Were having some pretty wicked weather lately here in Western Kentucky and since i was bored i decided to head out to the local field to see if anyone was flying. I had a hunch nobody would be there but as i pull into the drive way i see a kid and his father getting ready to fly. I parked and checked out the wind sock... it was parallel to the ground, forecast called for 15-20mph winds with gusts in the 30's. I walk up to the kid and his father to introduce myself.

The kid just got a new Parkzone Mustang for his birthday and was dying to fly it. I asked the father if he or his son who looked to have been maybe 12-13 have any experience flying and both said "No". I highly advised against them flying on this particular day let alone flying by themselves without the club instructor. I also said the Mustang is not a trainer but to make a long story short the kid whined and whined so they went against what i advised and began setting the plane up. I told them to wait tomorrow when the winds would subside. I figured dad would've persuaded his son to be patient but to my surprise he was just as eager to get this plane in the sky as his son... they both ignored my advice and proceeded to the runway.

I am not an instructor nor was i going to take any responsibility for what i knew was going to happen so i stood to the side and waited for the inevitable. Dad launched the plane into the wind in which the kid managed to keep it in the air. The plane literally looked like a kite! it went absolutely nowhere until he turned around and went with the wind..... from there it was over. It went into a death spiral and ended up in the corn fields which were heavily saturated with water. The plane was literally sunken into the ground full of water... he brought it back and i gave it a quick inspection. I asked the kid to input some controls in which the plane did not respond. The plane came out with zero damage but im willing to bet all of his electronics shorted out. I held off on the whole "I Told You So" speech and gave the kid some advice. I told him never to rush into things and to be patient. I told him to learn from this mistake and to hook up with our club instructor. He understood and the father thanked me.

As they left i felt awful.... i knew what was going to happen but i let them proceed with their flight. I stuck around for another 30 minutes until a buddy of mine came in. I explained the story and he said there's only so much you can do and it's ultimately there decision to do whatever they want. He said "You have to let them learn the hard way".

Anybody ever have an experience like this? Care to share what you did?

In support, You did the only thing you could have done and you could not have convinced them otherwise. It is all too often that newbies buy a plane a from a franchise hobby store where the only thing the owners are worried about is making a sell. Then when the plane crashes the newbies blame the hobby and those of us that have gone through all the proper steps. Cheer up they will be back.....and then they may do things right.

I do some instruction once in a while for my club and one time I had an incident of a crash. A student was insisting to fly around dusk and I was trying to talk him out of it as orientation is bad in these situations. He talked me into going out with him but I told him to keep it close. Of course he did not and when he "lost," it he passed the transmitter to me. His plane was just too far away and with the poor lighting I became disoriented myself. Needless to say it went in. I find the impatience of some beginners tough to deal with sometimes and I think I have a reason as to why this is so prevelant.
If this studant would have taken the time to actually build the plane he would have been less likely to be so careless about the way he flew it. Also this ARF had some sort of garuntee about crashing. I know when I began flying, I would have felt very differant about my plane if I did not have to build it. By build the plane I do not mean screw it together either!

I hope he learned from this mistake and hopefully follow the advice of a more experienced pilot. I also hope he contacts our instructor and learns the proper ways to fly. Im sure i'll see him and his father again... hopefully with a plane they can properly train with.

I disagree with you im sorry. I have not built any of my planes but i treat all of them like new born babies. from my .46 trainer to my little foam strykers.

Each and every person is different. Newbis in this hobby are often just very eager to get out and fly.

At the end of the day if they can afford to crash a plane then thats their prerogative.

I truly beleave there are people who don,t care if they crash or not. They come out to the field and know that they are going to crash. They just don,t care. Someone once said that a fool and his money are soon parted.

Bush,
Here is something to think about, early on I learned that if your going to RC your going to crash end of story. After this worthless lesson I figured out if you want to learn something buy something you hate! What you say? That's right buy something you hate, that way when it goes in, because your flyin like you stole it, or you just don't know what the He!! your doing, who gives a crap. Of course I agree with you on two things, now my fleet are all my babies and if newbies had to build they would be more patient. JMHO newbies should only own stuff that's cheap, ugly and easy to replace. Kind of like Fat CHICKS... sorry not going there... Just jokes...

You guys that were trying to help, trust me you did what you could and the Young Guns appreciate it, even though it may not seem like it, keep it up.

