Help! New Guy, my 13 year old and I are new flyers. How to graduate from FT Airliner?

[mikeehuber]

Well, we crash if we fly things other than the FT Airliner. So we bought a five pack of more batteries and we go nuts with our two FT Airliners. Truly love them fly them multiple times a week. I think we have worn out the motors on one plane just since Flite Fest. However we are too embarrassed to say what else we have crashed! and trashed, but flights were short and tragic.

We have a ready and built but not maidened FT tiny trainer beginner wing with the aura 5 and a completed FT F22. We have a Sonic modell 600mm wing no maiden. We even have the spektrum simulator on our TV. And we practice. We are kind of gun-shy right now due to lack of success with anything else.

What do you recommend for graduating to other planes than our FT Airliners?

I kind of wish we could fly something with the durability/lightness of the FT Airliner without the gyro and with our Spektrum transmitter. Man they crash with forgiveness! Is their something on the market? Can the FT airliner be converted to fly with Spektrum or no gyro? Would that even help us learn? I love the concept of FT foamboard kits but I think I contribute to build variations that make it harder to learn.

We went to Flite Fest and love this hobby but we are trying to learn and fly as much as we can before the snow starts to fly here in Wisconsin. Suggestions from the sages or experienced crashers?

 

[Phin G]

The tiny trainer is definitely a good one for transition from rtf to diy. I would say, dont be afraid to crash; everyone here does it (as a matter of fact i can never get a plane back in one piece) the ft planes are easy to repair if you have spare foam you just priny out plans for whatever section it is and cut it out and add it to the plane. Definitely go with the TT. Dont be afraid to crash.
remember: Build, fly, crash!

 

[JetCrafts]

ft mini explorer or ft ez glider with motor or simple soarer with motor

 

[JasonK]

Ok, so when you get off of the FT Airliner, you also going to be going from angle mode for your roll to a rate mode, which means instead of how far you move the stick controls the angle/speed of the turn you will be controlling how fast the plane rolls. Unfortunately the airliner might have caused a few sub-optimal muscle memories for flying other items, but they shouldn't be to hard to adjust for.

The tiny trainer is an ideal training plane, at some point you need to just go for it and be ok with the possibility of a crash, you will be ok. About the only thing I could suggest if you really want something that can handle crash after crash, might be something like one of these:
https://www.videoaerialsystems.com/collections/airplanes/products/spark-mini-24in-wingspan
https://www.videoaerialsystems.com/collections/airplanes/products/gremlin

The spark should avoid your motor/prop getting damaged in crashes. When I was at Flite Fest, Alex (owner of VAS) showed the durability of the gremlin by taking his and throwing it nose down into the ground with it taking no damage. The foam these planes are made out of handles impacts rather well.

When I self taught myself how to fly with the tiny trainer, I crashed quite a few times, but I was all there flying fairly quickly, I might have had to rebuild the fuslage 1x time over the training, I still have my original wing which is still in use.

 

[quorneng]

mikeehuber
I fear what you are experiencing is exactly why learning to fly only on a well sorted gyro stabised plane is not ideal.
Yes you have fun and you will learn spacial orientation but you are not really flying the plane just simply telling the gyro (which is flying the plane) what to do next.
Something like the Tiny Trainer has gentle flight characteristics so it will not do anything too dramatic or sudden but you are the only person controlling what and how it does it.
It is possible to learn to fly RC by yourself using simple trial and error techniques (many of us oldies did) but you will crash a lot before your eye/brain/finger coordination becomes 'automatic' enough to avoid 'unwanted contact with the ground', most of the time.
Having an experienced instructor with you (join a club) does make a big difference as he can advise you away from situations before the result becomes inevitable. You may not learn to fly that much quicker but it can save you quite a bit of time and cost in repairs.
Just don't give up trying.

 

[mikeehuber]

The tiny trainer is definitely a good one for transition from rtf to diy. I would say, dont be afraid to crash; everyone here does it (as a matter of fact i can never get a plane back in one piece) the ft planes are easy to repair if you have spare foam you just priny out plans for whatever section it is and cut it out and add it to the plane. Definitely go with the TT. Dont be afraid to crash.
remember: Build, fly, crash!

I will get up my courage and try the tiny Trainer. That's why I built it. Ha!

 

[mikeehuber]

Ok, so when you get off of the FT Airliner, you also going to be going from angle mode for your roll to a rate mode, which means instead of how far you move the stick controls the angle/speed of the turn you will be controlling how fast the plane rolls. Unfortunately the airliner might have caused a few sub-optimal muscle memories for flying other items, but they shouldn't be to hard to adjust for.

