This weekend is/was my one year anniversary of RC flight, and it was a lot of fun. As most of you know, I've gotten into pattern flying. For those of you that don't really know what that is, well, keep reading. There is a really close-knit group of pattern pilots, broken up into districts (I'm in district 1). I found out about this stuff here and in the pattern forum, and was encouraged to go to a competition last summer, so I did, and I was hooked. Everyone I've met is really, really great. So this weekend was a judging seminar where you learn how to judge and what the judges are looking for. They actually scheduled the seminar around my school schedule, and the host of the seminar invited me to stay at his home and to work with me and my plane afterward. That was the best part of the weekend; we showed up to the field and there were about 7 other planes there, all pattern planes and all guys working on their routines. Even though there was a (small) seminar a half hour from the field, it was kind of random, and really cool, that there was no one at the field but pattern guys. I feel like I learned more in the day and a half of flying with Scott (the host, who flies in the Masters class and has quite a bit of experience) than I probably have in the past 6 months of actual flying time I've had - about flying and about engines.

So pattern is precision aerobatics. I'll post some kind of link here in a minute, but what it is, is really graceful flying. Everyone flies a prescribed set of maneuvers based on your class (ability). There are judges, and their job is to find every little thing you do wrong and doc you for it. Like seriously EVERY little thing. It's stressful and incredibly challenging, and the best part is even though we're all competing, we're really competing against ourselves, learning how to have complete command over the aircraft, in all attitudes and wind conditions. So today was an incredibly humbling experience, with the host of the judging seminar standing over my shoulder and telling me the dozens of things I was doing wrong on the few maneuvers in my schedule. However, Scott was at my first pattern meet last summer (he showed me the ropes), and we talked about how much improvement there was between then and now. So, humbling as it was, it was a very, very rewarding experience.

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ARXLab1kuU]Here's a link to someone flying pattern (F3A)[/link]

So anyway it all started here, in this forum, with my beating my head on my desk trying to get my Nexstar assembled. I was given tons of advice and tried to take as much of it as I could. I think the best advice I got, at least for me, was a) to practice flying at constant altitude and using consistent (30 degree) bank angles which I did a few days a week for a few straight weeks, and b) to learn to fly my planes without using mixes or expo, at least until I knew how they flew without them. I still don't really use mixes, and with a properly trimmed plane [link=http://www.rcaerobats.net/trim_chart.htm]which you can learn about here[/link] you can avoid needing to use them. Generally for every advantage you get from a mix, there is a disadvantage somewhere else, but that's another thread.

So learning about my plane and how to fly it, right here, has taught me enough to even fly full scale planes. I've flown a Cessna 150 and two Cessna 172's. I knew exactly what to do, including coordinated turns, all from reading posts on RCU and flying my RC plane. I'm even 1 for 2 with full scale touch-and-gos!

I think the best thing about all of this is that it goes hand-in-hand with my current degree. I'm studying to be a mechanical engineer, and EVERYTHING I learn in school can be directly related to our planes, from learning about superchargers in thermodynamics (which I have on my YS four stroke) to learning about annular fins on reciprocating engines (i.e. airplane engines) in my heat transfer class (oh and even a statistics project on OS vs YS engines, which gave me some insight to engine power vs. bore and stroke, and how the affects get reversed when you introduced compressed air and pressurized fuel - and I thought I hated statisitcs!). And, I feel this all gives me a head's up; while most of us are learning about engines, and things like drag and lift, I'm actually outside DOING this stuff, working with engines, experiencing stalls, experiencing changes in stability with changes in center of mass...

Ok well I don't really like talking about myself that much, but I am really excited and thankful for all I have learned and where this has all taken me in the past year. Hopefully in a year and a half I'll be designing turbine engines for Pratt and Whitney, or developing the latest in efficient passenger jet design for Boeing...whatever it is, I'm sure it will be cool, and it really all started right here in the Beginner's forum on RCUniverse.

So, to everyone here,

Thank You Guys!!

And I didn't even get you anything.



Congrats!

congrats dude

Thanks guys

GaRCfield,
Pattern Flying sounds like a blast! I can only imagine what a rush you get. I guess it could be the opposite of a rush too, if you enter a ZEN like state of mind. I get that when I play Xbox highspeed racing games.
I see you live in VT. I went to college in Montpelier. There are alot of mountains, dose that limit the number of flying sites there? I guess it flatens out a bit the closer to Burlington you get.
Have you ever been to (I think its called) the Sugar Bush Glider ranch? I believe it is right around the corner from the town of Warren and Warren Falls. I went out there once and watched the gliders sail along the ridge lines. One of the pilots I talked to said, "...On good days, we can sail about 30 miles down the ridge and back" CRAZINESS! They also have a pretty neat Old WWII era Russian Yak. They converted it from a tail Dragger. It was pretty cool.

Oh boy! Forgive me for rambling on.

Congrats to your first year!

Noah

congrats! happy anniversary to your RC flying! the flying pattern is amazing... it's nice to watch something like that for a beginner like me.

This weekend marks when I decided to get back into flying, and I'm hoping to fly in a warbird fly in tomorrow. I don't remember when my first flight was on the club trainer, but it was around this time. I didn't get into any competition stuff cause I don't have the time, but I have 8 planes now and I don't wanna talk about the monotary investment.

Here's to another great year of flying!

"but I have 8 planes now and I don't wanna talk about the monotary investment. "

Roger that....

gaRCfield.. I believe I remember when you were about ready to quit or something over that Decathlon? I am happy to see you stuck with it, and have kind of found your niche..