RC hobby plane/helicopter flying clubs.

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So some 20 years back I built a RC hobby plane with my stepfather, unfortunately at that time I was stupid kid and some family events put a full stop on the project and we ended with it ~95% built. I will be getting this plane back in the very near future and would like to continue the hobby. Found some local flying clubs that I can join to help complete the project.

Looking at some of these local club websites I am not seeing any kind of training courses or anything. I would hate to complete this project and destroy it immediately as the plane itself is going to have a lot of sentimental value of the time I had with my stepfather.

What is the scoop here, do I need to get in good with the club and have other members help me along the way with learning to fly it?
 
I would definitely look into trainers with some sort of gyro control. Horizon hobby sells this Apprentice and Mini Apprentice, SAFE limits your bank and pitch angle, and helps you avoid a bad situation. There is 3 levels of control, and even with them off there is a panic button if you are in a dive or spin that will recover the aircraft. However, do not use them as a crutch, dont rely on the aids for too long or youll never learn the basics. I have a friend nearly 3 years in and he can barely fly off of safe, whereas I was on my second plane within a few months without safe (Started with the super cub S, outdated now, and moved to a sport cub, then flyzone beaver) A simulator and transmitter dongle is also a good start. These 2-300$ options would be a much better starting place than smashing the balsa within 15 feet of takeoff. I have about 15 foamies, mostly 4 cell, many more that have gone to the graveyard in the sky, and only about one balsa since you can repair the foam with glue and bamboo skewers, the balsa any little mistakes can really spell trouble
 
Pretty much yes. Find a club, go their website or Facebook page, decide if they look "right" to you ( you don't want to hang with a bunch of multirotor-only guys, when you have a plane). Show up on one of their fly days and introduce yourself. RC people are a lot like HAMs, the are eager to help you learn the hobby.
 
Originally Posted by Audios
I would definitely look into trainers with some sort of gyro control. Horizon hobby sells this Apprentice and Mini Apprentice, SAFE limits your bank and pitch angle, and helps you avoid a bad situation. There is 3 levels of control, and even with them off there is a panic button if you are in a dive or spin that will recover the aircraft. However, do not use them as a crutch, dont rely on the aids for too long or youll never learn the basics. I have a friend nearly 3 years in and he can barely fly off of safe, whereas I was on my second plane within a few months without safe (Started with the super cub S, outdated now, and moved to a sport cub, then flyzone beaver) A simulator and transmitter dongle is also a good start. These 2-300$ options would be a much better starting place than smashing the balsa within 15 feet of takeoff. I have about 15 foamies, mostly 4 cell, many more that have gone to the graveyard in the sky, and only about one balsa since you can repair the foam with glue and bamboo skewers, the balsa any little mistakes can really spell trouble


I'm going to dig into all this, thank you so much for the info! I honestly don't think any of the nanny's you mentioned above were even a thing back in 1998/1999, but my family was not rich by any means so it was just the basics for this project.

Yes this is a balsa wood with the heat shrink plastic - Its a Cessna (152 or 172) - can't remember because its 20 years removed.

This seems like it will be a fun hobby.
 
A peer Supervisor of mine 30 years ago got into this. He was pretty excited about it until he crashed his fourth one. Back in the day these thing weren't cheap.
 
After the plane is finished and ready to fly, I'd try to find a very experienced RC plane guy to "test fly" it to see if it flys and handles well.

I'd also buy a cheap ready built RC plane to learn and practice on. One that is built tough and can take some crash abuse - they exist.
 
I tried flying an RC plane. Many years ago. Way harder for me to learn (as a pilot) than I thought.

I was fine if it was going away from me.

Big trouble when it was coming toward me.

Be prepared for some "mishaps" as a result of the learning curve.

If this plane has value to you, you might want to learn to fly on something else first...
 
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I've been doing this for many years. Please don't learn with a plane that has sentimental value. Get a simulator-Real Flight is one but there are some free ones. Also get with a club if possible. You will need to join the AMA to fly there. $75 a year, but that includes liability insurance. Some clubs even have a plane you can train with on a buddy cord. You each have a radio but yours only controls when the instructor holds down a switch, This is the best system. He takes off, gives you control, he saves it, gives it to you, saves it, you get the idea. ore time flying, less time repairing! Visit RCGroups.com-they have Beginner forums as well as all the others. If you like engines, you can go that way, or just want to learn to fly, go electric. Electric is nice. I charge a few batteries, throw a couple of planes in the truck and go fly. No mess, no tinkering with a motor that doesn't want to run.

https://www.rcgroups.com/places/3140995-rc-flying-fields-in-georgia
 
Originally Posted by Astro14
I tried flying an RC plane. Many years ago. Way harder for me to learn (as a pilot) than I thought.

I was fine if it was going away from me.

Big trouble when it was coming toward me.


