Would you buy a sim that

A> Teaches you how to turn when the planes coming at you.
B> Teaches you how to land in a crosswind.
C> Teaches you how to coordinate your turns with rudder control
D> Teaches you what happens when you get low and slow on final
E> Teaches you how to hold your tale down on takeoff until your rudder becomes effective
F> Shows you why you need more power on a headwind landing.
G> Shows you why you should never fly overhead.
H> Lets you practice standard approach techniques in all kinds of wind
I> Lets you understand why its so important to keep track of your planes attitude.
J> Trains you to keep your eye on the plane.
K> Trains you to stay ahead of the plane

If you would guess what? They are out there right now and they will show you all of these things and the list goes on. They will show you 95 percent of what you need to keep you trainer in the air and land it safely and the other five percent you will figure out very quickly. It is my opinion that to say sims need to be more realistic is unfortunate because you might have someone read this causing him not to buy a simulator to help him learn how to fly. And that would be a costly mistake.

Regards
denwag

I'd recommend a sim that teaches pre-flight checks.
I'd recommend a sim that shows a beginner safety in starting, handling, and setting up the plane properly with throttle cut, securing the wing, checking the battery before each flight, and many other things an instructor goes over.

I've seen the sim graduate. He's the guy that sometimes flies with his antenna down for a few hundred feet of the life of his trainer.
He's the guy that sometimes lands with the plane coming directly at him and it hits him in the legs, because that's how he landed 1000 times on his sim but mysteriously the plane flew under him without him jumping up out of his office chair.
He's the guy that flies a dead battery, puts others at risk, stands flying in the runway, and so many others things that he took for granted relying on a sim.
He needs to combine his sim experience with guidance from an instructor. Yes, he can learn that vital 5% very quickly, and apply that knowledge on his replacement trainer. If it's glow, he's got a lot more to learn.
Equally thinking a student only needs a sim, is a costly mistake as well. I think a student would learn more watching rc airplane searches on youtube!
I never watched a beginner once show up with a trainer, with sim only experience, and even think to look ahead of his aircraft by the way. You must have forgotten that was told to you by a more experienced pilot to do with about half your list there. A student doesn't know what to look for but the spacebar to reset his plane on the runway.

What a sim does wrong is teaches the beginner to think a take off, staying in the air in any haphazard manner, and bouncing down without parts falling off was flying and landing. None of those things run through a beginners mind until experienced instruction tells him to do so. Don't stretch it beyond what it is. I've had sim trained people demonstrate what they don't know more than once at our field.
A simulator will prepare you 30-40% of the way to fly a plane safely with all things considered.
Get an instuctor.
Read the forums.
Naturally a lot of questions exist for everyone. This is a sound answer to consider for any beginner. A sim is not a replacement for an instructor, although he can certainly fly solo a lot sooner accompanying the sim with the real thing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmm-f-76MnI&NR=1

Im a sim graduate I soloed my Giant Big Stik the first time I took it up and I do none of those things. Ive got fifty or so flights on it and flew it at the Columbus big bird flying last Sunday and I recieved several comments about how well I flew it. My first flight ever after practicing on a sim almost all winter was in June of this year. Im flying a Killer Chaos and have at least fifty flights on it also. You can see both of these planes in my models. Ive told this to several people when they ask how long I have been flying so I dont even mention it any more. Those 18 year old kids you see coming to the flight line and burning up the sky I assure you they are all sim graduates.

Ive never ever come close to flying my Giant Big Stik between my legs yet. Nor have I ever deviated accross the flight line ever. The five percent that I learned in the sky it is mostly outlined in a tread above this one its things the sim may not teach you that I learned from experience.

None of the things you mentioned about are limited to "Sim Graduates" Go to the flight line and you can see the same mistakes happening all across the spectrum of people there. If you buy a Electric Ready to fly trainer the learning curve on the ground goes way down and you can learn gas or glow as you go.

I must be the exception to the rule.

Any by the way never take your eyes off your plane. If there is another plane in the air you need a spotter he will tell you where to fly, how high and how fast. If you are by yourself and there is another plane in the air ask for a spotter to help you

Regards
Denwag

No, you're just above the Mason - Dixon line and it's a much more advanced world up there. I miss it a lot.

Which sim showed you how to set the mixture on your engine by the way?

I think you experienced something with instructors that shouldn't be the case but sometimes it happens anyway. I pulled this post of yours to shed light on the bigger story and under the circumstances, I can see why you feel strongly about simulators. Still, setting up your gas engine came from this forum (also found those posts too) and unless you're flying all alone, think how much time you saved relying on the experience of others.

