I am helping a 17 year old get a start into this hobby.
What I need to know is, how much help is too much.
He is very excited even after 2 or more crashes. And I have enjoyed helping him. But is doing repairs for him a good idea??

You would be better off  helping him to repair, teaching him to do the repairs himself.

However, with 2 crashes I would say the most help you could give him is getting him on a buddy box so that he doesn't crash!!

Ken

Got to agree with Ken. Learning how to repair and what to repair is a big part of this hobby. He will be a better pilot learning how to get the plane back in the air, and learning what not to ignore in the process. Flight simulators are great for flying skills I guess, but the results of a bad move are only a restart away. If you keep making the repairs for him, you're just providing him with a slow restart to the simulator. He needs to learn how the plane is built and how to repair the results of his mistakes. The simulator provides a video game environment where the good guys kill all the bad guys and all is well. Well the plane flies and lands and all is well, but it doesn't provide the overall reason why the plane flies and why things need to be balanced and aoa and thrust, and the list goes on.. Teaching him how to repair is filling that void. Teaching him to build completely closes the void.

A good instructor teaches more than how to fly. They teach why it flies.

Don

Just taking his wreaks and doing the repairs for him gratis is not such a great idea and the exception to that is if you are doing the repairs for hire thats OK but an entirely different arraingement.

What is a great idea for both you and him if you are both open to it is for you both to spend time in your shop (not his because you will find it difficult to work in some elses shop). There you can demonstrate various methods and ways to approach various repairs and he can practice with your supervision. You can cover anything from major repairs or simple monocoat practice to just setting up controls properly, something often poorly done.

This is the most effective way possible to 'Pass it on' and I practice it almost every day with someone following me home from the field. You will find this quite rewarding and most folks are very greatfull for the help.

John

Don't forget that someone new to the hobby especially someone young will often not have the immediate skill sets needed to repair well. Sometimes an ugly repair still works, so avoid being overly critical of his first attempts at repair. If the repair looks like it will work congratulate him on a job well done, then offer one or two hints that "may make it easier, lighter, more efficient, etc. As long as the repair job is adequate the rest will come with time and a few lessons along the way.

When helping someone learn, a prime directive is not to do anything for them which they can do themselves. When you do help, help them do it rather than doing it for them.

Got to agree with RCKen. With simulator time and buddy box to catch him before impact, newbies should have very little damage except for nose gear and wingtips once and a while. Only when one gets cocky with some flight time does one plant a balsa tree real deep.

Sometimes it's better to get another plane rather than fix it, if time and plane weight are of value to one. This is where the judgment of others may help.

And if the student makes repairs a good pre-flight is in order.

being around that age, when i was starting out little things that helped me alot were.......standing by me when i was learning, giving me basic tips on flying and how i could do it better (off buddybox). someone gave me a starter, pushrods, little things that you have that you dont really need, that the new guy could very much, use always helps. just little things like props, used glow plugs, ect that arnt perfect but still work well enough for him to appriciate, like half rolls of werid color covering that wont match but would work. what about that big pile of balsa u have in your basement from the various planes you built that your never going to use all of it. give him some of the scraps/plywood dicut extras/ect so he doesnt have to go spend money on the little stuff and save up for a second plane when he learns to fly.

I totally agree with what has already been said, and I'd like to add a few thoughts.

Quite a few times I have seen "oldtimers" or younger experienced modelers who sort of "force" their opinions onto the newcomer. "I only use XXXYYZZZ servos, all others are crap." "That engine will never run right, I only fly XXXZZ." When a newcomer has put a lot of effort and pride into building/assembling his airplane, the last thing he needs is to hear that his equipment is inadequate. I made a mistake myself that opened my eyes. I was the instructor in our club a few years ago, and we had beginners' meetings every week where people would bring their airplanes and work on them. One of the boys had an old 3-channel Graupner trainer that had been crashed numerous times, and it had become quite heavy from the repairs. When the plane was ready to fly, we met at the airfield and I took it up for a test flight. After I had landed, he asked me what I thought about the plane, and The Big Idiot (me) replied: "It's heavy and I can't trim it to fly straight." Naturally, he was very disappointed. He had been working on the plane for several weeks just to end up with a heavy, crooked plane. He quit the hobby, and I never saw him at the field again.

Here's my short list of advice:

1. Encourage him and make him feel welcome at the field.
2. Let him make his own mistakes and let him develop his own opinions and preferences.
3. Let him fly the way he wants to, but encourage him to fly controlled and safely. Not everybody wants to fly 3D, but a lot of people find touch-and-go-circuits boring. Everybody is different.
4. Be an arm's length away so that he can get help when he needs it, but still have a feeling that HE is the one doing it.
5. Have fun.