Wellll......... I wanted to get some opinions. I am 41 and have been flying RC for less than a year, And I am blind in one eye.
It throws my depth perception off, especially above the horizon.
Maybe I shouldn't be flying,but I have been this way all of my life and it hasn't caused many problems...
When I fly sometimes it's difficult to tell how far away a plane is.. in the air its not much of a problem, but landing can be tough unless
I can come in almost straight towards myself.
Anybody else fly with one eye or know someone who does?



thanks.......

Hey,
It's been years but i used to fly with a great guy that had one eye also. I'm sure that presents some problems. You probably already do these things but I'll put my 2 cents in anyway. (these apply to all of us old farts you know)

Be very familiar with your plane(s) and be cautious of your choices of plane in relation to your ability.

Pick your colors and contrasting color patterns wisely.

Land marks are your buddy (you know the old turn when you pass that tree kinda thing) Geometry works for location with a little practice.

When you first arrive at a new field (fun flys etc.) watch the other planes for a couple of minutes and scope out your land marks.

Warm up with your "go to " favorite plane first.

Years ago...David McDonald in Eldon, Mo. taught and soloed a kid with an eye disease that caused him to have severe tunnel vision. He was considered legally blind. His field of vision up close if I remember right was around 12 " dia. some bigger at a distance. This young man had small binocular apparatus glued to each lens of his glasses. He soloed on a Dynaflight Butterfly with a .25 2cycle on the nose. This kid was very bright and motivated. I recall he had problems with his custom glasses fogging in the hot summer so he pulled a servo motor out of a servo and made a tiny prop(fan blade) fastened this to a visor with a small battery...INSTANT DEFOGGER!
Now that is some commitment to the hobby and was quite inspiring.

Yes BW, I have a younger friend in my club that flies fairly well with one eye. He KNOWS his airplane limitations and stays within the imposed parameters. He is doing really well with his helicopters.

Now pay attention to OzMo above. He has it down pat. When instructing a newbie, I use landmarks as the last resort, however when needed, they do work. Even in real aviation, they do work. My USAF Primary instructor used them on me. The big problem was that when I went on the first cross-country some dirty-grunt had moved all those farmer's outhouses. Of course when I instructed in USAF, I still had to use some of those techniques, even though my T-33 & T-38 students were in the advanced stages of training.

Of course OxMo tells you what to do. I try to tell others to use that technique when they first go to a strange field for a Fly-In. Just study the terrain, find those "outhouses" and fly your patterns accordingly. Stay as close to the runway as you can, local situations permitting.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Ever hear of Wiley Post ? He is just one of the greatest aviators that ever lived !!!!!! One eye !!!!! The FAA still refers to the medical waiver as the Wiley Post waiver. Its up to you. I admit that is a difficult hurdle. But know that others have over come it. Do a search on Wiley Post and you will be inspired. He flew mostly in the Golden age. He flew around the world in the famous Lockheed Vega called the "Winnie Mae". Its in the Smithsonian now. He set altitude records and transcontinental speed records as he was the first to use the jet stream. Magnificent achievemaents surpassing all other aviators, some reportedly with three eyes.

Thanks Ozmo.....
The problem with landmark are sometimes they are closer then they appear. I can see fine (with glasses) out of one eye. Just the depth perception thing. About a month ago I had a tree reach out and grab one of my planes and I thought I was a good 30 yds from it.
I clipped a drag(farm implement) in the pasture I fly outta landing another, it was a dead stick though so I didn't have much choice.
I aint gonna let it stop me. I give up the booze to get back into planes, been putting off RC for 30 years.

thanks again

Thanks again everybody...
Yeah, I've heard of Wiley Post, didn't know that.
I've been into planes since I was 8. Built alotta rubber powered and plastics.
I tried to join the USAF when I got outta school, they wouldn't take me.
I woulda like to have been a pilot but that woulda been asking too much.

Don't know ANY two eyed RC jockeys that haven't found the trees or the fence or the barn foundation or the power lines............... and thats just at our club field!

I was doin low and and slow touch and goes with a trainer and dead sticked into the fence ....twice[:@]... in one week[:@][:@] now that was "plane" embarassing!

Hi Bonified Wingnut
If you Google depth perception you will find information that shows that depth perception (due to having two eyes) is good for only about 17 feet. After that, you have to detemine distance in other ways. I try to land my plane in the same place every time. That place is directly in front of me, with the plane going right to left or left to right. I make almost no correction for cross wind landings.

I had an accident at work 10 years ago that left me blind in my left eye, I had just learnd how to fly rc planes back then and I had the same problem with depth preception and landing.

Today (age 40) I fly and land with no problem, you will adapt if you keep at it, from experiance, I can say if your having trouble landing its not because of your eye mainly, I would say you dont have enough stick time.

Landing is all setup and approach, you can't make a good landing if your approach is bad.

If your not good at landing keep doing it untill you are, worked for me!

Also, get your self an rc flight sim if you dont have one already, and definitely get Scott Stoops book (Mastering Radio Controlled Flight)

from www.rcpilotguide.com it has helped me tremendously with out a doubt!

Keep practicing and think about what your doing wile your flying, dont just fly around aimlessly, make that plane go and do what you want it to do.


Frank B.

