Purchasing My First Plane

As I mentioned in previous posts, I knew when I started all this that I was operating under a budget. Looking at balsa planes, and gas engines, the cost was just too prohibitive for me, so I knew I would be in the foam electrics (foamies). As I said earlier, I decided a simulator would be a wise start, and along with that came a radio, but after about 50 hours on the simulator (3 months later) it was time to make a purchase of a plane and start flying! I had been researching planes at my local hobby store, and searching the web. There are several sites, just Google Radio Control Planes and you will see, and many have reviews posted by consumers that give you great information on the experience level required by the pilot as well as candid reviews of the product and support.

Support was a big deal for me. My local hobby shop was great, and they recommended certain brands, and I later came to learn that the level of support from online locations, while their products were more affordable, was atrocious! Believe me, the hassle and cost of trying to resolve product issues can easily take away the satisfaction of any discount you may have obtained in the first place. Not to mention scarcity of parts. If you go with some online outfits, you are at their mercy when it comes to availability of parts, and if you are just starting, and have a limited number of planes to fly, there can nothing more frustrating than being grounded due to a lack of parts (not to mention shipping issues). My personal choice was Park Zone, a subsidiary of Horizon Hobby (www.horizonhobby.com). They had a wide array of foam planes, including the warbirds I cherished so much, and their reputation for customer support was renowned. Their parts were always stocked at my local hobby store. They are not the cheapest on the market, but they have certainly proven to me that their support and parts availability has more than been worth it. They have a call center for support, staffed by knowledgeable techs, I always get a quick response, and more than once I have had issues where they have sent replacement parts with almost no questions asked.

As I said, I chose the Phoenix simulator because it featured the Park Zone planes, and while I dabbled in many different planes for fun, I found myself falling in love with the F4U Corsair. I seemed to fly so beautifully and I just loved the history and back story on the plane itself.

As I talked with the Hobby shop guys, they were concerned that I was getting in over my head for a first plane. They cautioned me that it was not for beginners, but I was confident that my simulator experience would make up for that (lesson here: big mistake. Remember....simulators are not real!). The recommendations I heard most were the Super Cub (the plane I mentioned that has no ailerons, and turns by rudder only) and the Trojan T-28. I knew I would get bored with the Super Cub, and I didn't have the money to buy another plane in a couple of months, and the fact was I just wanted the Corsair. So that is what I got.

I won't say it was a total mistake, but pretty close! Corsairs are notoriously difficult to land...probably due to the unique wing design, and this model was no exception. I learned that for successful landings you have to "fly it all the way in" , meaning you have to come in fairly fast. More forgiving planes will allow you to cut the power and come in "dead stick", without power, more slowly, and give you more time to react. Also, the tricycle gear of the T-28 is easier to land than a tail dragger. And take off, for that matter.

So I bought my Corsair and off I went. On the maiden flight I had my friend, the one who told me about simulators, come with me to take it up for the first time, trim it out, and be there for moral support. On the first flight, we got it up, he tweaked it some and handed it over to me. What a rush! I was scared stiff, but my simulator training was kicking in and I was feeling okay. For a minute or two. Then I began to feel something wasn't right , and as I handed it back to my friend, the plane managed to find the one tree in the field we were flying over! I was devastated. My brand new plane had torn off a wing, and was scared up pretty bad. My friend was calm and said all would be fine. He scooped up the parts and off we went to his shop. My first flight, my new plane, and it was shattered! A feeling, by the way, that you will need to come to terms with. Crashing is inevitable, and if you are a perfectionist like me, that will come hard. But foamies are amazingly repairable! Really! That is one of their advantages!

Sure enough, to my surprise, with epoxy and CA glues (a topic for another time) it did look really good. But for weeks, even months after that there were literally constant repairs from crashes on almost every outing. My former modeling skills came into play as I learned to use the glues, sculpt the excess away with a Dremmel, and then air brush the damage. The plane always seemed to fly as well after, which amazed me. There were some serious crashes that required new wings, but here is where the Horizon support was so great because the parts were always available, and their online support techs helped with questions I had on how to get things back together.

At some point my wife finally intervened and pointed out that I had gotten into RC so that I could fly, and not spend so much time building. She graciously encouraged me to get the T-28 so that I could master the flying (landing) and spend less time repairing. (Note: an understanding wife is a critical aspect of this hobby, believe me!).

