Sunday, July 20th 2003. At 8.00pm. He Solo's. After a long day of fun and fellowship. All the flying Buds left for home and we hung around to pull the cord! In the Picture is Alex Porter and his Sig. Kadet Sr. ARF. w/ OS .91 4 stroke. Controller is a Futaba 6 ch.

Is that you son? But thats pretty cool. Im hope fully getting signed off this Sat.

In the 5 weeks I've been going out to the local field (during the week and weekend) I've yet to see the first person fly younger than I am and I'm 32.

Congrats!! Nice job!!

Where is Willow Springs?? I'm in Hickory, about 50 miles NW of Charlotte...

Allen

Look out! 2 year's he'll be a better pilot then you heh.

Congrats! The Sig Kadets are great trainers. I learned on an LT-25.

If I read your post correctly, your son is 6 years old?

My son is almost 7 and is dying to get flying. But, he's afraid to try. He wants me to get him a "toy" airplane for him to fly. I would do that, but knowing that those "toys" aren't going to give him much of a thrill, and might not even fly very well, I'm leary of taking that route. Of course I wouldn't think of doing without the buddy box, and I think he'd do well, learn quickly and enjoy it, but I also don't want him to have a bad experience now that frightens him away.

So, what to do? You obviously didn't think this was too young an age to start, so any advice on getting them started this early?

Crotts:

You thought of getting him a park/slow flyer like a GWS Tiger Moth??? You could buddy him on this, and they are an absolute doddle to fly.

Kjemcee:

Congrats, my mates lad was only 8 when he got his BMFA "A" Certificate, and is probably one of the best fliers in our club at 8 1/2 years old!!! Typical kid, no fear of anything. He'll be wanting that overpowered low winger soon, I'm still waiting to try mine after over 12 months

Crotts, your son is afraid to try? Just tell him that you will pay for all the damadge he does and that he doesent need to do anything but fly, then just use a cord. Thats a pretty strange situation.

Yes Alex is six. He has been around airplanes since he was able to walk. Alex would retrieve our planes when there was a dead stick. we instructed him to turn the air plane off and to straighten the prop. and pull back to the pits by the tail wheel. Of course the first year he would only carried the transmitter. He would only break from playing with his toys when there was a plane to retrieve. He never really showed much interest until recently.When he was four I would pretend to allow him to fly on the buddy box. June 15th Alex said dad I want to fly. Really this time. After about 5 flights we went to the Youth Masters. June 20th at the Triple Tree Aerodrome, Alex successfully landed. 600 feet down the runway, dead stick never the less. When we got back home he had some rather hard landings. Two weeks in a row. The last fix was 3\8 x 1 1\2 spruce behind the firewall for bracing. Last Sunday I was not planing on letting him solo but he did so good and made some really nice touch and go's. 7\20\03 at 8pm I pulled the cord. Of course I will continue to use the buddy cord when there is a lot of people around. He is only six. You can never be to careful in this hobby. Special Thanks to Great Planes and Real Flight ( Knife Edge Software)

PS. Willow Spring is between Angier and Fuquay NC. South of Raleigh, NC
Kent Porter

Thanks for the info. I should explain that the reason he is afraid to fly, I think, is that he's heard me tell him time and again to be careful around my planes. i think I may have sent that message too loud and clear, and he is afraid of crashing them.

Of course, I wouldn't really care at all if he crashed one, I just don't want him stepping on them. Anyway, I've thought about this and think I'll not go the route of the foamy toys. After all, when he talks about wanting to fly, he says all he wants to do it is a loop. So, I think I'll take Kent's approach and let him start by standing with me, then try to get him to just hold the buddy box and go from there. Once he's out there on the flight line, I don't think it will take long before he can't stand it anymore.

Thanks again, I'll keep you all posted.