I agree, clubs aren't always the best social clubs you can join. I certainly don't have AMA or club membership now or ever, but I still fly with 20-30 regulars at a free field that's been in place for 15 years in my town. I learned from them how to land, before sims were as advanced as they are today. Setting up my plane properly couldn't be done from reading online nearly as easily as someone showing me first hand. If I didn't have that, I'd have crash a lot of planes.

Simulators will save you a lot of time in coming up to speed with flying. I've said that many times over the years. But it never replaces a good instructor filling in the other important gaps not as easily found on your keyboard. Youtube has a lot of video though just in case you have bitter experiences too.

Who helped you set up your radio for that plane?

It was a b..ch. I have a dle30 and I read literally thousands of thread and bench tested the engine before I flew it. I set hs needle to max rpms and ls needle so that why I tramp the trottle I had the fasted transition to max rpms. If I tramp it and it dies ls to lean if it burlble first then ls is too rich. A blades width can make a big difference on the carburator.
When I took it up the first my idle was to fast and I had a 18x10 prop on it. I could not get it to slow down. I did three go arounds before I remembered I could trim down the throttle on appoach I trimed it to low and it died. I was still to fast and ran into the tall grass at the end of the runway at Atterbury. Next time I flew not that day I was soaked with sweat I had a 18x8 on it and I now check my idle very close before takeoff. I later found that full flaps will slow it down very nicely so its not an issue any more.

I said I soloed my first flight I didnt say it was without incidence. But the Sim gave me the confidense to do the go arounds and line up on final like a pro.

regard
denwag

Well this is the beginner section, and the subject is "average training time for newbies", so as people can see, a simulator is a great tool to cut into that time, but not the only resource for everyone to get the job done.

Maybe 10 and 8 pitch prop is a lot of pitch for a Stick? Flaps help indeed. 50-55cc engines are above the manufacturers recommendations? You can find someone who has been there before, or go it alone. Which is easier? Certainly bad advice does happen here and there. One thing about a club is they usually assign someone that has proved his knowledge and has been tested for fitness to the position.

Anyone new can use a helping hand from someone with experience, and that he has a genuine interest in seeing the new RC pilot reach flying independently. For me, being 100% glow, Marty showed me how to tune my engines, Jack showed me how to land and hover, and Bob is one of my best buying customers, so I get to fly something different every few weeks turning over my plane to him after I do all the work. It is a lot of fun.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9925016/tm.htm

The learning never ends and that's why people enjoy sticking with this hobby for decades.

I'd still enjoy seeing a sim show a guy walking out there to clean up his crashed plane. [X(]

OK OK Im not saying you can do this alone with a sim only. I get your point. If you have a RTF electric maybe and you have a big field buy yourself yes you can like I had. You need a trainer or a friend or a mentor if you will to help you especially if you jumping in head over heels like I did. I had a mentor at work that talked me into getting into rc and reccomended a sim first. I would have questions and come in the next day and ask him about them.

I assume that if you are getting into rc you are not doing this alone. You probable have a friend or you talked to someone in a club that will help you. Perhaps I am the exception to the rule.

Since that thread Ive joined an AMAClub and I was wrong about saying those things in that earlier thread. Why do I need the AMA? Because of the Friends Ive made and the enjoyment I have watching these people who are just as nuts about RC as I am flying there obsessions.

But I am adamate about simulators. Im 55 years old and this is a life long obsession and love. Without a Simulator I would have never been able to do this. It is the love of my life.

Regards
denwag

I wish fliers1 would enlighten us in his methods. I found that coupling the rudder and ailerons as recommended here http://www.rcflightschool.com/Solo_Manual.asp really helped my trainer behave.

peace

Harphunt makes a good point. It can help a lot to get more than one instructor or aproach to flying. Also it isn't a bad idea to ask for one on one time with one of the instructors to work on specific skills. I recently put a soloed flier on my buddybox and my trainer and had him only fly below 1/4 throttle and make repeated passes at about head high. It was just a bit windy and really made the guy work the ailerons and rudder. It was quite a confidence booster as he really did well with this. His slow speed handling greatly improved. And landing, as we know, is all about slow speed handling.

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

There is more to it than this, but with practice, I think most anyone can learn it.

I basically use the same method for heli training. http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/p...pcinc#p1463695

fliers1

I got my first trainer in 5th grade..... for some reason I just could never get past 1 or 2 lessons at a time before having to move.... I'm 28 now and I am almost ready to solo. I've been hammering the training hard since June.