Teaching My Children To Fly - The Diary

[mayan]

It’s been a while but we’re are back, back to teaching my children to fly! After a while of waiting, I finally received the new Tx that my wife bought me, the exact same Tx like @kilroy07 and @buzzbomb got a me some time ago. Why did I need a new one!? Well for a few reasons, one the 3 channel switch on the Tx broke, two I wanted to be able to hand my son a Tx knowing he will surely enjoy this more than flying with my hands over his on the Tx sticks.

Guess what? I was right! Today we took out the TT (4 channel, A pack motor, 20A ESC, 6x4 prop) with two friends and I hooked him up on buddy boxing. The day started with some hot chocolate with marshmallow and other snacks and proceeded to some fun flying time. I launched the plane, trimmed it out in flight (@BATTLEAXE) and prepared him for the hand off. I got the plane up high and told him that it was on all him now, and hit the switch that would give his Tx the control. I was scared and for a good reason too, the plane took a dive directly to the ground, he wasn't to blame though his Tx had the elevator reversed (my fault for not double checking). I figured that out and brought it down, fixed the problem, and took the plane back up, giving him control again after gaining altitude. This time he tried to turn without adding up elevator, and again the plane took a dive, I took back control, saved the plane, gained altitude, and gave him control again. We did this a few times until the battery was out, and I brought it in for a landing.

At this point we took a break and I went to fly some other birds (AF Easy Edge, Spitfire). After flying a bit myself and my friends leaving I hooked him up again and we went to fly two more batteries. This time he did much better, calming down on the sticks a bit. He had more time on the sticks without me taking control, expect for when the plane was low and close to the corn field, when I tried to save it. Two times I didn't succeed and the plane crashed. One the first crash no damage was done expect for the wings moving out of position, straighten them up and back to the air we go . Of course my son was busy blaming me for the crash all during the way to find the plane and back but who cares. I kinda tricked him into agreeing with me that the crash was both of our faults.

The second crash was a hard one and broke the wing in half .My son cried and blamed me for it, saying that I ruined his plane. I hugged him and told him that it's ok that we'll try to fix it and if we fail we'll just build a new set of wings and decorate them, giving them the exact look that these had. Still to check the electronics to make sure nothing is broken.

Here are a few pictures from the day and two videos.

​

I am going to try push as many practice flights as I can with my son before more rain comes so stay tuned for more on this thread in the near future.

 

[Wildthing]

It’s been a while but we’re are back, back to teaching my children to fly! After a while of waiting, I finally received the new Tx that my wife bought me, the exact same Tx like @kilroy07 and @buzzbomb got a me some time ago. Why did I need a new one!? Well for a few reasons, one the 3 channel switch on the Tx broke, two I wanted to be able to hand my son a Tx knowing he will surely enjoy this more than flying with my hands over his on the Tx sticks.

Guess what? I was right! Today we took out the TT (4 channel, A pack motor, 20A ESC, 6x4 prop) with two friends and I hooked him up on buddy boxing. The day started with some hot chocolate with marshmallow and other snacks and proceeded to some fun flying time. I launched the plane, trimmed it out in flight (@BATTLEAXE) and prepared him for the hand off. I got the plane up high and told him that it was on all him now, and hit the switch that would give his Tx the control. I was scared and for a good reason too, the plane took a dive directly to the ground, he wasn't to blame though his Tx had the elevator reversed (my fault for not double checking). I figured that out and brought it down, fixed the problem, and took the plane back up, giving him control again after gaining altitude. This time he tried to turn without adding up elevator, and again the plane took a dive, I took back control, saved the plane, gained altitude, and gave him control again. We did this a few times until the battery was out, and I brought it in for a landing.

