natorato

THIS IS A WARNING TO NOVICE FLYER'S WANTING TO BUY A SCALE, AILERON OR ANY OTHER NON BEGGINER TRAINER.
A long read but it should be helpful when trying to pick a first plane.
I am here to tell you my story.

I am brand new to the hobby of rc flight. At first I watched alot of videos and played a bit of the real flight demo on my keyboard.

Eventually I wanted to buy my first plane. Having played the sim and watched all the videos I was starting to think oh this should not be hard to get the hang of.

I decided to go against the advice of everyone and get a plane with ailerons. The parkzone fw-190. BIG MISTAKE

I put the plane together but had to wait till the next day to fly it. The sun had already set.

I got up bright and early the next day to fly it I was super excited. I took my dad along for the ride. Plus I need some help launching it.

Well the launch failed the first and second time but worked the third.
My plane was off.... At at a much higher speed then I had expected it, boy could that thing climb.
All of a sudden I got very afraid of having this plane fly away on me or go to high so i decided to level it out and turn it. It was actually still fairly low maybe the size of a 4 level condo.

I gently turned it left and it looked awesome against the blue sky like a real plane.

Then it picked up a bit to much speed for my likeing so i wanted to throtthle it down and I did that I droped it to idle. The plane was fairly tilted at this moment it was almost perpindicular to the ground so it dived. I pancked and went to full throthle. and I also tried to level the plane out with the controls.

Well the plane was facing me and in a rush of adrenaline and no experience I completely forgot that my controls were reversed.

In horror I watched as my plane slammed into the ground at full throthle.

I ran over to it hoping the snow on the ground cushioned it from damage.
I was int so lucky the fuselage broke in half and the back end completely tore off.
It was only held onto by the control lines.

The plane is currently sitting in my basement waiting for a new fuselage on order to come in.

When it does I am hoping I will be able to rebuild the plane with the new fuselage but it does not look to easy.
Then I am going to let the plane sit till I am fully capable of flying a plane with ailerons that is fairly fast.

I went out the next day and purchased a Hobby Zone AeroBird Challenger having herd good things about it.

Take it from me flying is alot harder then it looks. The pro's make it looks simple but you will quickly find it not to be.

I had my first successful flight with my Challenger today and it was alot more rewarding then trying to fly my fw-190.
It was alot slower and easier to handle with out the ailerons. Giving me more time to react to situations. The only trouble i had was landing it but I did int do that heading into the wind. Because I did not know I should and because my engine cut out so I could only glide. But Hey I did 3 loops today and that was awesome.

I would recommend this plane as a first time plane to any beginner just don't fly it in wind over 5mp/h It may not look cool but it will help you learn and have fun at the same time, and isint that the whole reason you want to get into the hobby, to have some fun?

P.S Please excuse any incorrect terminology that I have used here in referring to the plane or flying I have only been "in" the hobby for about 2 weeks so I am still trying to take everything in.

perttime

I do not think that your big mistake was getting a plane with ailerons.

Your big mistake was getting a low wing warbird.

FWIW, my first plane was/is a GWS E-Starter high wing plane with ailerons (I did not put in a rudder servo). Been flying for a few years now.

Mayday!Mayday!

I have to agree that starting with a low wing was a bad idea. The low wing warbirds are designed to fly faster and have a higher stall speed, so it is harder to fly them slower.
A high wing would have been ideal to start with, with ailerons. The high wing would have "floated" better and the roll rates usally are no where near as fast as a warbird.
I am glad to see you got some good flight time and fun with the challenger, but my advice would to be not flying the fw-190 until you have some more time under your belt.

soarhead-RCU

This post should be a sticky in huge letters at the top of the page. Happens too many times and then the flyer gets frustrated and throws in the towel!!! Dont give up natorato get a simple trainor and fly the he$$ out of it and then a high wing aileron plane and fly the H out of that and then get your dream warbird!!!!!
Good Luck
Bob

natorato

I did int realize that a high and low wing model would have such a big difference. Can any one suggest any good high wing aileron trainers for when I outgrow my challenger. Please make it a smaller plane though. As I am flying in a park behind my house. It would be hard to join a club or go to a bigger field with out a car. But this park is fairly big it has a baseball diamond and a soccer field. Thank you all for your positive response as well but you have nothing to worry about there is no way I am going to stop flying now, I am hooked.

natorato

Oh I should add I was thinking about getting the HobbyZone Swift it being much like the challenger but with ailerons. Heres a link to it [link]http://www.hobbyzonesports.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=HBZ7200[/link] and one to my challenger for anyone who is interested in it: [link]http://www.hobbyzonesports.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=HBZ3500[/link]

scoooper

Natorato: Like my bub Perttime said" E-Starter" is the way to go an when your ready for that low-wing hot-dog plane you'll have the stuff out of your E-Starter to go right in your new one, I've got a 400 outrunner an a 3-cell lipo in my E-Starter, go'in strait-up an about out of site in 15 sec's, but the moter that comes with it's just fine, I hope lots of newbie folk out there read your insightfull post, your bub, scoooper P.S. The float's are only ten$ an change's land to floats in about 30 Sec's

99mhz

I had a similar experience for my first few flights! I slammed my Sig Kadet Mark II into a hill side right after the first turn. You may have guessed my look of horror after 2 months of building it! It went from full airplane to kit version again in less than 2 minutes of flight

It’s an expensive hobby when you try to teach yourself I finally mastered it with a Sig Senriorita then moved to an Astro-hog. In retrospect I should have looked for help! But I did get good at rebuilding airplanes.

