14 is old enough to take instruction well. I taught an young man last year about that age, and it took so few flights that the first airplane he bought was a Twist. He has done well learning the basics, but now is going through finding out just how many ways you can make a mistake.

When I was that age, I had been building from kits for about 6 years. When I switched from control line to RC, I soloed on my third flight.

I have taught as young as 10, but find it much easier once they reach 14. If I were you, I would start looking for his next airplane since he will pick it up very quickly.

to bad your not in my area, i would train him. we would be flying everynight untill he got it

At my field, it seems that most members like talking to kids and teenagers when they show up. It seems more fun doing that with someone young and interested in flying. A lot will offer to let them fly their plane a little way up where mistakes are not scary. I've done the same and enjoyed it a lot. I think every kid or teenager I've seen has been polite and appreciative. It is priceless to see the joy on their faces.

Actually this hobby is not for all. it requires much money and effort. I am at Greece, so you can imagine that there are no instructors. You build your plane, go to the spot where everybody flies their plane and you just ask for advice from the other people there. Then, there is the flight simulator that can help you understand how to handle a plane. If you're not ready to lose many hours of your life repairing your plane, this hobby is probably not for you.

I have to respectfully disagree with p3990013`s assessment of the hobby, although I`m certainly in no position to question what might occur in Greece. I`ll take his word for it. Yes, like all hobbies, there`s money involved. However, if you`re trained, use some common sense in your flying, and don`t always push it, you don`t have to "lose many hours of your life repairing your plane". It is true that sooner or later EVERYBODY crashes ( at least I`ve never known an RC pilot who didn`t ), but it doesn`t have to be, and shouldn`t be, a way of life.

I have to agree with that. I've been flying RC now for several years and have really crashed.. to the point of destruction, two aircraft. I've ding'ed few, and the fix was pretty quick, not hours of my life, that's for sure. It's part of the hobby. Training, preparation, and experience go an awful long way to successful flying days.

Sorry if I sounded harsh, but the conditions here are harsh. For starters there is no closeby airfield. I run my plane from a mud road and it has crashed many times before even taking off, due to a random stone. I even had a stone inserted in my ducted fan that nearly blew the jet. Landing is the best part, as that street is trafficked by cars. So if you're unlucky you land on a car or even worse...

I guess more civilised countries have other comforts for this hobby

I started at 15 and took a couple months to solo flying almost every Wednesday after dinner..
I guess that's one great thing about flying in the NorthWest.. Start 7pm and fly till the sun sets at 9:30
My Instructor Lynn Cook was great, He took the time to work out a schedule we could all live with.

Now my step son Alex has been trying to learn for the last 3 years..
It's been a long slow process since he lives with his dad and we only get him for holidays and 3 months in the summer.
Thanks to Colorado weather, vacation plans and life in general We are lucky to get in 6 weekends a summer of flying.
Then add the fact that everyone at my field goes home after 1pm. It gets frustrating..

Our club instructors do a great job but it's been either fly early AM with the instructors and a grumpy kid you hauled out of bed at 7am or fly in the afternoons with nobody..
The other issue I had was the constant swapping between instructors and different teaching styles.. I think it confuses the poor kid.

End of last summer I chose to teach him myself and it's been working out great.. The club guys got him through flying the pattern, figure 8's, loops and rolls. (the hard part)
I've got him taking off now and learning to get aligned with the runway.. We'll work on landing approaches when he gets here for spring break..

We got him G3.5 too but he mostly enjoys crashing things in that.

What a challenge? Try teaching a 6 year old girl to fly..

I actually kinda like that it's a steep learning curve to get started in this hobby. I also play paintball which is a magnet for immature boys, and the safety violations, cheating, inconsiderate behavior and and occasional stealing I see is a real turnoff. Anybody with $100 at Walmart can get started in that hobby, so I think the difficulty in RC keeps immature people away. The caliber of people I've met in RC flying is better than anything else I've done, and I wouldn't change a thing.

I am not sure were this hobby gets its reputation for being expensive? For 500 bucks you can be flying, maybe less. I know a guy who bought a mint Nexstar with everything including fuel for 220 bucks. Compare that with riding four wheelers, I know some kids who have paintball guns over $1000 dollars. Heck, even a playing video games is up there, an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 and a few games you are looking at $600. Compared to other hobbies rc planes is a bargain.

Expensive is a matter of perspective, and also depends on your personal financial situation. When I was a student, getting a few hundred together to buy a trainer simply could not happen. After college, I messed around with drag cars and show cars for a good while. RC planes are much cheaper, but, it's easy to get several thousand dollars tied up in this stuff in a short period of time.