So I ran to the hobby store and got a T-28. What a difference! I was feeling suddenly like a seasoned pilot. I could land almost every time without incident (although I went through quite a few props) and now I was spending time learning to fly. I was always wary of the wind...it was something that I had not yet become friendly with, and it was frustrating to wait for days that were calm. But I was getting better, and more quickly. My Corsair waited patiently. Occasionally I would break it out and give it a try, but always with a new respect for the difficulty of landing it.

So all of this to say, when choosing your first plane, yes, if you have simulator experience, that will help you jump up a notch in terms of difficulty. But do not underestimate the realities of what it will be like to fly, land, and take off under real conditions. I'm all for jumping right to a plane with ailerons, but something like the T-28 is probably the better way to start.

Now there are also Micro versions of these planes on the market. Yes, they are cheaper, and yes I did try one....a T-28. However, I found that outdoors, any wind at all (and I mean ANY wind) made them very difficult to control. And my hobby store had a semi-monthly indoor fly-in at an armory, and I quickly learned that a gaggle of planes and helicopters flying in tight circles made it almost impossible to escape without collision damage that was due to no fault of my own. By definition, they are more fragile, less sophisticated in their electronics and design, and besides, I just liked to have room to fly. Some guys love them. That's just my opinion.

Next time I'll talk about another important component to your first flights...finding a suitable location!

Flight Basic Principles

This topic is a tough one to tackle, for a variety of reasons. First, I am not an aeronautical engineer, and second you don't want to read something written by one, even if I was! But it is important to understand that if you're going to be flying a plane, you have to understand some basic things about flight if you're going to be successful. It is not the same as driving a car! Chances are, if you have been fascinated by planes, and have been around them much, you have picked up this stuff, but just in case I'll touch on a couple of key concepts and then point you to a book that is great if you want more.

First, unlike driving a car there is the added dimension of "up and down" (altitude). It's not just turning a wheel to go left or right. Planes have what are called "control surfaces", meaning parts that move to control the direction of the aircraft. Ailerons are in the trailing edge of each wing and they affect the banking of a plane that primarily turns it. Then there is the vertical stabilizer, the portion of the tail that sticks straight up, and the trailing edge of that is the rudder. The rudder is a control surface that pivots the plane, or maybe better, slides it, left or right. The rudder works with the ailerons for a complete, balanced turn, or bank. And finally, also part of the tail is the horizontal stabilizer, the trailing edge of which is the elevator. The elevator, as the name implies, has a direct affect on pitching the plane upwards or downwards.

The thing that keeps a plane in the air is called "lift" and it is a function of airflow over and under the wings. The shape of the wings causes the airflow to pass under the wing faster than over the top, and thus creates a lifting of the plane. The faster the airflow, the more the lift. Here is an important principle that is hard to get at first. The thing which most affects the altitude of a plane, at least in the long run, is speed. Speed translates to the amount of lift. So as you are landing, for instance, you are controlling the elevator to keep the nose pointed in the upward attitude you desire, but the throttle is ultimately what determines your descent. You slowly decrease the throttle, holding the correct attitude with the elevator, and gently descend to the runway. Learning to control the throttle, and hence the altitude, as you land is a critical skill, and can be counterintuitive to new pilots.

Think of it this way. If all things are equal and you are flying straight and level, and you increase the throttle, you will continue to fly level, but your altitude will begin to increase, due to lift. The same is true in reverse as you decrease the throttle. Adjustments to the elevator have an immediate effect on this, as you can go into a dive or climb for the short term, but I'm trying to isolate a basic principle.

Now here's an even tougher concept....the elevator controls speed. You would think it is the throttle, and yes increasing the throttle does increase both speed and altitude, but increasing the elevator, and thus raising the nose of the plane increases what is called the "angle of attack". If you pull up on the elevator, and do nothing with the throttle, you will cause the nose to raise, and the aircraft will slow, and begin to descend. Raise the nose too much and you go into what is called a "stall", where the plane's wings are not level enough, and not getting enough airflow over them to create lift, and the plane drops down, nose first.

My final analogy that I hope illustrates this are fighter jets. I used to work across from Mira Mar Naval Air Station, and I would watch the F-14's do touch and go's all day. They flew very nose high (high angle of attack), with lots of  throttle. You could hear the pilots working the throttle constantly to keep enough altitude, while holding the nose as high as possible to keep it flying slow for a simulated carrier landing. It looked like they were "plowing" through the air, as opposed to graceful flight. They were right on the edge of stalling, but it kept their speed slow as they didn't have a lot of runway (on a carrier) to handle a long rollout.

