Flight Simulators

[Keyless Chuck]

So I just bought the Hobbyzone Sport Cub S RTF RC and about to order the Freewing Pandora 4-in-1 for a low wing aircraft.
Now I think a flight simulator will help too in building my skills. From what I came across the Great Planes RealFlight 7.5 looks to be the best? Looking for any other suggestions or flat out advice. Thanks in advance and look forward to a lot of forum fun!

[Twowingtj]

Welcome to Hobby Squawk Keyless Chuck. It's a great forum with really good people.

First, excellent choices for your first aircraft. Both are stable flyers for starting with and can be aerobatic when you are ready. The Pandora is one that can be reconfigured as your skills and confidence improve.

As far as a flight simuator, I've never used the RealFlight, so can't real give you an evaluation. The one I've used most is the Phoenix 5 simulator. It's easy to use and is very customizable. It comes with many of the aircraft from Horizon Hobbies alreadyon it. There are also many additional flying sites and aircraft downloadable free from the website. Regardless which sim you choose, they are an excellent tool to develope your skills. Being from the northeast also, they allow you to keep flying while winter is upon us.

Welcome to the hobby and have fun.

[T-CAT]

The Real Flight and Phoenix simulators will provide the best sim. experience, although pricey of course to get the features and dynamics it contains.

However, before you spend the money, you may want to check out a free simulator (or a paid version of it that includes lots of planes and fields, etc.) called Clear View. I believe it can use a variety of controllers that plug into the computer via USB. Controllers that are double joystick type like the ones you see for video games these days would work well since it simulates using a Transmitter with the two gimbal sticks. I'm not sure which controllers are compatible, but you'll need to look into that. The free version is called Clear View SE and planes, fields, etc. are add-ons, which allows you to pick your preference. If your aren't going need to use or need lots of aircraft, fields, etc., then you may find this version much less costly than the paid version of it. Otherwise, the paid version will provide much more and cost less in the long run if you want lots of aircraft and fields.

http://www.rcflightsim.com/index.html

With a free simulator at first, or a less expensive one, it still provides improvements in hand eye coordination, orientation, flight procedures, timing, etc. The utmost realism in simulators isn't needed to learn those :Cool:. If you then feel the need for a more expensive and full featured simulator, the Real Flight and Phoenix would be a worthwhile purchase. Regardless of simulator chosen, there is no doubt that they are unbelievably valuable tools to succeed and progress in this hobby. I still use one to this day to practice new aerobatics, brush up on hand eye coordination when I haven't had the chance to fly real RC planes often enough, etc. A simulator is always one of the leading tools I recommended to people just getting started in the hobby.

[Keyless Chuck]

Thanks to both of you for your input. So I have a battery question, what is the rule of thumb when trying to figure out how much fly time you have. I assume there is a device that can relay that info to you but I doubt they are necessary on trainers. From what I gathered 5 minutes is what I should get from both planes I purchased. Is that the norm for battery powered RC?

[WintrSol]

My Pandora, low-wing tail dragger, flies for about 7:30 on a 2600mAh battery, with general sport flying on a relatively calm day. There are radio systems that have telemetry, and can monitor the battery, but mine doesn't; my transmitter has a flight timer that counts when the throttle is advanced. A timer that beeps when time is up is one of the more common ways to decide when to land; that, and a battery cell Voltage meter. Fly for a while (guess a few minutes short), and a few minutes after landing, measure the cell Voltages. If they are all 3.8V or above, increase the timer, and if 3.7V or below, reduce the time. Ideally, for battery life, you want the resting Voltage after a flight to be between those two. If you have TM, you have allow for a drop in Voltage when the motor is running, land when it drops below 3.7V, then assess the resting Voltage. Lower the powered Voltage target per the timing adjustment method.