 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion Groups General ModelsRailroadsRocketsRadio Controlled Air ModelsHelicoptersLand ModelsWater ModelsModelGeeks.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / September 2006Thinking of starting R/C - electric sailplane
Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind of like quiet. Meaning sailplanes are what catch my interest. I think the club that operates in the area requires folks to work with an instructor until they solo. I assume a person needs to supply their own plane to learn to fly at the club. I'm wondering if an electric motor sailplane might be a good first plane to learn with. Would apprecate input. The club isn't going to be meeting for another 3 weeks and I'm kind of chomping at the bit. Thank you, YY ? > Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my > first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > going to be meeting for another 3 weeks and I'm kind of chomping at the > bit. An electric sailplane should be fine to learn with if you pick one designed for beginners.  SignatureRick -- >Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >going to be meeting for another 3 weeks and I'm kind of chomping at the >bit. Most clubs won't let you fly your own plane unless someone else with the proper rating gives it a flight test first. One club I was in had a half dozen planes that only needed a TX and RX dropped in to make them ready for a new member to qualify. -- Ray | >Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my | >first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind | >of like quiet. Meaning sailplanes are what catch my interest. I think | >the club that operates in the area requires folks to work with an | >instructor until they solo. Well, what sort of plane does the club tend to fly? Clubs tend to concentrate on a certain sort of plane and flying. | >I assume a person needs to supply their own plane to learn to fly at | >the club. Some clubs or instructors will/can provide a trainer, but generally you have to provide your own. Or sometimes they'll let you fly their plane (on a buddy box) to see if you like it once or twice, but beyond that, if you want to learn to fly, you'll need your own plane. | >I'm wondering if an electric motor sailplane might be a good first | >plane to learn with. Would apprecate input. The club isn't going | >to be meeting for another 3 weeks and I'm kind of chomping at the | >bit. An electric sailplane would be a great plane to learn on, especially if it's slow and lazy rather than a high performance hotliner. In fact, I think this might be the best possible plane to learn on (with a buddy box), far better than the standard 0.40 sized glow trainer. However, if it's not what the instructors of the club are familiar with, they may be reluctant to train you on it. For example, If it's mostly a glow powered club, they may not know much about thermalling, and may want to push you into the standard 0.40 sized glow trainer. Glider and electric fliers have less need for a formal club and field than gas/glow powered plane fliers, so they tend to have fewer clubs dedicated to this sort of flight. There's also a good deal of rivalry/animosity between proponents of the various sorts of flying -- glow vs. electric, gliders vs. powered (especially glow powered), 3D vs precision aerobatics, helicopters vs. planes, etc. (And there's a lot of people who do several things, of course.) In any event, if the club concentrates on one sort of flying, they may not make you feel welcome flying something else. It's amazing how incredibly resistant some of the `old farts' can be to new things like electrics or park fliers or helicopters or even ARFs. If you want to learn to fly with that club, talk to them first before you buy a plane. If they only meet once a month, is that a formal business meeting? If so, go out to the field and talk to them instead -- don't wait for a meeting! If they really only fly once a month, go somewhere else -- that's not nearly enough. | Most clubs won't let you fly your own plane unless someone else with | the proper rating gives it a flight test first. Most? I'm not so sure. Some I'd believe, but not most. I've never flown at such a club, for example. I've heard of the rule, however. From what I've heard, it tends to make people mad, much like the `The king gets to bed the new bride first!' rule that started all the trouble in the movie Braveheart. :) SignatureDoug McLaren, dougmc@frenzied.us The world is run by idiots because they're more efficient than hamsters. >> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > had a half dozen planes that only needed a TX and RX dropped in to > make them ready for a new member to qualify. Thats why you shouldn't bother with a club till you can learn to fly. > -- > Ray >>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Thats why you shouldn't bother with a club till you can learn to fly. speak for your self we have helped loads of people fly at our club dont tar all clubs with the same brush >>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > >Thats why you shouldn't bother with a club till you can learn to fly. My friends and I fly at our farm. It is not a club and we don't belong to any silly organizations that want extravagent amounts of money for very little of anything. >> -- >> Ray >>>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to any silly organizations that want extravagent amounts of money for > very little of anything. Well said that man! >>> -- >>> Ray | My friends and I fly at our farm. It is not a club and we don't belong | to any silly organizations that want extravagent amounts of money for | very little of anything. Good for you! Can you give us directions? We'll all be over with our planes shortly! SignatureDoug McLaren, dougmc@frenzied.us In a real emergency, we would have all fled in terror, and you would not have been notified > Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my > first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > going to be meeting for another 3 weeks and I'm kind of chomping at the > bit. Yep, I reckon that's a great idea. It sounds like your local club isn't a specific soaring/silent flight club so an electric sailplane will give you the advantage that the instructor doesn't have to be familiar with a winch/bungee method of launching. You also have the advantage that you don't need to lay out (and wind up!) said winch/bungee or have it laying on the ground for the half-blind and always looking for something to moan about club