So I crashed my Christmas Present...

[91100 100 set]

Remote control airplanes ARE NOT like for-real airplanes.

My girlfriend got me an "entry-level" remote control airplane for Christmas this year. Cool gift, total surprise, and it's always been something I've been curious about, so I thought it was pretty thoughtful of her. Spent a few days trapped inside because it was either too windy, or rainy, or whatever, just fiddling with it. Moving the controls around, messing with the motor, discharging the batteries and recharging them. Finally got out today to fly it. Calm day, not raining. We find a decent sized park with trees around the edges. Not decent sized enough apparently. I thought I had a pretty good feel for it, nice and easy, lets not do anything dumb just yet. My girlfriend says "You better turn it, you're getting close to that tree". "No, honey, that tree is farther away than it ...". Crack. The left wing snags into a branch and throws the plane around, about 50 feet up. The tree spits it out, in level flight but upside down, motor still running. Nose is dropping, and I can't believe I had the presence of mind to actually push the nose back up for a decent, if upside down, landing. We look at each other, she sees her 200 bucks broken into a few pieces of styrofoam. I calmly walk over to it and find its fine, with a small dent in the wing (nothing a little packing tape can't fix) and some grass piled up around the top, not even the prop was damaged.

I should have taken that as a clue that the park was too small and we should have packed it up and gone looking for a bigger field. Nope, I was apparently too jazzed up to be that smart. So I fly it around some more. It went okay, until I fell victim to the "graveyard spiral". Another crash, fortunately, it was the same wing, and some more packing tape, but I can now see why the instruction manual includes a page with part numbers to replace things like the wings and tail.

Again, remote control airplanes ARE NOT like real airplanes. They are alot of fun though.

 

[NW_Pilot]

[FONT=&quot]Designed to drain your pocket book! Like the real ones.[/FONT]

 

[PUNISHER]

Again, remote control airplanes ARE NOT like real airplanes. They are alot of fun though.[/quote]

Yup,
Mine only lasted 45 sec before it was turned into balsa shambles. Hit so hard I found the engine inbeded in a tree about ten feet away from the main reckage. 30 hours of rebuilding and it was back together. Took about about 2 minutes to destroy it the second time.
I would definetly recomend lessons to anyone who has money invested into their RC. It's a good drinking sport, just don't ever say "I FLY REAL AIRPLANES" around a hardcore RC guy, unless your trying to piss them off.

 

[FlierDude]

I would definetly recomend lessons to anyone who has money invested into their RC.

Great tip, and the mfgrs. should stress it in their products. Call the hobby shop and find out where the local RC club flies. Go there and let an instructor help you out.

I went through 3 planes before I wised up!

Now have a room full, including 3 helis....

 

[Gorilla]

I enjoy RC, and you guys are right, it is TOTALLY DIFFERENT from real airplanes. I'd say a non-pilot is in a better position to be successful than a pilot. No preconcieved notions.

There are simulators for the PC available that are very realistic. If you get serious about wanting to learn, get one of the better simulators.

 

[wheelsup]

LOL. I had a gas powered one, and went to a club and took a few lessons, which went well.

One day I was out playing around with it, and had it doing an inverted pass low over the field. Well, unfortunately the elevator travel on it wasn't enough to pull it out of straight and level and it just mozy'ed on nose first into a line of trees.

I tried to fix it, but it wasn't very structually sound after that. I tore the radios, engine, and servos out and threw the plane away finally. It was fun while it lasted though .

I've since got a R/C car, which runs on nitro (gas) as well. It's pretty fun, but you need a track you can run them at with other people to have any fun.

~wheelsup

 

[cforst513]

gone thru 2 wings and tails on mine so far...

 

[cheyflyer]

Invest about 250 bucks in a computer sim program. You will save hundreds in the future. Check out Great Planes G2 or G3 flight sim. Very realistic. I think Tower Hobbies would be the best pace to look or your local hobby shop.

 

[Wankel7]

My dad got me one of those powered gliders. Has a six foot wing span and it was sooo much fun to fly.

I prob got 20 or so flights out of it before I vaporized it. I was flying it in S. texas on a summer day and I started catching thermals. Well, it disappeared because it was so high. I catch it in a dive...and well pull up to much. Snap goes the wing. It spriraled in from about 500 feet. But it crashed thru a tree and into mud. All the expensive stuff survived

I never did find the wing that broke first

Wankel

Edit - The wing prob snapped because of the 10 crashes before that

 

[Gorilla]

For guys interested in learning RC, try one of the cheaper, ready to fly "foamy" electric park flyers. They are quiet, really easy to fly, and inexpensive. If they crash, salvage the RC gear and propulsion, and pitch the rest. Once you get really good with the park flyer, and your hands don't have to think about what they're doing (your control inputs are pretty much automatic) then consider a gas trainer.

