RC Airplane for beginner?

CC268 said:
Agree to disagree. We have lots of young members at my field and they learn very quickly if equipped with the right stuff. Heck...get him a cub and an Apptentice.
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I hear you, but having to go to the RC field turns it into a production involving parents, a car, etc. Much easier to fly in the yard when you want, if you have that option.

That's what I do, and it is pretty relaxing to spend 10-15 minutes in the evening just buzzing the Champ around the yard.
 
CC268 said:
I’m not trying to come off rude...but I don’t recommend this for the reasons I stated in my original post. Seen a lot of folks go down this road. They fly like crap in any wind. And they are not easy to fly for a beginner. Again...don’t buy a micro. You’ll be wasting money in the long run. A friend of mine bought one and left the hobby as quick as he got into it.
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Hi what is your opinion on this?
http://www.activepowersports.com/pa...MI64PL1fKZ2AIV0IuzCh2yqgfTEAQYCSABEgINpPD_BwE

My Dad bought it, it was the last thing we built together, now I have it and don't know anything about RC.
 
Another vote for the E-Flight Apprentice. Easy to fly and land. I think they have some kind of safe mode these days where it will return itself to level flight if you get out of control. Best part about foamies is that you can keep gluing/epoxying them back together until there's no foam left to glue.

I've only been flying RC for 15 months, but I'm exposed to lots and lots of different stuff with the group I fly with. Apprentice seems to be the favorite among the group for beginners. Our group has a couple that get passed down to the new guys that come along showing interest in the hoppy. My first flight was an Apprentice that was given to me, and that plane will go to the next new guy to come along.
 
CC268 said:
That T28 is one of the classic trainers. My opinion is that it is a great 2nd airplane but maybe not the best plane to learn on. Had many friends who had that same plane. Good plane.
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Thank you will give it a go on a nice day.
 
It’s funny to see people arguing vehemently for the gyro-stabilized, computer-controlled cheap electric foamies, and no one really suggesting that someone teaches their son how to build. It’s too bad that no one has time for fun any more. Everyone wants instant gratification and immediate success. No one wants to learn a fun skill, like gluing balsa and ironing on covering and learning to fly the model without gyros and a chipset in the receiver. I say go buy a kit to build, an old-school glow fuel engine, and *ALSO* that fancy “flies by itself” electric toy version. Learn to fly on the foam electric one, and learn to Love RC by building and eventually flying the balsa one with the “bang-bang” engine. Especially if you build a Cub and mount a four stroke engine up front. Nothing like it. Gasoline Cubs with 2-stroke engines are ok. Electric motor Cubs are a travesty! But a big ol’ Cub with a 4-stroke on a low & slow fly-by? That will make memories that last a lifetime. Unless the kid hates cool stuff. Then all bets are off.
 
kyleb said:
I hear you, but having to go to the RC field turns it into a production involving parents, a car, etc.
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God forbid a family spend any time together. This is almost 2018. Families are only supposed to text one another from across the room, or from the other end of the house, not actually <gasp> occupy the same physical space in a shared interest activity. (Edited to add {sarcasm} alert.) ;)
 
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Good luck keeping a 13 yr interested in Rc airplanes.
Once girls and cars come along all bets are off.

You cannot go wrong with the apprentice.
I taught several to fly those.
 
hankrausch said:
Hi what is your opinion on this?
http://www.activepowersports.com/pa...MI64PL1fKZ2AIV0IuzCh2yqgfTEAQYCSABEgINpPD_BwE

My Dad bought it, it was the last thing we built together, now I have it and don't know anything about RC.
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I haven't flown that particular model, but I have flown a few different foam T-28s from small up to 78". All the Trojans seem to fly very well. Show up at an RC field or hit up a club and let them help you get started. Heck, I got started by just hanging around and watching our local group fly. Eventually, a dude took his apprentice off, trimmed it out, then walked over and stuck his radio in my hand. A good RC group would love to help out a newbie.

A word of warning for the guys thinking about flying RC: IT'S ADDICTING!!!

