Ive done cars for years but have always wanted to fly. After my last move i ended up by a town that has a flight club. After a few years of debate i finally decided i want todo this. I talked to the owner of the hobby shop yesterday and he asked if i could swing by this morning and he would let me take a trainer up. I arrived at his shop early this morning with a little wind i belive the radio said 8 knots. He grabed to radio's and the buddy cord once we got out to the runway for some reason the cord didnt work. He didnt seem to worried about it and said ill take off and if you feel your in trouble give it to him. He also stated the plane i was flying was prob older than i am. I was born in 82 haha. He took off and handed it to me kept it at half throttle and just cruised doing some left and right turns. Never got to out of shape that i had to give him the radio back. At one point in the flight he told me todo a loop so i did but didnt have anuf throttle so it didnt make it all the way around so i had to correct it. He braught the plane in for the landing and i was grinnin ear to ear. The trainer was a high wing tail dragger. We then just proceeded to talk about old ww2 planes since ive always enjoyed that area of aviation. He the proceeded to tell me id have no problems at all with something like the hangar 9 pts mustang. I'm still undecided if i should get something like that or just get a highwing trainer. He would have let me try and land but the crosswind on the runway was kinda nasty. He even stuck the prob in the ground. but nothing was hurt.

But all in all im hooked now i just gotta get my own gear.

sorry for the long post just excited. alot more fun than the cars.

There is nothing wrong with a high wing trainer. I have ww1, ww2, scale civilian, 3D ect... and I still enjoy a relaxing flight with a trainer. Plus a trainer can make a nice float plane leter on.

My wife has been flying a P-51 PTS since just after they came out. You can learn to fly with it and if that is what you want , a WWII warbird, you will enjoy it all the more. Plus as you progress the plane will progress with you. I learned the conventional way, on a high wing trainer, but might not do so today.

I can see me getting the pts for looks but from all the flyers ive talk to nothing beats a trainer for some slow moving fun. Ill prob end up with both. just dont know what i want to get first.

I've been using a sim, and while I KNOW that doesn't really teach you how to fly, it does HELP a lot. I have already gotten bored with trainers on the sim. I imagine from this that getting a slightly more advanced trainer, i.e. Mustang PTS, and flying with a trainer for a few extra flights more than you might with a basic trainer, you would be fine with the Mustang. Some of the newbies at my club have them they have speed breaks, NACA droops to help prevent stalling, and adjustable flaps. The trainers love them, and so do the guys that have them.

Again, trainer is stongly suggested. The PTS system comes WITH the buddy box AND cord, so you have no reason not to use a trainer. I think you would love it!

Good luck.

Just keep in mind that becuse it is a high wing, it doesn't mean it's a trainer. A couple to stear clear of until you get some hours under your belt, is the J3 Cub and the Citaboria, Both are very short and handle poorly on the ground, even for an experienced pilot. I found that a long fuselage, proportioned like a pattern plane, but a shoulder high wing was very easy compaired to my high wing trainer. If you are plaged with high wind and cross wind gust, go with a lower wing. Still a semi semetrical or even a flat bottom.

Oh yes, welcome to the addiction.

Don

I also came into the wonderful world of flying from racing 10th scale electric and 1/8th scale nitro offroad. This beats racing hands down. Like one of my instructors said, racing is 2 dimentional where flying is 3 dimentional. I went with the mustang pts before doing alot of homework and then found this website. Thought I had made a big oops. I love the mustang. I got the rtf with the sim and spent alot of time on it and it really does help. I, by advice from my instructor and hobby shop owner, removed all but the wing droops and installed a 2 blade prop. They said it had more get out of trouble power with a 2 blade. I have only been flying it at half throttle so far and it works well. Your experience with cars will help you with your knowing how to control the plane when going away and coming to you. Alot of instructors will say its not a trainer, but you can learn on it. If its what you want, get it. Spend time on the sim and fly with an instructor. I bet you will get the hang of it pretty quick. Also read through the several pages on the mustang pts thread on here. There are alot of tips to help you when building and may save you from some typical arf issues that are common.
The radio that comes with the rtf seems to work quite well and the engine (in mine anyway) runs great. A word of warning though... this hobby is addicting. im about to build my 3rd plane already.

oh ive read about 80 pages of the pts post on here and im 99% sure its what ill buy. I like the 3 prop even tho id like a more scale prop maybe another bigger stang later will take care of that problem. On a side note i know how it can be i dont even race cars and have two jato's a 2.5r and a 3.3 and a revo 3.3, but it isnt any fun just running around the back yard and such. I would like to try and race but im not driving a hour and a half just todo that. Its nice that the air feild is 10 miles down the road. Now i just gotta choose what feild box and stuff i want