Buy a sim, practice an hour a night and you will solo next week

Regards
sbdwag

Kinda like Patty Wagstaff?

I started just over a year ago, at age 55. Didn't use a buddy box, but had a good trainer right beside me for a couple of months. I think the best thing he did was point me at a goodfirst airplane- a HobbyZone Super Cub. (I'm sure there are plentyofother planes with similar characteristics.) Having a plane that:
1. Doesn't do a whole lot, and does it slowly enough for a newbie to keep up,
2. Lands just about at walking speed, and
3. Can take a lot of abuse.
did wonders for my confidence.
Moving on up, I found that a small electric flat foamy was a great plane to learn basic aerobatics. Again, very slow, will do anything, but will do it slow enough to let the learner react. A real confidence builder.
I found that a lot of the time I could figure out what needed to be done if there was only time to think about it for a few seconds. The slow but capable planes made that possible. Over time the reactions became instinctive, and I was able to move on to faster and more impressive planes. But I still use the slower ones because I still have a long way to go!

Chris

I don't believe in the time factor. It's all in confidence in yourself (imo). This is my third year learning and for me the moment came when I took a inexpensive trainer to the field. That plane suprised me at how much fun I was having. After 4 great flights I put my other trainer in the air and on landing I set it down right in a tree. No damage but the confidence factor is still high and I'm still flying. Don't beat yourself up over it, just have fun.

I second that!! Sims are priceless.

Lots of good stuff here. If I may just add one thing.

Learning how to use a computer can seem extremely complicated if you look at everything involved as a whole. Break the many different operations down, figure out and learn one at a time, and things become much simpler?

With that in mind, maybe try to become purpose oriented with your flying? Have a purpose in mind when taking off - and focus on that purpose. Left turn. Right turn. Left turn coming at you, left turn going away from you. Conquer each maneuver one at a time, while reviewing those previously learned constantly. Maybe split each flight with 1/2 new and 1/2 review material? When broken down to individual maneuvers, it may be seen you don't have to hook many of them up end to end to complete a flight?

Another piece may be flying frequency. Once a week while learning may not be enough? Once a month, and it'll take forever.

Focus on what you're trying to accomplish, just remember to have some fun while doing that. Don't be shy about doing a loop (at altitude, but otherwise without notice) when your instructer's attention seems to be fading. That'll bring things back into focus.... FWIW

Wow I see me in you. It was taking forever for me so I bought the Real Flight Simulator and that helped me a lot. Also my instructor took vacation and left me with a subs. This one is more aggresive and fearless, that helped a lot too. He told me I will be ready for solo in 2-3 hrs. At last after 3 months.

Lots of good points in this one. Let me add my $0.02 worth as well. Frequency, it's been mentioned but you need to hear it again. Fly at least one day per week. Simulators, worth their weight in gold. They don't help a lot with peripheral issues, but help a great deal with orientation when the model is coming toward you. Here's some new thoughts to this forum; fatigue. Learning to fly R/C is one of the most mentally fatiguing things we can do. Limit your lessons to three flight per day. Any more than that and you will start making mental errors and adding to your frustrations. The last point is one that is heavily trained in the airline industry and that is the Stabilized Approach Concept. It means at some point well out on final approach, the model should be on centerline and not angling toward the runway, on a proper glide path and not being drug in or dived at the runway and lastly on proper speed. If you would imagine a "billboard sized" window 300 - 400 ft. on final and always try to fly through that window it will help a bunch. Learning to land a model is a two step process, the first being a stable approach and when this is mastered, then learning how to flare out for the actual touchdown. When I am teaching students, we concentrate on flying a stabilized approach followed by a go-around until the student can consistently fly an approach to the flare point. Only then do we continue through the flare to a touchdown. The last point is a freebie and that is learning to do a proper go-around. If the whole thing has curdled and you've lost the stabilized approach, do a go-around. The ability to execute a good go-around and to do it anytime things aren't right is a valuable safety tool. Never try to salvage a landing from a poor approach. Good luck!

Awesome! That brings up a HUGE point. All instructors are not the same! If you aren't going anywhere, and there's another available, try them!

Amen on the sim buy it fly the hell out of it every chance you get ,and the second piece of advice is don't get too heavily invested in your first plane
monetary value of the plane can be a really big stumbling block to soloing due to the pucker factor of having the plane low and slow on landing approach
buy a fairly cheap trainer fly the livin snot out of it ,learn to fly it and land it confidently then go buy something that you really like.
99% of the trick to soloing is developing the confidence to attempt it and the willingness to take your plane home in a garbage bag if you botch it up.
It will happen when it happens ,for me it took exactly what I just told you plus going to the field when no one else was around so I wouldn't feel nerved up or stupid if I crashed
I put the plane up and just concentrated the whole flight on my approaches one after another until I got it right and touched it down and repeated the process several more times on different days.

