Young Pilot

If you're new to combat, you probably have a bunch of question. Check here first, 'cuz its most likely been asked before. (..and there's no such thing as a stupid question).

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rdc767
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Young Pilot

Post by rdc767 »

My son 8 is intrested in rc planes. I've been out of the hobby for a long time. What should I start off with to get him up and flying?
Thanks Ron
Hat Trick
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Post by Hat Trick »

A combat plane!
crash_out
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Post by crash_out »

Probably the best thing you can do is find a local club and hang around there for a little while. After that you're going to have to decide whether you want to go glow or electric. This is probably going to be influenced by what people at your local club fly. For glow, you can't beat the RTF trainers from Hobbico or Hangar 9. For electric, there are electric versions of large trainers available, but there are also a lot of RTF small planes that are relatively cheap. Check out www.horizonhobby.com and www.towerhobbies.com - they are the two biggest distributors of rc aircraft.
Alex Treneff
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Post by Alex Treneff »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by rdc767</i>
<br />My son 8 is intrested in rc planes. I've been out of the hobby for a long time. What should I start off with to get him up and flying?
Thanks Ron
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">The best trainer available is the Hobbico Avistar. Nothing else flies as true as it does. This is what you want: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wt ... U53**&P=ML
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

Ron, you know if you set up a combat plane right it will be very tame and track well. You could build a Hatrick Phencepost model with a LA15 on it. They are incredibly durable in case of a mishap which is not a strong point of trainers. If you want, you could add a touch of dihedral and fly on days with <10 mph winds. Have a buddy box and get it up then turn over the controls. You could check with Scott Gilkey since he started Eric flying combat at age 9 and he whupped a bunch of us at the NATS at age 10.[B)] He must have a formula. When I asked him to adopt me several years ago he refused.[:(]
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

Don't forget simulators and buddy boxes. Big help in getting started.
sgilkey
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Post by sgilkey »

Hi Ron, great to see you posting! I taught Brian before we had simulators, on a conventional trainer with a buddy box. That worked pretty well. Eric used a simulator as well as a trainer/buddy box and that worked well too. I think a simulator does help, but it is not necessary. The biggest deterrent to rapid learning for both Brian and Eric was their fear that they would break the plane. That made them very cautious, especially when it came to learning landings. Basically, everything else came along pretty quick, but landings took awhile. Once they could land, they were ready to solo! So a tough plane that can take some knocks, like a combat plane, will take a lot of the fear factor out of it, and help them learn quicker, i think. It would probably be easy to adapt an aluminum landing gear and nose wheel to a combat plane. I would suggest a tricycle gear, it is much easier to learn take-off and taxi for a newbie, than a tail dragger. Eric was an accomplished pilot of several years experience, yet he dorked his first tail-dragger takeoff (minor damage...).

For landings, I just had them fly a rectangular pattern, with the final leg over the field, but starting at about 75 feet altitude on "final", and then work it lower and lower, over and over, until the next thing you know, it becomes a landing! I also threw in incentives like "fly x minutes" (eventually becomeing "fly the whole tank") without me taking control thru the buddy box, and you get a (fill in blank, usually an ice cream cone or slurpee or something) which gave a good incentive, and bragging rights to mom.

More often than not, I had to drag them to the field. I KNEW they wanted to fly, but they would say no when I asked. After we were done, EVERY TIME, they would say "I had a great time, thanks for taking me out!" In both cases, it boiled down to the fear- they said NO because they were afraid they would crash (but didn't want to admit it). After it was done, and they had had fun, they enjoyed it immensely!!!

Another thing that helped was r/c cars. They control completely differently, in terms of cars having IMMEDIATE turn response, while planes are mushier. BUT a car will get them over one of the big hurdles- that being that you have to learn that the steering controls are REVERSED when the car/plane is heading toward you. Cars are a good way to learn that aspect, before trying the plane.

The trainers we used are no longer in production, so I can't make a recommendation. But the ones we had flew great, and are still flying- we never had a major crash.

I would also suggest plenty of power- several times I had to make a last-minute save on the buddy box, when a landing drifted too close to the flight line, etc, and enough power to pull the plane out of trouble is VERY handy!! My favorite trainer engine is a Supertigre G51 with an 11x6 prop- TONS of thrust!!! But any good BB .46 with an 11x5 or 11x6 will give you gobs of thrust.

GOOD LUCK, it takes time to train them, but it's worth it. I have an endless supply of flying and building buddies!!!
ZenManiac
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Post by ZenManiac »

Ron,

These guys all know what they're talking about. I like Bob's idea, except that rather than the LA15, I'd choose a LA25 or 25SX (with some throttle restrictions). Like Scott says, a more power is better, and the bigger engine will give more options for managing take-offs poor wind conditions. My first glow plane was a combat plane (Skull Bandit), and I beat the crap out of that airframe for three years before it was no longer airworthy. I agree with Scott, too, that lacking a fear of crashing was the greatest contribution to quick learning.

