Sooooooooooo.... ya... whats next?

Alright guys! Hm this probably isnt exaclty the place...1000 pardons...

It's occured to me that I may be flying blind.

Although I've gone past basics now, both on the simulators and in actual flying.
I'm left wondering "whats next"....
Mind you I'm no competitive show man here but I can fly a thing or two now.

What I'm trying to get at here, is that I've pretty much trained myself to fly and the stuff i've beenpracticing pretty much has no logical progression.
(a little bit of every thing here and there)
There is no step 1 to step12 kind of progressionthat I have followedand now that i'm confortable with my flying i'm wondering

"Did Imiss something?"

Basically I want to ask, does anyone here know where I can find something similar to what I'm talking about as in a logical step progression of skills which should be mastered from basics to intermediatewhere flying is concerned?
Both for Heli's and Planes would be great but I'll settle just for planes

I've looked over the forums on here and didn't really notice anything to that effect.

Kinda cocky huh?  I like that!    Build a kit and solo it on your own.</p>

it all about what suits your fancy. there are dozen of ways to go once you've mastered the basics.

So you've mastered the basics, have you tried a real plane then, tried aerobats, taildraggers, warbirds, there are endless chanlenges, I consider myself a damn good pilot but I still have allot to learn and can alway do better.

try building.
nothing adds stress more than that first kit you spents weeks, months on and then maiden it, not to mention all you learn.

aerobatics, your never good enough, the 3-d thing there is the pattern thing. you get a set of assighned manuvers and perform it percicely despite the condidtions.

thermal gliders and slope souring &lt; i thought it would be boring to until i tried it. After being able to thermal for an hour with out power and I was hooked. Come on planes a 100 foor rubber band what could be better. Or fly all day standing on a hill all without power. One of my slope sourers rivals my 427 ships or raw speed, or course we have one of the best slopes in the country with winds arounf 50 being the norm.

My big draw is speed. it was why I got hooked on flying in the first place, nothing is faster than planes. have you tryed pylon planes. you don't have to compete to enjoy them. Just get a good pylon plane like the gp viper, stap in a heathly 46 and see what fast is, heck they clip along pretty good on a 25. then pull it off and strap on a Jett or nelson engine and really see what fast is. Before I knew it I was shaving engine heads playing with props fuels and mufflers to get every inch of umff out of an engine, of course I detonated a few engines in the process but it's part of the fun.

Also join a club. I got bored with the hobby too until I joined a club.

I have to kind of go along with what redfox is saying. This is the time to "spread your wings" literally. Start reading up on pattern flying, 3d, (always have a sport flyer on hand, it's the go to plane you just want to kick back with and burn holes in the sky with, shoot touch n goes, etc, nothing serious) then start looking up warbirds, ie: discover your interests in flying and the hobby in general. You may get a kick out of building, scale may drive you nuts, too much detail, etc. Discover it, that's the fun here. Look at my gallery, I have developed my own flying field, I have built some "scale" and some sport kits, I have developed a thing for wanting to build, but I still love to fly. Ilike the challenge of taking on a new plane, however, and have even gotten the hang of but not mastered a Blade CX heli. It's yours to do, and no one should tell you which way to turn. We are all here because we want to fly, all of us have our own way of doing it, and are here to help when we can, and encourage you on your way. Maybe you can give a little back by helping someone learning to fly, you don't have to give lessons, just help and encouragement. Cheers

combat will get your blood pumping

Most self starters miss out on some of the basics of instructor assisted flying.  There are quite a few of the basic maneuvers and of course, the "emergency" procedures that you probably have not been exposed to.  </p>

I always recommend doing dead-stick recovery practice.. in as many situations as possible.  Meaning, go downwind and pull the throttle to idle and land it without touching the throttle.  Do the same thing upwind.  Then pick a spot, an unlikely spot, like perhaps just as you turn out from take off and run the throttle to idle and see if you can get it a point where it will land safely.   You don't have to land it, just bring it in for a safe approach and what would be a successful recovery, then add throttle and go around.   Do these several times for your first tank of the day.  It never hurts because those dead sticks will happen at the most inopportune time.</p>

There's lots you can do, as mentioned above.  Doing aerobatic maneuvers is easy.  Doing them in a "pattern", meaning exit one maneuver with the intent of setting up for a perfect approach into the next one.  Anyone can go to the far left, accelerate, then do a Immelaman or a stall turn, but setting up after doing a perfect loop or a four point roll is the tough part.  Doing a slow roll, where the plane takes the entire length to roll one time is both difficult to do and is as pretty a maneuver as you can do.</p>

Keep at it is the point here.  </p>

CGr.</p>

Thanks guys All super great advice. </p>

(Yeah I guess I did sound a bit cocky there Garry - sorry about that haha) </p>

yes i've flown in real life not just sims, I started flying on a horizon hobby F-27 stryker moved on to brushless then a multiplex microjet also brushless and then the fun jet. I've also had a hobbico ventura I really loved that plane! but i gave it away to someone else who wanted to learn.. I do try to incourage people to get into the hobby its suuuch a great stress reliever!</p>

A while back I met a few seasoned pilots at the usual flying spot, one of them the most seasoned took an interest in my flying and is getting me to go fuel! </p>

Hence i began trainin up on a pt40 in the sims (Realflight), he is going to rebuild one of his old crashed Avistar and let me have that to go with.</p>

CGRetired I hear you on the practicing flying in precarious situations. I've been doing that for a while now. I cut my engine to zero throttle in all kinds of crazy position and bring the plane back in safe all the time most every time i hit the sim.. </p>

