I was just curious as to how many people just toughed it out and taught themselves to fly without a buddy box. It is probably alot harder going through the school of bad crahes. I, for one, did it the hard way. I survived. My wallet didn't.
XLEEM

An instructor gives you more than savings. Self taught pilots tend to learn bad habits which they keep within their flying. Aside from keeping you from crashing a plane, they may be able to prevent accidents such as improper equipment handling and perhaps or crashing into another person. I learned with an instructor but no buddy box, he'd just stand behind me and tap the shoulder to the side I was supposed to use ailerons. Elevator was all done by voice command.

I knew 2 teenagers who taught themselves how to fly with a Olympic 650 2 channel glider. I was inspired by them to try it for myself. The owner of the LHS gave me about 1 hours' worth of advice and demonstration, then I was on my own.... and totally thrilled with just being able to land it on my side of the barbed wire fence. It was a good way to get started but did not totally prepare me to fly planes that need constant supervision.

I self taught myself how to crash twice. Then I got smart and join a club.
Ding dong...I flew my instructor's trainer for a couple of weekends without a cord but he was standing next to me.
My club also have a designated trainer too, for noobies.

Plus I didn't have an electric started and other tools to set up my model correctly, to start off with.
Plus they gave me alot of hints of do's and don'ts. Plus almost everyone were willing to help me.
Plus I saw a lot of diffent models at the club up close and go into discussion of building tech or repairs.

Plus my instructor has a fleet, fleet. He bascially sold me models at give away prices.
Ace-40 and OS.40 =$50
.40 supersporster=$25
.40 ulitmate=$50
.60 pitt with .60 webra plus muffuler=$100
.30 Shuttle heli = $150
.60 300 extra with .90 4 stroke=$150
and on and on....

Certainly I think it's better to join a club but the one near me only taught on Fridays and Mondays and I work for a living.

I think if you're self taught the biggest mistake most make is trying to advance planes too quickly and I totally destroyed 3 like that within seconds of taking them off.

I went to the club to get some advice and they pointed me in the MiniMag direction as a second plane (after Supr Cub), I flew and flew and flew that, rang a model shop to ask what next and whilst he could of sold me something he said slowly start upping the throws and moving the CoG back to make it more responsive and more like the next step up - I reckon that was the best piece of advice I was ever given !!!!

The other thing I use FMS which I still find invaluable and downloaded 3D models which gets you used to the sensitivity of the sticks.

I now fly full 3D with Multiplex Park Master and Acromaster, EF Extra, Blast and am about to get a PA 260 Extra (my B'day present) so it can be done but I'm absolutely sure it's easier and less expensive with an instructor / buddy box !!!!!!

In 1974, I spent five weeks building a Goldberg Falcon 56 and proceeded to self teach myself into a crash on the maiden solo flight.

I was so discouraged, I gave up flying until a couple months ago, when I built a Sig Kadet LT-40 ARF, radio with buddy box and Real Flights G4 sim software.
This time around, I joined a club, buddy boxed probably about 15 times and solo'd about 15 times, so I'm still a newbie, and everything is still in one piece! I'm having alot more fun this time around.

Buddy box over self taught all the way!

yep i taught myself to fly and have only realy had one bad crash now i am teaching myself to fly a blade 400 heli i have 400 minutes flying time and 1 mild crash and some accidental 3D
i feel that if you teach your self how to fly you lurn how to do things and how not to do things but if you get an instructer you lurn how to do things and not so much how not to do things..
happy flying

simmo

I am self taught, only because when I learned to fly, there were no buddy boxes. Started with a Falcon 56 and then a Headmaster. Ah yes , those were the days. Good Luck, Dave

Definitely buddy box. I've had self teaching attempts with 3 channel planes with no success, helis on a sim and self taught with mild success (lots of crashes and broken parts though), and finally planes on a buddy box with great success and no "crashes" (a few hard landings and deadsticks with no to mild damage [props and landing gear blocks]). You learn the CORRECT way to fly when using an instructor without picking up the bad habbits during training (those can still come after solo). After soloing, I got overconfident (read: cocky), and started doing things out of my skill level at 2-3 mistakes high. I've had a few way too close calls doing that (I could already hear the crunch coming), but was able to save it because of my altitude. Lesson there: just because you can fly, doesn't mean you can do just about anything that you can on the simulator. Even after solo, there's still a LOT more room for improvement/refinement in flying skills.

