When to go to the second plane
 

Im new to rc flying but I soloed with my nexstar and have a good cammand of the plane. My question is should I force the nexstar to do roles,loops,spins and inverted flight. Will this help me learn to fight it or just go to the four star 60. Keeping the nexstar inverted is a real chor. Thanks for all of your opinions.

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

It's not a matter of "forcing" the plane to do those maneuvers. If you can't do them on a trainer, you're going to have a handful trying to learn them on a second plane. I see too many students rush to fly their second plane, and spend all of their time flying afraid of a plane instead of enjoying flying. They simply weren't ready to move up. A good rule of thumb I have for my students is when they can "comfortably" fly an entire circuit of the field inverted they can start thinking about moving up. I also think a student should burn about a gallon of fuel doing touch and go landings.

Give the Nexstar some credit, it will do a lot more than students think it can. I have fun flying trainers, I love flying all the maneuvers with a trainer.

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

Jimmy G --

I am new to RC also and I am on my third airplane. I guess on the forum "second airplane" means something more advanced than the the airplane you trained on but I like variety. I have a Sig Kadet Senior (OS46 AX) that I learned to solo on and still love to practice landings and to relax with, I also have a H9 Arrow (OS46 AX) that I am learning basic aerobatic maneuvers and it is a little quicker than the Kadet and then I have a Sig Rascal 40 (OS52 4c) to learn how to fly a tail-dragger. So even though I have 3 airplanes they are all sort of "trainers". I know I am not ready for my "official second" plane yet but I enjoy the variety of having 3 "trainers" that are quite different from each other to choose to fly. If it is a nice still day I pull out the Kadet, if my instructor is available I bring my Arrow or Rascal 40 and practice with them. This has fulfilled my desire to move on to another airplane without exceeding my skill level. It works for me ;).

--Mark

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

RCKen has the right idea, I want to endorse.

From my perspective, the longer you wring out that training plane, the more maneuvers you do with it, and the more practice you force yourself to do with emergency procedures (stall recovery, recovery from unusual attitudes, deadsticks, etc.) the more likely your second plane will survive those maneuvers.

One of my students used a Solo Sport and a Tower 40 trainer for the better part of 2 seasons. Before he got his first low wing plane going, he was doing inverted flight all over the place, and trying all kinds of aerobatics. I was happy to see him doing that, and I was happy to see him progress right through aerobatics and move into 3D.

I suggest you wring out that training plane until you can do everything with it and have had several emergencies with it. There's no better preparation for success with that first unstable aerobatic plane!

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

Jimmy,

I also agree with Ken on this one [sm=thumbup.gif]. I have flown the Nexstar with and without the stall devices. With them on it's hard to get the plane to do anything other than level flight. It even wants to fight you in a turn. If you have the thing that senses atitude (forget what they call it) then it will really fight you.

I would get a little more familiar with the plane, then disconnect the tool for attitude, fly it a little more, remove the stall fences under the wing, fly it a little more, remove the wing extensions, and then it will not fight you as much. Be careful as you remove each piece, the plane will take some decent trim changes on the very next flight.

Once you get up to the point of removing the final piece, then start thinking about your second plane. As you mentioned, the 4*60 or any of the 4* series makes a great second plane. There are others just as good and other people will probably chime in here with their suggestions.

The Nexstar is a fine plane and looks pretty good also. It will take a fair amount of beating. I saw a student of mine working with another instructor one day because I was late getting to the field, he was doing his first takeoff, he pulled it off the ground too early and went straight up, the plane stalled, dropped a wing and went full power right into the ground and cartwheeled, it dug about an inch hole about 6 inches long. When we walked out I expected it to have all kinds of problems. The only things wrong with it were the nose wheel was bent, the prop was broke and the left wing tip had some covering damage, and the former where the front of the wing goes was broken away from the fuselage on the left side about 2 inches down from the top.

He took it home, re-glued it and was flying the next day as if nothing ever happened. That night I went over to the LHS and bought one for my youngest daughter. I was thoroughly impressed. [X(]

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

The first thing you need to do is turn off/remove the AFS (make sure you rebalance the plane if you remove it ) and fly it with out it. Don't be suprised if you find out you are back at "step one" with the flying. The AFS teaches/forces bad flying habits to the majority of the people that use it.

Once you are use to flying the plane without the AFS, remove the other "cr*p" from the plane - stall devices, etc. (remember to rebalance the plane ) and go fly it.

When you are comfortable flying without all the junk on it, start practicing your aerobatics - inverted flight, loops, rolls, etc.

Once you are comfortable doing that, convert the plane to a tail dragger and fly it until you are comfortable with the taxing, take offs and landings.

NOW you are ready to go to a second plane. Many people go to a second plane too soon, and they are not really ready for it. You will be suprised how aerobatic a trainer can be.

Once you go to your second plane (something like a 4* or Tiger II ) you will find that the practice you did on the trainer paid off. Your rolls, loops, inverted, etc. are all going to be much smoother, nice looking, and easier to do.

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

my two cents says that when youve flown the heck outa your trainer and are comeing in after every flight feeling board and that youve done anything and everything the trainer is able to do and done it well...its time. try the world models skyraider mach 2. its only 70 bucks and after my first flight with it...also first flight on a none "trainer" it was instantly my favorite to fly...oh and i dont work for them...however if anyone from world models is reading this my mother in law caused some extream hangar rash to my plane and i love a new one :-)...sorry had to try

RE: When to go to the second plane
 

Nothing wrong with getting a second plane ready to go when your comfortable. When I started 8 years ago, i was stilll on a buddy box and at the same time, had a Giant stinger on the table. Of course i went through a couple more planes in between but it gave me something to look forward too.