I started in late October of last year, the day after 6PC's birthday party. Flew an apprentice once. Next weekend, bought two Super Sportster 90/120 aircraft with Saito 120 4 Strokes. Wrecked one of them with the POA Monkey inside. A few months after that, got a P-40 Warhawk .60 with pneumatic retracts. A couple months after that, got a 30cc gas powered P-51 with pneumatic retracts and flaps. A couple months after that, got a 50cc gas powered Extra 300 and flew the ever livin' crap out of it until the wings were stolen when my hangar got broken into. Now I have a 35% scale Edge 540 that I need to build. It will probably get a DLE 111cc engine. I will likely step into the turbine world this spring, as most of my group, who have been my mentors are hardcore jet guys.
 
When my son became interested a few years ago, I bought him a Spektrum transmitter, the RealFlight simulator, and a Blade 120 helo plus several batteries.


The 120 is large enough and stable enough to fly outdoors in a mild breeze and it's relatively easy to fly. He could walk out to our pasture anytime he liked and fly; no hassle, fly for a few minutes or for an hour. He also flew the sim a lot, and eventually he bought himself a Blade Nano that he can fly in the house and annoy the cat.

I'm not really into RC, but at the same time I was setting him up I bought myself a WLToys V911 helo so we could fly together.

https://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-W...ountry=USD&currency=USD&createTmp=1&value_ids[]=174&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cpc_ods&utm_content=heath&utm_campaign=pla-hobbies-us&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8oizrfmZ2AIVwo-zCh1qzwX-EAQYASABEgLtbPD_BwE​

Let me tell you - for less than $40 complete with transmitter, that little V911 is a hoot and an absolute steal. It's too cheap not to have one; just get it. I can fly it outdoors in a light breeze and it's a blast, though it is a bit more difficult than my son's 120.
 
Lachlan said:
It’s funny to see people arguing vehemently for the gyro-stabilized, computer-controlled cheap electric foamies, and no one really suggesting that someone teaches their son how to build. It’s too bad that no one has time for fun any more. Everyone wants instant gratification and immediate success. No one wants to learn a fun skill, like gluing balsa and ironing on covering and learning to fly the model without gyros and a chipset in the receiver. I say go buy a kit to build, an old-school glow fuel engine, and *ALSO* that fancy “flies by itself” electric toy version. Learn to fly on the foam electric one, and learn to Love RC by building and eventually flying the balsa one with the “bang-bang” engine. Especially if you build a Cub and mount a four stroke engine up front. Nothing like it. Gasoline Cubs with 2-stroke engines are ok. Electric motor Cubs are a travesty! But a big ol’ Cub with a 4-stroke on a low & slow fly-by? That will make memories that last a lifetime. Unless the kid hates cool stuff. Then all bets are off.
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You make a good point. That said, I think you may have misinterpreted my post. I have learned an incredible amount about building, repairing, and covering (I know some cool tricks for covering by the way) over my many years being involved with RC. The reality is some folks LOVE to build, but don't really care to fly (and it shows when they fly), others hate to build but love to fly, and others are somewhere in between. Myself...I do like to build, but quite frankly I don't have the time for an extensive build. Even some of my bigger ARFs were A LOT of work.

I wanted to keep things SIMPLE for Mike, because RC is NOT a simple hobby. It isn't. It is actually very technical. My experience is that the best way to get someone involved and STAY involved with this hobby is to introduce them in the most painless way. Realistically, if they stay in the hobby they WILL learn to repair, build, cover, etc. It is simply a byproduct of the hobby. It is not a good idea for someone new to go build an ugly stick and spend A LOT of hours building one and then crash it on their first outing. It doesn't make sense.