The tiny trainer is an ideal training plane, at some point you need to just go for it and be ok with the possibility of a crash, you will be ok. About the only thing I could suggest if you really want something that can handle crash after crash, might be something like one of these:
https://www.videoaerialsystems.com/collections/airplanes/products/spark-mini-24in-wingspan
https://www.videoaerialsystems.com/collections/airplanes/products/gremlin

The spark should avoid your motor/prop getting damaged in crashes. When I was at Flite Fest, Alex (owner of VAS) showed the durability of the gremlin by taking his and throwing it nose down into the ground with it taking no damage. The foam these planes are made out of handles impacts rather well.

When I self taught myself how to fly with the tiny trainer, I crashed quite a few times, but I was all there flying fairly quickly, I might have had to rebuild the fuslage 1x time over the training, I still have my original wing which is still in use.

I'm going to try my tiny trainer this weekend. Wish me luck. That spark looks perfect. Save on propellers. I might buy one of those kits too.

 

[mikeehuber]

mikeehuber
I fear what you are experiencing is exactly why learning to fly only on a well sorted gyro stabised plane is not ideal.
Yes you have fun and you will learn spacial orientation but you are not really flying the plane just simply telling the gyro (which is flying the plane) what to do next.
Something like the Tiny Trainer has gentle flight characteristics so it will not do anything too dramatic or sudden but you are the only person controlling what and how it does it.
It is possible to learn to fly RC by yourself using simple trial and error techniques (many of us oldies did) but you will crash a lot before your eye/brain/finger coordination becomes 'automatic' enough to avoid 'unwanted contact with the ground', most of the time.
Having an experienced instructor with you (join a club) does make a big difference as he can advise you away from situations before the result becomes inevitable. You may not learn to fly that much quicker but it can save you quite a bit of time and cost in repairs.
Just don't give up trying.

That does make sense about the gyros. I'm going to try going to the local club.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

honestly.... i've tried the TT, explorer, scout, ft old speedster, and a couple more... (all got crashed on first flights... but the one that actually flew easiest, is stated below)

the absolute best one has got to be the ft old speedster...
that thing can take a huge beating.... flies real slow, and handles really well...
this is the plane i have learnt on.... now after totally trashing it in a straight down dive from 20m.... (pilot error) after about 10 reasonably successful flights
i feel confident to move onto something else...
if i was to recommend any plane to anyone, it would be the ft old speedster... when i first flew it, i was struck by just how easily it flew...
it flies soo easily... and it is a very simple build...

just my experience of a begginer, and crashes

 

[FlamingRCAirplanes]

honestly.... i've tried the TT, explorer, scout, ft old speedster, and a couple more... (all got crashed on first flights... but the one that actually flew easiest, is stated below)

the absolute best one has got to be the ft old speedster...
that thing can take a huge beating.... flies real slow, and handles really well...
this is the plane i have learnt on.... now after totally trashing it in a straight down dive from 20m.... (pilot error) after about 10 reasonably successful flights
i feel confident to move onto something else...
if i was to recommend any plane to anyone, it would be the ft old speedster... when i first flew it, i was struck by just how easily it flew...
it flies soo easily... and it is a very simple build...

just my experience of a begginer, and crashes

I don't have the old speedster (though it is on my build list) but I do have and LOVE my ft commuter. Sure it is a harder build, but my first flight in it was successful. Up till then I had not been able to keep a plane in the air at all. My mini scout flew terribly.

 

[Taildragger]

honestly.... i've tried the TT, explorer, scout, ft old speedster, and a couple more... (all got crashed on first flights... but the one that actually flew easiest, is stated below)

the absolute best one has got to be the ft old speedster...
that thing can take a huge beating.... flies real slow, and handles really well...
this is the plane i have learnt on.... now after totally trashing it in a straight down dive from 20m.... (pilot error) after about 10 reasonably successful flights
i feel confident to move onto something else...
if i was to recommend any plane to anyone, it would be the ft old speedster... when i first flew it, i was struck by just how easily it flew...
it flies soo easily... and it is a very simple build...

just my experience of a begginer, and crashes

I found that it does fly slow, but the way it flies imo doesn't really train you if you want to move on to more advanced planes later. What I'm saying is the muscle memory I got from my old fogey was not quite helpful later on, as with the fogey you can literally move your sticks like crazy and it wont crash. I guess I'm mostly just saying it teaches you to overcorrect and use too much stick movement.

 

[Taildragger]

Well, we crash if we fly things other than the FT Airliner. So we bought a five pack of more batteries and we go nuts with our two FT Airliners. Truly love them fly them multiple times a week. I think we have worn out the motors on one plane just since Flite Fest. However we are too embarrassed to say what else we have crashed! and trashed, but flights were short and tragic.

