Is an electric glider a good place to start?

I watched a father get his son up and running in one day with one that had ailerons and elevator only, no rudder, a Free Bird Mini. There were no dramatic crashes that broke stuff just a few hits that did no break anything. The son flew slowly and carefully. When the father got the controls the Free Bird turned into a jet and was incredibly fast and would go straight up for quite a while. I was amazed at the speed of this glider and then how docile it was in the hands of a beginner.

Electric gliders are indeed a good place to start. Many of the "starter" electric planes like the Multiplex Easy Star or the Hobbico Flyzone Ventura share similar characteristics to electric gliders in general.

Electric gliders are great! Slow, stable and easy to fly. I highly recommend them as first planes.

The Easy Glider is a good choice. The Easy Star is a cross between a glider and a parkflyer so it is an excellent choice.

Everything you want to know about electric flight
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7100376/tm.htm

Depending on where you are going to fly, I'd recommend going with a larger 2M powered glider over a park flyer. They will fly just as slow, but will handle wind a park flyer won't. Something like the Tower VIsta EP ARF should work fine to learn on. Gliders make some of the best trainers out there and you can't go wrong on one, especially when you learn to catch thermals and start getting hour long flights during the summer.

Hogflyer

ELECTRIC PARK/GLIDERS

If you would like to try soaring with the birds, then an electric glider
might be a good choice. These planes are launched with an electric
motor. They can be flown around using the motor, like a parkflyer,
or they can be flown to height, then the motor is turned off and you
hunt for thermals, just like the birds.

They can do loops and simple aerobatics, but are really optimized for
thermal soaring. The Aerobird and the T-Hawk, which are often
mentioned as first parkflyers, glide and thermal pretty well, but they
come with fixed props. These planes include folding props which make
the plane more streamlined and so it can glide better than
a fixed propeller plane.

Some are RTF which are fully built, include all the radio gear with
everything installed. Battery and charger are included with the RTF
planes. Some are ARFs where you assemble the simple package,
then add your own radio equipment. Some are available either way.

With these planes you get a good first plane, a good first electric and a
good electric glider. It may not have been what you were thinking, but
it may be exactly what you were looking for.

Easy Star - RTF -
This is a Park Glider - can be flown as parkflyer or glider
Great keep in the car plane!
http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/240025.asp
Easy Star - ARF - Add you own radio gear
http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/240009.asp
Build Thread
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350408
Amazing information site for easy star
http://www.mpx-easystar.de/
Video - touch and gos
http://plawner.org/video/easygo.wmv
http://plawner.org/video/easystar.wmv

Ventura RTF ParkFlyer/e-glider - $120
I have not flown this one but have read many good reports
Includes one battery and a timed charger. Add a second
battery pack and a peak charger and you are set.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXGFK0&P=ML
Review
http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=393
Video
http://67.18.81.100/rcuvideos/magazi...93/Ventura.wmv
http://www.hobbico.com/gallery/hcaa2010-large.mpg

Ascent - this is a park glider ARF
It can be flown as a parkflyer or a glider
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByC...ProdID=EFL1075
Review
http://rcgroups.com/links/index.php?...at=237&id=4233

The Hawk - Available RTF with Radio or Receiver Ready if you
already have a transmitter. The slow glide of an electric glider makes
an excellent trainer plane, especially if you have just a little bit of help.
The package is very complete and the tough foam construction can really
save you time on a repair bench.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6485665/tm.htm


Easy Glider Electric - ARF - $89
REceiver Ready - $159
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMYL0&P=ML
- This is probably too large to be considered a park flyer but
the combination of great flying ability, tough Elapor construction and great
thermal or slope soaring ability makes this an excellent first electric
sailplane. This is what we recommend to the new glider pilots in our club.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKHS8&P=7
Flight Pack
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKYM0&P=7
Receiver Ready
http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/240107.asp
Review of Receiver Ready Package
http://www.rcgroups.com/links/index.php?id=5042
Multiplex Site
http://www.multiplexusa.com/models/P...asyGliderE.htm
http://www.modelspot.com/mpx/easyglider.htm
VIDEOS
Slope
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...89904446915326
http://www.elflight.dk/video5/easy-gl-hang.wmv
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/media/MPX...liderSlope.wmv
Aerotowed behind a Magister
http://www.multiplex-rc.de/cms/vorsc...er_schlepp.wmv
Flying Indoors
http://www.rcgroups.com/gallery/show...cat=506&page=1
Discussion Threads
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=347989
http://www.*********.com/forums/begi...highlight=keys

Push-E-Cat - $95 with brushless motor
59" wingspan on an Epler 205 airfoil. About 22 ounces.
EPP Foam 3 channel pusher design
Thermals very well. Something like a larger, tougher
Easy Star kit but with a brushless motor.
http://polecataero.com/products/push-e-cat
Discussion Thread
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331174

Took my new Ventura out and had 3 nice flights. Last flight it nosed into the ground. Not much damage, I noticed when Rudder trim is set full to the right the elevator goes full down when you turn to the right. I reset the trim tab to center and the problem went away. Please be aware this may be a problem, each time I set the rud trim full right the elevator goes to full down when you try to make a right turn. I contacted Tower Hobbies and they are sending me a new transmitter. Hope that cures the problem. Please try this on your Ventura before launch,, may save some crashes.
Lee

I must have missed something here, why would you set the rudder trim full anything ??? If the plane is trimed like it should be you shouldn't have to adjust more then a couple clicks. Maybe when you make the first flight but then you should mechanicaly adjust back to center before the next flight. ENJOY !!! RED

I had that happen on a Hitec Prism 7X radio I used ot have. IF I touched the aileron trim the ailerons would go full right and roll the plane. Caused a couple of crashes till I discovered the problem.