What I found that helps a lot with leaning RC stuff is to take the perspective as if you were sitting in the plane, helicopter, car, etc. Then the going away and coming toward you issue pretty much disappears.
 
A cheap way to learn the "going vs coming" is to get a cheap RC car and practice. Also, although it's kinda cheating is to try to hold the radio the direction the plane is going, IE look over your shoulder when it is coming at you but have the radio not backwards if that makes sense. ( the back of the radio facing the direction of travel. ) Also try to fly a racetrack pattern where for instance left is always turning more and right is turning away, and when you get the hang of that, reverse it. This is not hard, but is not easy. It will take some time, just like most things worth the effort. Also, radio makers like to lock you in to their brands by making stuff incompatible. See what is used most at your club, stick with name brands Futaba, Spectrum, because the programing is different and pick one. They all work well, just know this.Taranis is good but more of a learning curve. And remember in most crashes the motor and electronics survive to be used again. So glue the foam together and have fun. Oh, the $75 insurance can be a good deal if you have this happen!!!
https://youtu.be/dXaklngIDNo If any doubt about electrics, watch these.
This is a foamy I built from free plans, has about 10 parts and is the finest plane I've ever flown.
https://youtu.be/Cfle92B0ask
And my B17
https://youtu.be/LMuhURwg5lc
 
Put your Cessna away until you learn to fly with other RC airplanes that are much easier to fly and more forgiving when you make a mistake.

The easiest RC airplanes to learn on and the kind you want to start out with are airplanes that do not have ailerons. You put both the rudder and elevator on the right stick of the transmitter. Find out who the people in the local club are who are qualified to instruct. Some clubs actually have certain things that a person has to pass in order to be an instructor, other clubs do not do this.

After you get good enough to fly a RC airplane that does not have ailerons an entire flights with out an instructor then move on to flying something with ailerons like your Cessna. You put the ailerons and elevator on the right stick of the transmitter, and the turning, and control of pitch up and down with the right stick is very similar to flying the trainer that had rudder and elevator on the right stick, except that is is much easier to roll the airplane too much now that ailerons are being controlled, so the experience you acquired from the trainer without ailerons will help you not over control when you turn, and also you will know how to put the right amount of additional up into the elevator as the airplane turns.

Also, as someone has already mentioned, you can start with a very low cost RC car to get use to the reversing of controls when it is coming towards you. After you get that figured out move on to a RC airplane that does not have ailerons.

If there is a good RC airplane hobby shop near you ask what is available in an RC electric trainer without ailerons. If there is no good hobby shop near you call Tower Hobbies. They have a big web site and are one of the biggest internet RC airplane hobby shops.

As someone has already mentioned you will have to join the AMA to get liability insurance before any club will allow you to fly at their field.

When the airplane is making an approach towards you and descending to do a low fly by, or to land, the left right will be reversed. The easiest way to get use to this after you have practiced with a RC car, is to stand in the center of the runway (if your club allows) and align the airplane to come right at you (but keep it high enough to fly safely above you, like 100 ft. above). You will notice two things. If the plane gets off of the center line if you move the stick to the side the plane went to it will bring the plane back to the center-line of the approach, and also when the plane is directly over your head in the instant when it goes from towards you to away from you, you may panic and wonder what you should be doing with the control. Do not put any right or left control into it at this time, just turn around with your feet and fly the airplane away from you.

Now here is a tip on how to maintain the proper glide path (rate of decent) as the airplane comes towards you and you want it to get low enough to land. Look at the thickness of the airplane wing as it is in a decent. The wing will look very thin almost like a pencil line as you can only see the leading edge. If that thin line becomes thick it means the airplane is either diving or climbing too much. Hold that pencil line until the airplane is at the height you want it to be at when it will fly over you. When it is at that height give it a little up so it fly's over you. If you hold the decent with the wing being a pencil line all the way to you, you could actually hit yourself in the face with the airplane. Once you are good at making descents just make them with the plane lined up to the center of the runway and give just a very small amount of down so the pencil line of the leading edge is just a little bit thicker so the plane gets low near the beginning of the runway.
 
One thing you want to very carefully check with any new RC airplane that has ailerons and has never been flown is that the direction of deflection of the ailerons is correct, not reversed. Remember the wing with the aileron that descends will have more lift and will go up, and the wing with the aileron that goes up will have less lift and will go down. Be sure to stand behind the airplane when checking this out. It is easy to get this reversed and when standing in-front of the airplane not realize this mistake. Many an RC airplane with the ailerons reversed has taken off only to roll over upside down and crash when the pilot tried to correct a turn and the roll became worse because the ailerons were reversed. This results in a crash very quickly.
 
Move the aileron stick to the left, and the left aileron comes up, right aileron goes down. Pull the Elevator stick back-elevator comes up. Always check.
 
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