G'Day guys,

Been away from these forums for a while and thought i might share a few things i have learned as a noob to flying RC planes.

I have only been flying for about 18 months on and off but i am 100% self taught and have yet to destroy a plane. I see a lot of people turned away from this sport because of the difficulty of flying, trainers, buddy boxs, simulators, although they are all great i think it puts a lot of people off getting in to the sport so i'm here to say don't let it!

I live in central Queensland Australia and have no clubs within 3 hours drive from where i live so for me to learn to fly i had to do it all myself and it can be done.

A lot of people told me not to bother, to make sure i take a big plastic bag to collect all my balsa wood splinters, but i'm now on my 3rd plane with 200 flights under my belt and all 3 planes are still intact. Here are some of the major challenges and things to consider when going it solo.

1. Research what plane you want to start with, there are lots of options, if you get it wrong your doomed from the start.
2. Triple check your build. I had played with my trainer (Boomerang 40) for hours and hours after i had built it before i realised my control throws where backwards.
3. Engine tuning! How i wished i had someone to help tune my engines and i still do! Expect this to take a long time and run as many tanks of fuel through it as you need to make 100% sure it is running properly, there are numerous guides to tuning engines, use them all.
4. Control throws, make sure your trainers control throws are as stated in your manual! It might not look like they are moving much but don't worry about that, measure your throws accurately! and match them to your manual.

So once you are 100% sure everything on your plane is perfect and ready to fly, check it again! If you have any doubts, post messages on forums or do what ever it takes until you are absolutely sure in your mind that everything is perfect.

All of this preperation won't mean anything if you do something drastically wrong on the big day, it will make sure that you have the best possible chance of a succesful outcome.

My biggest tip for the big day of your maiden flight is make sure you are mentally prepared! I can't stress this enough! DO NOT even contemplate flying if you are tired, stressed, anxious, nervous etc. I think everyone still gets a bit of nerves or excitement when they take off or land etc but if you are going to learn to fly solo, you need to put all that away before your maiden flight!

Taxi the plane around on the grass for as long as you want, if your hands are shaking or you have got butterflys, you are not ready to get it off the ground. A well built trainer will just about fly itself, your main problem will come from a serious pilot error, the more calm and relaxed you are the less chance you have of making that serious error!

That is the method i used and as i said, i'm on my 3rd plane, only damage to date is 3 broken props and 1 collapsed nose wheel.

Learning to fly solo is not the ideal option but if it is your only option, don't let people put you off, it can be done!

Great![sm=thumbs_up.gif]

I suggest including this post among the sticky's.

You sure the kangeroos didn't help you out a bit?

Funny you should say that, my flying field has roos on it reguarly

Proud to say, I'm also self taught. As a 13 year old ( 23 years ago ), I started thinking, why would I pay somebody 40 to 60 an hour for instruction, when I could teach myself and put that money towards fuel and thats exactly what I did.

I taught myself with a Global Thunder Tiger ( Lil Tiger ) .10 2 stroke, 3 channel. I think it's very important for someone who wants to teach theirselves rc to use a 3 channel and not a 4 channel rc plane. As a newbe, less = success, know what I mean?

Self-taught is NOT for everybody. Example: I've been teaching my older brother to fly a Tower trainer .60 for 2 years now and he's still not comfortable with the landings and breaks props very often. My younger brother learned MUCH faster and was landing like a champ in 5 days. There is a big gap between 5 days and 2 years, not to mention they are not teaching themselves.

Yes, teaching yourself to fly rc planes is VERY possible and yes it's not for everybody. Through my 23+ years of rc planes/ heli's, I have never crashed a single plane/ heli and have only broken 1 prop 2 months ago.

I would love to fly competition and win a trophy, but then again, I take everything for granted and feel it's better someone else have the glory.

Great post Stixoz...

Good to Hear Moms Mistake.

Main reason i posted it was because i had many many people on this forum try and steer me away from flying solo when i got my first plane. Fact of the matter is that if i had of tried to get an instructor i never would of taken up the hooby because the closest club is 3 hours 1 way from me.

Stix

Yeah I learned alot from trial and error on Rc's too . I made <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">electricrcstartersguide.info to help the people that are just starting.</font>

I totally agree that it is possible, I taught myself to fly a 6ch collective pitch 450 sized 3D electric helicopter (one of the hardest things to fly full stop), only had two little crashes with stripped gears and a bent boom etc.
I found that learning and understanding fully just how your model works re lift, turning, physics etc helped a LOT, as it gave me a better understanding of what I was actually doing. IMHO, pre-flight set up is everything, RC models are small aircraft, and only take minor errors in control set-up to make major problems for yourself.
Simulators (now I have one) are great tools, they help with the general feel of an aircraft, and do give you as much stick time as you want to put in, and if I could EVER make my Phoenix aircraft feel and fly 100% like my real ones (vs 85-90%), I'd be a much happier man.
I guess - again IMHO - this hobby for a beginner is about patience, taking your time to get it all right before your flight, knowing your limitations, and just getting out there and enjoying it, as personally, this is the first hobby I've ever had where just getting out myself is what I enjoy, sure a club adds a bunch of like minded folk into the mix, but that social side is not paramount to the experience, as it's an experience all unto itself.