We have a ready and built but not maidened FT tiny trainer beginner wing with the aura 5 and a completed FT F22. We have a Sonic modell 600mm wing no maiden. We even have the spektrum simulator on our TV. And we practice. We are kind of gun-shy right now due to lack of success with anything else.

What do you recommend for graduating to other planes than our FT Airliners?

I kind of wish we could fly something with the durability/lightness of the FT Airliner without the gyro and with our Spektrum transmitter. Man they crash with forgiveness! Is their something on the market? Can the FT airliner be converted to fly with Spektrum or no gyro? Would that even help us learn? I love the concept of FT foamboard kits but I think I contribute to build variations that make it harder to learn.

We went to Flite Fest and love this hobby but we are trying to learn and fly as much as we can before the snow starts to fly here in Wisconsin. Suggestions from the sages or experienced crashers?

Word of advise: If you can, USE SIMULATORS. I was amazed when I couldn't fly very much this summer, I just flew in RealFlight for maybe 30min a day, and then 2 weeks ago I tried to fly one of my planes that 4ch, touchy, very much was too hard to fly back when I bought it. It flew SO EASILY. I didn't need to even hardly think about it, and I was coordinating my turns, using small inputs, and able to account for the little gusts of wind. just my story.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

Word of advise: If you can, USE SIMULATORS. I was amazed when I couldn't fly very much this summer, I just flew in RealFlight for maybe 30min a day, and then 2 weeks ago I tried to fly one of my planes that 4ch, touchy, very much was too hard to fly back when I bought it. It flew SO EASILY. I didn't need to even hardly think about it, and I was coordinating my turns, using small inputs, and able to account for the little gusts of wind. just my story.

same... i have been using rc desk pilot... flying the ft spitfire... haven't crashed it in around a total of 4o min of flight time now ( sure i crashed multiple times before a gained that level)

 

[mikeehuber]

Word of advise: If you can, USE SIMULATORS. I was amazed when I couldn't fly very much this summer, I just flew in RealFlight for maybe 30min a day, and then 2 weeks ago I tried to fly one of my planes that 4ch, touchy, very much was too hard to fly back when I bought it. It flew SO EASILY. I didn't need to even hardly think about it, and I was coordinating my turns, using small inputs, and able to account for the little gusts of wind. just my story.

Thanks I have real flight and will go for it!

 

[mikeehuber]

I found that it does fly slow, but the way it flies imo doesn't really train you if you want to move on to more advanced planes later. What I'm saying is the muscle memory I got from my old fogey was not quite helpful later on, as with the fogey you can literally move your sticks like crazy and it wont crash. I guess I'm mostly just saying it teaches you to overcorrect and use too much stick movement.

"Moving my sticks like crazy and not crashing" sounds very acceptable right now. But I appreciate your advice toward a higher level of flight!

 

[Matthewdupreez]

Thanks I have real flight and will go for it!

def use the flight sim... it helps a ton...

 

[Matthewdupreez]

I found that it does fly slow, but the way it flies imo doesn't really train you if you want to move on to more advanced planes later. What I'm saying is the muscle memory I got from my old fogey was not quite helpful later on, as with the fogey you can literally move your sticks like crazy and it wont crash. I guess I'm mostly just saying it teaches you to overcorrect and use too much stick movement.

yea i get what you mean... i flew the ft spitfire on the sim for about an hour on sunday... then i went to fly my og speedster.... man that thing just doesn't act like a real plane if you know what i mean.... tiny inputs don't really work on the speedster.....

 

[Taildragger]

"Moving my sticks like crazy and not crashing" sounds very acceptable right now. But I appreciate your advice toward a higher level of flight!

Forgot to include that as others here, my pick would be the tiny trainer.
And don't take that the wrong way, I love the fogey/speedster, but I think its better suited as an "introduction to the hobby" than a trainer

 

[mikeehuber]

Forgot to include that as others here, my pick would be the tiny trainer.
And don't take that the wrong way, I love the fogey/speedster, but I think its better suited as an "introduction to the hobby" than a trainer

Well I have a tiny trainer built and ready to go, so I think I'll man up and try it out.

RealFlight question Right now I just have the basic version that has the aeroscout and others, You think it's worthwhile to upgrade to the full version with the flite test models. Or flying the planes that are included with my version without any of the safe should be good enough for me to learn?

 

[JasonK]

Well I have a tiny trainer built and ready to go, so I think I'll man up and try it out.

RealFlight question Right now I just have the basic version that has the aeroscout and others, You think it's worthwhile to upgrade to the full version with the flite test models. Or flying the planes that are included with my version without any of the safe should be good enough for me to learn?

if your just starting out, the differences from one plane to the next probably aren't that big of a deal, as long as you have something in a similar class - so if your practicing with a trainer/motor glider in RealFlight, it is likely going to be close enough to your Tiny Trainer in response.