member (yes there's always one!) to get snagged up in. Winch/bungee launching is a relatively violent way of getting the glider into the air too so is perhaps not the best place for a beginner to start. As to the flying, well it can be nice and slow and relaxing and, as a beginner, will give you plenty of time to think. Sailplanes (beginners ones anyway) generally have a much lower wing loading and are lighter than powered aircraft and therefore tend to crash "softer" if (when?) you get it horribly wrong. By design they will also go up in thermals, motor off, and thus hugely extend the flight time on a single launch/charge ... although whether there's an instructor at a power flying field who has the knack of finding and using a thermal - and teaching *you* how to do it - is another matter! You can also go slope soaring which, given the right conditions, will let you launch it once and then fly until the batteries are almost flat, you get bored or your fingers go numb. Motor off for the entire flight of course! I think there's another news group similar to this specifically for sailplanes and gliders where you might also like to look and perhaps find out if there's a silent-flight club near you. I don't know the address, but a search for newsgroups containing the title words "soaring" and "sailplanes" will probably pop something up. Ah-ha! Found one: rec.models.rc.soaring Good luck and I hope you have many many hours of fun. Steve I can think of two small, easy to fly models that are capable of thermaling out when your skill gets there. The Multiplex Easystar, ARF or RTF http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0095P?FVSEARCH=easy+star&FVPROFIL=++ the Ascent ARF http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFL1075 The EasyStar is sturdier and easier to repair, The Ascent can be turned into a real floater with a brushless motor and LiPo batteries. PCPhill BTW If you catch a thermal when you're a beginner, resist the temptation to let it circle up till it's a tiny speck. It's very hard to tell what it's doing up there, and a great way to loose your glider as it floats over the horizon... PCPhill > Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my > first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Thank you, > YY ? Some power planes can be just about as quiet as a sailplane. Here is a "beginner setup" that we just released, available with everything needed to get airborne for under $230. Also, the radio and motor are easily transportable to other planes when you are ready to advance: http://www.m-a-e.com/Sub_Pages/Products/Kit%20Details/PicoStick_InfoSummary_and_ Videos.htm Randy Model Airplane Engineering www.m-a-e.com > Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my > first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Thank you, > YY ? > I'm wondering if an electric motor sailplane might be a good > > first plane to learn with. Yes - have a look at Callistic from www.hoellein.de for example. HTH Marc SignatureSwitzerland/Europe <http://www.heusser.com> remove CHEERS and from MERCIAL to get valid e-mail > Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my > first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > going to be meeting for another 3 weeks and I'm kind of chomping at the > bit. It's how I re-entered the hobby. Loads of fun and no instructor. Another way is a big slow vintage style model. Electric stuff can be flown places where a glo is totally not on,. and the extra time you get means you learn quicker. Attrition rate in planes is high without an instructor though - get a simulator. It ain't perfect, but it helps a LOT with some of it. Ther are 4 ways to learn to fly electrics BY YOURSELF. 1/. Big slow and stable - the vintage plane. If you used to build stick and tissue this is like coming home - needs medium space. 2/. Glider. Needs space and is still quite leisurely, ..bit more aerobatic potential than an old timer tho. 3/. Slow stik, or other slow foamie. Best if space is limited. Not good in winds though. 4/. Fast foamie. Basically crash repair/crash until you stop crashing. Good for kids with fast reflexes brought up on video games where you get killed and have to spend more money before getting to level II. Almost anything called Multoplexe/Zagi and the like is good here. The other solution is a me too 40 powered trainer that is lethal unless used under instruction, and will probably take you a year to learn to fly if you can find anyone to teach you, or will end up on ebay when you don't. > Thank you, > YY ? Thanks much to everyone for taking the time to respond. I'm locarted in an area wirth dense forestry and can't off the top of my head think of a good free space with a small population density where I could really feel like I could fly safely other then the club. So I think I will meander out towards the club field sometime this weekend and hope to run into somebody who can give me additional information. Thanks much for taking the time to respond! Have a Great Day, YY ? > Thanks much to everyone for taking the time to respond. I'm locarted > in an area wirth dense forestry and can't off the top of my head think > of a good free space with a small population density where I could > really feel like I could fly safely other then the club. In that case it really is whatever the club authorities will let you fly, under whatever supervision they require. All bets are off at that point. Its likely to be a 40 glo trainer, and you WILL need tutoring for everyone's safety, not just your own. > So I think I will meander out towards the club field sometime this > weekend and hope to run into somebody who can give me additional > information. That is the sane approach. > Thanks much for taking the time to respond! > > Have a Great Day, > YY ? >Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >Thank you, >YY ? Since you have been thinking about anything a few decades, I suggest the following. You do not need a club to get into r/c sailplanes. You do not need an instructor to learn to fly. You do not need the AMA to learn to fly. You do not need insurance to enjoy flying. To learn r./c e-sailplane flying the first thing you need to do is do some reading and pick the right sailplane. While doing this, drive around your area looking for open recreational areas. And review in your mind which friends you have who might have a little open space and not a lot is needed. Ask your friends if they have any relatives or friends with a little. If you would like to discuss this, it would be best to do this by e-mail and not on an open forum