Some of the smaller and slower park flyers can be flown in your front yard. It's a lot of fun doing touch and go's with a GWS Tiger moth on the street in front of your house. You can slow-fly it right into your hand and catch it on the fly!

 

[CapnVegetto]

I just got my 1st helicopter about 2 weeks ago, already spent at least $50 or $60 bucks in parts from wrecking it, but finally got it kind of figured out. I'm finally ready to move up to a better model.

Got my first plane today, powered glider. Flew it around a football field all morning, had a ball! Then this afternoon, took it out again, launched it, and it started a SEVERE right turn. Full left deflection on elevons did NOTHING. Kaboom Needs a new tail section, top wing, and cockpit cover. I was NOT happy. What the hell happened between this morning and this afternoon?? I think maybe there was too much wind but still.....

 

[Wankel7]

Radio interference?

 

[FracCapt]

I just got my 1st helicopter about 2 weeks ago, already spent at least $50 or $60 bucks in parts from wrecking it, but finally got it kind of figured out. I'm finally ready to move up to a better model.

What'd you get? I've been looking for a good starter RC helicopter. I know better than to think that I'll be able to fly one no problem just because I fly real helicopters.....I learned that lesson when many years ago I thought that since I could fly a real airplane I'd be able to fly an RC airplane with no training... Can you say obliterate?

 

[Wankel7]

Found a picture of my cracked up plane...poor thing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/rotaryr/Meh.jpg

 

[CapnVegetto]

What'd you get? I've been looking for a good starter RC helicopter. I know better than to think that I'll be able to fly one no problem just because I fly real helicopters.....I learned that lesson when many years ago I thought that since I could fly a real airplane I'd be able to fly an RC airplane with no training... Can you say obliterate?

Called a Blade CX......VERY easy to fly, $200 bucks for everything you need except a charger adapter. RC Helo's are TOUGH though.....that's by far the easiest one to fly, and it's still tough.

 

[FracCapt]

RC Helo's are TOUGH though.....that's by far the easiest one to fly, and it's still tough.

Hey, I fly REAL helo's....how tough could it be?

Should've seen the time a guy came to me and said he wanted to fly a helicopter...but wouldn't need any training because he flies RC helo's. :laugh:

 

[doug_or]

. It's a lot of fun doing touch and go's with a GWS Tiger moth on the street in front of your house.

Yes, yes, and yes. Even I got that one going good! you can fly it in a tiny area, but it'll also do several loops in a row (just know when enough is enough.... thats alsways what made me need to break out te epoxy.)

 

[Tripower455]

For guys interested in learning RC, try one of the cheaper, ready to fly "foamy" electric park flyers. They are quiet, really easy to fly, and inexpensive. If they crash, salvage the RC gear and propulsion, and pitch the rest. Once you get really good with the park flyer, and your hands don't have to think about what they're doing (your control inputs are pretty much automatic) then consider a gas trainer.

Some of the smaller and slower park flyers can be flown in your front yard. It's a lot of fun doing touch and go's with a GWS Tiger moth on the street in front of your house. You can slow-fly it right into your hand and catch it on the fly!

GREAT advice..... I've been flying RC off and on for 26 years or so, and last year, wanted to teach my 8 year old how to fly them. I was all set to go out and buy/build a balsa .40 sized trainer, when one of the FOs I flew with, who has been doing it longer than I have, told me about the GWS electric stuff.

Now, I hadn't been active in RC for about 10 years, and when I got out of it, electrics were still a very esoteric side of the hobby. Radios and batterires were too heavy for decent performance so you had a choice of a sporty plane that would fly for 3 minutes, or a powered glider that might eek out 10.

That has ALL changed........

I bought my son a GWS Slow Stick, and had him flying it by himself in 4 flights. They are cheap, virtually indestructible, and fly great. I truly believe that anyone with half a clue can successfully teach themselves to fly RC by themselves with this plane. I never thought I'd enjoy flying a 3 channel trainer, but it is actually kind of fun, especially if there is a wind blowing (bad for training, but fun to fly it backwards, and descend with 0 groundspeed). Now, he is on an E-Starter with a cheap outrunner on it, and will be flying a GWS Corsair pretty soon. You absolutely can't beat the GWS stuff for it's price/performance margin. I am a dyed in the wool balsa builder too, and can admit that the flying beer coolers are pretty darn good for $30 sans motor!