Hi All
  Thank you all soo much for your great responses! I can tell you I am not giving up with my flying. I'm here to stay for a very long time. Just more frustrated with how the youngsters just walk in and have all this ability. Not sure who said it but it is true how the youngsters come in and fly up a storm in no time but are basically gone in a very short time. They have such a very short attention span before they need the next thrill and move on to find it. My thrill is here to stay! I have always wanted to do this but when I was younger my time was always spent playing sports plus no money. Today my sports days are over other then golf. You can also factor in older with my own money!
Again this is such a great community and I thank you all!
~Boudacia

"Instructor?" "Buddy Box?"
I've never done R/C airplanes,bought an EDF 4-ch MiG-15, threw it togetherand flew it out of the box the first time. I got her off the ground,up to about 150' and turned her with aileron then elevator, and it was at this point I fell victim to "Pilot Reversal Displacement Syndrome" where everything is OPPOSITE of what it SHOULD be and absolutely lost it. I could NOT place myself in the bloody cockpit. Throttle forward full instead of down, nose straight down instead ofUP. It was then I realized I was going to be an authentic MiG-Killer out of wartime.Straight into the ground full bore. Plastic andfoam shrapnel exploded. It was beautiful. These jets are fast! Thank God I was ALONE for my first MiG Kill! Four more and I'm an ACE! Is it wrong? No.

I'm thinking SIMulator time before I fly the next one. If (when) I crack up the next one, maybe I'll look into a slower bird.. But this is a war of attrition and I look forward to the carnage. This could be bad. God help us.
Got free "FMS" simulator program with the Chinese MiG kit installed and running fine. Still, the brain is fighting this whole OPPOSITE world of R/C..If I could fly these jets ala RPV with through-camera viewing for "in the cockpit" control, well.....one problem solved, but others started no doubt.

G'day Learning to fly RC planes takes as long as it takes. I started in 1989 at the age of 40 and my 12 year old son started the same time. This was before buddy boxes and our teacher was not that great. After three months (and a couple of planes) my son was flying solo. I did manage to fly solo after about 4 months but only with glider type models. My first solo was with a Dynaflite Butterfly powered by an OS FS26. It was an extremely gentle plane to fly and could more or less land its self. By this stage my son was flying fast low wing models and doing absolute greaser landings.

I did not really get to fly well for about 10 years and even now after nearly 20 years I do not consider my self an expert. The plane that made me independent was and is the Sig Kadet Senior - the kit version. I built my first one nearly 20 years ago and it is still flying (though it has had two new fuselages and some wing repairs over time). The Kadet can fly its self. To land it, you point it at the strip, reduce the power and it just floats in to land with you modulating the elevator. At the present time I have four Kadet Seniors. All have four stroke motors from 56 to 72 size. The favourite is the one covered in Solatex and powered by a Laser 70. Second favourite is the oldest and it is powered by a Saito 56. Nothing else is as relaxing to fly. Take off is a non event, flying is so easy I even taught a local radio crew on air and landing is easy to as I have said. Building does take some time but the kit and the instructions are excellent and you can easily build spare parts from the excellent plan. You can build the whole plane from the plan if you want to.

I recommend the Kadet to all my students who are "more advantaged in years". With a small four stroke it is economical and will fly for ages on quite small amounts of fuel too.

A-#1 advice. There were no instructors within a reasonable distance form where I live so I was on my own. I bought Realflight when I purchased my trainer and I must have done 1000 touch and goes. I practiced for several weeks before I attempted my first flight. My first flight was solo and successful so I am a firm believer in sims. While they never are a substitute for real world situations, they do get your timing down and help you hand eye coordination.

G'day

I recently taught a bloke to fly. He lives about 1000 miles from me so we did it by email. And it worked.

He bought a (Parkzone I think) Super Cub and went out and had a first flight that was short and spectacular and resulted in the usual damaged model. He repaired it and tried again. Same result. After a couple more similar times he started listening to my advice.

1. Buy some fibre reinforced packing tape and split it into thin strips and use it to reinforce the leading and trailing edges and put some length ways down the fuse top, bottom and sides.

2. Buy some sort of electric powered foam glider. The Multiplex Easystar is great but the standard engine is not. A cheap upgrade to brushless and LiPo really helps. My friend used the Parkzone Radian and he is still flying it after many prangs and many repairs.

3. To get your orientation right in an emergency, try this - point the radio in the direction the plane is flying. Sounds strange but it really works for most people. So if the plane is coming at you, point the plane behind you (to one side) and look over your shoulder at the plane. I don't know why this works, but it does.