If anything, I learned something. If I tell a student how they should go about things and they do not want to heed my warnings, I will not continue to help them. It may be OK for them to destroy thier airplane but I will not be involved in it as I am not involved in this hobby\sport to destroy aircraft. This is coming from a combat flier as well.
I flew my trainer for 2 years before I lost it. This while learning aerobatic manuevers. I just remember that the thing that worried me the most was crashing my plane and always listened to my instructer.
Also not to detract from anyones hobby experience, but if all you have done is flown ARF's then your experience has been diminished to some degree. It is just more satisfying to fly an aircraft that you have fully constructed.

"It is just more satisfying to fly an aircraft that you have fully constructed."

Vertical Grimace that is just your personal opinion mate. Others may find it more satisfying to fly and ARF that they worked hard and saved for. People who get on their builders high horse annoy me immensely.

While I agree with both sides of this argument, its getting to the point were it belongs in the "...build kits or ARFs" thread in the ARF forum. There will never be an agreement reached here, because every pilot/builder/assembler has his/her own reasons for doing what they do. When an excited new flier, whether they are 15 or 50, gets their first model to the field, it's going to be the pivotal point in the future of the hobby for them. It won't matter if they built it from a kit or bought the cheapest RTF in the market. A crash will be on the menu if they are alone, and if they are alone, no one will be there to help them bag the parts, console them and direct them on the hazards of the hobby and what repair options they face.

Blueprint, hopefully you saved a rewarding hobby for a couple of people.

When he recovered the plane and brought it back I can see the disappointment in his face. I told him this is a hobby where a crash can happen and will eventually happen. All planes have an expiration date... it's located in the fuselage and visible when the fuse cracks in half (my own experience).

He and his father will be back. I gave them the information to a local hobby store and they'll be back with a more suitable trainer. He and his father were both hooked so i'll be seeing them again for sure.

Bush,
I don't think that's what VG was saying. I think it was more of an "attachment thing". JMO Anything you spend more time with you get more attached to. I think he was just cutting to the quick on the explanation. Some guys like building, some guys like arf's, water is wet, the sky is blue, who gives a crap. Besides aren't you in the land of "No Worries"......

Blue, good job my man.

Arrow, You are correct. I own plenty of ARF's. I have no problem with them and I love them. This is not really an ARF issue but maybe a Mislead by the hobby store thing.

VG,
Now there's something to get fired up about. Its hard to help when you can't see past the $$$! I'm not sayin that's what happened here but, it has.

I guess that your club allows non-members to fly aircraft at the field? At ours we (to the best of our abilities) enforce the members only rule as much as possible. Seeing as how the owner of the land our club is on 'lets' us fly there, any incident involving a member or non-member could result in us losing our field. Regardless, you did all that you can do. We have had people like that come to our field who simply do not understand that it is virtously impossible to pilot an aircraft with no prior experience. I have the PZ P-51 and it flies great for a small electric. It is $175 bucks, so I am boggled as how the father imagined it would not get destroyed immediately.

Good work Blueprint. You can't force people to enter the hobby the right way but you did your part to try and pursuade them to. Perhaps their lesson was learned that day and they will come back utilizing the advice you gave. As far as the ARF vs. Build debate... I do not think it's relevant here. Granted the satasfaction of maidening a kit I built is far more gratifying a newbie with an ARF would not be able to compare and the feeling I got when I first started out with my ARF was pretty darn close.

Well VG is you where not jumping on the " builders are better ' high horse i apologise


I do live the land of no worries but things still get my goat, albeit not many.

A neighbor of mine just bough his son a stryker and was asking my advise on where to fly it etc. I told him to come with me down to my clubs field, I would introduce them around and get one of our many instructors involved. This went to deaf ears as he had too much pride to allow his son to see him as a newbie. It was a very windy day and he suggested that they would head out to the local soccer fields and "put her in the sky" well I explained to him that his aircraft was approx 1/5th scale or smaller. to use that calculation on the wind and think about it. If it is blowing 20 mph that would be the same as 100mph winds, I asked him if he would climb into a 747 that was about to take off in 100mph winds? He thought about it and declined to fly.

Sometimes you just have to figure out a language that you audience understands.

You did all you could;

I was so eager to try a new pylon racer once when I was younger that I turned up at the field it was blowing a gale, and you guessed it: I took home a bag of matchsticks.

But I came back and so will they..... I just put it down to experience and they will probably do the same, I guess they are like me we know better and don't learn from other's mistakes (hope i grew out of that), wish I had listened to advise on more than one ocassion.... you shouldn't feel bad at all, the world needs more compassionate people like you.

I would have just about begged them to not fly. I HATE seeing beginners crash.( Especially when the plane is out of there ability.)

You might as well have ripped it out of there hands and stomped on it, at least then some of the electronics would have survived