I start off slow just getting in a few ciructs trying to crab in, fly low maintain that altitude and alway try to land on the center line (gotten rather good at that) I feel very comfy with the plane.. </p>

Then i start with the maneouvers.. stall turns snaps immelamans split S, its hard to cuban on a PT40 and even a little knife edge, hard, but very interesting.. </p>

Then i practice the engine cut offs right after take off and in other crazy spots. I've found that its rather fun doing a half snap and bringing it back in or going with a semi stall turn and coming back to land. </p>

After that i usually like to have fun doing stall turns right after take off and come back in to land in both directions on the runway... I cant wait to get my hands wet on the avistar... the guy wants to buddy me first though given that its a semi semetrical wing....</p>

I do feel very comfortable flying now... even with high rates on and just wondered if there was something in basic training that I must have missed hacking it all on my own.... I don't really have space for building my own kits yet.... and I dont have a budget for scale... for now i want to have fun with the hobby building scale would definitely be stressfull and i wouldnt want to smash it.. I don't mind smasing my other planes and rebuilding but if i had a scale id want to keep it prestine. </p>

To be honest I don't really like war birds so much because of their nature to be scale like i don't feel like they have the kind of power i want for eaiser recovery or spur of the moment maneouvers. thought that could just be my ignorance talking.. I like looking at a mustang but I don't really like flying it.. ( 1000 pardons to the gods of RC ) </p>

YES draftman1 combat WOULD get my blood pumping but sadly there isnt anyone to combat with! most of the people i've met at the old field over here own one plane and they fly it in the same predictable patterns all the time never trying any thing new.. I cannot fly like that! I run my planes hard all the time.. i live at full throttle. and if i dont challenge myself I'm bored... low passes touch and goes inverted stalls i need to know that i can handle it all and handle it well.. not necessairly competition level, but well! its painful to watch some of these guys fly in strictly left turns all day uuuuhhh no offence.</p>

They have one plane so i dont blame then for how they fly being in the caribbean makes the hobby 5 times more expensive, plus they wont shell out for an other plane, they have no interest in electric! and im a huge fan of it.. about the only one i may be able to combat with is the most exp guy there who is rebuilding his avistar to give it away to me.... ( must have really made a good impression on him to bring out such generocity-i just dont understand their shock when i told them i only had 4 months total in actual flying - not to be cocky again but does it usually take people very long to learn?)</p>

I hear you too RedFox and although i'd love to hit pattern flying, for now, i want to get the basics down really solid and miss nothing... flying pattern over here would strictly be for fun as there are no clubs and no competitions and no one to learn from so im not really motivated as such to go down into the intricacies. For now I just want to know what I should have mastered and if i did miss something, jump right on it! I'm only just now getting comfy with the heli and seriously considering getting one too haha.</p>

As for speed and pilon racing, the fomies i've got are plenty fast and all have plenty of room for even more blistering speed upgrades I'm slowly working my way up to that... but the more i fly the pt40 the less i feel the need for going faster than 80mph we dont have the space and well, i like actually seeing the model haha.</p>

Thanks guys for all your input! greatly appreciated truly truly!</p>

I guess I'll continue doing what i'm already doing. </p>

For me i think whats next is upping the wind conditions to insane levels and see how i fair with that haha.</p>

</p>

Safety is the base practice to enjoy everything else.
If you have nobody to learn it from, just use common sense, and be super-safe, for you and for others.

Some references you may like:

http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/...some_pilot.htm

http://www.wild-wings.co.uk

The main key to flying is to be comfortable with the airplane in any attitude, and to be able to put the airplane where you want it.  Too many R/C pilots react to where the airplane happens to be going, and are really not pro-active in putting it in any particular piece of sky.

Basic skills should be:

With both feet planted on the ground, and the airplane flying in front of you, you should be able to perform:

1)  Straight and level flightkeep wings level and altitude constant.  Practice up high and gradually learn to do this down to about 10 feet off the ground.  You'll need the low altitude ability to handle go-arounds after aborted landings.

2)  Constant-altitude circles, left and right.  You MUST be able to turn the airplane equally-well to the left and right.  Start out with constant-bank turns (the wind will distort the path), and then work on constant-radius turns.  Again, start high and work to low altitude.

3)  Figure eights.  Make the circles as round as possible, keeping altitude constant.  Practice with the center going away and with it coming towards you.

4)  A rectangular path around the airfield, with one of the long legs of the rectangle directly over the runway.  Work with this one until you have the model going exactly where you want it to, with the path over the ground a good rectangle.  Learn to do it so that you pass over the runway from right-to-left, and from left-to-right.  Convert it to a landing pattern with a descent to the runway and then add throttle to go around.  If you can get it down to a few feet and then go around with a clean pattern, you'll soon find that you'll be able to easily make good landings.

5)  Landings, landings, landings.  Practice them a LOT.  Many people will judge your entire flight on how well you land the model.  A good landing erases a lot of bad aerobatics.

6)  Go on to the aerobatic maneuvers.  Learn the ones for the different levels of Pattern.  While you may not want to be a competitor, the better you can fly the precision maneuvers, the better your overall flying will be.  Leave 3D-type flying to the last.  Many fliers can toss a model around, abut are less-than-precise in other aspects of their control.  Look at the IMAC pilots.  Yes, they do a lot of 3D-type of flying, but everything else is very controlled and precise.

And that's a very  basic list of things you should be able to do.  Smooth and precise will trump almost any other kind of flying...but like anything else that looks nice and clean, it will take work to get there.