4. If you are pointing the radio at the plane and it is coming towards you - use the aileron (or rudder for a three channel plane) to point the stick at the low wing. This will bring the plane back to level.

The whole trick is to get into the air and get some "stick time" and a powered glider will help you do this quickly. Set it up so that the rudder is operated by the stick that would normally be the aileron stick (right stick for Mode 2) so that when you get a plane with ailerons, you don't have to learn to turn all over again.

Finally - Have Fun.

Without a sim, about 2 months.

Istarted about a year ago and have been on and off the buddy box a few times. Through the year I went on a trainer with a buddy box and started to learn took me 3 monthes of flying to get to solo the trainer bought a second low wing plane to further my knowledge but went back to buddy boxing for that airplane while still soloing the trainer. This helped me learn that different airplanes feel different and even one plane to another in the same weather reacts different. I had to leave town for business and when I returned went back to buddy boxing on every airplane then that same day resoloed both airframes. I still buddy box on certain flights. If Ithink I need to work on landings and may be looking for an example or if I am learning simple manuvers then I ask another pilot to box with me and show me how to do a slit s or help me learn to do touch and go's better. Also a good sim is good for practicing as the electronic blips dont take time or money to fix a new airframe already set up and refueled is just a reset away. All of my going back on the box decisions were my own. All the flyers at my field are older and have been flying for a lon long time. So there really is no middle in my field me the new guy and a lot of experts. It makes me a bit self concience but I also have lots of experience around to help when I am in trouble.

Boudacia, Another point to consider is that different people learn in different ways. For me, the preferred learning method is to have someone explain a concept in advance, give me some time to absorb what I've been told, ask questions, then go out and fly the airplane. After flying, it helps me to ask questions and further discuss what I experienced on the flight. i guess you would say I'm a "verbal learner". But that's just me.

Other people seem to learn best by grabbing onto the box and trying it out. Guess you'd call them "naturals". Still others learn best by watching the instructor fly the airplane and then trying to mimic his actions. Visual learners, I suppose.

My point is that people vary not only in how quickly they learn, but also in what cognitive process they use to learn.

Now, the other side of the equation is the instructor. How your instructor learned will often be reflected in how he/she teaches. If the instructor is a visual learner, then the teaching method will probably lean towards the visual.

My point in telling you this is so that you can examine your own learning style to see whether the instructor's method matches your preferences. Sometimes it's helpful to work with a number of different instructors to find the one with whom you "click".

Another helpful asset in an instructor is having a common background. If your instructor can explain things in the context of something that's already familiar to you, then you will learn more easily.

Hope this helps,

Dick

Depends on the students ability. I taught my wife to drive a stick in 30 minutes. Another friend just could not get it after TWO DAYS! Poor car, VAROOM, erchh. Varoom,erchh. Its a wonder that clutch survived!

When you do solo here are a few words of wisdom I hope might help you.

One thing that people don't realize is how much focus you need to fly. I don't necessarily mean actually seeing the plane although that too is a critical requirement I mean mentally being in the game 100 percent of the time while its in the air. It takes a concentration rarely needed in any other activity. Things like swatting a fly, fumbling your transmitter, even wiping the sweat out of your eyes. All can re-kit you plane in an instant.

After you fly awhile you will realize that there is a time for aerobatics and a time only for slow smooth laps around the field. Some times mental fatigue from a hard day at work, or stress at home cannot be overcome. You will have those times and you need to be aware that those times are when you are most likely to crash your plane from mental error. I fly my best early in the morning when I am fresh. Although most of my flying occurs in the evening I can tell very quickly when I take the Chaos up what kind of mental state I am in and adjust my flying style all the way from conservative to aggressive.

Two things you should never do when learning are flying overhead and watching someone else's plane flying near you. If you do either and your plane survives you will understand why. These are two things simulators don't really teach you.

Never take you eyes off of your plane. When you are in the air its just you, your transmitter and the plane. Any and all other distractions are potential re-kit solutions.

Also think about flying in high contrast. As an example flying a red plane with both the plane and the sun in your face is bad. Red becomes black in those conditions.
You can lose you orientation (whether its coming or going, or flyin right side up or inverted) in a split second. With dark colored planes fly with the sun to your back or fly another time of the day. Some fields are morning fields (field facing west) and some or evening fields (field facing east) take this into consideration.