I have to admit I get a real hoot out of folks who make a stink about gyros. Gyros do not fly themselves (although there are some autonomous systems out there now, although they aren't prevalent for fixed wing). What they will do is make it much more enjoyable to fly in the wind. In fact, I don't mind 15-20 mph winds anymore with the Aura8 gyro. I can do anything with a normal Spektrum receiver that I can do with the Aura8 gyros in some of my planes. Naturally, we have a large group of retired guys in our club. I call them the "good ole boys club". Most of them can't fly worth a darn, but they complain about the folks who CAN fly. These are the same guys who make a big stink about 3D flying, because it isn't "scale". This mentality is so stupid and it does not attract new members or younger members to the club. There is nothing wrong with new styles of flying, new technology, etc. That kind of mentality does not grow the hobby. Sadly, a lot of these older folks are so hard headed, that no logical explanation will ever satisfy their silly opinions. My opinion is this - if you can fly an rc airplane better than I can (which I doubt), then go ahead and complain about the gyro - if you can't, then your opinion holds no value. It is alarming how many of these guys can't land an RC airplane without crashing into the fence or breaking the gear lol.

Nitro is mostly a thing of the past. Sure there are applications that it still makes sense. Gas, however, is not DEAD and is still the best power system for the larger airplanes. Most of my friends are flying DA-120s, which are 120cc 2 stroke motors from Desert Aircraft that are very reliable. DA-200s are 4 cylinder 2 stroke engines and they sound AWESOME! So smooth.

I built and designed (with a group of 4 others) an RC airplane from the ground up for SAE Aero Design (my senior mechanical engineering design project). We designed everything on SolidWorks and 3D printed and laser cut all the balsa parts. Assembled, covered, tested, etc. We carried 16 pounds in the cargo bay with only 1000W (electric motor). We placed 14th overall out of 40 universities from across the entire world. And on a very limited budget compared to many. I’ve done it all when it comes to RC

I still wouldn’t recommend a newbie go spend umpteen hours building a plane only to crash it on the first outing.

Just my opinion
 
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Man, you guys are spoiled! It should be a requirement to put numerous hours into a balsa kit before flying!

(Oops, I see Lachlan beat me to it!)
 
CC268 said:
You make a good point. That said, I think you may have misinterpreted my post. I have learned an incredible amount about building, repairing, and covering (I know some cool tricks for covering by the way) over my many years being involved with RC. The reality is some folks LOVE to build, but don't really care to fly (and it shows when they fly), others hate to build but love to fly, and others are somewhere in between. Myself...I do like to build, but quite frankly I don't have the time for an extensive build. Even some of my bigger ARFs were A LOT of work.

I wanted to keep things SIMPLE for Mike, because RC is NOT a simple hobby. It isn't. It is actually very technical. My experience is that the best way to get someone involved and STAY involved with this hobby is to introduce them in the most painless way. Realistically, if they stay in the hobby they WILL learn to repair, build, cover, etc. It is simply a byproduct of the hobby. It is not a good idea for someone new to go build an ugly stick and spend A LOT of hours building one and then crash it on their first outing. It doesn't make sense.

I have to admit I get a real hoot out of folks who make a stink about gyros. Gyros do not fly themselves (although there are some autonomous systems out there now, although they aren't prevalent for fixed wing). What they will do is make it much more enjoyable to fly in the wind. In fact, I don't mind 15-20 mph winds anymore with the Aura8 gyro. I can do anything with a normal Spektrum receiver that I can do with the Aura8 gyros in some of my planes. Naturally, we have a large group of retired guys in our club. I call them the "good ole boys club". Most of them can't fly worth a darn, but they complain about the folks who CAN fly. These are the same guys who make a big stink about 3D flying, because it isn't "scale". This mentality is so stupid and it does not attract new members or younger members to the club. There is nothing wrong with new styles of flying, new technology, etc. That kind of mentality does not grow the hobby. Sadly, a lot of these older folks are so hard headed, that no logical explanation will ever satisfy their silly opinions. My opinion is this - if you can fly an rc airplane better than I can (which I doubt), then go ahead and complain about the gyro - if you can't, then your opinion holds no value. It is alarming how many of these guys can't land an RC airplane without crashing into the fence or breaking the gear lol.