3 reasons,
1. it used to cost alot more, prices have really gone down in the last 10 years or so. So people still have that conception.
2. It really is a relative term. $500 may not seem like alot for you or me but for some people it is a fortune.
3. alot of similarly priced hobbies have long term use of equipment, airplanes can easily crash so the cost gets higher.

Yea it is a matter of perspective..

When I quilt flying in the 90's I started building cars and going drag racing..
I could tell someone I spent $15,000 rebuilding my 70 Firebird and they thought it was cool.

Now I tell em I spent $1,500 building my Cap 232 and they think I'm nuts.

The cost of getting new equipment is much lower than it used to be..
We spent $500 in 85 on a 7ch Futaba FG series radio..
Now I can pick up a 7C computer radio for $200-300
Engine prices have hardly moved up any in 20 years

Park flying has exploded..

the big barrier for entry into the bigger planes now is the Clubs.. and honestly always has been.

So you just got a Trainer at a yard sale for $200 with all the goodies..
Welcome to the Club.. Got AMA? $60 Initiation Fee $100, club dues $75..
Hey I just spent another $235 and all I have to show for it is 2 membership cards, a magazine and maybe a new hat.

Now thats not the club or AMA's fault.. Clubs have to maintain the field. Pay AMA insurance too, advertise and so on.. Clubs are lucky to get along as it is..
How the AMA spends the $$ I don't know.. the insurance and magazine eat up a good chunk.

Big planes need space to fly, that cost $$.. no way around that unless you have a good friend with lots of land.

Want to fly cheep and still have lots of fun? Get a slope glider and find a hill.

I agree totally that this hobby being expensive or not depends on what you want out of the hobby and what your financial situation is. If you are happy just buzzing around with a little electric plane (3 channel trainer not bashing electrics here!!) you can be flying for less than $200.00. If not then at our hobby shop in saskatoon you can get a nexstar ultimate combo which includes the field box, fuel, starter, power panel, glow driver, battery etc etc for under 650.00. I have had 2 diff. people give me R/C plane equipment and stuff just to help me out. It's not that i couldn't afford it , it was more along the lines that they were very generous people and wanted to see another person join the hobby. Here is another suggestion. If you are a young kid and are looking to get into the hobby. head out to the local field and offer to do the mowing in exchange for a trainer and fees. There are so many different ways to approach the hobby that all you need is a little creativity. Spads are another way to.

Geoff

It's not a cheap hobby by a long shot. Figure a starting cost of roughly $370.00 for the RTF trainer, and maybe another $100.00 for support equipment. Transfer the radio, servos, and engine to a good "workhorse" type of plane such as the Tiger 2 or Sig Four-Star, and you're out maybe another $150.00. OK, so add a third plane to the mix: say you take an interest in a Cub or maybe something 3D, like the Twist but you still want full use of your Four-Star. Now you have $120.00 for the new airframe (Twist, for example), $70.00 for the receiver, $80.00 for the engine (For electric add another $300.00 for the ESC, LiPos, and charger) and a minimum of $50.00 for the servos. We're now up to about $950.00. It adds up. Add the AMA membership and club dues for some people: $1050.00. Divide that over 6 months, and you're looking at a ballpark figure of $175.00 per month over the season, just in the three planes alone with no fuel. To someone who needs that money for gas after buying food and paying the bills, it may not be feasible.

NorfolkSouthern

Blazer1, when's the last time you crashed a Xbox 360 or a PS3? or a paintball gun for that matter? And I have more than once rolled my ATVs without any damage. All those thing can usually be sold for a good percentage of what you paid. Not picking on you, just seems like an apples to kiwi fruit comparison to me
This hobby takes disposable income. And I MEAN disposable. With most of the other hobbies mentioned here you can get back a significant amount of what you spent. With planes, you may lose every cent you put in the air. Yes, you could wreck your fullscale car, but insurance covers that. At least somewhat. No such luck when I had two $1000+ dollar planes go in in the same year. It's the risk we take.
Now, as for how expensive it gets, that is entirely up to each individual. I have known some who never went past that first or second plane. Not a lack of ability, they were just happy with what they had. Then there are nuts like me who only want one more aircraft than they currently have. Regardless of what that number becomes. Is it getting bad when you consider buying a second shed for the storage of plane and gear?[X(]

And the amount of planes you own changes[[sm=cry_smile.gif]. But usually if you crash 85% of your stuff is still good and alot of times all of your electronics and motor will be fine[sm=thumbup.gif]. Then your just out the price of whatever you decide to put that stuff in. That helps alot when you have only one and alot when you have several.
More than likely if you enjoy flying RC at all you will end up with atleast two or three. [sm=tongue_smile.gif]

You know; you people of the "This is an expensive hobby" crowd chase more potential fliers away with that hype.

