Newbie would not even begin to describe where I am at. I am interested in getting into R/C Flying. I need some help on where to begin. What plane would make a good trainer? How and where can I learn how to fly? Any help I can get would be very appreciated.

Welcome to the site El_Dave.

I assure you will get great answers to any questions you may have about flying RC here at this site.

Your first step would be to find a club in your area. Visit the club, introduce yourself as a new comer and get some hands on experience before you purchase anything.

You can find clubs in your area on the AMA website at http://www.modelaircraft.org

Welcome to RC flyingt.net EL_DAVE,

There are a lot of trainer type airplanes out there. Here is a list of trainers but like Wreckman said find a club and see what they say.

This is in no paticular order:

Great Planes P-T 40
SIG L-T 40
Areostar40
SIG Senior and Seniorita

And also there are a bunch of planes out there that are called ARF(almost ready to fly). These are planes that have the major parts already assembled,wing halves ,fuselage,tail feathers,etc.

Go to www.towerhobbies.com . There you can see all of the trainers they have.

Good luck!!!

You know, you guys can just call me Dave if you want...

Welcome Dave! :)

OK, Dave it is!!!
A little more on trainers. The LT-40 from what I have heard is a very good trainer. It comes in kit and arf forms. It depends on how much you want to spend. But I think it's one of the upper priced ones. They are pretty much all the same with just looks and price being the biggest differnece.

Of course,this is just my opinion. A lot of people will help you out in this place.

Also, when you think about a radio be sure to find one that is buddy-box compatible. When you find a club and instructor he will tell you all about that.

Once again,good luck Dave

The first thing that you may want to do is contact a local club before you go out and spend any money. I've found that the people at my club are REALLY nice and always helpful. I've flown at my clubs field several times and spectators (non-club member) usually come on the weekend to watch. You may even find a person who's willing to "buddy box" you up for some stick time before you invest a boatload (and you will) of cash. After you that, you can ask club members to recommend equipment. This is probably something that most people don't do before they "cash in". Doing so will get you better/more compatible equipment. For example getting an Hobbico Avistar/Superstar Select is kinda like an all-in-one solution, but you only get the stuff that comes with the combo. Which means that you get a maginal motor (OS LA series are not highly regarded by modelers for either their performance or reliability) and you'll need to find an instructor with Futaba radio equipment if you want to buddy box (since the Select models come with Futaba's entry level 4 channel controller).

I bought my Avistar, Thunder Tiger GP-42, JR XF631, and Hitec Flight Pack before joining my club, mostly off of information I found on the Internet from forums such as this. Only later to find that my instructor has Futaba gear and that a Sig Kadet LT 40 was probably a better flyer (as noted by my instructor and 2 other flyers). Not that I'm disappointed by my purchase, I think that the semi-symmetrical winged Avistar will probably allow me (because I've got some prior parkflying experience) to progress into more aerobatic flight faster, but if I had the info prior, I may have made some different selections.

Most of the trainers are basically the same, high/flat bottomed winged with some (between 1-1/2 to 3 inches of) dihedral, most are built up from balsa and ply, and most will fly very similarly. If you check the stats, most 40 sized trainers have VERY similar sized wings (in terms of surface area if not length). I've heard that the Sig Kadet LT 40 is about the best available (in either the kit or ARF), but it's also the most expensive. I've heard to stay away from planes with a bunch of plastic parts (like the Tiger Trainers) since they're harder to repair when you inevitably crash. The major exception is the Hobbico Avistar which has a semi-symmetrical wing that has a little less (at least a little less than most other trainers) dihedral. This allows the plane to be flown a little more aerobatically than most trainers, but at the same time, it makes the plane faster (not so good for beginners), stalls a little less smoothly, and lands a little hotter. I was able to get the hang of it quickly, but as mentioned, I have prior flight experience with a parkflyer. Hobbico put the Avistar and the Hobbistar (a 60 sized plane with a similar wing) into the "sport trainer" or "advanced trainer" class of airplane. I'd recommend the Avistar as a first plane if you've got relatively good eye hand coordination (Playstation and computer game players are good candidates) and are fast at learning new stuff. Others should stay away since it will lengthen the amount of time needed for instruction before solo mostly due to the faster landing approach.

My method of learning was somewhat different than others. I taught myself using a Soarstar (electric foam parkflyer) at local high schools in my area. After getting bitten by the flying bug, I decided to move up, but by that time I was getting pretty proficient with flying the Soarstar (after many crashes and repairs). This dramatically shortened the instruction period (I've only gone out once and soloed on that outting) needed and allowed me the skills needed to adapt my flying for the Avistar. In all it cost me an extra $250, but it did probably save some money in crashes.

At the end of the day though, I'd say I've still learned a bunch of stuff during my first day of instruction.

As a relative newbie (I'm still at the "make the instructor nervous" stage) I must say I agree completely with the idea of joining a local club, going to a club meeting or two and going up to the flying field... you may find, like I have, that you live 10 blocks from one of the club instructors... even if you're not putting an airplane together right now, it's amazing how much you can learn from "here, hold this a second for me will you?"

Ask questions, get involved(go to club meetings/workparties), help out at the field, watch how the good flyers prepare their planes... you'll wind up with more questions, but you'll learn a lot!

Have fun!

Hi Dave,

I'm a club instructor at OMAS out here in Oregon. I'm also an AMA into pilot, whichs means I can give the sticks to interested non AMA members for a little demo time. Pardon me, but this is going to probably be a wordy tutorial on possible avenues you can take to achieve your goals.

