ScarryOwen
New member
Total n00b here. I finally acted on my FliteTest YouTube addiction by scratch building my first Long EZ as a chuck glider. In short order I mashed it up and then took it apart and repaired it with more almost free foam board. I'm also joyously chucking around a $10 styro glider from Hobby Lobby.
I really like the philosophy of FliteTest that emphasizes DIY, experimentation, interchangeability and cheap, cheap airframes. I know I will be getting deeply into this hobby but I sense that there is a smart way to do this from the ground up while spending money slowly and carefully versus a dumb way of doing this by throwing a ton of money at the wrong stuff that will sooner or later go crunch and leave me both broke and discouraged. I watched the FT videos on this and the annoying hipster guy got his point across!
So today I took my kid and visited the local R/C club field, a really first-class facility with a paved runway. It was a beautiful day and lots of guys were flying. The planes were generally big, beautiful, expensive gassers and the pilots seemed to be all older guys with many thousands of dollars invested in the hobby, whom I guess have been involved in this for many years. There were some competitive-level aerobatics going on. They had big trucks to carry their big airplanes in.
Happily I was invited to fly the club trainer with an instructor on a buddy box in "student mode" or whatever you call the computer assisted stabilization mode. It was the first time I've ever flown R/C and really thrilling. I told the guy "you know this is like handing out free samples of cocaine." He said, "exactly!"
So these guys are more than happy to teach me how to fly if I join their club. They can get me discounts on gear if I join their club. They'll sell me their old stuff if I join their club. I can fly at their awesome little airport if I join their club.
Here's what that involves:
1) Join AMA: $75/year
2) Initiation fee to the club: $100
3) Club dues: $75/year
That strikes me as a lot of expense to lay out before I even start buying equipment! But here's my greater doubt about the club: I get the feeling that these guys are veterans of an earlier generation of hobbyists who were doing this before the revolution of electric flight. They have a way of doing things that they're happy to teach me but it probably doesn't much include DIY, multi-rotor or FPV. There are *a lot* of rules at the airfield, one of which is that you cannot fly off the property of the club. Long term, what most interests me most is long-range FPV flying which would violate that rule. Furthermore, I'm mostly interested in smaller, electric, foam planes that I can hand-launch and belly land in the grass. I don't think I really need the runway. And I want to learn without all the rules, procedures and training modes.
So my question to the community: am I thinking about this the right way? I don't mean to disrespect the club guys, but what they're doing is really a different hobby than the FliteTest thing. I'm better off saving my money, scouting out my own places to fly and learning to work the sticks the hard way. Does anybody think that kind of club membership is worth it for the kind of flying I want to do? Thanks for your advice!
I really like the philosophy of FliteTest that emphasizes DIY, experimentation, interchangeability and cheap, cheap airframes. I know I will be getting deeply into this hobby but I sense that there is a smart way to do this from the ground up while spending money slowly and carefully versus a dumb way of doing this by throwing a ton of money at the wrong stuff that will sooner or later go crunch and leave me both broke and discouraged. I watched the FT videos on this and the annoying hipster guy got his point across!
So today I took my kid and visited the local R/C club field, a really first-class facility with a paved runway. It was a beautiful day and lots of guys were flying. The planes were generally big, beautiful, expensive gassers and the pilots seemed to be all older guys with many thousands of dollars invested in the hobby, whom I guess have been involved in this for many years. There were some competitive-level aerobatics going on. They had big trucks to carry their big airplanes in.
Happily I was invited to fly the club trainer with an instructor on a buddy box in "student mode" or whatever you call the computer assisted stabilization mode. It was the first time I've ever flown R/C and really thrilling. I told the guy "you know this is like handing out free samples of cocaine." He said, "exactly!"
So these guys are more than happy to teach me how to fly if I join their club. They can get me discounts on gear if I join their club. They'll sell me their old stuff if I join their club. I can fly at their awesome little airport if I join their club.
Here's what that involves:
1) Join AMA: $75/year
2) Initiation fee to the club: $100
3) Club dues: $75/year
That strikes me as a lot of expense to lay out before I even start buying equipment! But here's my greater doubt about the club: I get the feeling that these guys are veterans of an earlier generation of hobbyists who were doing this before the revolution of electric flight. They have a way of doing things that they're happy to teach me but it probably doesn't much include DIY, multi-rotor or FPV. There are *a lot* of rules at the airfield, one of which is that you cannot fly off the property of the club. Long term, what most interests me most is long-range FPV flying which would violate that rule. Furthermore, I'm mostly interested in smaller, electric, foam planes that I can hand-launch and belly land in the grass. I don't think I really need the runway. And I want to learn without all the rules, procedures and training modes.
So my question to the community: am I thinking about this the right way? I don't mean to disrespect the club guys, but what they're doing is really a different hobby than the FliteTest thing. I'm better off saving my money, scouting out my own places to fly and learning to work the sticks the hard way. Does anybody think that kind of club membership is worth it for the kind of flying I want to do? Thanks for your advice!