Ive been reading this thread for a while now, and the general theme has gone from one asking how to better get help to everyone warning about how expensive it is.

FACT: You can get into this hobby flight ready for as little as $350
FACT: with patience, common sense and a little luck to go with preparedness you can STAY in this hobby for little more than the cost of fuel. Yes there will be the occasional minor bruise, but it doesnt have to mean a lot of money spent! I crashed my Arrow being stupid (Not solo'ed and tried to fly) I fixed it for about $10 in supplies and a bruised ego because I had to admit to my then instructor what Id done..
My first teacher always told me if I listened to him he would teach me how NOT to crash my plane, he's been in the hobby decades and can count the number of wrecks on one hand.

STOP insisting this is an expensive hobby, it doesnt have to be! Instead, start helping the less financially enabled find ways to minimize the expense so that we too can enjoy the hobby already. Or is your belief that this is just another little rich kids club?!

This hobby has never been less expensive. My first radio cost about $350 in 1970. In todays money that would have been over $2000 for a simple 4 channel system with no reversing and rather poor performance by todays standards. I saved for several years as a high school kid to buy it, along with the engine and airplane kit. It took several months to build the airplane, and several weeks to cover and finish it with silk and dope. It takes no money or commitment to get into RC today.

The last three years I've been coming back into the hobby and was quite surprised at the price of radios and arfs. Now it's even better. I can walk into the local hobby shop and pickup up a Alpha 40 RTF for about $250.00. I saved my paper route money when I was a kid to purchase an world engines expert 4 channel, a midwest sweet stick and a enya 35. The radio was just around $170 US, the kit $40 and the engine $40.00. My memory isn't good so it probably was more. I built and finished the plane over the winter .... only to find out I built a warp in the wing and it barrel rolled on take off. I rebuilt it, than installed the equipment in a "new" Falcon 56 MarkII. Christmas gift from dad and mom.

This hobby is as expensive to start as you want it to be. But with some of the RTF's out there, you're spending the same money now as 30 years ago. Only with a better chance of success.

My 1.89 cents CAD.

Jim

A very generous friend used to build gutter downspout/coroplast planes to help get people in the air. They flew well and could withstand a great deal of abuse.

If club members are generous with used engines and radio components someone can start flying for less than $30.00. It seems everyone has the old radio, .40 size engine and servos that are still fine laying around. As long as the stuff is not from crashes a beginner can have good luck following this path. Once we give them a taste and get them hooked on the r/c drug we can introduce them to all the cash draining, time sucking aspects of the hobby.

Right, it is not that expensive to get into this hobby. I remember when I wanted to get into hockey,and it was over 500 dollars. When I was playing lacrosse, it as 200 for a decent shaft. I was able to get an RTF trainer for 259. I can't even tell you how much I've spent on beer and liquor in the past year--over 3 thousand. I fly fish. That's more expensive.Listen, this hobby is not THAT expensive. If you crash plane after plane it is, but if you don't, what do you need , fuel? It lasts a dozen flgihts for some people. Flying is awsome. Don't give up.


Oh, YEAH, AND TRY COMPETITIVE COLLEGIATE BIKE RACING. A BIKE IS 1400 BUCKS MINIMUM. SOME SPEND OVER 4-5K DEPENDING ON THEIR FITNESS LEVEL. i KNOW I SPENT 2K ON MY BIKE AFTER A LOT OF SAVING. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT WORDLS YOU CAN IMMERSE YOURSELF IN, BUT NONE COVER SO MANY AREAS AS FLYING: PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY . . . .

If you think this hobby is expensive you have not been involved with many activities. I am going fishing Saturday, here are the cost;

Fuel for boat= $160
Fuel for tow vehicle=$60
Boat cost= $46,500.00
Tow vehicle cost=$36,700.00
Rods & Reels= 10 combos @ an average cost of $200= $2000
Tackle=$7000.00

Insurance, license, life jackets, boat registration, the list goes on and on.

Compared to other hobbies, flying rc planes is cheap. It may not be cheap for you, but it still is a cheap hobby.

A friend is into horses, that hobby adds up! Horse, second horse, saddles and all the tack, barn, feed, field to grow hay, fencing, arena, trailer, camper, two vehiles to haul the trailer and camper plus gas. Oh, but the joy they bring shoveling manure and swatting flies on the hottest days of the year. Personally, I'd rather be flying.

Skypilot, you forgot about the Vet and the farrier for the eggs with legs.

Rufcut