By the way, at his age, he'll be flying circles around you within a year. [;)]
Feathers
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Post by Feathers »

Hi Ron,

When I taught Ryan to fly we started out building a Butterfly as a father/son project. It made learning to fly easy, but it quickly became boring. I'll never forget the evening I tried to put a little more "fun" into it by telling Ryan to start trying some loops. About the third time around that big 100 plus inch wing folded up and we spent the rest of the evening looking for the dang thing in the swamp. We rebuilt it just because I wanted him to know we could fix anything...

But we moved on to my Pt-40 trainer that I had learned on a few years previous. He did worry about crashing it and learning went slower than I thought it should. But once he could solo that trainer we put it away- and I mean the same day. We went to a combat plane on the box. He didn't need the box within a day or two and was flying combat with us a few weeks later.

You might be able to skip the dihedral trainer with a flight sim but there is nothing like standing in front of a bunch of adults watching you fly to help you get used to having a bunch of adults watching you fly. I think getting used to that was a least as difficult as controlling the model.

So my recommendation is to try to find a used trainer of some type. I wouldn't put a lot of money or time into it because I highly recommend getting to the combat plane as quick as is safely possible. When the fear of crashing was gone, learning went exponential.

Have fun. They don't stay 8 very long. Ryan is now 16 and has signed up as a counselor for Camp Tesomas (Wisconsin's best-known Scout camp). He gets off from noon Saturday to noon Sunday (and it's a 2-hour drive each way). So, we won't be doing any flying this summer at all...
mad
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Post by mad »

Hey Ron,

Good to here from you again. I recommend getting a nice trainer The Avaistar is very good. Once he can make both left and right turns without gaining or losing altitude he is ready for a good old fashion rudder type combat plane. The No Bull Ben used to kit is the perfect plane to train on. They are very stable yet extremely maneuverable Not to mention almost indestructible. I still use them when I am training a new pilot. It works extremely well.

I am sure between Ben and I we can find you one.
Ben Morrow
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Post by Ben Morrow »

Hey Captian Ron!!

Just my .02 but the old "Butterfly" kit would be very hard plane to beat for someone just getting in the air. They'll pretty much fly without touching the sticks! You get him in the air and just hand the box over and I think you'd be good ta go...[:D]

I'm pretty sure I still have a couple Bulls out in the shop, if you'd like to let him try one out first just let me know and I'll get one headed your way!


Good to see ya post!
Ben
rdc767
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Post by rdc767 »

Thanks Guys
I'll print this out and study it. He love loves to mess with rc cars so hopefully it will transfer some skills over.

I might dust a combat plane off and come out and play. It's been way too long.
Ron
Captain America
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Post by Captain America »

We are currently training with the avistar, I like that one best personally but I have to say Ive seen better results with the nextstar. It comes with the ground positioning sensor and its very own simulator program. One package and the new guys at the field that have flown the software all winter go to flying and landing in the same day. Kids are not quite as quick on the landings but I do see a great advantage to the simulator training before field time.
Team Scharnell Pit Crew
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Post by Team Scharnell Pit Crew »

Hi Ron,

You sure get good advice on this Forum - all you have to do is ask!

My son, Chris, started just after he turned age 7. I think that "who" your son spends time learning from (you and others) is more important than "what" he learns with (trainer type).

Here is a picture, taken in the Spring of 2004, of my son and Ric Emerson (Mile Hi R/C Flying Club, Aurora, Colorado), taking a trainer through its paces:

Image

Due to computer software that was, and still is available for flight training, Chris had the mechanical skills to fly at that age; however, as his dad - and ultimately being responsible for his actions, Ric and I felt that his development of judgement would be the limiting factor at the time.

So I took Chris to the parks, and the country, and we flew every kind of electric possible. Models such as the Slow Stick were used for initial "electric-powered" solo. Then, he worked his way up to brushless-powered foames, etc.

In the Spring of 2007, I took Chris back out to the Flying Club and Ric gave him a thorough checkout on the Club's glow-powered trainer culminating in a "loud and obnoxious-powered" solo. [:)]

Now, at age 11, and at his own pace, he flies 3696 and Open B. More importantly, he flies safely - and others can "trust him" to do the right thing...

Image

Have fun flying with you son.
cpd
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Post by cpd »

Ron, for a good combat plane that can double as a trainer, go to www.spadtothebone.com and download the Debut plans. When powered with a 25fx, it is a lean mean streamer grabbing machine, power it with a 25la and it becomes a doscile training aircraft. Of course it makes a great trainer with a 25fx as long as you throttle down after launch so it doesn't get ahead of you. I have flown mine in winds gusting to almost 50mph!!! with few problems.(I dont reccomend this untill you get some practice) also I would recomend folding a coroplast fusalage as it is MANY TIMES MORE DURABLE THAN PVC GUTTER OR FENCE POST!!! What you cant find at your local sign shop can be found here www.harborsales.com If you go this route, BE SURE that you have them cut the 2mm coro into 2X4 foot sheets with the flutes running WIDTHWISE. same dimensions for the 4mm only you will want the flutes running LENGHTWISE. SPADS are great flying planes, If you dont want to start with a docile combat plane you can build a spad trainer. once again all plans are at www.spadtothebone.com and the forum is at www.spadworld.net

just my .02 worth

cpd
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