Nitro is mostly a thing of the past. Sure there are applications that it still makes sense. Gas, however, is not DEAD and is still the best power system for the larger airplanes. Most of my friends are flying DA-120s, which are 120cc 2 stroke motors from Desert Aircraft that are very reliable. DA-200s are 4 cylinder 2 stroke engines and they sound AWESOME! So smooth.
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I agree with all of this, and in fact, I am a testament to some of it. I fall into the category of not caring much for building, but love to fly. I have not built any of my airplanes from scratch, but if you fly as much as I have in my first year, there is nearly always something to fix, tinker with, modify, etc. That part just comes with the territory. I think I have 8 planes now, so maintenance is frequent. Frankly, if the only option for getting into the hobby was to build one from scratch, I'd probably never have started because I just wouldn't invest that much time into something I don't even know I'm going to enjoy. Starting with something that is easy to get going, easy to fly, and easy to repair is the best way to get someone interested. The building and fixing will come later.

Now, my brother is the polar opposite. That dude has spent many, many hours building a few airplanes, and almost never flies. I don't get it, but that is his thing, and he's definitely not the only one. Heck we have a guy that comes out with his trailer full of scratch built airplanes, puts a few of them together, gets them ready to fly, spends an hour getting the engine tuned up and tweaked in, watches everybody else fly, then puts his planes back in the trailer.

I say who gives a crap whether you build one from scratch, bought an already built one, foamie, ARF, or whatever. If it gets you out there aviating, and you enjoy it, it's all good.
 
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OkieFlyer said:
I agree with all of this, and in fact, I am a testament to some of it. I fall into the category of not caring much for building, but love to fly. I have not built any of my airplanes from scratch, but if you fly as much as I have in my first year, there is nearly always something to fix, tinker with, modify, etc. That part just comes with the territory. I think I have 8 planes now, so maintenance is frequent. Frankly, if the only option for getting into the hobby was to build one from scratch, I'd probably never have started because I just wouldn't invest that much time into something I don't even know I'm going to enjoy. Starting with something that is easy to get going, easy to fly, and easy to repair is the best way to get someone interested. The building and fixing will come later.
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Thank you! Case and point
 
CC268 said:
My opinion is this - if you can fly an rc airplane better than I can (which I doubt), then go ahead and complain about the gyro - if you can't, then your opinion holds no value.
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I've been flying RC since 1989. I bet I can do things with an RC airplane of which you would be in complete awe. I have several medium sized airplanes of the 106-110" size. ;) And it's ok that you rely on gyros to fly in the wind.

I know what new technology can do. I also know what it cannot do. New "do it for you" RC tech doesn't teach you WHY it does what it does for you, making the user believe that they are actually doing it themselves. I have seen guys at the flying field spend MONTHS flying all kinds of expensive electric airplanes with stabilization who seem to fly like champions with that stuff. Then they get something new, something without a gyro, and they scream for help because "There's something wrong with my plane!" when it actually requires stick input to stay flying. ;)

Yes, electronics are helpful, but they take a lot of the true skill out of flying. Just imagine target shooting with a gyro-stabilized rifle with GPS guided slugs. Now you understand "the good ol' boys" and where they're coming from. Some day you'll be an old boy. (Good or not is up to you, ha!) I hope you're still flying RC then. :thumbs up:
 
Lachlan said:
I've been flying RC since 1989. I bet I can do things with an RC airplane of which you would be in complete awe. I have several medium sized airplanes of the 106-110" size. ;) And it's ok that you rely on gyros to fly in the wind.

I know what new technology can do. I also know what it cannot do. New "do it for you" RC tech doesn't teach you WHY it does what it does for you, making the user believe that they are actually doing it themselves. I have seen guys at the flying field spend MONTHS flying all kinds of expensive electric airplanes with stabilization who seem to fly like champions with that stuff. Then they get something new, something without a gyro, and they scream for help because "There's something wrong with my plane!" when it actually requires stick input to stay flying. ;)

Yes, electronics are helpful, but they take a lot of the true skill out of flying. Just imagine target shooting with a gyro-stabilized rifle with GPS guided slugs. Now you understand "the good ol' boys" and where they're coming from. Some day you'll be an old boy. (Good or not is up to you, ha!) I hope you're still flying RC then. :thumbs up:
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No need to devolve into insults. It was simply meant to be a conversation that expressed my knowledge and opinion on RC and RC technology. Your comment I bolded is such a bizarre statement, but it is one I have seen many times. A gyro does not make you a "champion" of flying. You don't fly like a pro with a gyro and then fly without one and magically lose your abilities. It is such complete nonsense. For record I have planes with the Aura8 and planes with just a normal Spektrum receiver. I don't suffer from the said "loss of abilities". My larger aircraft are on normal Spektrum receivers.

