Anyone fly RC planes?

[Fenway]

pics?

I have an a-10 ducted fan sitting in my closet waiting to go this spring with my son.

 

[aronhubbard]

I agree in investing in as nice a radio as you can afford. I was into Heli's, and thought I'd get into scale heli's, so I bought a 10 channel JR job, and while I never got into the kind of retractable gear/searchlight madness I thought I would, having that nice of a radio has allowed me to painlessly fly deltas, do all kinds of neat mixing of controls, rig up a P-38 plane with differential thrust to the props. And that's not even counting how nice the proportionate and differential controls are on this radio.

I don't think you need a 9 or 10 channel, but six would be nice. It would let you do any sort of conceivable airplane work, and get into heli's if you want.

Best piece of advice: Get a simulator. It's money well worth spent. Shop around, you can find last years version of Real Flight around for under $100. Bookmark this site: The Indianapolis Intl, Indiana Aviation Weather Report and Forecast - Wind Speed, Temperature, Wind Direction, Precipitation Forecast It will tell you when the best times to fly in your area are.

I'd also stick with electrics. This is just my opinion, and it's controversial, but gas/nitro powered planes are obsolete at this point. The price / performance / fun factor is higher in electrics, but again that's just my opinion.

Finally, get into foam aircraft as soon as you can, and start building your own planes. I'm in this for the skill and science, and while kits are okay, there is nothing like building your own from scratch. I can't recommend this forum/community enough: Foamies (Scratchbuilt) - RC Groups

Good luck!

 

[henktermaat]

You can disagree, thats fair.

My opinions come from my experiences. Ive flown everything from trainers to 3D, and those park flyers are fun, but they are a handful to fly in anything but dead air. To *learn* on a park flyer, you need dead air, to have fun after you know what you're doing, bring on the wind, but be ready to fix stuff!

Those are the types of planes that people who don't know how to fly purchase, destroy, and never stay in the hobby. I've never encouraged that because I like to see people get into a hobby and stick with it, because it really is a blast!!

Again, I strongly disagree, from years of experience.

It just sounds like you haven't really flown too many parkflyers, or had one bad experience and went back to gassers, or something

To newbies considering parkflyers; trust me. They are not that hard to fly, they don't all need dead air, and they are not as fragile as Clay is making them sound.

 

[henktermaat]

I agree in investing in as nice a radio as you can afford. I was into Heli's, and thought I'd get into scale heli's, so I bought a 10 channel JR job, and while I never got into the kind of retractable gear/searchlight madness I thought I would, having that nice of a radio has allowed me to painlessly fly deltas, do all kinds of neat mixing of controls, rig up a P-38 plane with differential thrust to the props. And that's not even counting how nice the proportionate and differential controls are on this radio.

I don't think you need a 9 or 10 channel, but six would be nice. It would let you do any sort of conceivable airplane work, and get into heli's if you want.

Best piece of advice: Get a simulator. It's money well worth spent. Shop around, you can find last years version of Real Flight around for under $100. Bookmark this site: The Indianapolis Intl, Indiana Aviation Weather Report and Forecast - Wind Speed, Temperature, Wind Direction, Precipitation Forecast It will tell you when the best times to fly in your area are.

I'd also stick with electrics. This is just my opinion, and it's controversial, but gas/nitro powered planes are obsolete at this point. The price / performance / fun factor is higher in electrics, but again that's just my opinion.

Finally, get into foam aircraft as soon as you can, and start building your own planes. I'm in this for the skill and science, and while kits are okay, there is nothing like building your own from scratch. I can't recommend this forum/community enough: Foamies (Scratchbuilt) - RC Groups

Good luck!

Completely agree... but I found real planes much easier to fly than the simulators.

Just go out and buy a GWS slow-stick and move up from there. you'll have a blast the whole way.

