FT Tutor simulator?
- Thread starter RobPaige
- Start date
Rhaps
Elite member
Starting with simulator is EXCELLENT idea, every crash on simulator is one off from your actual plane.
I don't think that you need to have specifically FT tutor in the simulator, any high wing trainer should do - probably available in any simulator.
I actually started with RC-AirSim - costs roughly 7 $. Not a great sim but gets you the most important basics (orientatoion and basic stick movements).
Later got the Realflight, looks better etc but lot less bang for buck as it is lot more expensive. I believe that if I wanted to train 3D flying on sim it would serve me great though.
Both sims (along with others) are available in steam.
One problem with both simulators is with connecting your transmitter to them. It was bit of a hassle for me so I just settled using MS gamepad which was not ideal but worked well enough.
There are sims available for phones too but I know nothing of them so I won't comment on those.
I don't think that you need to have specifically FT tutor in the simulator, any high wing trainer should do - probably available in any simulator.
I actually started with RC-AirSim - costs roughly 7 $. Not a great sim but gets you the most important basics (orientatoion and basic stick movements).
Later got the Realflight, looks better etc but lot less bang for buck as it is lot more expensive. I believe that if I wanted to train 3D flying on sim it would serve me great though.
Both sims (along with others) are available in steam.
One problem with both simulators is with connecting your transmitter to them. It was bit of a hassle for me so I just settled using MS gamepad which was not ideal but worked well enough.
There are sims available for phones too but I know nothing of them so I won't comment on those.
Shurik-1960
Well-known member
15 years ago, I bought such a 4 in 1 set. Today, in bad weather, in the evening I open the simulator and improve my control of the model. Good luck.
dylanbeaudette
Active member
Excellent idea. My son and I did the opposite: started with the FT Simple Cub, no experience, and promptly smashed the model until it was unfly-able. Would not recommend!
Starting again, I should have setup a simulator and went with a smaller, lighter model.
Now, we keep our skills up with Aerofly RC (RC8 is what we use on our 2013 iMac, but is no longer for sale) which has hundreds of models to choose from. This simulator integrates nicely with our FrSky Taranis transmitters via USB.
The Tutor has been one of our long-time favorite models to fly. Note that it is a rather heavy plane and requires more space to fly than smaller, lighter models like the Tiny Trainer or Mini-Scout (another favorite). We went with larger foam wheels and a 3S 2200mAh battery, which seems to bring the CG into just the right spot for stable flight. After adding some lights, the Tutor is a heck of a lot of fun to fly ad dusk:
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Good luck!
+1 on the simulator, they are much faster at rebuilding a crashed plane than I am. Just press the space bar.
Be careful buying a fancy simulator, they can be resource hogs. Your computer may not be able to run it correctly.
Simulators are great but they have a few drawbacks. All of the planes on a sim are going to be setup perfectly, your plane maybe not so. The sim planes always fly better than my planes. For me there is a difference landing a plane on a sim than at the field.
Shurik-1960
Well-known member
The first mistake of a beginner in the first flight is large deviations of the steered rudders. The simulator makes it clear that the movement of the control stick is carried out by 1-2 degrees! I practiced my first landings in the simplest and most free simulator with terrible graphics. In the simulator, you can also understand that you can not make sharp stick deviations, only smoothly and slowly.The Chinese kits worked with almost all the radio control systems I know. When guests came to me with other remotes, they easily connected to my laptop and flew in the simulator.
Thanks for the recommendations!
dylanbeaudette
Active member
Another tip, something we learned the hard way: lower the control surface rates and use ~30% expo on aileron, rudder, and elevator. Our first flights with 100% rates on 0 expo lead to some very erratic (overcorrected) flying.
Here is a short clip of our tutor landing in a cross wind.
Not the smoothest, but the big wheels help absorb some of the shock.
Here is a short clip of our tutor landing in a cross wind.
Not the smoothest, but the big wheels help absorb some of the shock.
Any landing you can walk away from, right?
My current desktop has all the processing power of one of those lemon clocks we built in elementary school, so fancy isn't in it.
At one time there were simulators that ran on a web browser. They would be a good choice for an older computer. All of the heavy lifting (major calculations) were done somewhere in the cloud. Reliving your computer of that burden. Although I would think they would require some decent internet speed. No idea if they still exist.