Actually, with the bigger aircraft you can't tell a big difference between the gyro and no gyro as they fly so great as is. The smaller aircraft really benefit.

The gyros I am referring to don't take the skill out of flying. This argument isn't new though and the club has had this debate several times. In fact, at our last member meeting Flex Innovations came out to present the Aura8. Several of the older members got quite interested in it. I suppose if you had some sort of autopilot gyro, your opinion would hold true, but that is not the gyro I am referring to. The "good ole boys" are sadly the ones who frequently crash into the pits, start their gas planes with no spotter (and tie it to a string on the fence), can't land worth a darn, and then proceed to complain about the 3D folks who fly much better than they ever could. Oh and they also don't know how to fly their $10k jets, crash them into the desert and start a fire :p These folks are frequently the talk of our "Safety Update" section in our board meetings ha. It took us many years to get the club away from the good ole boys mentality.

Again, I am not trying to insult you or anyone here who disagrees. But I do think my opinion holds some validity and I would encourage you to be open to it.

Point is in today’s day and age there is no reason for someone to start out on a balsa. Unless they want to. In which case they will enjoy the “fruits of their labor” lol

If your ever in Phoenix, PM me, and stop by Sun Valley Fliers.
 
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I definitely agree that stabilizing gyros reduce the amount of skill you need to fly, and especially to fly well. This is especially true with single rotor helicopters. I've been flying RC since 86 and keeping a helicopter in the sky back then required a tremendous amount of skill. With today's gyros it's a lot easier. It makes it possible to get past the steep learning curve without crashing every 5 minutes. With airplanes you can learn in stages and turn off the gyros as you gain skill. I agree that the pilots that don't turn off the gyros eventually are not going to learn the envelope of their aircraft, and there will be maneuvers that are impossible to perform with the gyros on. Doing a hover in an airplane is IMO more difficult than in a helicopter, but with good gyros it's insanely easier. Again, if you don't learn to do it with the gyros off eventually, you're not really flying, but it's easier to learn in stages with the gyros.

Nothing wrong with learning with gyros if you turn them off eventually. I will make fun of you if you can't fly with them off.

I tried to learn to fly on my own back in 86 and spent a lot of money needlessly fixing my broken plane until a club found me. It's easier not to crash just having a purpose built area to fly in and someone to give you a few tips. I was lucky that a club member saw me trying to land in a baseball field and stopped by and told me about the club field I had no idea was there, less than 5 miles away.
 
CC268 said:
No need to devolve into insults. It was simply meant to be a conversation that expressed my knowledge and opinion on RC and RC technology. Your comment I bolded is such a bizarre statement, but it is one I have seen many times. A gyro does not make you a "champion" of flying. You don't fly like a pro with a gyro and then fly without one and magically lose your abilities. It is such complete nonsense. For record I have planes with the Aura8 and planes with just a normal Spektrum receiver. I don't suffer from the said "loss of abilities". My larger aircraft are on normal Spektrum receivers.

Actually, with the bigger aircraft you can't tell a big difference between the gyro and no gyro as they fly so great as is. The smaller aircraft really benefit.

The gyros I am referring to don't take the skill out of flying. This argument isn't new though and the club has had this debate several times. In fact, at our last member meeting Flex Innovations came out to present the Aura8. Several of the older members got quite interested in it. I suppose if you had some sort of autopilot gyro, your opinion would hold true, but that is not the gyro I am referring to. The "good ole boys" are sadly the ones who frequently crash into the pits, start their gas planes with no spotter (and tie it to a string on the fence), can't land worth a darn, and then proceed to complain about the 3D folks who fly much better than they ever could. Oh and they also don't know how to fly their $10k jets, crash them into the desert and start a fire :p These folks are frequently the talk of our "Safety Update" section in our board meetings ha. It took us many years to get the club away from the good ole boys mentality.