 

[Clay]

It just sounds like you haven't really flown too many parkflyers, or had one bad experience and went back to gassers, or something

Ive flown enough to know I will never recommend one to a newbie. The couple I currently have aren't much fun to fly in much wind, unless you just like trying to fight the wind. Those little slow sticks don't even have enough power to fly forward into a head wind in more than a 4 or 5 mph wind.

I also know that electrics are ok for some things, and will do pretty much anything a gas engine will do....... but Ill probably never fly that many. I've had electrics, cars and planes, and thats another whole group of support equipment you dont need with a gas engine.

 

[aronhubbard]

Completely agree... but I found real planes much easier to fly than the simulators.

Just go out and buy a GWS slow-stick and move up from there. you'll have a blast the whole way.

I think it might come down to a personality type. I'd find flying a slow stick in any kind of wind conditions frustrating if I were a newbie. They're sturdy planes, though, and easy to repair.

Flying on a simulator allowed me to wreck early and often for free, and I stepped onto the field being able to perfectly hover a heli and do simple fast forward flight relatively quickly. I also went straight to aileron / elevon style planes and skipped the rudder/elevator stage, which I find sluggish and muddy to control. It also was invaluable in learning to pilot aircraft that are getting on the outside of visual range. Flying is easy when you can tell which side is facing you, but what happens when a gust of wind comes along or you get caught in bad light suddenly and the ship is specking out?

It's whatever works for you. If you can stay motivated on a simulator and keep honing your skills, great. If you need to be out in the real world flying physical objects to keep jazzed and progressing, that's cool too.

 

[Clay]

those simulators are awesome! Ive seen guys work on the simulator all winter, then come back in the spring and show a TON of improvement.

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

YOU MIGHT BE A TERRORIST

 

[TheWabbit]

pics?

Its not much. I put it together awhile ago so it needs a good dusting. My son is into RC helos now so I think he'll enjoy it with me (but no flying for him). I get the pleasure of crashing it.

 

[netsecurity]

Guys, I've really been wanting to get into this hobby. I don't mind the cost of good gear. But, I am not interested in flying a plane with a joystick from the ground. That doesn't sound fun to me, since you can't see what the plane is seeing, and crashing would probably be too common. I need to be able to see a cockpit view, to simulate real flight, and to fly long distances. So is there a popular plane that comes equipped with a camera and a remote that has a video screen on it?

 

[tonhe]

I used to fly RC Heli's -- but I just sold my Trex 450se v2... now I'm just left with the micro ones..

 

[aronhubbard]

Guys, I've really been wanting to get into this hobby. I don't mind the cost of good gear. But, I am not interested in flying a plane with a joystick from the ground. That doesn't sound fun to me, since you can't see what the plane is seeing, and crashing would probably be too common. I need to be able to see a cockpit view, to simulate real flight, and to fly long distances. So is there a popular plane that comes equipped with a camera and a remote that has a video screen on it?

Nope, all those are custom, but easy enough to make. The thing is you have to have some sort of mastery of the hobby itself before you make a jump to "remote viewing" from the cockpit. Basic understanding of electronics, radios, wireless gear and how it works and how the environment effects it, how to balance and trim out an aircraft.

I've never seen one that works much further than a mile out, certainly no more than five. You might want to check out this video of a guy operating a drone in NYC, it's pretty awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cSxEqKQ78

Note that this kind of stuff is somewhat controversial within the hobby, as a lot of people have ethical problems running a 1-5lb machine around people when you don't have visual LOS on it at all times. Think about what happens to that thing if the video gear craps out. I think this guy actually keeps it within visual range at all times, the goggles and camera are just for a wow factor.

 

[Backyardace]

Is anyone here into flying planes? I have never flown one but I want to try. What is a good plane to learn how to fly? Of course I don't want to spend a lot of money on a learning plane but I want a good one that is going to hold up. Is there a beginner plane that you can upgrade once you get better at flying? Thanks for the help.

If you are still interested, check out a airplane called the Stratos. It is designed for the beginner pilot. It is sold by Horizon Hobby.