Congradulations to all us self taught RCers. I've been doing it for about 4 years now and it may not be the recommended way to go BUT... If you have a certain amount of common sense and take precautions with where you fly I see no reason not to give it a shot solo. Download FMS (Flying Model Simulator) or get the sim off Ebay, with the controller for like $20 + shipping and pracitce a lot. I used a game controller (PS2 style) when I was starting out and flying my Hobbico Skyfly (tough little 3 channel and cheap, the Skyfly 2 is even better and worth the extra $). I had a few crashes with that but nothing really bad. Now have Real Flight G4.5 and that controller. The $200 there almost went into another model but now I have a bunch of models I can try to fly and work on my skills. The toughest part is training your brain to recognize which direction to move the control surfaces in referance to the airplane's direction of travel from your position. Inverted makes this even more fun. Being someone who likes realism,I wanted a 4-channel right off the bat and was worried the 3 channel would become boring way too fast (no ailerons), but I was wrong and still today fly it even though I have a 4-channel that is fully aerobatic. It fits the bill for learning the same way a .22 rifle does for shooting and the Kawasaki Ninja 250 does for motorcycles. You can't go wrong buying one...

Visiting the forums today after a long absence because:
Went to my first RC airshow yesterday and got pumped to spend some more time with my planes. There are some truly talented people out there that can make a pile of balsa/foam/etc. and some electronics dance around the sky. My hat was off to them.

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Words of encouragement i cant wait to fly. I am taking my time , just got a nexstar arf airframe only. Next is the engine and reciever and servos. Ive got the phoenix sim with spektrum dx5 and am on my way. thanks







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I will post this as an advocate for "the opposite side" of this "debate".

I have to agree that given certain circumstances, there are some that can and will succeed with flying without an instructor and without all the rest of the suggestions that we make here on RCU.

But, this becomes an exception to the rule, and I am sure that most of you will agree that without an instructor, most of the novices in this hobby will have a very tough time getting through all the basics... not only before flying, and as said in the OP, it took him several months to realize that his control surfaces were reversed... but after the airplane is determined to be flyable... not by someone that really knows about how to maiden a new plane, but by someone that was lucky enough to find those basic problems, fix them, and make the plane airworthy.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that the OP was able to get through all the difficulties of setting up a basic trainer, not only enough to satisfy a basic setup, but to get it to fly without any real issues.. and to land it successfully. That, in itself, demands a CONGRATS!!!

But, for most of the beginners in this hobby, I must remind you, there is an awful lot to learn about the basic setup and getting the plane ready to fly that are not that obvious to the beginner. Then, add to that, the techniques of take-off, orbits in both directions, and setting up a landing... don't forget, even the most basic pilot will have to land the thing at some time during the flight..and it is a good thing to land it upright AND on the wheels... well, enough of that.

Now, for Stixoz. Hey, we are all happy that you got to successfully fly your trainer. Believe me, I am really happy for you, and am very happy you succeeded in landing it in one piece. But, there are many other aspects of flying that plane that will require your utmost focus and attention to detail. If you really want to put additional time on that plane, then I suggest that you do a few training exercises that will help sharpen your skills.

Do as many landings as you can. Practice landings in both upwind AND downwind situations, as well as cross wind approaches from both directions. You will have occasions when you will defintely need these skills. For most of us, that happens every day.

Next, practice dead-stick landings. Dead Stick means loss of engine power. If it has not happened yet, it will. So, gain altitude.. we call it three mistakes high.. and cut the engine to idle. Then set up an approach and land it. If you make it to a successful approach, then add throttle, go around, and do it again.

Practice this from a lot of different altitudes, and positions, with reference to the correct upwind approach. If you can't get it to an upwind approach, then decide what to do and land it without damaging it. Remember that a deadstick happens. It doesn't care if you are downwind or upwind.. it just happens. So, practice and get it right... NOW!!!

And one more thing... swallow your pride. If the landing does not look good GO AROUND!!! Do it again. Get used to deciding that a successful landing is worth more than your pride. The reason I say this is because some day, you will be flying around other people. Make a mistake and crash into the crowd and you will be saying "I really should have gone around". Enough said?

After all that, and after you can do this all without crunching the plane, then you can indeed pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself..and let us all know so we can do the same.

Please do not take this as a negative reply, because I applaud your ablities and your determination. Just remember that you are an exception to the rule but now is the time to buckle down and make your flying safe.

Again, Congratulations.. but get beyond the basics and practice.. practice.. practice.

CGr.

G'day I recently taught a bloke to fly by email. And it worked too. He is about 600 miles from me. He is also about 40 years of age which is not an easy age for learning to fly.