So I told you this would get dry quickly!

Here's a book that was recommended to me that covers all of this, and interestingly was first copyrighted in 1944. It is called "Stick and Rudder", by Wolfgang Langeweische. It was recommended to me by my Navy pilot friend I mentioned in my first post as being the concepts used by them in their instruction. You can get it on Amazon for between $15-$20. It will go into great detail, but it does cover the basics and will make you a better pilot... probably with less crashes!

Next time I'll keep away from the technical stuff, I promise! I think I'll talk about my first purchase of a plane....

Flight Simulators, Pros and Cons

So last time I shared how my first interaction with a friend who was into RC taught me my first axiom...GET A SIMULATOR. Just the few minutes I spent trying to take off, bank, roll, and especially land, proved his point that this was going to be an acquired skill that was going to take some trial and error. And given my limited budget, error was a costly alternative.

So I reconciled myself to the fact that I was going to have to postpone my time line and get the basics down. And here is where I picked up my second piece of critical advice. On one of my many junkets to the local hobby store, the owner shared with me a gem of advice. "PUT YOURSELF IN THE COCKPIT", he said. It seems obvious at first, but I can't tell you how many times I have overheard guys teaching new flyers by using the third person perspective. "Now when the plane is coming at you, and you want to make it go to your left, then push the stick to your right". It is like memorizing a set of rules and then over time making them a muscle memory. What the owner of the store said was so simple, and it was what I wanted to experience...being the pilot! So as I ventured into the realm of simulation, I never forgot that my goal was to "be" in the plane, in whatever maneuver it was doing, and that would guide my instincts on which inputs to give the controls.

Now as I said before, everyone has their opinion, and heaven knows there are a zillion simulators to choose from. I chose the Phoenix Simulator, from Horizon Hobby (www.horizonhobby.com), and here's why. First, as I looked at the foam park flyers that were in my starter price range, the Horizon options seemed the best. They were more expensive, but they had a great reputation for quality and I would learn later, their support is unrivaled. The Phoenix simulator featured all of their mainstay planes as choices on their simulation, so I figured it would help me to decide which would be my first plane to purchase.

Next, and this was huge, the package came with a Spektrum DX-5 radio...an actual radio that I could later use with my first plane. The pricing of the simulator practically forced me to get it, as the program, with radio, was $175, and the radio alone was $60. To get the program with no radio was $130. Some of the other simulators have cables that will connect with your computer from whatever radio you already have, and others, like the one my friend had, just have a controller that is like a radio, but not actually useable as one. Again, magazines and the internet will give you a plethora of choices, but this is what I got, and I have been very happy with it.

At this point I should mention that the idea of a simulator was not well received at the hobby store, and elsewhere. Many I talked to "Poo Pooed" the need for simulators, saying that they just were not a legitimate substitute for the real thing. Their recommendation was to get a trainer plane, like the Park Zone Super Cub, that do not have ailerons, and turn using a rudder only. This prevents acute maneuvers and gets a beginner into the air with relatively low risk. The problem for me is that I am impatient, and I couldn't see myself being content with a plane like that for more than a month, so I wanted to get into the warbirds as fast as I could. Hence, the simulator.

I was also intrigued as I read the reviews online of the planes I was contemplating as my first purchase. Many would comment that a particular plane was not a good first plane, unless you had some simulation time. Others would talk about how many hours they had on a simulator before they purchased this plane, and how it turned out for them as a result. All of this was reassuring that I was on the right path, and I continued to research my dream planes as I waded into simulation.

It was Christmas, and the perfect time to get started. My simulator as my present, and I had some Holiday time to get started. I chose The Super Cub (ironically) as the first plane to fly, but I did get bored with it quickly and was soon playing with the Corsair, Spitfire, Thunderbolt, Bf-109, and others. The program offered tutorials on stunt maneuvers, games to play (lasar tag, balloon busting, and bomb dropping), and great training features like landing practice. I love landings! To me there's nothing more satisfying than greasing a smooth landing. It's like art! So needless to say, I was attracted to spending hours practicing and perfecting landings.