Again, I am not trying to insult you or anyone here who disagrees. But I do think my opinion holds some validity and I would encourage you to be open to it.

Point is in today’s day and age there is no reason for someone to start out on a balsa. Unless they want to. In which case they will enjoy the “fruits of their labor” lol

If your ever in Phoenix, PM me, and stop by Sun Valley Fliers.
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It’s ok that you fly with gyros. Doesn't bother me one bit. ;) Do what you like. Do what you love, just keep flying.
 
Velocity173 said:
There's an RC flying field about 7 east of CHA.
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Yeah, the brother-in-law is/was a member there. Went out with him a time or two. He's more of an RC junkie than I've ever been. Pretty nice little club with a great runway, it used to be the old city dump many years ago until they closed up shop, but you'd never know it now.
 
Salty said:
I definitely agree that stabilizing gyros reduce the amount of skill you need to fly, and especially to fly well. This is especially true with single rotor helicopters. I've been flying RC since 86 and keeping a helicopter in the sky back then required a tremendous amount of skill. With today's gyros it's a lot easier. It makes it possible to get past the steep learning curve without crashing every 5 minutes. With airplanes you can learn in stages and turn off the gyros as you gain skill. I agree that the pilots that don't turn off the gyros eventually are not going to learn the envelope of their aircraft, and there will be maneuvers that are impossible to perform with the gyros on. Doing a hover in an airplane is IMO more difficult than in a helicopter, but with good gyros it's insanely easier. Again, if you don't learn to do it with the gyros off eventually, you're not really flying, but it's easier to learn in stages with the gyros.

Nothing wrong with learning with gyros if you turn them off eventually. I will make fun of you if you can't fly with them off.

I tried to learn to fly on my own back in 86 and spent a lot of money needlessly fixing my broken plane until a club found me. It's easier not to crash just having a purpose built area to fly in and someone to give you a few tips. I was lucky that a club member saw me trying to land in a baseball field and stopped by and told me about the club field I had no idea was there, less than 5 miles away.
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Yep my the 48" Edge, 60" Laser have gyros, I have them on a switch. I can fly with or without it on. I can do hovers, rolling harriers (yes real rolling harriers and not up at 100 feet in the sky), torque rolls, belly in hovers, you name it...all with or without the gyro. In fact, I learned virtually everything I know on the simulator, not because I had a gyro. Helis are a whole different animal like you said.

The amount of years someone has flown doesn't matter that much from what I have seen. We have younger kids who have flown for 3-4 years that smoke most (actually if not all) the guys who have been flying their whole life. Actually I have found that most the older guys don't fly very well. Some of them are incredible builders and some of them just have tons of money to throw at the hobby. In all honesty, most of them can't fly worth a darn even though they have been flying for decades. Maybe it is because they had a steeper learning curve back in the "old" days and just never caught on? Idk.

The point of this hobby is to have fun. It isn't a gauge of how "manly" you are or how good of a flyer you are based on your style, airplane, etc. If you are not having fun you are doing something wrong.
 
Lachlan said:
It’s ok that you fly with gyros. Doesn't bother me one bit. ;) Do what you like. Do what you love, just keep flying.
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The point of the hobby is to have fun. Whatever you enjoy is what you should do.
 
Ryanb said:
Yeah, the brother-in-law is/was a member there. Went out with him a time or two. He's more of an RC junkie than I've ever been. Pretty nice little club with a great runway, it used to be the old city dump many years ago until they closed up shop, but you'd never know it now.
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Did a PR event there a couple years back. Big event with some famous RC helicopter aerobatics guy. Some hard corps fans there.

Seems like a lot of these RC fields sprout up on a dump. Got one in north GA that’s over an old land fill as well. Good use of the land I guess.
 
Velocity173 said:
Did a PR event there a couple years back. Big event with some famous RC helicopter aerobatics guy. Some hard corps fans there.

