using fpv to learn to fly airplanes?
 

hey fella's i've flown rc helicopters in the past and new to flying fix wing aircrafts. i am wanting to know if i could possible learn how to fly with using a FPV device?

Nope.

Nope.

To give a slightly less terse reply, you need to have basic RC piloting down before jumping in to FPV. It's an exciting new branch of the hobby that I'm all for, but it's not for pilot who are unfamiliar with their planes.

OK here goes another take on FPV. What does it do for someone flying a vehicle that is not autominous and has no fligjht stabilization of any kind? As far as I know it provides a video presentation in some form of goggles or screen of what a full scale pilot sees in flight. And as far as I am aware that is it

It does require that you have a safety pilot at all times while you are under the hood with a buddy box to assure the aircraft remains in visual contact at all times that is if you are going to fly at an AMA field.

Can you learn to fly that unstabilized aircraft and in the conventional way with conventional controls well perhaps yes but at great cost in terms of lost time, countless aircraft replacements or repairs and most important frustration. Pursuing FPV as a workaround to avoid seeking out actual human face to face help is a silly approach and not likely to acheve much success.


Remember even learning to fly full scale aircraft requires far more than simply visuals. It also requires the sense of sound, The sense of acceleration in your butt (G load, the sense of falling out of your seat) and as any good primary full scale instructor will tell you it will also require a sense of smell.

So FPV as a workaround to actually learning how to fly is at best unwise.

John

When flying FPV the controls are always correct right is always right. But when flying RC and the aircraft is coming to you that is not the case. You learn to stick to the low wing. FPV will not help that

Here are a couple of concrete examples to add to the "nopes". Suppose you take off at a steep angle. With fpv you see the sky. What is the actual angle of the plane? You can't tell.

Or picture making a turn. You bank the plane and give some up. In the turn, are you climbing, descending, or maintaining level flight? Hard to tell on fpv, except for extremes. Even worse would be trying to detect adverse yaw.

If you've flown heli's I'm sure you can learn to fly fixed wing pretty quickly. Add fpv when you're proficient.

so what y'all saying, i'd much rather just fly like every normal pilot with my sport cub s2 with as3x and panic button (auto leveling) or my 3 channel biplane arf (still working on it)

No I think you might benefit from a few flights on the buddy box with an instructor. You'll take your plane home in one peice

Buddy box with an instructor at a club is good. You might succeed on your own...hard to say. It depends on how good the plane is and how good your skills/knowledge are. I taught myself to fly on a small glow engined airplane years ago, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. I enjoyed it even more after I joined a club.

In our club we often get beginners coming to us with some foam electric they got at a hobby shop or online and then tried to fly in their back yards. Often there is some problem with the balance point or trim or control throws, or it just turns out to be harder to fly than they thought. We usually get them straightened out and flying pretty quickly. Sometimes they join the club and continue to have fun with us, and other times it's like "thanks for the free advice" and we never see them again.

There is no substitute for skill. You probably know this from flying helicopters. That panic button is the equivalent of the auto recover devices they have for helicopters. Will it save the vehicle from an incompetent pilot? Maybe. Will it cause you to get good flights in if you haven't practiced the skills? Not at all. To my mind, FPV is something to get into after you've mastered your trainer and then your second airplane/sport plane. When you can land on a dime, do straight takeoffs, do basic aerobatics and make it look pretty good, and never lose orientation, that's the time to switch to FPV flying. And the smartest way is to do it on a buddy box with another experienced pilot who is comfortable with your plane. At least for the first few flights, that will let you not have to worry about your takeoffs and landings, and then when you're ready you'll have someone to talk you down so you can learn how a good landing looks through the goggles.