What were YOUR beginner mistakes? What would you do differently, if starting over?

[colorex]

My mistake was to leave my balsa (guillows type) model in front of an open window... Windy day, down to the floor. Fixable damage, yet stupid mistake...

So true!! We should probably create a "Remove-Before-Flight" Checklist as a sticky so that we everyone can follow through them... especially beginners! That might be something we could or even should do in the Beginners section

I had that idea a month ago, never got to writing and publishing the list. But next week

http://flitetest.com/forum/showthread.php?511-What-would-you-guys-put-in-a-good-pre-flight-checklist

 

[earthsciteach]

I'm still making them. One thing I do know, all of my really serious mistakes result in an RC airplane impacting the ground or an object attached to the ground. Its mind boggling how so many seemingly unrelated mistakes end with the same consequences.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Mistakes are varied, consequences are limited...


 

[Dirty_Cajun]

flying a 2channel beginner plane in winds 15 gusting 20. thank god they had replacement parts. hehe that day was a flyingmonkey day... fly yes, land, nope.

 

[ananas1301]

What 2 chanel plane are you talking about? Is it one of those silverlit things that only control altitude with motor output and steer with differential motor output?

 

[wadsie]

ive never heard of them before but i googled it and maybe this is what he means with 2 motors
http://vvware.com/helicopter/h_RC_Airplane_oriole.asp?productid=186

 

[Fatfish]

Well, i've made a few mistakes that already were mentioned as flying a 3 channel plane without practicing on a sim or flying at almost night.

But one thing i have in mind, which in general surely sounds familiar to most: I was flying in a local park on a windy day, and flew 2 mistakes high. There were 2 little boys and they asked: can it do loops? Of course i wanted to show, that it shurely can, despite the wind. So i flew a looping against direction of the wind and smashed into the ground at maybe 50 mph or more.

So

1st: don't show off while having bad conditions, if you're not absolutely shure how to handle them right.

2nd: don't show off (or even don't fly at all) when flying heavy models in a park, where people can get hurt. My plane hit the ground 5m away from a couple, who just relaxed a bit. And it smashed the LiPo 10cm into the ground.

3rd: When doing a looping against the wind, take back the throttle when heading back to earth. If it doesn't seem to climb (cause you're to fast), try a 180° snap roll and pull up again while flying with the wind now.

 

[ananas1301]

ive never heard of them before but i googled it and maybe this is what he means with 2 motors
http://vvware.com/helicopter/h_RC_Airplane_oriole.asp?productid=186

Even simpler then that!

The brand "Silverlit" and actually is toys company...
Silverlit

 

[bicyclemonkey]

flying a 2channel beginner plane in winds 15 gusting 20. thank god they had replacement parts. hehe that day was a flyingmonkey day... fly yes, land, nope.

You mean BicycleMonkey day perhaps?

 

[Dirty_Cajun]

no it was an older horizon hobby pusher with throttle and rudder

 

[Dirty_Cajun]

yess. the more monkeys the marrier. lol

 

[Ak Flyer]

I did pretty well by buying a super friendly trainer with a lot of durability. I spent my time learning on foamies before I ever got a wood plane. The thing I should have done better was probably to stock up on parts since I'm a long way from a hobby shop. I did make a lot of little mistakes but I learned from every one of them and had fun coming up with ways to fix things and keep on flying. Nitro was a learning curve but when I started nitro I enlisted the help of my brother and his club friends with years of experience. I will say, if you want to avoid mistakes, spend time at your local club field and pick the brains of everyone there. Watch and learn from the pros because they've probably tried anything you can think of.

 

[Ak Flyer]

Oh, flying too late in the day and losing my plane in the bad light. Had to climb a tree and spend days fixing it after that one.

 

[Ak Flyer]

Getting impatient and rushing a build. Not taking the time to do it right. Even a simple scratch build fails if you miss a step.

 

[RCD]

When i started 2 years ag with the Hobbyzone Mini Super Cub, i didnt read the manuel, so i didnt know that down-right stuck is actually up. lol

 

[ananas1301]

So you smashed it into the ground
When I started I knew about that but I think I had the servo channels the wrong way round once so that rudder was on elevator and vice versa

 

[Pilot-294]

buying a preowned, old, and never flown nitro model .40 size trainer. oh and not getting at least a dx5e to start on. and trying to fly solo too. at LEAST bring a friend, a little confidence boost goes a loooooooong way.

 

[Ak Flyer]

buying a preowned, old, and never flown nitro model .40 size trainer. oh and not getting at least a dx5e to start on. and trying to fly solo too. at LEAST bring a friend, a little confidence boost goes a loooooooong way.

All my nitro planes were bought used but flown. I would be very very nervous to fly a plane someone else built but never flew. My first was a cub that had about 7 owners already. I had the guy I bought it from fly it with my on a trainer box. Good thing too because he saved me from piling it in really hard. The second I was comfortable enough and learned enough by then to do the right checks and feel confident flying it. The problem with that one was the engine had been sitting a long time and even after I cleaned it out it was finicky and ended up dying while inverted right after take off. Piled her in hard. Broke the fuselage clean in half.

 

[rc me]

buying a 4ch warbird

 

[ananas1301]

buying a 4ch warbird

Hahaha! Especially at times where you don´t even know there are loads of forums on the internet.

I did something similar with my first ever monstertruck which was with nitro. Didn´t know anything. No look into the manual and of course a broke the engine...