Since learning to fly RC myself about one year ago, in the Fall, I feel like I've come full-circle. It seems like it was only yesterday, that I tentatively took my first plane (Horizon Hobby UMX Champ) and tossed it into the wind a couple times, only to watch it fly into a tree on my last flight. Since then, I've done the following:
1 - Picked up a bigger trainer to learn to fly in the variable winds we get near me - a HH DeltaRay.
2 - Discover FliteTest (in trying to learn about pre-flight checks, my Google search landed me on FT's videos)
3 - Discover scratch building with Dollar Tree foamboard
4 - Discover FPV flight
5 - Discover amateur radio
6 - Attend flitefest and discover a great community
7 - Join a great local RC Club (Charles River Radio Controllers) http://charlesriverrc.org/
8 - Discover flight controllers based on arduino and all the associated thingamajigs you can program
9 - Discover the pleasure of simply building a plain old foamy and flying it for the first time.
Well, step #9 was sort of a throwback to step #3 for me and culminated over the past couple weeks that started with building a simple "Fast and Furious" foamy combat plane for a CRRC combat event. It was my first time flying in a combat event -- there were only 4 total pilots, and it was misty/rainy so a lot of us ended up with soggy streamers that clumped up or tore themselves to shreds. One of the club members, Brian, had offered to order up electronics and supply precut foam for the "Fast and Furious" planes, so I put in an order with him.
Later, I learned that he was going to start teach an adult education class on building and flying RC aircraft at Sudbury HS, where our main flying field, Davis Field, is near.
http://www.lsrhs.net/sites/adulted/files/2014/01/Fall-2014-revised-.pdf
Brian recently asked club members to help with flight instruction for the ten students in his class, to help maiden and train pilots. I was one of two who committed to help over three Saturday AM sessions.
I have to say, there's nothing more fun and fulfilling than helping others discover and learn in this hobby we love so much. I was able to help two students today progress on their discoveries, and to witness the excitement and wonder of them seeing their own creations take flight is just awesome! It really brings me back to all of my first successes. I kind of wish I had discovered CRRC earlier, because I think I would have had fewer setbacks with having a mentor who can help me get started. At any rate, it was great to be able to "give back" and share some of what I learned to those who are gaining their experience.
One student had bought a used DX6i, and mentioned that he had a hard time binding it with his RX. Being one who also has a DX6i, I know that you sometimes need to place it a few feet away or between an object to successfully connect them, but I was also mindful of the experience at FliteFest where I had been helping a young man with building his first RC plane, a FT Old Fogey, who, upon completion asked me to help him fly it with a buddybox. Being very inexperienced at that point (maybe 6 months experience) -- I just didn't know how to do it. At that point, I had never buddyboxed anyone before. Well, long story short: I saw that Drew (the young builder) was awestruck and distracted every time Josh Bixler walked by, so I had a great idea to ask Josh if he could help buddy box Drew. We probably went back and forth between Josh and the build tent 3 times because of problems that I didn't notice. When we finally got everything sorted out, seeing Josh's flight instruction with Drew was one of the highlights of that weekend for me. It was also valuable and I learned to be very methodical and to treat the pre-flight tests as the most important part of flying.
Fast forward to today, where this gentleman, Kevin, with the DX6i bought used was going to be the master controller in our buddybox flight. I explained and showed how to setup the range test. As I walked away with his plane for the range test, I noticed the receiver bind light going out only 10 paces away. Not a good sign. I turn back, we check the power setting, and sure enough, noticed that he was configured for the EU power setting. After changing his power setting to US, and adjusting the TX and RX antennas so they were both vertically positioned, we started the range test again. We got better results, but it was still dropping connection at 20 paces away. I sadly had to tell him that he may have a defective TX, and we'll have to rebind his plane to the DX4e's used as the slave TX's. A range test with that TX was perfect, and proved the fault was in his DX6i. After extolling the virtues of HorizonHobby customer service, we went back out to the field for me to first fly his plane and trim it out.
To summarize: the wind had picked up, so it was more challenging, but Kevin was able to fly starting with the plane at altitude, then practiced a few landings, and finally was able to essentially solo himself while I was still tethered just as a precaution. The last flight, I had the trainer button depressed from start to finish.
I have to say... none of this would have been possible without Josh Bixler and the crew at FliteTest. I think back to FliteFest and my observing how Josh took a new plane built by a novice and was able to make his first flight experience a memorable one. Without learning by observing, I would never have been able to help people with this hobby as I had helped today. For that, I am super grateful.
Anyhow, today was a great day. I had even brought my Delta Ray out with me and two charged batteries in case there were build problems and people still wanted to learn on something easy to fly. I didn't even need to pull it out. I actually had to stop at a local football field on my way home to fly those two batteries down as Davis Field was scheduled for youth soccer games in the afternoon.