At this point we took a break and I went to fly some other birds (AF Easy Edge, Spitfire). After flying a bit myself and my friends leaving I hooked him up again and we went to fly two more batteries. This time he did much better, calming down on the sticks a bit. He had more time on the sticks without me taking control, expect for when the plane was low and close to the corn field, when I tried to save it. Two times I didn't succeed and the plane crashed. One the first crash no damage was done expect for the wings moving out of position, straighten them up and back to the air we go . Of course my son was busy blaming me for the crash all during the way to find the plane and back but who cares. I kinda tricked him into agreeing with me that the crash was both of our faults.

The second crash was a hard one and broke the wing in half .My son cried and blamed me for it, saying that I ruined his plane. I hugged him and told him that it's ok that we'll try to fix it and if we fail we'll just build a new set of wings and decorate them, giving them the exact look that these had. Still to check the electronics to make sure nothing is broken.

Here are a few pictures from the day and two videos.

View attachment 151685 View attachment 151686 View attachment 151687 View attachment 151688 View attachment 151689 View attachment 151690 View attachment 151691 View attachment 151692 View attachment 151693 View attachment 151694
​

I am going to try push as many practice flights as I can with my son before more rain comes so stay tuned for more on this thread in the near future.

That just sounds like a fantastic day,

 

[kilroy07]

It’s been a while but we’re are back, back to teaching my children to fly! After a while of waiting, I finally received the new Tx that my wife bought me, the exact same Tx like @kilroy07 and @buzzbomb got a me some time ago. Why did I need a new one!? Well for a few reasons, one the 3 channel switch on the Tx broke, two I wanted to be able to hand my son a Tx knowing he will surely enjoy this more than flying with my hands over his on the Tx sticks.

Guess what? I was right! Today we took out the TT (4 channel, A pack motor, 20A ESC, 6x4 prop) with two friends and I hooked him up on buddy boxing. The day started with some hot chocolate with marshmallow and other snacks and proceeded to some fun flying time. I launched the plane, trimmed it out in flight (@BATTLEAXE) and prepared him for the hand off. I got the plane up high and told him that it was on all him now, and hit the switch that would give his Tx the control. I was scared and for a good reason too, the plane took a dive directly to the ground, he wasn't to blame though his Tx had the elevator reversed (my fault for not double checking). I figured that out and brought it down, fixed the problem, and took the plane back up, giving him control again after gaining altitude. This time he tried to turn without adding up elevator, and again the plane took a dive, I took back control, saved the plane, gained altitude, and gave him control again. We did this a few times until the battery was out, and I brought it in for a landing.

At this point we took a break and I went to fly some other birds (AF Easy Edge, Spitfire). After flying a bit myself and my friends leaving I hooked him up again and we went to fly two more batteries. This time he did much better, calming down on the sticks a bit. He had more time on the sticks without me taking control, expect for when the plane was low and close to the corn field, when I tried to save it. Two times I didn't succeed and the plane crashed. One the first crash no damage was done expect for the wings moving out of position, straighten them up and back to the air we go . Of course my son was busy blaming me for the crash all during the way to find the plane and back but who cares. I kinda tricked him into agreeing with me that the crash was both of our faults.

The second crash was a hard one and broke the wing in half .My son cried and blamed me for it, saying that I ruined his plane. I hugged him and told him that it's ok that we'll try to fix it and if we fail we'll just build a new set of wings and decorate them, giving them the exact look that these had. Still to check the electronics to make sure nothing is broken.

Here are a few pictures from the day and two videos.

View attachment 151685 View attachment 151686 View attachment 151687 View attachment 151688 View attachment 151689 View attachment 151690 View attachment 151691 View attachment 151692 View attachment 151693 View attachment 151694
​

I am going to try push as many practice flights as I can with my son before more rain comes so stay tuned for more on this thread in the near future.

That is just too cool!!!
Won't be long before he's ready for that A-10!!

 

[PsyBorg]

Ill Give the little man a year and he will be teaching Dad new tricks. He was pretty calm when the plane headed straight towards the ground.

Great day and nice area to fly very open perfect for fixed wing. Here any open area that large is filled with corn or beans and the farmers are not shy with the rock salt to keep people out of them.

