First Flight
 

I have been in RC for about five years. (cars and boats) I recently decided to take to the air. A friend of mine had a Hobbico
Superstar EP three channel that had been converted to fuel. The plane flew well in his experienced hands. Then, it was my turn.
The results disasterous. It was already in the air. I did a nice right turn, another nice right turn, then another that resulted in the plane
banking over and into a dive. You guessed it, nose first right into the ground, the only thing left to save was the motor, tank, and
radio gear. I Bought him a new Superstar, and after a little research, a Nexstar 46 Select for me. I spent about ten hours over the next
week on the simulator that comes with the plane before trying the actual plane. I let him try it first, and it flew well. I took control and
flew for about ten minutes before getting into trouble. I let go of the sticks, and just like it says, the plane returned to straight level
flight. I was nervous by this time so I handed the control back to him and he finished the flight. A little more simulator time,and the next time out I took off from the ground. It went into the air and I was flying really flying. I flew about ten minutes, and again I got nervous and made a mistake. Again, I let go of the sticks and the plane went to straight and level flight. My friend finished the flight
again. I have been at it about two weekends now and can take off and fly just fine. I still have not landed. I get nervous at that time,
so my friend lands for me. I think with more simulator time, and air time, I will finally relax and try a landing. I'll let you know how it turns out. I do want to say however, in my opinion that, for the first time flyer, the Nexstar 46 Select is the best way to go, and that flying is awsome. I can't wait till I can solo. that will be great.

P.S. Thanks to my friend Shawn for al his time and patience. I hope other newbies have someone like him to help.

RE: First Flight
 

Hey, you kept your wits when you needed to! Letting go of the sticks is half the battle. Good job!

RE: First Flight
 

Now that's what I call a friend. You crash his plane buy him and yourself one. The Nexstar is a good plane but please do not get used to the flight items getting the plane out of trouble for you. Once you move up past that plane you'll be confused.

Use them for now but take them off once you get the most basic maneuvers down like takeoff and landing

RE: First Flight
 

If your friend is already there, get a buddy cord and get him to use his Tx as a buddy box. You'll be able to practice your approaches much easier, and when you start to get in trouble your friend can take the plane quicker than you can hand him the box. You'll learn faster and safer, and lose fewer plane parts.

Brad

RE: First Flight
 

Good to hear you're doing well with the nexstar, it's the plane I got and learned on, and still using it since I only started a couple of weeks ago. Personally I never tried out the AFS because I wanted to learn without having to rely on that, and it only ended up taking me a couple of flights to get my wings. The way I did it, is even though I was nervous and really didn't want to land...I just practiced a few approaches, and my instructor asked me if I wanted to land, and I took a shot and it went well. I'd say just go for landing, it's better to get it over with, but practice a few landing approaches and get lower and lower until you land. Oh and just be careful when you start taking off the extra training accessories, I took off the speed brakes(luckily while still with the instructor) and it completely changed the trim, and the plane wanted to go down with full trim, so I got the instructor to land it and we changed that real fast. Although I havn't taken off the wing tips, I'm getting a feeling the same might happen with that,lol.

Good luck with the flying, before you know it you'll be soloing;)

RE: First Flight
 

I too would get rid of AFS as soon as you can. It will form some bad habbits. Good job on your purchase. If i were you, before landing, get confident with flying towards your self etc. and fly the plane straight at you, and get your friend to tell you what way to go. This is what my instructor did and it really helps in that aspect. also, you can remember when you flying towards youself, to just point the right stick in the direction of the wing that is low..

RE: First Flight
 

I gather you have flown one of these with both the AFS on and off??

RE: First Flight
 

Nah, he's just read about it in posts made by those with actual flying experience.

RE: First Flight
 

Bill,
Anyone who flies can tell you if you learn to let go of the controls it won't work eith all planes. It's common sense.

RE: First Flight
 

I was speaking of the Nexstar with the AFS as you had mentioned and not "any plane" so I ask again, have you flown it with the AFS on and off. I'm looking for an opinion of someone who actually has flown it in both configurations so we can get the member a proper answer

RE: First Flight
 

First off, I own a nexstar. I bought it as an ARF without the AFS. However, I made that decision based on the characteristics of the AFS versioned Nexstar on Real Flight G3 which exhibits the same behavior as the AFS on the real airplane.

Letting go of the sticks and having it level was one thing but the worst thing it teaches is to hold aileron at a constant point while banking. That action on an airplane not equipped with a Nexstar AFS will result in a continued roll when all the pilot wants to do is bank slightly for a turn. The transition for me, on the simulator wasn't all that tough but it was "different" and resulted in quite a few sim crashes.

RE: First Flight
 

Thanks Shakes, that's exactly what I was looking for

RE: First Flight
 

I said I would let you all know how things turned out, so here goes.
Well I did it, I went all the way. I took off, I flew, and I landed. Take off was fine. Flight was fine. Landing? Well I guess it was ok.
The landing was fine then on the ground I ran out of runway. Yep right into a bush. Guess it wasn't so bad, only suffered a broken prop, and and a small tear in the wing. Oh, and I'm doing it all on my own now AFS is disconnected, wing droops are off, and speed
brakes are off. It's onward, and upward from here. As soon as I master this one, I'm going for a low wing trainer.

RE: First Flight
 

That is very true. i am working now on breaking the habit of holding stick position, and doing well.

RE: First Flight
 

Way to go, glad to here you took off all the toys. While they are good for the first few flights, they most definitely introduce bad habits.

Keep us informed and BTW...any landing that results in a broken prop and a tear in the covering for your first landing, is a good one, nice job :D

RE: First Flight
 

A usefull tip --- letting go of the controls momentarily can help you get out of overcontrolled response to a departure situation. It works with most model planes. The plane will usually stop doing what you are telling it to do (wrong inputs) & then you can regain positive control & make the "save". It sometimes won't work in a flat spin, but it works in most panic situations where you are responding inappropriately to the emergency.

RE: First Flight
 

Thanks guys for all the help and support. I want to say that now that I've got my feet wet, the boats and cars are out.
After mastering the Nexstar, I'm going for a low wing trainer. Any suggestions? Please let me know. I know when I'm
ready I want a Sig Extra 300XS, but that's a ways down the road. Thanks again for all the support.