Hang in there Natorato it is a fun hobby in the end!

John

natorato

Thanks scoooper ill tak a look at that E-Starter( I cant resist floats)
And thanks for sharing your story 99mhz

saucerguy

Just a thought, you could learn aileron control, destroy your plane, rebuild it from raw materials and get back flying over and over again, as long as it takes for pennies on the dollar "easily".

http://www.qnet.com/%7Eskif/plane.html

perttime

As a first plane, I found the E-Starter on the stock "350" motor and 2S LiPo to be "fast enough" during the first few flights... I think a light build without landing gear, combined with long hay to cushion the arrivals, saved me. It is probably an ideal second plane, and with some mods (more power, bigger control deflections, maybe flattened wing, ... , floats, nice paint jobs) there are possibilities for more.

There are other planes out there that may be as good, but this is the one that worked out well for me.

gsk11740

Oh, I can relate to this story!

My first aileron trainer after I "mastered" my HZ Supercub was a Mini Ultra Stick. Anyone here who's ever flown one knows how that turned out. The flight lasted all of 20 seconds and left me with a pile of broken balsa. I won't list all the mistakes I made (way too many) but I finally decided to listen to everyone who told me to get a E-Starter or a Soareasy and learn on that first. I got the Soareasy but probably should have got the E-Starter. The Soareasy is nice but it's made of balsa, not foam. One good crash and it's toast unlike a foam plane that can be easily glued back together, that is if the foam even breaks at all. I might still get the E-Starter and save the Soareasy for something else. The E-Starter is what, $35?

flyingace451

Sadly you learned the hard way, but the Aerobird Challenger has successfully brought another person to the hobby. Woohoo we love the Challenger!

Master the ABC, and you'll be ready for that F190 in no time. Just remember that low wing warbirds need speed because they stall easily. Cutting the throttle was your first major mistake, warbirds NEED speed

stinger40

Also, you don't use a keyboard to fly a plane. You have to use a real simulator with a real controller. I started out on a Soarstar. Great beginner plane!

propbuster

My Feedback: (1)

Hang in there natorato!

perttime

I use the keyboard to "fly" the planes in FMS and had no problems transferring that practice to flying my E-Starter using a JR 2610.

saucerguy

How dare you deviate from the norm, hehe.... I too only use keyboard for the sim's but then again I build my own planes from scratch so do not play the replacement part gambit.

To each their own, all I gotta say, make peace and move forward is the best approach.

tam popo

Hiya, welcome to the sport. Check out the swift thread if you get one. There are tips on building/repairing, improving etc. Its a good choice and is tough as old boots! I bought a brick called the ME262 by CC Lee which is stripped and ready to turn into Frankie Steins plane! On order is a Zagi flying wing _ more money than sense - hooked.
_______________________________________________
My 2 sons are test pilots - for Slumberland beds - on the Scottish sleeping team (professionals)!!

hobbydude214

My Feedback: (13)

You cant even open the sim programs (realflight etc) with out a controller hooked up to usb, so how do you use the keyboard.

perttime

The free FMS simulator does not care if you have anything connected. You can use the keyboard if you want to.

RosscoW

I've been in this hobby 32 years. Things have changed a lot!

One thing that hasn't- The very best way to learn isn't by this or that aircraft. It's by joining a club, and getting taught by an expert!!

hobbydude214

My Feedback: (13)

Yea no doubt, clubs are the way to go for inital training, although advanced manuvers can be best trained through a sim.

tam popo

Hiya! I only got involved in this thread to pass on info about swift - but i Agree wth most things posted about training at clubs and on sims (I have cheapo planemaster with controller £20 - prefer controller to keyboard use). It does the job and I can annoy the wife and practice at the same time. There is definately a need for club trainng (nitro or electric) but there can be outside influencies, such as predominently nitro or remote area clubs. In my case I work 16 hours a week (retired) at w/ends and no-one available for training at such times. I think somewhere some lines got crossed. Oh well, getting back to annoying my wife.

packyj

if you're up to a little bit of building and when you are ready to fly another low winged warbird take a look at the cox warbirds.... 20" foam planes can fly anywhere... search the parkflyer section for mods for ailerons... their lightweight and size makes them pretty durable... when they do break it's easy to fix and a total destruction is only a 20 dollar replacement....

SPAAZ22

I have never flown a plane in my life except on the simulator and I flew my Tiger .60 and brought her down like an ace after two go rounds to get the proper landing line up on the strip. But the Tiger 60 is a low wing aerobatic craft, she was quite docile, all you have to do when you first fly you should should have your transmitter stick resistence nice and gummy so you dont make slippery moves with your fingers. Also, liek any good training aid, the flight sim only works if you put many horus of work into it.
But what gave me such good orentation of the planes movents especialy when the nose was comming at me, was because I fly Nitro Helicopters, so I have really good stick control.

So in the future for anyone purchasing a new craft, unless its a 3D plane like a Yak or something, just play the sim for 10-15 hours before flying and make sure you are proficient enough in analyzing your planes orentation so if your plane makes a sudden change like a wind gust blows it somewhere you dont lose the "picture" of the planes flight path/.