 

[Jimun]

It’s been a while but we’re are back, back to teaching my children to fly! After a while of waiting, I finally received the new Tx that my wife bought me, the exact same Tx like @kilroy07 and @buzzbomb got a me some time ago. Why did I need a new one!? Well for a few reasons, one the 3 channel switch on the Tx broke, two I wanted to be able to hand my son a Tx knowing he will surely enjoy this more than flying with my hands over his on the Tx sticks.

Guess what? I was right! Today we took out the TT (4 channel, A pack motor, 20A ESC, 6x4 prop) with two friends and I hooked him up on buddy boxing. The day started with some hot chocolate with marshmallow and other snacks and proceeded to some fun flying time. I launched the plane, trimmed it out in flight (@BATTLEAXE) and prepared him for the hand off. I got the plane up high and told him that it was on all him now, and hit the switch that would give his Tx the control. I was scared and for a good reason too, the plane took a dive directly to the ground, he wasn't to blame though his Tx had the elevator reversed (my fault for not double checking). I figured that out and brought it down, fixed the problem, and took the plane back up, giving him control again after gaining altitude. This time he tried to turn without adding up elevator, and again the plane took a dive, I took back control, saved the plane, gained altitude, and gave him control again. We did this a few times until the battery was out, and I brought it in for a landing.

At this point we took a break and I went to fly some other birds (AF Easy Edge, Spitfire). After flying a bit myself and my friends leaving I hooked him up again and we went to fly two more batteries. This time he did much better, calming down on the sticks a bit. He had more time on the sticks without me taking control, expect for when the plane was low and close to the corn field, when I tried to save it. Two times I didn't succeed and the plane crashed. One the first crash no damage was done expect for the wings moving out of position, straighten them up and back to the air we go . Of course my son was busy blaming me for the crash all during the way to find the plane and back but who cares. I kinda tricked him into agreeing with me that the crash was both of our faults.

The second crash was a hard one and broke the wing in half .My son cried and blamed me for it, saying that I ruined his plane. I hugged him and told him that it's ok that we'll try to fix it and if we fail we'll just build a new set of wings and decorate them, giving them the exact look that these had. Still to check the electronics to make sure nothing is broken.

Here are a few pictures from the day and two videos.

View attachment 151685 View attachment 151686 View attachment 151687 View attachment 151688 View attachment 151689 View attachment 151690 View attachment 151691 View attachment 151692 View attachment 151693 View attachment 151694
​

I am going to try push as many practice flights as I can with my son before more rain comes so stay tuned for more on this thread in the near future.

That is so awesome @mayan . I am glad it is going so well with you and your family.

 

[buzzbomb]

It’s been a while but we’re are back, back to teaching my children to fly! After a while of waiting, I finally received the new Tx that my wife bought me, the exact same Tx like @kilroy07 and @buzzbomb got a me some time ago. Why did I need a new one!? Well for a few reasons, one the 3 channel switch on the Tx broke, two I wanted to be able to hand my son a Tx knowing he will surely enjoy this more than flying with my hands over his on the Tx sticks.

Guess what? I was right! Today we took out the TT (4 channel, A pack motor, 20A ESC, 6x4 prop) with two friends and I hooked him up on buddy boxing. The day started with some hot chocolate with marshmallow and other snacks and proceeded to some fun flying time. I launched the plane, trimmed it out in flight (@BATTLEAXE) and prepared him for the hand off. I got the plane up high and told him that it was on all him now, and hit the switch that would give his Tx the control. I was scared and for a good reason too, the plane took a dive directly to the ground, he wasn't to blame though his Tx had the elevator reversed (my fault for not double checking). I figured that out and brought it down, fixed the problem, and took the plane back up, giving him control again after gaining altitude. This time he tried to turn without adding up elevator, and again the plane took a dive, I took back control, saved the plane, gained altitude, and gave him control again. We did this a few times until the battery was out, and I brought it in for a landing.