such as this. <g> See www.photos.windmillpro.com and look for the model airplane links. Browse the images. I have a lot of images of my e-sailplanes there. E-mail me. I will be happy to help you. Good luck, regardless. Ken Cashion, AMA 69222; CD. Unaffiliated with any club. >>Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > You do not need the AMA to learn to fly. > You do not need insurance to enjoy flying. All true but if you have an instructor, IMHO, your learning curve will be MUCH better. Just getting whatever plane you decide on trimmed right on the first flight will be of great help. People do learn on their own but having a fellow standing there with a buddy box helped ME VERY much. mk > To learn r./c e-sailplane flying the first thing you need to do is do > some reading and pick the right sailplane. While doing this, drive [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Ken Cashion, AMA 69222; CD. Unaffiliated with any club. >>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > a fellow standing there with a buddy box helped ME VERY much. > mk IME the best thing is to fly a sim for a while. After half a dozen simulated crashes, you will probably be ready for the real thing. Getting the model trimmed is where help may be needed..but try www.rcgroups.com..provided the CG is right, and the model is built true, a firm shove with a tad of up trim will generally get a model climbing away nicely. >>>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > >IME the best thing is to fly a sim for a while. I have used simulators at NASA to save money and time. I have never done anything with one on a personal computer, but I can see how that could help a fellow. >After half a dozen simulated crashes, you will probably be ready for the >real thing. That is funny. Your sentence construction is that after a half-dozen simulated crashes, you will be ready for a real crash. That might be true. Funny though. Ken >>>>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>>>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > simulated crashes, you will be ready for a real crash. That might be > true. Funny though. Well Ken, I think that it probably reads better that way.. "If you haven't crashed an RC plane, you weren't trying hard enough" All the full size pilots who have tried models that I know have a real problem with unlearning stuff that is relevant to being in the cockpit and not relevant to being on the ground 100 meters away.. The classic being my pal who managed to get his distance all screwed up, and fly down an avenue of trees, get the model OUT of the side, only to find a post in a post-and-rail fence and hit it mid span exactly. "I thought I was well this side of them" He did buy me a new wing.:-) > Ken >>>>>> Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>>>>> first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] >problem with unlearning stuff that is relevant to being in the cockpit >and not relevant to being on the ground 100 meters away.. I know of two astronauts, that one would expect to have no trouble, had to have the transmitter taken from him three times on the same flight. They quit. Armstrong was pretty good, but he was an AMA member once and I believe competed at one of the NATs. He had the right feel for it. The only real pilots I have known who could have a two-minute ground school and then fly perfectly well were chopper pilots. They were comfortable immediately and became good in a hurry. >The classic being my pal who managed to get his distance all screwed up, >and fly down an avenue of trees, get the model OUT of the side, only to >find a post in a post-and-rail fence and hit it mid span exactly. "I >thought I was well this side of them" I had been flying a 12-foot sailplane of my design back from way up wind on the field we routinely flew. There was one tree on the field. We all knew where it was. This was a week before the NATs and we four were doing some serious, timed spot landing practise. On the way back, I thought I might be a little on the other side of the tree and since I had plenty of altitude, I made a right and then a left to pass way, way on the other side during my downwind leg.. I flew straight into it. I had gone out of my way to hit it. It I had done nothing, I would have been 50 feet on this side of it. Lots of lessons are there but I never seemed to learn them. Ken >>>Have had R/C flying in the back of my brain for a few decades. Saw my >>>first R/C show today and now R/C is in the front of my brain. I kind [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >All true but if you have an instructor, IMHO, your learning curve will be >MUCH better. It is always nice to have an experienced flying buddy. It is the formality of the club instructing that is the turn-off for me. It is a bad impression for the fun of modeling. And the guy is talking about a virtual free-flight. If he was talking 3 or 4 channel power, I wouldn't have given him that advice. It might not be use a club instructor, but I wouldn't suggest that he wing it (pun just happened). >Just getting whatever plane you decide on trimmed right on the >first flight will be of great help. People do learn on their own but having >a fellow standing there with a buddy box helped ME VERY much. >mk With some of the models suggested as "beginner models," they look like they are just trying to sell more models. Some of those models won't last long and can be a handful even for an experienced pilot. In Houston, I was considered a good test pilot. Even those who could win major contests in aerobatics were sending other people's new models to me to test fly. The reason was that they knew what I brought to the flying field. There was no telling the many strange configurations I would show up with. They figured that if I could work the kinks out of those things, I could do good with just about anything. My last four-channel had some very bad flight habits and I wrestled with that thing maybe three flights on each of four different Sundays. Everyone enjoyed seeing me get it out of the car. They knew eventually I was going to give them a hellacious crash. Drool ran off their chins. I figured out (finally) what the problem was, fixed it immediately, and it flew perfectly after that. Within three weekends I was bored with it and they were bored watching it. I liked it better when it was all over the sky and me trying to figure it out and when a big crash was just one surprise away. I stopped flying it and I might put it on eBay. <g> Ken |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.