Seems like a lot of these RC fields sprout up on a dump. Got one in north GA that’s over an old land fill as well. Good use of the land I guess.
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Very cool. I’ve seen y’all do PR events at the TCVFD a few years ago. I think it was a mock patient pick up or something like that with LF1.

Yea nice revenue source for land that would otherwise sit unused. (For awhile)
 
I think there is a happy medium between spending boo coo hours building a model and buying one ready to fly. This is what I played around with:

TrainerLuckyStar40.jpg


It was fun to build, mostly assembled, and fun to fly. I actually started flying RC late in the game, after I was already a pilot, and I was able to handle it pretty well. I went through two of them. Neither had damaging landings, but the first one met it's demise by contacting a street light pole in an undeveloped industrial park, and the other sustained damage by catching a power line on the approach of a crop dusting strip. It was repaired to flyable status, and then it succumbed to theft when a piece of crap garage door opener opened without warning (NEVER buy a Genie.) Got a couple dozen flights out of each one. I'd probably get another one today if I decided to get back in to it (yes, with a nitro engine despite the hate.)
 
Sac Arrow said:
I think there is a happy medium between spending boo coo hours building a model and buying one ready to fly. This is what I played around with:

TrainerLuckyStar40.jpg


It was fun to build, mostly assembled, and fun to fly. I actually started flying RC late in the game, after I was already a pilot, and I was able to handle it pretty well. I went through two of them. Neither had damaging landings, but the first one met it's demise by contacting a street light pole in an undeveloped industrial park, and the other sustained damage by catching a power line on the approach of a crop dusting strip. It was repaired to flyable status, and then it succumbed to theft when a piece of crap garage door opener opened without warning (NEVER buy a Genie.) Got a couple dozen flights out of each one. I'd probably get another one today if I decided to get back in to it (yes, with a nitro engine despite the hate.)
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Problem with nitro is your not gonna be flying it at a park (at least you shouldn’t be). You need to be flying at an AMA field if your going to fly nitro. It’s just more trouble than it’s worth when you have fantastic trainers like the Apprentice. There is a reason why our field and may other fields use the Apprentice as their main trainer.

I suppose if you had a big open field to fly in that wasn’t a city park you’d be good
 
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Last night I discovered that there is an RC club locally that I may look in to. I actually drive within a mile of their field everyday going to work. Lots of great info here and I really appreciate all the input. I personally like the idea of building because I am that guy, however, the kid has no desire, skill nor patience for it, I am not even sure he will like the flying even though he loves to fly with me in the real thing. We will see.
 
A great calm-day flyer (and easily transportable) is the E-Flite UMX Radian, a 1.5-oz. 28" span motor glider with a folding prop.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/airplanes/ultra-micros/umx-trade;-radian-reg;-bnf-with-as3x®-technology-eflu2980

It's great for a schoolyard or smaller park; it has the incredible AS3X stabilization that allows it to fly like a much larger plane. When I first saw one fly at our field, I was blown away at how well it handled 10-mph wind. I've got a T-28 (much larger) with the same stabilization setup and it really transforms the model...flight is so much more scale-looking.

Before the advent of these systems, I'd say stay away from the smaller models. Now, not so much...
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
A great calm-day flyer (and easily transportable) is the E-Flite UMX Radian, a 1.5-oz. 28" span motor glider with a folding prop.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/airplanes/ultra-micros/umx-trade;-radian-reg;-bnf-with-as3x®-technology-eflu2980

It's great for a schoolyard or smaller park; it has the incredible AS3X stabilization that allows it to fly like a much larger plane. When I first saw one fly at our field, I was blown away at how well it handled 10-mph wind. I've got a T-28 (much larger) with the same stabilization setup and it really transforms the model...flight is so much more scale-looking.

Before the advent of these systems, I'd say stay away from the smaller models. Now, not so much...
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The radian is a good cheap alternative as well. It’s a nice flyer.

The only reason I harp on the Apprentice is because it really is an all in one package if you just want to get in the hobby and go (charger, transmitter, etc).