At this point we took a break and I went to fly some other birds (AF Easy Edge, Spitfire). After flying a bit myself and my friends leaving I hooked him up again and we went to fly two more batteries. This time he did much better, calming down on the sticks a bit. He had more time on the sticks without me taking control, expect for when the plane was low and close to the corn field, when I tried to save it. Two times I didn't succeed and the plane crashed. One the first crash no damage was done expect for the wings moving out of position, straighten them up and back to the air we go . Of course my son was busy blaming me for the crash all during the way to find the plane and back but who cares. I kinda tricked him into agreeing with me that the crash was both of our faults.

The second crash was a hard one and broke the wing in half .My son cried and blamed me for it, saying that I ruined his plane. I hugged him and told him that it's ok that we'll try to fix it and if we fail we'll just build a new set of wings and decorate them, giving them the exact look that these had. Still to check the electronics to make sure nothing is broken.

Here are a few pictures from the day and two videos.

View attachment 151685 View attachment 151686 View attachment 151687 View attachment 151688 View attachment 151689 View attachment 151690 View attachment 151691 View attachment 151692 View attachment 151693 View attachment 151694
​

I am going to try push as many practice flights as I can with my son before more rain comes so stay tuned for more on this thread in the near future.

What a glorious day ya'll had! Friends, family and something fun to do together! It doesn't get any better than that. I think buddy boxing with your son is going to be a great way to teach him to fly. More fun on the way!

 

[mayan]

That is just too cool!!!
Won't be long before he's ready for that A-10!!

I guess not . Next time I'll edited the videos and tag when he is flying and when I am.

Ill Give the little man a year and he will be teaching Dad new tricks. He was pretty calm when the plane headed straight towards the ground.

.

Great day and nice area to fly very open perfect for fixed wing. Here any open area that large is filled with corn or beans and the farmers are not shy with the rock salt to keep people out of them.

That's sad to hear. The farmer here is so nice he even pushes me to pick from his crop and take it home to the family.

What a glorious day ya'll had! Friends, family and something fun to do together! It doesn't get any better than that. I think buddy boxing with your son is going to be a great way to teach him to fly. More fun on the way!

For sure. It's easier to have him have his own Tx and me mine, though it is stressfull to stay on the look out for so many things the plane, my son, and the surrounding.

 

[bracesport]

@mayan - so cool - I hope 2020 my son will be keen to fly more too!

 

[mayan]

@mayan - so cool - I hope 2020 my son will be keen to fly more too!

I've learned that if you throw a Tx in his hands you have him hooked.

 

[mayan]

I must be honest I am not having much success with this but I can't say that I am not trying . Here is some fotoage from my lastest outting with Jonthan my son. A lot of fighting, throwing things in the air, but peace comes at end, enjoy.

 

[Innaviation]

I just want to say how inspirational what your doing is. Its great to see someone using the hobby to connect with their kids!

Thanks for being an inspiration to us all

 

[mayan]

It’s the least I can do as a contribution to what FT and it’s community has and still is giving to me .

 

[mayan]

Alright so I have to admit, this project isn't going along as planned. My son doesn't really want to learn to fly or at least not listen to what I have to say, and most of our outings include some arguing in them, which kinda takes away the fun from things. See my son like me, is hard headed, staborn and knows he can teach himself any thing he wishes too. Unlike my son though I have a few more years of life expreince and learned to ask and listen to others advice, something that I am trying so hard to teach him to do. After all what I want for my children and assume all the parents out there do is for them to better people than we are.