And finally the more eyes that are on you plane the more pressure there is on you. Ideally when you first solo and the few flights after that if you can arrange a time of day when there is only you and your mentor, spotter, trainer with you. Later on you will (if you are like me) learn to enjoy spectators when you can ham it up a little, Just remember your limitations. I jumped in the deep end of the pool with my trainer, I soloed a Giant big stik with a dle30cc gasser on it. But I had over 300 hours of logged flight on my Realflight sim before I soloed,

After about 50 or so flights on the Stik and a equal number on the Killer Chaos I built last winter both are still with me and both are almost as pristine as the day they were new. Someday I will prang a plane in. I know that day is coming. It happens to everybody. Someone told me the life of a plane is inversely proportional to the amount of time spent building it. But with most of my stupid tricks absorbed on the sim (I hope) Im finding a balance in flying that is somehow allowing me to keep my planes in the air and on the ground when Iwant them to be there.

Regards
Denwag

The teaching method I use, it usually only takes less than 4 hours. Many of those I trained only took less than 2 hours. That is on the same day. This is without any sim time at all. Thing is, those who did practice on a sim, I had to help them unlearn all the bad habits they unknowningly taught themselves.

fliers1

I wished the sims were more realistic. Instead of hitting spacebar to place a new pretty plane all in one piece on the runway, it should have a pilot walk on the screen with a hefty bag cleaning up his wreckage for a minute. Then have other characters walk on screen gathering around saying it can be fixed to fly again or you should get an OS engine that doesn't deadstick.

Each subsequent flight should show a more tattered and patched up plane on the runway, with more wing loading from the added weight of repairs, and the plane needs to be trimmed again.

You should have a running negative balance on the screen that can zero out on Fridays for ages under 65, and the balance zero's out on the 3rd of the month for retired users. This virtual bank account never goes into the black even with successful flights, but you only consume fuel costs. Depending on how hard you crash, you could see the negative numbers rack up really fast.

Now that's a sim I'd buy.

I been learning to fly for year now i got the take down good i can do loops and a few other thing but like you i have a terrible time landing sometimes good and a lot of times bad . but i still love to fly and i fly with some of the best flyer around so just keep trying and don't let the other flyer that are good bother you we'll get there so day. PS have fun.

Sorry old timers. bless your hearts.
Times have changed! Flight simulators and ARF's are the answer ! I have seen many new guys go from a sim. to a stable 3D type ARF plane, and fly it very well.

You see if someone spends 6 Mo. building and 1 Year learning, they shake and crash, and lose out in a great hobby.
But if a guy can learn on a sim. wile he sets up a good looking ARF . He does not experence failure . Till later when his firewall tears off. But by this time he knows he can fly.

Gone with the trainers and buddy boxes !!!! A THING OF THE PAST !!

A new person with half a brain, can sim for 20+ hrs. and fly a Showtime 50 in less than 2 weeks. FACT!! I seen it just last week.

ARFs truly have become mainstream in the hobby, as more and more kits become discontinued and aren't selling. I personally still prefer to kit build. But I've never spent 6 months building one unless I set it aside for 5 and a half months before finishing it. It's really a 1 to 2 week thing for me and I usually build 2 at the same time. Just gives me more to do while epoxy dries on one. Building is a very enjoyable part of the hobby and it's a relaxing past time. The end result going up in the air is much more gratifying than any ARF I sent airborne. Kits tend to last many years longer than "pretty" ARFs. The quality of the wood, and you determining how much and type of glue to use, really makes a finer flying and longer lasting plane. It prepares you for everything you should know about your plane and how to repair it as well.
Trainers aren't gone, after all, your gallery showed you bought two of them seven months ago. They serve a valuable purpose for those that don't pick it up as second nature. I wouldn't call them half brained in any context. What you call fact, is just one example.
Hardly a consensus for accurately showing what the average person can and can't do in a specified period of time.

Flight simulators do not teach you anything about safety.
They don't teach you pre-flight checks.
They don't teach you to handle all the physics you encounter on the first flying day.
Trainers give the student time to react.

Simulators do teach orientation in flight.
Simulators give the student some confidence of what to expect in the functional aspects of the model, among some other cursory things.

I don't think the student learned how to set his end point and exponential from his simulator. I've flown with sims at the hobby shop from time to time and really didn't see all the physics I'd expected to feel when handling the real thing.

Here are some more facts that I've seen.
In my experience watching sim pilots go in from not raising an antenna, or flying too far away, and not having control at altitude because he wasn't familiar with the higher wind that's up there not found on his simulator. Even worse, more than once I've seen the sim pilot land his plane right into his legs, just as he did on his simulator 1000 times and didn't need to jump over it.
There are many things a sim doesn't teach what an instructor will teach the student. Having an instructor of some kind, and getting safety and preflight checks rehearsed in addition to sim time, would be wise for anyone with half a brain to consider.