I am as much a builder as I am a flyer. I truly enjoy building balsa kits. I've gone totally electric now, and have pretty much settled into the speed 400 warbird niche. I am still amazed at how much performance I can get out of a 32" span plane. My favorite is a Ryan Bearcat, with a 6 turn Mega brushless in it. It will accerate straight up, and will give me about 40 minutes of flying time on a TP 2100 LiPo. Definitely not for a beginner though!

 

[Gorilla]

...when I got out of it, electrics were still a very esoteric side of the hobby. Radios and batterires were too heavy for decent performance so you had a choice of a sporty plane that would fly for 3 minutes, or a powered glider that might eek out 10.

That has ALL changed........

I bought my son a GWS Slow Stick, and had him flying it by himself in 4 flights. They are cheap, virtually indestructible, and fly great. I truly believe that anyone with half a clue can successfully teach themselves to fly RC by themselves with this plane. I never thought I'd enjoy flying a 3 channel trainer, but it is actually kind of fun, especially if there is a wind blowing (bad for training, but fun to fly it backwards, and descend with 0 groundspeed). Now, he is on an E-Starter with a cheap outrunner on it, and will be flying a GWS Corsair pretty soon. You absolutely can't beat the GWS stuff for it's price/performance margin. I am a dyed in the wool balsa builder too, and can admit that the flying beer coolers are pretty darn good for $30 sans motor!

I am as much a builder as I am a flyer. I truly enjoy building balsa kits. I've gone totally electric now, and have pretty much settled into the speed 400 warbird niche. I am still amazed at how much performance I can get out of a 32" span plane. My favorite is a Ryan Bearcat, with a 6 turn Mega brushless in it. It will accerate straight up, and will give me about 40 minutes of flying time on a TP 2100 LiPo. Definitely not for a beginner though!

I was in the same boat as you! I grew up with balsa dust in my hair, and still have fond memories of building, but I simply don't have the time to build like I used to. The new electrics are simply awesome. I still haven't ventured into LiPo's yet, but definitely use and enjoy brushless motors, which have more power and draw less current than a cheap brushed motor.

My favorite cheap foamie right now is a Formosa with a little brushless motor and NiMH batteries. The formosa looks like a midget '70's pattern ship, and flies like one too.

There has been a great series on the model airplanes used in the recent Howard Hughes movie in the AMA magazine. Here's how much electrics have progressed... the Spruce Goose in the movie was a monstrous model weighing over 300 pounds, yet they chose electric power and had zero problems getting the giant model airborne and off the water. That's impressive!

 

[Tripower455]

I was in the same boat as you! I grew up with balsa dust in my hair, and still have fond memories of building, but I simply don't have the time to build like I used to. The new electrics are simply awesome. I still haven't ventured into LiPo's yet, but definitely use and enjoy brushless motors, which have more power and draw less current than a cheap brushed motor.

My favorite cheap foamie right now is a Formosa with a little brushless motor and NiMH batteries. The formosa looks like a midget '70's pattern ship, and flies like one too.

There has been a great series on the model airplanes used in the recent Howard Hughes movie in the AMA magazine. Here's how much electrics have progressed... the Spruce Goose in the movie was a monstrous model weighing over 300 pounds, yet they chose electric power and had zero problems getting the giant model airborne and off the water. That's impressive!

The Formosa is a great flying plane. One of the guys at the field has one with a Himax 2025-5300, and it is a rocket. It is very reminiscent of an old school pattern plane, but not quite as precise feeling, probably do to the size. Hey, what do you want for $30?

I still like to breathe balsa dust! Building is truly half the fun to me, but the foamies certainly have their place. I built a balsa aileron trainer for my son as a second airplane, then, after I flew it a while, decided that it cost too much and took too long to build to risk him wrecking it, so I got him an Estarter "slope glider" kit for $25, put a cheap outrunner on it, and he is in hog heaven. It flies great, and there is so little time/money invested that if he wrecks it beyond repair (really hard to do with a foamie I've found! oderless CA and packing tape work wonders on these things!), it's no great loss

With less and less flying fields available, these little park flyers really are a Godsend. My son and I have a great schoolyard 5 minutes up the road to fly the slower stuff in. No one complains about noise, and I can put the airplanes right on my leather upholstery in the car afterwards with no fear of castor oil stains!