably) popular either at your local field or your LHS. My LHS had sold a lot of LT-40s, so they were familiar with it and had many spare parts on hand. I think that with any of the popular trainers you will find many many people who love them. And a few who don't.

I think if you pick one that's popular in your area, it will make it easier on you in the long run.

Have fun.

GB

PS, I did not say anything at all about SPADs in this post. :-)

CafeenMan

There's a reason for that - they're plastic. They must fly well, because they're butt-ugly too. Reminds me of what we all know the truth must be when someone says, "Well, she's got a great personality."

Sherminator - You can get an ARF for less than buying a kit and all the accessories, but if you can afford it, I highly recommend building your trainer. It will get you started on the building skills you'll need when you move on to higher performance airplanes that will be less tolerant of poor building.

bulletbob

My son is a commercial pilot and he is starting to fly R/C. We have him on the FMS simulator and joystick and he realizes real and real little are not the same. I am a newbie but way ahead of him after a short training time. If you want to build then go the way you are headed with a balsa kit. It won't be cheap and don't be misled. Sudden bursts of gravity await all who leave the bounds of this earth and it is expensinve to repair kits. I built the LT40 from a kit. The rudder fell off (a weakness for sure) and the damage was substantial although fixable. A great plane but I do not want to build, I want to fly. My second plane was the Airmadillo, a commercial spad in disguise, and I have never looked back. less than 85 bucks with all needed parts, gas tank, wheels etc and no expensive 30 bucks of covering needed like the other ones do. It is durable and can be built in one evening and is tough and flies well. If you really want durable flyable and cheap go with one of the Spad trainers. some say ugly (an understatement with the 'dillo), but after three of them, I say the only way to fly! To build or to fly, that is the question.

spooner

hi there . i have the alpha and love it. its a great flyer and all the instructors love it too. if you do get one e-mail me for some tips... have fun .......spooner

egor

Sherm:

Just a couple suggestion's most of which have already been made,

Do find a club with a willing and capable instructor
Check with them for information on radio's and planes Almost all of these guys are willing to help and they have already been there. and they know where to get what in your area.
I'm not familiar with the plane you mentioned so I'll put it this way find a trainer KIT Don't go with an arf cause it's quick.
The reason I say kit is that most of the kits now days go together quickly if you know which end of the bottle the glue comes out of and (I hate to say this ) but the building experience will come in handy after the first crash, and it will come, knowing how to make repairs from building and knowing the structure of your plane will be very handy.
Your full scale experience can be a problem being on the ground rather than in the left seat.
If you have access to a simulator it can be very helpful but I think your aware of that.

My last suggestion would be to get a Sig lt-40 reasons
1 I'm not a pro at this, only been flying 2 1/2 years
2 One of my lt-40s has been rebuilt/rekitted 6 times and it will still land itself
3 If you get tired of this plane as a trainer it can be modified to a low wing, mid wing, bipe just about anything and still takes a beating.

The last is not and advert just trivia from my personal experience with that said any trainer will do, this is just my pref.

Okay nuff yapping from the old fart
the biggest thing and the best advise I can give you is don't take it to serious if things don't go well right off the bat, just have fun with it.

egor

hookedonrc

I started last May with an Avistar and a OS46FX engine. I still fly it and, yese, I have had to repair it a couple of times. That's why a club is great. The one thing that I did really worked for me. I bought the G2 simulator before I made my choice and began practicing. This allowed me to get used to the different handling characteristics of different planes, and also let me practice while I was waiting for the glue's to dry between building steps. It may not be in your budget, but it sure helps when you are in a repair mode, or still building, or the weather doesn't cooperate.

BTW: Look at how many answers you got. It's all in how you want to do it. Take the good planes suggested here and then look at the prices. At least you will be picking from recommended ones.

MD-11 pilot

Just couldn't resist jumping in on this one. I'm a commercial pilot and I DO think that full scale flying is a plus. You already know about basic aerodynamics, what is involved in crosswind landings, what a traffic pattern is supposed to look like, stalls and why they happen, etc., etc. Having said that, it is also true that just because you may be Chuck Yeager in a real plane has nothing to do with RC flying. The motor skills (i.e. "hands") and point of view are completely different, so don't get cocky. The best thing to do is log some time on a good RC simulator to get yourself past the dangerous part of the learning curve. I bought Real Flight, practiced until confident, then went out and flew my LT-40 first time with no problems, with an instructor just standing off to one side. He never touched the controls.
This was a long way of saying that, yes, full scale flying will make you a better RC pilot but you still have to learn the basic stick and rudder skills all over again. Have fun