Ok guys,

This is, what you can consider so far, a succes story form a rookie RC flyer, that I just wanted to share.

3 months ago I got infected with the "RC plane" virus.....I had to get "into the hobby".

I went to the local club (Sierra Flyers, Marysville, California), and after a Saturday watching the guys flying, there was no stopping... I had to have an RC plane too! (Mind you....the guys at the club are like family....never seen a group so helpfull as they are....unbelievable).

I signed up for the AMA and became a club member.
The week after, the club instructor had me, as an introduction, fly a plane on the "buddybox". Needless to say, I was very exited, but nervous as well!
It was not my plane, and I had never had the controls in my hands so far, other than looking at the guys. I was well instructed on what to do and preferable, not to do, and flew a couple of minutes. Result..a lot of exitement, but...no feel yet for the controls of the plane..I over controlled the plane too often and the instructor "took the plane back" several times to correct the plane. Yet....I made up my mind.

Instead of buying a trainer with my next paycheck, I decided to get a transmitter and......AFPD.
I decided to buy the FUTABA 6EXAS,so I had a good transmitter for my 1st plane, and got AFPD.

Installation of AFPD was a breeze!!! Calibration took me a minute and ..I was ready for my 1st flight in my comfortable chair behind my computer.

AFPD runs like a rocket on my computer.....200 FPS makes flying with AFPD a blast!!
Evening after evening I practiced on the computer. 4 weeks later, I purchased a trainer plane (the hobbico Nexstar in my case), and met the same instructor for my "maiden flight"

After 4 minutes in the air, the Instructor laughed and said "been practicing on the simulator haven't ya"??
At the end of the day, I demonstrated few "touch and go"s" and demonstrated I had the skills to fly the plane.
The last flight of the day, the instructor turned off the box and had me fly solo, under his eyes.

A week later, I did a few "refresher practices",and in the afternoon, he removed the "buddy box" connection from my transmitter.
I flew completely solo, and felt like a "King on the Mountain" so exited and proud.

Message behind this story.....Practicing with AFPD, improved my self confidence and skills tremendously!!
I flew different planes in AFPD and got familair with the different "flight behaviors" of RC planes.
I've put a lot of hours of training in on the simulator, resulting in being solo in almost a single day, being able to control an RC plane and perform some almost "silk smooth" landings..(mind you...I'm not done learning though...)
Although this may sound like a promo story, I am, In no way, affiliated with IKARUS...BUT!!!...I would not have the skills I have now, without this program!!..Although I am allowed to fly solo now..I will continue to use this program to practice my skills and hopefully improve my skills.
It is userfriendly, the graphics are superb, and it is an exiting and very effective way to learn to fly!!

I just had to share this story guys...I was so exited after my 2nd day of succesfull flying without crashing, that I had to share my experience sa far

Awsome, glad to see you are able to use afpd to its full extent. Have fun!