But the radian is a good choice as well.
 
Lachlan said:
I've been flying RC since 1989. I bet I can do things with an RC airplane of which you would be in complete awe. I have several medium sized airplanes of the 106-110" size. ;) And it's ok that you rely on gyros to fly in the wind.

I know what new technology can do. I also know what it cannot do. New "do it for you" RC tech doesn't teach you WHY it does what it does for you, making the user believe that they are actually doing it themselves. I have seen guys at the flying field spend MONTHS flying all kinds of expensive electric airplanes with stabilization who seem to fly like champions with that stuff. Then they get something new, something without a gyro, and they scream for help because "There's something wrong with my plane!" when it actually requires stick input to stay flying. ;)

Yes, electronics are helpful, but they take a lot of the true skill out of flying. Just imagine target shooting with a gyro-stabilized rifle with GPS guided slugs. Now you understand "the good ol' boys" and where they're coming from. Some day you'll be an old boy. (Good or not is up to you, ha!) I hope you're still flying RC then. :thumbs up:
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Interesting. It's our "good ol' boys" that started using gyros before anybody. The jet guys use them on their nose gear to help track straight down the runway at the much higher speeds. I'm not aware of anyone who uses them on large scale 3D planes. Those things are so easy to fly, I don't know why anyone would need a gyro. The small and foam aircraft is where a gyro really shines. Those fast little ducted fan foamies are quite a handful, especially in wind. A gyro really makes them more fun in my opinion. Gyros have their place. I tend to agree that they can actually be a hindrance to learning, but if someone choses not to learn to fly without one, that's their business.

For Beginners
I think the safe mode on some of the foam trainers is wonderful. My gosh, you can actually save your plane when things go bad instead of picking up the pieces and going back to the shop for days, weeks, or months. I would think the "good ol' boys" above all would recognize how awesome that is. The younger generation can save much of the heartache they had to endure after turning their brand new scratch built plane into toothpicks 30 seconds after takeoff. Of course there are those who think everybody ought to have the exact same experience they did, which is sad. That said, wrecking a plane or two does make you try harder to master the skills, and every beginner should step up to a plane without safe mode at some point.

What's way important than the kind of plane, radio, servos, gyros, is that you go fly, and fly, and fly, and fly, and fly. Gyro or not, flying in the only thing makes you better at flying.
 
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OkieFlyer said:
. . . The younger generation can save much of the heartache they had to endure after turning their brand new scratch built plane into toothpicks 30 seconds after takeoff. Of course there are those who think everybody ought to have the exact same experience they did, which is sad. That said, wrecking a plane or two does make you try harder to master the skills, and every beginner should step up to a plane without safe mode at some point . . .
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Bought my father one of the ParkZone P-51 mustangs. We shattered that thing 2-3 times and went through as many props in our three or four 60-second outings, lol. That aircraft has been sitting on a shelf in the garage for 2 years now and hasn't moved since the motor is hanging out of the nose from the last crash. We never used (or knew about) the computer simulators. The P-51 was quick enough to get far enough away to where we couldn't tell if it was upside-down or not, until it was in a spiraling-nosedive. We'd probably kept flying some more of the RC aircraft had that experience gone better, especially since they live on several acres and can walk out the door to go fly it. The lack of experience/control doomed it as a hobby thus far, so the Apprentice would have been a better option. Also, if this had been a balsa/nitro/gas model, there's a solid chance that it never would have been rebuilt after the first crash. We just don't have that kind of time/patience.

I build dozens of model cars/aircraft/rockets as a kid, and enjoyed it. However, I wouldn't enjoy rebuilding a wrecked RC aircraft very much. Gluing some foam back together is fine, having to re-skin wings and replace balsa-structure is not my forte.
 
I started flying RC 45 years ago, man things have changed, I have seen the whole evolution. I started scratch building and that is what I like to do to this day. Worked my way up to 40%'ers, flew IMAC but 3D is a hoot.

For the beginner I would go with one of the cheap fomies mentioned above just to gain experience flying at a reasonable cost. Then see where it goes.
 
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