Any how I got an idea but first a short story. A long time ago when I was at the field wrapping up a day full of hard crashes, this dude drives by with a car full of planes, I was busy so didn't bother but at some point the dude turned back and came my way a second time so I did stop him this time. We had a 20 mins chat talking about planes and needed the conversation exchanging phone numbers saying we'd met up and fly together. That never really happened for a very long time but then a about a 2 weeks ago I message him 3 dates and told him to choose one; and so he did. We meet up and he brought his kids and I brought mine, there was some distance between the kids that day while me and him were having a blast, the day ended and we decided to try meet up more often. For here to there we've met at the field again yesterday and the kids kinda loosened up, and were actually talking and playing with each other.

Any how moving on to the point of this post, my friend's son also has a drone and a plane on which he learns to fly so I was thinking that maybe if we got them both excited about it together it could get the other to listen more. It would be a great pleasure to see so very young RC pilots flying amazing birds by themselves. So here is my plan and I still need to run it by my friend.
1) We setup a training plan based on both of our expriences flying RC planes.
2) We get both kids excited.
3) We train them together helping one another learn.

Any how that's just about it for this post, hope I'll be able to turn my plans into reality .

 

[bracesport]

@mayan - this sounds like a great plan - I have to pick my moments with my son too - we have focused on chuck gliders again with a bit of SIM time for him too - he loves the chuck gliders and is also quite capable on the SIM, but only in follow mode - he has little interest in stationary flight at the moment - stick with it is all I can do for now!

 

[mayan]

@bracesport that's some good advice, maybe I should connect the PC to the TV and give him some sim time on big screen TV. Regardless like you said just got to stick with it.

 

[Jimun]

Alright so I have to admit, this project isn't going along as planned. My son doesn't really want to learn to fly or at least not listen to what I have to say, and most of our outings include some arguing in them, which kinda takes away the fun from things. See my son like me, is hard headed, staborn and knows he can teach himself any thing he wishes too. Unlike my son though I have a few more years of life expreince and learned to ask and listen to others advice, something that I am trying so hard to teach him to do. After all what I want for my children and assume all the parents out there do is for them to better people than we are.

Any how I got an idea but first a short story. A long time ago when I was at the field wrapping up a day full of hard crashes, this dude drives by with a car full of planes, I was busy so didn't bother but at some point the dude turned back and came my way a second time so I did stop him this time. We had a 20 mins chat talking about planes and needed the conversation exchanging phone numbers saying we'd met up and fly together. That never really happened for a very long time but then a about a 2 weeks ago I message him 3 dates and told him to choose one; and so he did. We meet up and he brought his kids and I brought mine, there was some distance between the kids that day while me and him were having a blast, the day ended and we decided to try meet up more often. For here to there we've met at the field again yesterday and the kids kinda loosened up, and were actually talking and playing with each other.

Any how moving on to the point of this post, my friend's son also has a drone and a plane on which he learns to fly so I was thinking that maybe if we got them both excited about it together it could get the other to listen more. It would be a great pleasure to see so very young RC pilots flying amazing birds by themselves. So here is my plan and I still need to run it by my friend.
1) We setup a training plan based on both of our expriences flying RC planes.
2) We get both kids excited.
3) We train them together helping one another learn.

Any how that's just about it for this post, hope I'll be able to turn my plans into reality .

Sounds like a great plan. Glad you have a friend to fly with and the kids just might encourage each other.

 

[mayan]

Life is just full of surprises that come out of no where! You won’t believe this but suddenly my daughter is showing more interest in flying then my son is. So I have decided to just shift my training attention to whom ever seeks it family or friends and right now it’s going towards my daughter. The other day she tagged along to the field to learn and she flew the overly beat up TT that I had been using to train my son. We flew it until it crash and broke, and couldn’t be repaired anymore. Here is a short video of that day.

Any how she showed much interest so I built her a new TT to practice on, finished last night.

 

[Bricks]

. A lot of fighting, throwing things in the air, but peace comes at end, enjoy.

Heck I can do that even with know one around.

 

[mayan]

Alright well I think it's about time to recap on this project now that we are one year and three months into it, although surely not done with it . So far things didn't really go like I planned and hoped they would. My children are still far from being able to fly solo but some changes did take place and some learning was achieved.