There's a fella who occasionally flies at our field who is completely blind. He has a spotter who takes off and lands for him, and gives him attitude information, but mostly flies by sound.

saramos that would be way beyond me ... Thats part of the reason I got back into planes. in case my sight gets bad when I get older..
Well, I guess then I would have to shell out big green for electrics..

There is not one day that I go to our field and will see somebody land near the side or on the mess to the side of the runway and flip it over-WITH TWO GOOD EYES AND SOME EXPERIENCE.

Well I guess I ain't too bad, check out this obsticle course.

[link]http://www.rcuvideos.com/item/XM81GGXRD365S4GD[/link]

This is the pasture I fly in, The cat meowed the entire tim my nephew was filming.
I had it trimmed for about half throttle. way over powered but I ain't got much runway.

Man,you need to put some color on that plane.I think the solid black is giving you more trouble than your vision.Try a strip of yellow on at least one leading edge and maybe the tail section.Yellow and pink are about the easiest colors to see.I think youd be surprised on how much difference it will make

WoW
All you need is a spotter to tel you where other people are at. Looks like a fully loaded Simulator

Nice video,
I had no idea you were flying a Butterfly. It is totaly wierd, I had not thought much about those days until recently when I got a Butterfly for 19 bucks at a hobby shop going out of business. Mine as a 25 magnum and glow wire lights on the wing tips and aft section of the fuse also has LED wing and tail sets. I have flown it 3 times and have not tried the lights at night yet.

how did you decide to do ailerons like that and how well do they work?

some wide bright (yellow) stripes out on the wing ends would help with orientation A LOT.

Yeah, The last time I flew it I did lose oriention...I let my wife pick my planes and the color..will never do black again..
The ailerons well lets just say this.... It doesn't roll ...better with the rudder ....waste of two servos.


"WoW
All you need is a spotter to tel you where other people are at. Looks like a fully loaded Simulator"

Sorry but what? Do you mean a flight simulator?

If you take a look at my planes in the "My Models" icon here, there is one thing that is not shown on any of them. I covered them all solid white underneath. Whenever Iam going down the back stretch or something else, I rock the wing to see whats going on. Stands right out.

I became totally blind in one eye shortly after I had learned to fly RC and flew that way for about 5 years. Fortunately, my sight has been restored in that eye with surgery and it is surely easier with two eyes. When I was flying with just one, I could only fly on sunny days as I needed the shadow on the ground to tell me when to flare for the landings. Needless to say, I broke a few props and bent some landing gear during that time.

The shadow.....Have to try it .. I use it for other things.
Thanks

Cyclic, You like the quick ones eh? I love your airfield I could Handle that.
My planes resemble the place I fly ....This one is the one that was in the tree


http://rcuvideos.com/item/KF22K9JK5YM6H4TM

, and I really liked it..
To get an Idea of what it has been through all of the original pieces were yellow...This wing folded about two weeks later and the one with ailerons ended up in the tree. The fuselage and landing gear were 1/4 inch Luan I had left over from my floor. The wheels were three layers of pink insulation with wooden dowels for axels(you can hear them rattle when the plan flew). I stopped painting them cause they only lasted a couple of flights. I really liked that one wasn't afraid to try anything with it,
I have an Uproar 60 with a Tower 75 in it that I haven't flown yet ....still wondering if I got room here.

Hey Wingnut, I'm a one eyed flier myself and I've been blind in one eye since birth so I don't know any difference either. I had all the problems you've talked about and what I've learned is:
1) A bigger plane is easier to see....40 size or 60 is good.
2) Keep the plane near you at all times...don't let it get to far away!
3) Always fly high above everything! Trees sneak up on us one eyes easy!
4) For take offs I stand right on the runway and watch her go.
5) Landings are tricky for guys with two eyes but we can do it and it'll take stick time like others have said. The best way I've found is do your approach and have the plane pass you low and slow so you can see the plane from behind to land. This way works for me the best......I'm standing right by the runway for this too.
5a) Another way to land which I've done but you have to be very careful is watching the plane come in and land it before it passes you. I've noticed the perception is very hard to judge so I don't land this way unless I have too.
6) Get a plane with bright colors! If yours doesn't have them, put them on it right away....this really helps a lot when the plane gets far out there. My current plane is blue and white which is terrible for us one eyed fliers but I keep the plane very close to me so I don't loose orientation. I've lost three planes due too this....thank goodness I found all three!
7) Use wood props for now! They will break and your firewall won't...you might tend too land hard because you don't flair up soon enough so have those wood props break and save some rebuild time. I broke my firewall out once because I used a plastic prop....not ever again! At least for me...

Good luck Wingnut! If I can do it so can you.....I've been flying for years now and I'm just now getting my landings down where I'm happier and not breaking anymore wood props!

WOW!!! Folks who prefer to overcome or at least compensate for a handicap is an inspiration to all of us. Good luck to you folks, both in your flying and all other phases of your life.

Yes I see your point on all.. I thought about some LED's .
And I like to land pointed directly at myself and veer just before the wheels touch.. kinda dangerous..

And I just Covered my Uproar 60 with med blue.. not good eh?
And I had one go down twice..the problem is telling exactly how far away it was..
Luckily I found it both times.
I put a Hobbico flight pack monitor on the Uproar...probably will on the rest.

When winter gets here I'll have bigger runways..

Thanks again to everybody.

Have you been here?