I started a log book, and tracked the hours I had. I'm currently up to 320 hours (a year and a half later), and I track my flight time in each of my planes too. But always, I was IN THE COCKPIT. The perspective of being at the controls in the plane and not watching the plane from a distance, was my constant goal. Soon enough it began to become second nature and it was thrilling to make the necessary corrections as purely second nature!

The simulator has been a great friend. When I get a new plane I use it to help me figure out the flight characteristics and learn that plane more quickly. I set the wind and weather features to match the conditions I find myself in so that I will not be intimidated by winds and cross winds. And yes, I practice landings with it to prepare me for the real thing!

Now I have to say, there are some downsides to simulation. IT'S NOT REAL! No matter how hard you try, and utilize all the available aspects of the program, there's no exact replication of what you will encounter when you go flying.

And, there can be dire consequences for those variances. For instance, the first  plane I purchased was the Corsair (a presumptive error that I will talk about later). On the simulator it would take off with almost 1/2 throttle no problem. One day I was at a baseball field, surrounded by chain link fence, and as I was taking off, to my horror, the plane was beginning to stall and pitch to the right. I was unable to recover and it went into the fence like a "Veg-A Matic"! It wasn't until later that I realized I had acquired the bad habit of not being more aggressive on my throttle on take off due to the simulator.

So enough on simulators for now. They're not for everybody, but mine has saved me a ton of money. Not that I still haven't found ways to spend lots of money, but if money comes hard to you as it does for me, it is worth the delayed gratification to get your skills down!

Speaking of which, if you're going to fly, there are some basics to flight that you need to become acquainted with. It's not the same as driving a car. That will be the subject of my next chapter.....

Getting Started In Radio Control

So I guess it was about a year and a half ago that I was at my shop bench, trying to complete a plastic model kit I had been working on for months, when it hit me. Why do I spend so much time and energy building planes I can only look at? Why not learn to actually fly planes? Just imagine...I could put a plane in my car and spend the hours flying something instead of looking at it and pretending!

Within days I was at the local hobby store, gawking at the planes hanging from the ceiling, making note of prices, pestering the clerks for information on things like radios, batteries versus gas engines, foam versus balsa, etc., etc., etc. My head was swimming! But this was the beginning of my journey....there was no going back. I was going to be a pilot of radio control planes. I didn't know how yet, or what kind, or where, but it was going to happen.

I think there are a lot of guys like me. They just have this "thing" about airplanes. you can't explain it (especially to your wife), but there's just this magic about planes that soar and swoop and roll and yes, land and take off! I knew a guy who was a Navy pilot , just getting out of the service. He had been flying the S-3 Viking, and was hoping to get on with the airlines. I mean this guy had done night carrier landings and flown the A-4 Skyhawk and on and on, and yet when he talked about planes his eyes lit up like a kid and he was as excited as anyone I had ever seen! He built models, and flew little Cessna 150's in his spare time...the guy couldn't get enough, and he was a Navy pilot! I realized then that the addiction was real!

All of the guys I have come to know through RC are like that too. They love planes. They love flying. Some like building, others just want something out of the box, but there's this attraction to the whole mystique of flight. But I digress....

I had a friend who I knew was into RC planes, and I decided to start with him. I met him at his office, and he turned on his computer, and opened a flight simulator program. Then he handed me a radio that was hooked to the computer, set up a plane on the airstrip and told me to go for it! It was hard. Much harder than I expected! I crashed about every minute, but I was undaunted. He gave me some basic pointers, but this was my first important piece of advice...START ON A SIMULATOR! He explained that the frustration of trying to keep the orientation of the plane as it was flying towards you, and the confusing aspects of getting used to which stick controlled the ailerons versus the throttle, would take time to master, and it would be much more cost effective to learn those things (and make those mistakes) without the expense of crashing every time.

I resisted this new revelation as I wanted to jump right in and get going, and I certainly was not counting on the additional expense of a simulator. But by "throwing me into the pool" so to speak, he had made his point, and I realized the wisdom of learning without risk until I had achieved a basic level of expertise.

I'm sure that for everything I share there will be someone out there to contradict me, but this is my experience, so I'll just get that out of the way right now! If you ask 10 devotees of RC what they think, you're sure to get 10 different opinions, and that's part of the fun of the hobby too. But this is my story, and hopefully my experiences will help you too.

Next time I'll talk about simulators...what kind I got, what is good, and what can be dangerous about them. In the meantime keep dreaming of the day you will be a pilot and not just a pretender!