The best way to go: Get a simulator to get familiar with the controls and orientation, then get with an instructor, continue re-enforcing what the instructor taught by practicing on the sim away from the field, solo, continue to refine your skills (never stop doing this, as well as simulator time, as sim time will help keep your thumbs working and assist in learning the inputs for new maneuvers), work on approaches and landings from both directions, then gradually push your limits at 3+ mistakes high to learn more maneuvers, using a sim as you go.

Key points:
1. Simulator (Familiarization)
2. Instructor
3. Simulator (Re-enforcement)
4. Practice
5. Simulator (Refinement)
6. Take it slow
7. Practice
8. Simulator (Moving on up)

I was also one of those who survived the school of hard knocks, a very bumpy road indeed simply because there was none of the other options we have now. However I did not truly learn how to fly untill I started teaching others! That was an education.

I am self taught and only have had one bad crash and that was because I didnt check my servos and a screw came loose that held the elevator pushrod to the horn. I would say that I can fly fine, I'm still learning every time I go out. The main thing I missed out on being self taught is how to tune the engine and do a good preflight check.

i would say that the thing i mised out on the moast is that i never knew the feeling of a first solo flight but i am hoping i will get that when i get my real heli pilots licence some day.

simmo

I was self taught, without a Sim, without instruction of any kind, with a 2m Spirit sailplane. Lotsa' Monocote patches, a few crashes, a few major repairs. I'd never even saw a RC plane before I built mine.

I went pretty much like this:

Large open field with no obstructions
Flight #1-10 Throw and fly perfectly straight, land soft.
Flight #11-20 Throw and bank slightly, straighten out and land soft.
Flight #21-30 Complete turn and land somewhere in my vicinity so I didn't have to walk all over the field.
Flight #31-?? HIGH START! Loops, inverted, etc, etc.

Then 12 years later I bought a .40 glow trainer. The first flight it kinda' come back to me, but I had an experienced pilot standing beside me, J.I.C.

Buddy Box!!! Kinda sort of. Mostly. I built A two channel Cub 1/2A and an instructor got it up in the air then handed me the TX. When it was out of fuel and getting close to earth he landed. Then I went onto A trainer with A buddy box then after solo I started crashing them allby myelf. Not really, I have busted A few but I have crashed very few of them over the years. I instruct today with the buddy box, it's just so much easier for A new pilot.

I had friends teach me. But it was before the " buddy box". You would just pass the Xmitter back and forth. That was a skill in itself. You are both tryng to look at the airplane and hand off the Xmitter at the same time. And there generally isn't much time. Something bad is generally happening. It usually involves a death spiral or a tree or both.

Oh, the good old days...

Buddy Box. One area where this really helped was getting to know a qualified instructor. There were times when I wasn't being trained but something bad would happen, and he was there to help me land safely (like when my canopy blew off and was dangling by a wire behind the plane - it was moving around, so slowing down different parts of the plane; it was rolling, diving, climbing, etc. and Tony was there to tell me how to bring it in safely).

Self-taught with the electric Sky Fly. Crashed a bunch so its a good thing parts were real cheap for this thing. If I had the choice of an instructor I would have had one, but didnt have anyone to learn from.

I taught myself how to hover my heli, but
used the leash on on my Plane.

The heli cost more to learn that way BTW.

Bob

Self taught on both fixed wing [KK SUPER 60 45 years ago] and helis [Graupner HeliBaby 33 years ago.]

I was a danger to anything nearby and to my bank balance in both cases.

I learned before buddy boxes, dual rates, and servo reversing were in existence. Transmitters with snap roll buttons where the high-end fancy ones that very few of us could afford. I initially learned on Kraft radios when the only way was to pass the box.

I’m a firm believer, and so are my students, that you are much better off learning from an instructor over trying to learn to fly your self. This year alone I’ve made many saves that would have ended in disaster if it weren’t for the buddy box.

Last year I flew with a guy who was self taught. Once I trimmed his plane out, which he knew nothing about using the trim slides next to the sticks, he couldn’t believe how much better and easier his plane flew. That’s just one example of how an instructor can help you out.

Hogflyer

I'm self-taught because they didn't even know what a buddy box was 30 years ago. Wish they did.

I'm 100% selt taught. I learned on a Zagi. That was about 8 years ago. Just self taught myself on helis, the little electric ones. I do have to give a lot of credit to the sim though.

When I started the HOT computer was a TRS-80 (or similar) and no such thing as a sim (unless you count Pong.

this would have been a good Poll question.. i'm buddy box taught

Buddy box taught earlier this summer.