Judas Priest
Super Member
The first time I saw an RC plane as a kid around 1976 or so, I knew I had to have one.
My first was a foam Cessna from Sears with an .049. The sad thing is, most planes sold as trainers, are not trainers. Too small, and too fast. The experienced pilot crashed it on its first flight when the batteries fell out of the transmitter
I built and flew a high wing trainer, but was barely able to control it and land it. When I was stationed here in Germany I bought and built another Tower Hobbies trainer and flew/crashed it on its first flight. As a beginner, I didn´t even consider the possibilty of backing off the throttle a bit, lol. I was just trying to control the damn thing.
When I joined a German RC club a few years later, I had to teach myself to fly again because they almost all use a differnt stick configuration. They always have throttle and aileron on one stick, and elevator and ruder on the other. Sometimes right, sometimes left.
I learned to fly with a New Yamamoto "trainer", which, again, wasn´t an ideal trainer. Too fast, and with a semi symetrical airfoil, it need speed to fly.
After I mastered that plane, I took a BIG step up to an Extra 300, 1,42m wingspann with a 10cc (.60) motor. The whole club was watching on my maiden flight; the sky was mine
I was sweating bullets, and had an experienced flyer next to me, giving me tips; faster, slower pull up a bit and so on... And I didn´t crash it After a bit of practice, I would usually fly inverted the whole time, and snap rolls were my favorite. That Extra was wild . I flew a patter plane a few times, but it was just too good mannered for my taste.
I totalled the Extra after many, many flights when the canopy flew away while flying inverted low and fast, like always; and instictively "pulled". That didn´t go well NOTHING survived that crash.
I later bought another one, flew a few electric planes that were fun and clean. I had one of these with stock motors :
This one is INSANE! But I just can´t justify spending several hundred euros on a toy that I would only fly for a few minutes every couple of weeks.
Eventually I lost interest in the hobby, because to keep it interesting, you need to buy new planes all the time. I got tired of spending so much money on the hobby and quit.
My first was a foam Cessna from Sears with an .049. The sad thing is, most planes sold as trainers, are not trainers. Too small, and too fast. The experienced pilot crashed it on its first flight when the batteries fell out of the transmitter
I built and flew a high wing trainer, but was barely able to control it and land it. When I was stationed here in Germany I bought and built another Tower Hobbies trainer and flew/crashed it on its first flight. As a beginner, I didn´t even consider the possibilty of backing off the throttle a bit, lol. I was just trying to control the damn thing.
When I joined a German RC club a few years later, I had to teach myself to fly again because they almost all use a differnt stick configuration. They always have throttle and aileron on one stick, and elevator and ruder on the other. Sometimes right, sometimes left.
I learned to fly with a New Yamamoto "trainer", which, again, wasn´t an ideal trainer. Too fast, and with a semi symetrical airfoil, it need speed to fly.
After I mastered that plane, I took a BIG step up to an Extra 300, 1,42m wingspann with a 10cc (.60) motor. The whole club was watching on my maiden flight; the sky was mine
I was sweating bullets, and had an experienced flyer next to me, giving me tips; faster, slower pull up a bit and so on... And I didn´t crash it After a bit of practice, I would usually fly inverted the whole time, and snap rolls were my favorite. That Extra was wild . I flew a patter plane a few times, but it was just too good mannered for my taste.I totalled the Extra after many, many flights when the canopy flew away while flying inverted low and fast, like always; and instictively "pulled". That didn´t go well
NOTHING survived that crash.I later bought another one, flew a few electric planes that were fun and clean. I had one of these with stock motors :
This one is INSANE! But I just can´t justify spending several hundred euros on a toy that I would only fly for a few minutes every couple of weeks.
Eventually I lost interest in the hobby, because to keep it interesting, you need to buy new planes all the time. I got tired of spending so much money on the hobby and quit.
) and then it nosedived into the pavement, totally destroying it.
