Hi, I love your videos and hope your community can be of some help. I flew Phantoms (WSO) in Vietnam and Europe, then went on to two careers in engineering. Now that I am finally retired, I am trying to start RC fixed-wing flying, at an age that many people are leaving the hobby. My eyes and my reaction time are good for, I hate to say it, a man of my age, but not what they were in my 20's. I bought a BNF Aeroscout and NX6 radio. An instructor at my local club has been very helpful but I am still having difficulties. He wants me to keep it high so I have room to recover from errors - I agree, but at any great height or distance the Aeroscout is just a dot and I can't tell what it is doing. Also, the Aeroscout is rather fast for a novice and light enough to get tossed by gusts. I think a different aircraft may be called for; something BIG enough to see clearly at distance and SLOW enough that I can keep up with it. One possibility I thought of was building a longer thicker wing for the Aeroscout. Maybe someone has some recommendations or could design a bigger aircraft that is not overpowered and crawls through the air at walking speed.
Need a better (bigger and slower) trainer aircraft
- Thread starter F4vet
- Start date
checkerboardflyer
Well-known member
Welcome Home Brother! I was a machine gunner (grunt) with the 25th Infantry Division - Dec '66 - Dec '67. Been involved in R/C a long time. It's never too late to get involved. When I was first learning how to fly many years ago my instructor always had me keep the model far away and 2 mistakes high. And I had a problem seeing what it was that I was doing wrong. For me things go better when I fly slow and close. Found a model called the Multiplex FunnyCub that allows you to do just that. Videos below. One is the teaser, the other gives construction hints. I am just about finished building one. The only problem that I ran into was with the landing gear, which I document in my blog. https://foamboardflyers.com/category/models/funnycub/ Good luck with whatever you decide on. Keep us posted here on the forum. Thanks for your service!
Hello F4,
Welcome to the hobby. Thank you for your service. The group of guys that I fly with range in ages from mid 50's to the 80's. You are never to old to learn something new. I thought the Aeroscout had a Safe mode in the plane to help with the gust of wind. How does your flying field feel about foam board planes ? It sounds the instructor is a good guy. Are you buddy boxing with him when you are flying ? More guys will chime in with ideas about planes.
You could get a larger, slower plane but mostly you need a new instructor with a buddy box.
"He wants me to keep it high so I have room to recover from errors - I agree, but at any great height or distance the Aeroscout is just a dot and I can't tell what it is doing." <- This is terrible advice.
The entire point of working with an instructor and buddy box is so that they can take over in a split second if needed. This removes the need to fly high when training. If you are flying over 50ft up, a long way away, or not using a buddy box while working with an instructor they are wasting your time. I am sure your instructor is a great guy and has good intentions, but his teaching technique is terrible.
"He wants me to keep it high so I have room to recover from errors - I agree, but at any great height or distance the Aeroscout is just a dot and I can't tell what it is doing." <- This is terrible advice.
The entire point of working with an instructor and buddy box is so that they can take over in a split second if needed. This removes the need to fly high when training. If you are flying over 50ft up, a long way away, or not using a buddy box while working with an instructor they are wasting your time. I am sure your instructor is a great guy and has good intentions, but his teaching technique is terrible.
Bo123
Elite member
Wow you have an interesting background. Welcome to the community!
dap35
Elite member
Bigger flys easier, and is easier to see and they also do better in wind. My first plane was the Aeroscout - nice plane but it did not like any wind. I also bold, high contrast colors. I have found that blue and red may look cool, but they are pretty much invisible. For me, yellow with black accents is the best.
You might even consider the Scout XL not too fast, big, and should handle great. I scaled up a simple scout to about the same size and it does very well.
One of my big challenges starting out later in life was orientation/perspective, so I flew very close. Gaining more experience and flying moderate to larger planes has really helped.
You might even consider the Scout XL not too fast, big, and should handle great. I scaled up a simple scout to about the same size and it does very well.
One of my big challenges starting out later in life was orientation/perspective, so I flew very close. Gaining more experience and flying moderate to larger planes has really helped.
