GP Tiger Moth ARF as a trainer?
 

Model Airplane News did a review on the Great Planes .60 sized Tiger Moth ARF. And in it the reviewer touted the plane's slow speed charicteristics, saying that on landing he could walk up and grab the wind. Also, in a little aside on the article he said that that the model would be good for beginners as well as intermediate fliers.

What do you think? Should we scrap our Kadets and go to Tiger Moths? If they were good enough for the RAF should they be good enough for us? ;)

GP Tiger Moth ARF as a trainer?
 

I think that the comparison with the RAF & modern modelers is not a valid one.

First, RAF pilot cadets did not have to build the airframe and set the incidences of the wings and maintain the decalage of the flying surfaces, the modeler does. It's twice the work to build 2 wings Viz a vie one, as most all trainers have. ;)

Second,Most beginners are beginners to building also. Why complicate the matter with a more complex design? :confused:

Third,The Tiggie is a tail dragger. It is more involved to learn on a tail dragger than a trike landing gear configuration.(under carriage for you Brits) ;)

Fourth, The Tiger has an inverted engine. Again, why complicate the learning curve?

Fifth, Trainers get the crap beat out of them.Rough landings, both planned & unplanned, DO take their toll. :rolleyes: Why subject a beautiful scale ship to this indignity? It's bad enough when your trainer gets runway rash & repaired several times, imagine how it would feel with a nice scale ship. :(

I feel there is a definite need for intro trainers in this hobby.
I feel they should be simple to build, maintain & most of all, fly.
There are many good ones, some arf's too.
I would prefer to save the Tiger for when the student can handle the added challanges of the design and appreciate the flying & esthetic qualities that it has to offer.

Well that's my thoughts on that.

Happy landings Tony ;)

Trainers
 

The Tiger may fly slow, but I would question its gliding abilities. Most bi-wing planes have a very short glide ratio. If the Moth flys the same and you get an engine out, its not likely that you will make it back to the runway unless you are flying right next to it. As LDaba says, why complicate things? There is more than enough to learn even with a simple trainer without going to 2 wings, tail dragger, ect. I have found that the flyers that stay in the hobby are the ones that started with a good flying trainer with a trike gear and a good brand name engine. You might not even be able to find an instructor that wants to risk a bi-wing plane to train a new student on. I know that I wouldn't! :stupid:

GP Tiger Moth ARF as a trainer?
 

Thanks for your responses guys,

I myself am using a Sig Kadet LT-40 in my training. I just thought it odd that a reviewer in a popular magazine would write that the bipe that he was reviewing was adaquate as a beginner's plane. I should have worded the post a little more appropriately to show that I really didn't agree with this, and wanted other opinions as well. Being a learner myself, I'm not the greatest judge of what should and should not be used as a training aircraft.

My current teacher actually would have no problem with me using the bipe as my trainer aircraft....as long as it was mine and not his. :D In all seriousness, the plane does have a few characteristics that he reccomends in a trainer, large size for ease of orientation, large wing area and low wing loading, and its a taildragger. The latter of which is his own personal preferance for reasons of easier transition from conventional to trike gear rather than vice versa.

All in all, with the slow speed characteristics that the writer touted, I'm sure that it could move slow enough for a pilot to learn on once he has soloed a few times, but I wouldn't want to put out that type of money for something that I'm sure to wreck.

Later

next the tail dragger.....
 

The LT40 is a great plane. I wouldn't worry that its not a tail dragger. You can learn to handle a taildragger on your own after you are good on your LT40. My sons plane is an LT25 tail dragger and I found it pretty easy to learn the differences. My first takeoff was unexpected when I was just "testing the steering" and increased the throttle to 1/2. The tail came up almost immediatly followed by the plane taking off! Fortunatly the engine was already broke in and adjusted properly. When the plane left the ground I went full throttle and climbed to altitude until I got used to it. I wasn't even on the correct runway for a takeoff because of the wind, but then, I wasn't planning to take off. I had to fly around to the N-S runway to land into the wind and the landing was as easy as the trike gear on the LT40. The only difference was that I could land with a little more nose high attitude. The LT25 taught me all I needed to fly my Hawker Sea Fury. :D