vwpowered

I started flying Rc's...Let me tell you..If you can fly an RC..You can fly what I am flying in this video...It will still take an instructor to teach you but you already know how to fly and its all the same. You are just using your feet instead of both hands...Your feet work the rudder, once you get use to that and the feel of being in the air...Its a walk in the park for you.....

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Its not surprising that the arf flies better. It was built by experts and is most likely the result of several failed attempts.
But what did you learn from it? How to push buttons and manipulate levers.
Most of us fail on our first attempts to complete a complex task. But those that quit after the first attempt usually wind up a failure in life.

GallopingGhostler

Here's my start of a toy. I call it the Beginner's Ringmaster Gee Bee Z.

GerKonig

Yes, he learned how to push buttons, and manipulate levers, in other words, how to fly...

Perhaps his interest is to pilot his toys, and he seems to be darn good at it. Much better than some master builders I have seen at the field...

Gerry

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

If you couldn't fly one of those preengineered foamie toys, you surely would be a failure .

astrohog

My Feedback: (1)

@ vwpowered - looks like fun! Did the FAA inspector take exception to the vise grips hanging from the panel, or was that an option you installed after his inspection was complete?

Astro

vwpowered

I lost that knob in flight and pulled those Vise grips from my flight bag. I have since replaced the knob.

Rob2160

And the problem with Preengineered is???

Please post a video of one of your own flights so we can all admire thesuperior pilotingskillls you gained from building your own aircraft. .

Do you really beleive the average home made balsaaircraft requires more skill andis more challenging to fly than the F27Q Stryker?

I flew dozens of balsa planes as the clubs youngest instructor(17)and they were all much easier to fly..

Rob2160

Things I learned from RC Aircraft.

1. Aerodynamic Principles. - apply equally well to Balsa hand built aircraft and Foamies
2. Centre of gravitiy - Ditto
3. Methanol stinks
4. Nitro is expensive
5. How 2 stroke engines work
6. Castor Oil is a PIA to clean off your radio.
7. Battery and Charger technology
8. Basic Radio theory
9. Eye Hand Coordination
10. Crashing costs Money..
11. Not crashing is more satisfying
12 Prevention is better than cure.
13. Propellors / Helicopter rotors are DANGEROUS (with scars to prove it)
14. 80% of people that attempt this hobby never learn to fly properly.
15. This hobby is many different things to many different people.
16Don't impose your own limitations on others.

But none of that really matters.. Flying RC Planes and Helis isone ofthe most relaxing and enjoyable ways to spend my free time.. Pure Recreation..

For me Flying is Fun.

Building is NOT Fun..

So I prefer Foamies, and to spend more time flying than building. Works for me.. everyone is different. see point 15
.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Sorry about the video. I am 85 and blind in one eye so I don't fly much anymore. I suppose I could fly one of those foamies but I don't consider that much of a challenge.
BTW in the 60's the country I was living in invited me to enter the international aerobatic contest as their representative. But I was and still am an American I decided it would not be the right thing to do.
Unfortunately my glory days are over. One day it will happen to you.

Rob2160

I understand your dislike of foamies now.. same age as my Dad.. Perhaps a little condescending but age and experience gives you that right.

Go in Peace brother.

Regarding your comment on 60's Aerobatics, Genuinely interested in Aero's History as I spent 3000 hours teaching full size comp aerobatics during the 90's so I would love to hear more..

what A/C were you flying? Any historical articles?

Now I just fly for the sushii... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkwT9Jj4nF0

acerc

Now that was funny. The vidoe.
A couple question's.
Why do any of you guy's care what other's prefer. Is love of flight not enough reason to fly whatever?
Why do so many take such offence to other's not enjoying their aspect of the hobby.

The way I see it is we all share the one common denominator, "The love of flight".
Remember back when you were a kid, Did it matter, what it was in the air, as you stood their staring at in amazement?

GallopingGhostler

Amen, Bro. I remember tossing and watching gliders fly. It was around 1964 in Biloxi, MS, we'd pick up the 5 and 10 cent gliders (usually Northern Pacific) at either the local pawn shop a block from where I lived or couple blocks to the local A&P market. One got caught in an updraft near a friends house, flew for quite a distance. I was hooked.

Learned at an early age to repair those gliders. It was amazing what a bead of Duco Cement or Ambroid would do to fix broken wings, fuselages, fix wings and tail surfaces to the fuselage.

We didn't know what sniffing glue was, never heard of it. A 10 or 11 year old could buy cement (BTDT). It wasn't an adult thing.

Out here, one very experienced senior and pro flier builds electric foam airplanes. He uses mostly blue foam. It's the flying that's fun, who cares about what material is used to produce the results or what power plant (electric, gas, diesel, nitro)?

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

I attended the first international aerobatic champions in Dubendof SW. in 1960 as a spectator. Ed Kasmirski won. After DeBolt crashed and Bob Dunham had engine trouble. I managed to talk to everyone except Kasmirski. I ended up building a DeBolt Persuit. In those days , flying reeds, you had to land and adjust the trim with the linkage. The persuit took off and flew straight and level on its maiden flight.
When I went to Norway in 1955 the best hotel in Oslo cost $1.40 a night. I returned to the states in 1961. My flying buddy wanted to buy my Porsche but he couldn't afford it.
I went back to Norway in 2007 and the hotel room rate was $300/night and my buddy had become a multimillionaire. I felt like poor relation.
My buddy went on to win 7th in the 1965 internats, and 4th in the 1967 internats.
He flies electrics now. Here is a picture of the airplane he was scratch building.
He has a very impressive collection of radios and engines. He was looking for one of the Spacecontrol radios made in the '60s. If you know of one let me know and I will see if he wants it.