A bit of changes here as far as showing intrest in goes. My daugther which showed no intrest at first suddenly wants to tag along to the field each time I go but only if she gets to fly , where as my son just doesn't want to go. As far as flying skills well my son had a head start so not trying to compare here but he pretty much has the basics down. In fact the last time he was flying he flew so nice that I was actually considering letting him bring it in for a landing that is until we lost orientation and I had to emergency land it before it flew out of sight over the highway. On the other hand my daugther still has a lot to learn, and gets the up and down elevator mixed up on every outting, so I check her every time before maiden.

During this past year there are few things that I realized that I need to change, fix, do for this to work better, and most are actually things I need to work on myself and have nothing to do with the kids. I've understood that unlike an adult that would appriecate the fact that you saved the plane from crashing a kid does the exact oppisite, he'll actually be kinda disappointed, that you didn't let him deal with it. So as much as it hurts and sometimes will also call it a day I have decided to let go, and stop saving them from crashing all the time. Another thing that I have decided to let go of is asking them if they want to come to the field, I realised that asking them was actually preasuring them, and was achieving the oppisite so I smiply stopped asking them and let it come from them. I also realized that they have more fun at the field when they have friends around so I try hooking up with a friend of mine more so often to go together with his kids. During our outtings from the last few weeks I've also realized that they are both senstive like me to the sun and have a hard keeping track of the plane without sun glasses so the first thing I have to do now is get them both new sun glasses.

To sum up the both still have a long way to go before I let them fly solo, but I don't plan on giving up any time soon. This is a project that really requires that I let go of so many barriers that I have. It requires constant learning and tweaking as I go along, but most importantly though it requires understanding and patience.

Also thought I'd share this short video that I finished editting of our previous outting, one where I actaully managed to get them both to fly, hope you enjoy.

 

[Jimun]

Alright well I think it's about time to recap on this project now that we are one year and three months into it, although surely not done with it . So far things didn't really go like I planned and hoped they would. My children are still far from being able to fly solo but some changes did take place and some learning was achieved.

A bit of changes here as far as showing intrest in goes. My daugther which showed no intrest at first suddenly wants to tag along to the field each time I go but only if she gets to fly , where as my son just doesn't want to go. As far as flying skills well my son had a head start so not trying to compare here but he pretty much has the basics down. In fact the last time he was flying he flew so nice that I was actually considering letting him bring it in for a landing that is until we lost orientation and I had to emergency land it before it flew out of sight over the highway. On the other hand my daugther still has a lot to learn, and gets the up and down elevator mixed up on every outting, so I check her every time before maiden.

During this past year there are few things that I realized that I need to change, fix, do for this to work better, and most are actually things I need to work on myself and have nothing to do with the kids. I've understood that unlike an adult that would appriecate the fact that you saved the plane from crashing a kid does the exact oppisite, he'll actually be kinda disappointed, that you didn't let him deal with it. So as much as it hurts and sometimes will also call it a day I have decided to let go, and stop saving them from crashing all the time. Another thing that I have decided to let go of is asking them if they want to come to the field, I realised that asking them was actually preasuring them, and was achieving the oppisite so I smiply stopped asking them and let it come from them. I also realized that they have more fun at the field when they have friends around so I try hooking up with a friend of mine more so often to go together with his kids. During our outtings from the last few weeks I've also realized that they are both senstive like me to the sun and have a hard keeping track of the plane without sun glasses so the first thing I have to do now is get them both new sun glasses.

To sum up the both still have a long way to go before I let them fly solo, but I don't plan on giving up any time soon. This is a project that really requires that I let go of so many barriers that I have. It requires constant learning and tweaking as I go along, but most importantly though it requires understanding and patience.

Also thought I'd share this short video that I finished editting of our previous outting, one where I actaully managed to get them both to fly, hope you enjoy.

Awesome Mayan, good to see your kids starting to enjoy the time with you.