First things first.. join the AMA. You're going to need the membership to fly at most fields. It takes over a month if you apply by mail, so your going to want to do this first. Next, find a local hobby shop in your area.... go in and talk to them and tell you what you want to do. 99% of the time they can steer you into equipment you need. Also ask for names and addresses of local flying clubs. ( If any) Go out and visit the field some Saturday or Sunday and meet some of the guys. See if you feel comfortable with them. If not, go somewhere else. Find out if they have a pilot training program or can recommend another flyer that can/will train you. Assuming you can find a trainer....see if you feel comfortable and get along with him too. ( Sometimes not !) Discuss his regimen and ideas about what you need for a plane and gear.

Assuming all is going well...... go buy said airplane, radio and gear, and get started !


Foamguy

I just joined the AMA, and if you apply online, you'll get an e-mail message within a week that says that they're processing your application and to use that e-mail as proof of membership.

Most Hobby shops have the abilityu to take your application and give you a temporary card also so that your insurance etc is in effect immediately.

I have to agree with f2racer here dave. "How do i get started" is a very non-spacific question and you will get many anwers. heres my recomendations
1. find a flight club, not only can they advise you on what equipment to buy but some of them may have spair gear lying around that you could get a good deal on.
2. start with a parkflier, spacificly a slowflyer. Slowfliers are small and hense easy to store and transport. They are electric so you dont have to start messing with gas and buying all the support equipment that goes with glow powered planes right away, which saves hassle and $$. And they are slow, which gives you plenty of time to react and hone your flying skills. Plus you can fly them in small spaces if you dont have a huge open field, and i found it was much easier to keep oriented with the plane only a few feet away.
3. work your way up. After you have completely mastered a slowflier work up to something bigger and faster, .40-.60 is a popular range for trainers. These planes fly well and are big enough and usually covered with catchy color schemes which will help keep you oriented. Nearly all trainers in the .40-.60 range are 4 channel which means you have rudder for turning, ailerons for rolling, elevator for up and down and throttle control which makes pretty much all of them capable of basic aerobatics such as loops, rolls and other fun stuff :)
4. be prepaired to spend! im not trying to scare you off by saying this but this hobby isnt cheap. Im working on an extremely limited budget and ive already got over $600 in it, and thats mostly luck because i have a friend that wont stop giving me stuff for free :) Im not trying to scare you off, this hobbie is extrmely fun and there is so much you can do with it and its growing bigger every year, but a lot of people try to rush into it and they end up getting swamped by prices.
Sorry to write so much but sometimes i get carried away ;) Hope this helped and remember, HAVE FUN!! :D

I'd like to expand on what Wicked_Sludge just posted. There are defintely alternatives to the .40 trainer route that most people take. Some people don't live near a club, some don't have a lot of money to spend, some just want to go it alone for a variety of reasons.

No, its not the cheapest hobby in the world... but what is ? Been skiing lately ? Played a $40 round of golf recently ? Once you get past the sticker shock for intitial equipment, its not too bad. One thing I love about RC flying is that virtually everyone can play to some level, regardless whether or not they are millionaires or work for $7 an hour. I'm not really what you would call well off myself. For me, .40 size planes are about my limit. I can afford the engines, gear, fuel, etc. It doesnt bother me a bit that other guys have 1/3 scale Caps... thats just how life is. I'll probably never get invited to the TOC, but I do work hard at being the best I can be with what I can afford. I've been at this hobby awhile now... and I'm still not bored :)

One of the few things I have never messed with is park flyers. I've owned one electric plane and hated the lack of power. (not to say it hasnt improved a LOT ) Park flyers do seem to get a lot of people involved in RC flying, and they do look kinda fun, so they certainly fill a niche. I know when I began flying I had serious money trouble. It took me about a year to afford an ACE Grasshopper, 2 channel radio, Cox .049, fuel, etc.
I was not only poor, but determined to teach myself. I spent most of that winter cleaning mud out of my .049. I think out of 200 attempts I got maybe 3 " decent" flights.. LOL Meaning around 30 seconds of panic before the crash. It was probably not a good choice for a beginning airplane, but I learned quite a bit from it. I next purchased a 2 meter glider... on advice from a guy in a hobby shop. This is where my bad electric experience came in. It barely had enough power to get airborne, and on its first landing (crash) the batteries took out everything in their path. I let it sit broken for several months. I was on the verge of giving up on RC. During this period someone gave me a little TT .10. I decided to mount it on the glider and give it one more try. I was sure it wasnt going to work, but what the heck, right ? :) Well, it did work ! I flew and landed it.... total knee knocking scary.... and flew it every night for the next 6 mo. I was pretty bored with it by then and my next move was into a series of Clancy Lazy Bees. I got pretty good with those....I thought anyway... and finally bought a .40 powered trainer. By this time I had joined a club as my cornfield wouldnt support a decent runway for a trainer and I wasnt embarrassed about flying in front of people... hot pilot I knew I was... ( wrong!) The trainer lasted about 5 or 6 flights.... but I persisted and today I am a fair pilot. I know this was kinda wordy, but I suppose the moral is..... you can do anything you want. Dont let money or anything else keep you from enjoying this hobby. If you want to do it bad enough, there is always a way. I know I've given plenty of my old planes to new guys.. usually teenagers.. who are into flying and have a funding problem. Other people do the same. Most are glad to help any way they can.

End spiele !

Foamguy

I've actually found that this hobby is pretty economical compared to my last 3 (motorcycles, computers, cars). I've probably spent in excess of $600, but that cost included a parkflyer with radio and a IC trainer with computer radio. I probably could have been quite content flying just the parkflyer ($300 or so total investment with charger and an extra battery pack), but when I get involved with any hobby, I kinda go a little crazy. I'm already planning (if not yet executing due to the current economic conditions) my next plane...