Plane | Wingspan (Inches) |
FT Tenet (trainer wing) | 39.25 |
FT Tutor | 41.5 |
AeroScout | 43.3 |
FT Explorer | 57 |
FT Simple Storch | 57.5 |
FT Scout XL | 58 |
E-Flight Apprentice | 59 |
Carbon-Z Cub SS 2.1m | 82.6 |
As you can see from the table, the AeroScout is not the smallest plane on the list. The main issue is not what plane is being flown, its how it is being flown. Specifically: high, far away and fast. These are poor choices being made by the instructor resulting in a bad experience for the student. There is no reason to do any of these things with an AeroScout (or any of the other plane on the list) while trying to learn the basics.
You could step up in size to the 57 - 59 inch range or even all the way up to the 82 inch range but if you don't address the underlying problem you could just end up flying a large plane higher and farther away.
Byrdman
Well-known member
This is how I was taught to fly many years ago on 72 Tx's before buddy boxes were cheap. My instructor would take the tx from me if I got into trouble.
IMO, it wasn't too bad to learn how to fly this way and I did not wreck any of my planes while learning how to fly. I would have no issues learning to fly like this again and more importantly is if the instructor make you fell comfortable and relaxed while you are learning he is probably a good instructor.
I have heard this a couple of times on the forum that there are some flying clubs that are not to keen on foam board planes. I don't know if this is true with F4vet at the club that he is flying at. I believe that building your own plane is a big part of this hobby. I have flown the Scout XL and found the nice thing about this plane is you can see it better in the air compared to the simple scout. The Scout XL seems to fly slow but that might be because of it's size.
Hey F4vet, Have you thought about building a plane ? The saying is, build, fly, crash, then repeat.
Hey F4vet, Have you thought about building a plane ? The saying is, build, fly, crash, then repeat.
I am aware of the 3 mistakes high & pass the transmitter method of instructing. My contention is not that you can't learn to fly that way, rather that method of instructing is 20+ years out of date and not well suited to the sub 60 inch wingspan planes most people start flying with today.
I highly recommend you come to FF22, it would be worth your while. Starts Thursday June 23
No better place to learn to fly.
http://flitefest.com/
Hi guys, thanks for your comments. To answer some of your questions. We are not currently using a buddy box - but I will suggest that. My last crash happened so fast it was all over before I had time to hit the panic button or toggle to SAFE mode. I have been flying in the intermediate mode rather than relying, and becoming dependent on, computer stabilization. Perhaps that is a mistake, with today's electronics computer assist is pretty much a given.
I do want to start building planes; I am an engineer and designing and building are a large part of what I look forward to. I am looking at the FT Tenet because it is simple, low powered, and it looks like I could crash then rebuild the entire plane from locally available materials. I can build a wing even larger than the trainer wing for slower flight.
I do want to start building planes; I am an engineer and designing and building are a large part of what I look forward to. I am looking at the FT Tenet because it is simple, low powered, and it looks like I could crash then rebuild the entire plane from locally available materials. I can build a wing even larger than the trainer wing for slower flight.
Matthewdupreez
Legendary member
honestly the plane that best answers that description is the kaddy i designed. it slow, big, and doesn't care about wind
to find the plans follow this link..
https://discord.gg/nnvmJkhF8p
luvmy40
Elite member
My next build will be either the Scout XL or the Slow Fly Walley. I'm not sure how slow the Scout XL will fly, but certainly fits the "large" bill. The Walley will be specifically for indoor flying, but it looks like it will do well outdoors as well, at least in mild weather.
checkerboardflyer
Well-known member
The FT Tenet would be a good choice. If you build it as a pusher with motor behind wing, suddenly landings are simpler. It comes with 3 different wing configurations, 2 different tails, and can be built as a tractor or pusher. Pics below of my Tenet. It's a quick build. And balance points (CG) are marked on the wing panels. Less chance of a tail heavy problem. Nice. Plus there are excellent build videos on the FT YouTube channel. More info on my blog: https://foamboardflyers.com
Attachments
RossFPV
Well-known member
Is this for power pack c? Can you pm me the plans because i dont have discord.
Scotto
Elite member
Thank you for your service. I was worried about becoming dependent on SAFE or learning bad habits too. I would suggest using it on beginner mode for as long as it takes to be comfortable. I could have avoided a lot of crashes.
As for your first scratch build, I can recommend the Storch. There is a nice build video you can learn the techniques from and it is really fun to practice landing with. If you build it from plans instead of a kit you can get creative with the tail and wingtip shape to make it look American. Having someone else take it up first and trim it would be nice.
