mrfourtysevenman

My Feedback: (2)

Some people who get into this hobby don't know how to take proper care until they have crashed. I hate to see this happen.
here is my Beginner's Complete Guide for this hobby.

1) Airplanes;
you want to get a trainer airplane. i would suggest investing in Realflight because it will teach you the basics.
buy a trainer airplane. i actually learned how to fly on the u-can do .46, a 3d aerobatic plane but because of it's airframe it can be really easy to fly and has low speed abilities. beginners dont like to fly fast. my idea of a trainer is the avistar. it flies GREAT! it's not just a trainer but you dont want to take it out of the air. most trainers get boring. this doesnt.

2)
engines and settings
say you have the Hobbico avistar or nexstar. a .40 sized plane. a .40 engine will fly it with enough power and be fuel efficient because of its size. a .45 will be a blast to fly it on.
the needle valve sets the fuel to air ratio. if you have it running rich (more fuel than air) smoke will sure be spraying out of the muffler and your engine can get damaged.
if you run it lean (less fuel, more air) there is higher pressure pumpung fuel in but less fuel. the engine can get hot at this setting. you want your engine running perfectly in the middle.
read your engine's manual or look up the manual online. if not set right, you can hear the engine making weird noises in flight and hesitating to do what you tell it. i lower the throttle to get more pressure in the fuel tank to pump more fuel in the engine so i can land and fix it. the rubber line from the muffler pumps air into the fuel tank which pumps fuel into the engine which is limited my the needle valve. do not run the engine without a needle valve or muffler unless you are an idiot.

3) control throws
you want throws set just right for you on your plane. on the servo horn and on the nylon clevis on the control surface. the lower the control rod is on the nylon clevis, the more throw.
the HIGHER the control rod is on the servo horn, the more throw. it is like a bike chain. i personally put my planes on high throows so i have more range of control. especially when i get into wind but for a beginner, i suggest staying on medium-low throws.

4) getting ready to fly
this is one of, if not the most, important aspect. center of gravity. check your airplane's manual for where the center of gravity is. mark it with a sharpie, and with the engine and everything installed but with no fuel in the tank, lift the airplane up with a finger on each side of the wing where the marks are. if it balances just fine, great. if it leans forward, move your battery back in the plane more until it balances. and if it leans backwards, you get the idea. and dont put the battery in backwards. I've made that mistake before.
for reference, the servos go in this order on the receiver.
B) Battery
1) Ailerons
2) Elevator
3) Throttle
4) Rudder

5) Learning to fly
even if you master Realflight, dont go solo your first time. Get a person to train you. Join the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). They will teach you how to fly with a trainer cable.
this connects 2 transmitters. the trainee controller is off. the trainer controller is flying. the trainer holds a switch or button, sending control to trainee. if the trainee loses control, the trainer lets go of the switch and stops it from crashing. here's an example. my club was having a funfly event and a kid was on the trainer cable system. he was flying a trainer plane when he accidentally made it dive right into the ground. the trainer let go of the switch and pulled up at just the right time.

6) landing
landing can be tricky. it is the most intense for a beginner and a lot of fun. for beginners, always land into the wind. fly to the end of the field, turn around, cut your throttle, and drop your altitude. if you do not drop your altitude, you will be too high to land. even as little as a few feet off the ground when coming up on landing is too high.
you are going to want to hold down on the elevator a little. give throttle about 20 percent when you need to. land on the back 2 wheels (if it is a trike style landing gear).

if anybody has helpful information, please post it.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

[link=http://www.gettingairborne.com/index.html]GettingAirborne.com[/link]

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

Every trainer I've flown should have the nose level or a little high on final approach. Use the throttle to control altitude; if you're a little low, add a touch of throttle, if a little high, back off. Pointing the nose down will increase your airspeed, and when you level off that increased airspeed will make your plane climb. When you get to fly a 35-pound warbird you can use some down elevator to lose altitude, but with a lightweight flat-bottom-airfoil trainer, it will get you in trouble.

freakingfast

My Feedback: (3)

I never tell a student to land, I say" lets practice low slow fly-by's". Usually, on their own, the student chops throttle on the third or fourth pass and lands. They say "I just wanted to see if I could land". A cool trick.

mrfourtysevenman

My Feedback: (2)

well i like it!

freakingfast

My Feedback: (3)

I highly recommend Realflight! Two things about this. First, spending a lot of sim time flying around in the sky wont get your model on the ground. Try to land from both directions and when you can do this successfully 10 times in a row half from each direction on the simulator, your ready to fly a model (with a instructor on buddy box backing you up). At this point, you may find it is actually easier to land the model than the sim because you have real depth perception, not a 2D screen.

Second, if you are spending a lot of sim time, and you find you are getting worse, STOP! you are regressing, take a break. You have reach the limit for a while, to continue to push on is a waste of time and will do more harm than good.

cfircav8r

My Feedback: (1)

You want to learn to fly model aircraft then you NEED to read "Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying" by: Wolfgang Langewiesche. It may contradict many points you are taught by your instructors. Many R/C "instructors" have no formal aviation experience and were taught by a guy at the field that was taught by anouther guy at the field and so on. It is generally hands on only with some basic explanations on flight theory. Unfortunitely there is a lot of misunderstood aspects of flying that get passed down through the line of students. I guarantee some of the points in this book will contradict what some believe to be true because of misunderstandings, poor training, and erroneous anecdotal evidence. Don't get me wrong there are some great instructors out there and clubs with great programs. These will always require homework before the next lesson and incorporate some form of ground instruction. Just remember read the book, and find a good instructor. Barring that READ the book and find someone to help you keep from destroying it while learning. If your instructor is just there to take over and give some occasional prodding then read up on the different aspects as they become relevant, and if you can't make sense of it use the forums. There are some very knowledgable people here and can help you understand, just give as much information as you can.

SeamusG

Hey MinnFlyer - wished you had more to say about the subject.

While I spent many hours on RealFlight (RF) before flying my Kadet Senior it did not teach me good technique. As a result I spent many hours practicing poor techniques. There's a balance between learning with a good instructor on a buddy box and practicing what you learned on RF. That way you are practicing good (or at least better) techniques.

And away we go ...

mrfourtysevenman

My Feedback: (2)

if you set the simulator to 120 to 130% speed on difficult settings and can land, it will be easier to fly but still not enough to not need a trainer.

opjose

The wheel was invented here:====> [link=http://www.gettingairborne.com/index.html]GettingAirborne.com[/link]

tim8885

Here is a up and coming site I found that offers some info for the beginner http://allthingsrc.net/airplanes.php