He has a large collection of models but he just won't join a club. I suggested he buy a small electric model - preferably a glider but he bought a Super Cub and a Corsair. After crashing the Super Cub several times and rebuilding it each time he eventually took my suggestion and bought a Radian electric glider. I then suggested he reinforce the leading edges and trailing edges with narrow strips of fibreglass packing tape which he did and also some strips along the fuse. This turned out to be his first successful model.

Someone else also suggested using 3 channel models. I agree. They are basically stable and can fly for you if you get into trouble. I suggested he set the model up with the rudder connected to the aileron channel so that when he later went to four channels, he would not notice a large change. This worked well too.

The Radian was crashed several times too and is now more epoxy and packing tape than foam but it did work for him and he is still flying it. He has since moved on to the Super Cub and even the Corsair.

The success boiled down to several factors.

1. Three channel glider type model for first attempts because it can fly its self.
2. Lots of repairs and packing tape.
3. Taking it one step at a time.
4. Not trying to fly 4 channels straight away.
5. And finally and very important - quality control. Making sure that everything is right on the ground. Checking everything before trying to fly and fixing any problems. Properly.

That said, there was a lad who joined out club who had taught himself. He was about 16 when he did. He used an electric Sportster. He had many crashes but he just kept repairing the model and going back. He ended up an excellent flier and is now training as a pilot of the real stuff. It can be done but it is the exception rather than the rule.

YES, it is possible (I did it with heli's), but it is dam hard if your forced to do it alone, and NOT recommended if you have the option to learn off others.

I had my first EVER real stick time on my 60 size plank trainer Sunday just gone (or any other plane for that matter), and having someone to nurse it down in the wind was a godsend, as even though I can fly my nitro heli alone, the plane and the way it responded were not at all how the sim 'felt' (I'm currently changing the sim response settings to be more realistic, but I don't think I'll get it 100% right in all fairness), and that 'feel' is going to be the tough bit being as I understand the theory from my time on the heli's and sim.
On a side note, being as the motor dies 5 min into the first flight, also good to have the guy there being able to do the dead stick landing for me!. Aside from the actual flying, getting the control surface throw's just right was required prior to take off too, as they were just too big as I had them set up.
For me, the day taught me it's going to require some time from myself to get me comfortable, but that was always to be expected despite letting my ego get me to a point where I thought I'd be some kind of flying god. As I always feel it's good to keep your ego in check, and even more so when you have a large wooden model in a 3D space going 100kph weighing over 2-3kg with a large alloy thing and an 11 inch blade spinning at 5000-9000RPM's.

I'm gonna leave my rant with two simple points:

1) If you have to learn on your own, do it always from people and property and be safe with it (ie, just use the grey matter between your ears, and look to understand as much as you can about your model and how it works/flys BEFORE you let rip).
2) If you can, go join a club and get help, people in this hobby are normally happy to help and pass on what they know - well .... 99% of the time they are anyhow!!

Yeah, there are situations where if you really are determined to learn, and don't have easy access an instructor, well, what else can you do.

I'm not against it, I just prefer to recommend learning with an instructor... if one is available, that is.

CGr.

You don't fly ENOUGH!

Crashing is part of the hobby, though we do our best to minimize it.

I agree totally, i'm not trying to encourage people to learn to fly solo, if you have the option of a club than by all means take it!

I'm simply trying to encourage and help people that may be turned away from flying because they don't have access to a club. I probably should of mentioned safety, it is a important part of this hobby, RC planes can very easily cause serious and permanent injuries and also have the potential to be lethal.

Stix

I to was self taught, practiced on a simulator then took it right to the field. I am now the best pilot at the field. But I must admit the field is behind my house and I'm the only one that flies there. And yes I have had some crashes, and some almost crashes.

Stixoz,

Thank you for the very positive, encouraging words. As a solo beginner with r/c I, too, have very little carnage: one atomized introductory plane of pure ignorance I bought off the cuff from an ad on the Drudge Report that drew me into this whole insanity of flying little birds vicariously through radio. It was an EDF Chinese MiG-15 and it absolutely imploded on impact at full throttle. It was beautiful! 
I've slowed down with electric trainer types, now, and still view airspeed as our friend, but I've stopped buzzing the hermit crabs and view ALTITUDE as the great buffer for human error.

And SIM time! And I don't mean with machine guns and rockets.
Look out for leaping Barramundi and Wombats! We have curious hawks and winter Osprey along the coast, here. These are the REAL pros.[8D] Very cool customers. 

i'm teaching my self, i had a fight with a crow which brought my plane down, i got some balsa and rebuilt it ( before a foam chineese thing) now it flys great. I'm gunna get it some landing gear and then it will be complete I agree, why spend alot on money for teaching

WHO SAYS you need to?

Most instruction is free, and the money you save AVOIDING crashes pays for bigger and better planes later.

Let alone all of ths stuff you end up learning so as not to make typical newbie mistakes... that REALLY cost you more in the long run.