Well, thanks Josh and FliteTest for enabling the sharing of this hobby over here in my corner of the World.
Dave
1 - Picked up a bigger trainer to learn to fly in the variable winds we get near me - a HH DeltaRay.
2 - Discover FliteTest (in trying to learn about pre-flight checks, my Google search landed me on FT's videos)
3 - Discover scratch building with Dollar Tree foamboard
4 - Discover FPV flight
5 - Discover amateur radio
6 - Attend flitefest and discover a great community
7 - Join a great local RC Club (Charles River Radio Controllers) http://charlesriverrc.org/
8 - Discover flight controllers based on arduino and all the associated thingamajigs you can program
9 - Discover the pleasure of simply building a plain old foamy and flying it for the first time.
Well, step #9 was sort of a throwback to step #3 for me and culminated over the past couple weeks that started with building a simple "Fast and Furious" foamy combat plane for a CRRC combat event. It was my first time flying in a combat event -- there were only 4 total pilots, and it was misty/rainy so a lot of us ended up with soggy streamers that clumped up or tore themselves to shreds. One of the club members, Brian, had offered to order up electronics and supply precut foam for the "Fast and Furious" planes, so I put in an order with him.
Later, I learned that he was going to start teach an adult education class on building and flying RC aircraft at Sudbury HS, where our main flying field, Davis Field, is near.
http://www.lsrhs.net/sites/adulted/files/2014/01/Fall-2014-revised-.pdf
Brian recently asked club members to help with flight instruction for the ten students in his class, to help maiden and train pilots. I was one of two who committed to help over three Saturday AM sessions.
I have to say, there's nothing more fun and fulfilling than helping others discover and learn in this hobby we love so much. I was able to help two students today progress on their discoveries, and to witness the excitement and wonder of them seeing their own creations take flight is just awesome! It really brings me back to all of my first successes. I kind of wish I had discovered CRRC earlier, because I think I would have had fewer setbacks with having a mentor who can help me get started. At any rate, it was great to be able to "give back" and share some of what I learned to those who are gaining their experience.
One student had bought a used DX6i, and mentioned that he had a hard time binding it with his RX. Being one who also has a DX6i, I know that you sometimes need to place it a few feet away or between an object to successfully connect them, but I was also mindful of the experience at FliteFest where I had been helping a young man with building his first RC plane, a FT Old Fogey, who, upon completion asked me to help him fly it with a buddybox. Being very inexperienced at that point (maybe 6 months experience) -- I just didn't know how to do it. At that point, I had never buddyboxed anyone before. Well, long story short: I saw that Drew (the young builder) was awestruck and distracted every time Josh Bixler walked by, so I had a great idea to ask Josh if he could help buddy box Drew. We probably went back and forth between Josh and the build tent 3 times because of problems that I didn't notice. When we finally got everything sorted out, seeing Josh's flight instruction with Drew was one of the highlights of that weekend for me. It was also valuable and I learned to be very methodical and to treat the pre-flight tests as the most important part of flying.
Fast forward to today, where this gentleman, Kevin, with the DX6i bought used was going to be the master controller in our buddybox flight. I explained and showed how to setup the range test. As I walked away with his plane for the range test, I noticed the receiver bind light going out only 10 paces away. Not a good sign. I turn back, we check the power setting, and sure enough, noticed that he was configured for the EU power setting. After changing his power setting to US, and adjusting the TX and RX antennas so they were both vertically positioned, we started the range test again. We got better results, but it was still dropping connection at 20 paces away. I sadly had to tell him that he may have a defective TX, and we'll have to rebind his plane to the DX4e's used as the slave TX's. A range test with that TX was perfect, and proved the fault was in his DX6i. After extolling the virtues of HorizonHobby customer service, we went back out to the field for me to first fly his plane and trim it out.
To summarize: the wind had picked up, so it was more challenging, but Kevin was able to fly starting with the plane at altitude, then practiced a few landings, and finally was able to essentially solo himself while I was still tethered just as a precaution. The last flight, I had the trainer button depressed from start to finish.
I have to say... none of this would have been possible without Josh Bixler and the crew at FliteTest. I think back to FliteFest and my observing how Josh took a new plane built by a novice and was able to make his first flight experience a memorable one. Without learning by observing, I would never have been able to help people with this hobby as I had helped today. For that, I am super grateful.
Anyhow, today was a great day. I had even brought my Delta Ray out with me and two charged batteries in case there were build problems and people still wanted to learn on something easy to fly. I didn't even need to pull it out. I actually had to stop at a local football field on my way home to fly those two batteries down as Davis Field was scheduled for youth soccer games in the afternoon.
Well, thanks Josh and FliteTest for enabling the sharing of this hobby over here in my corner of the World.
Dave
