What should we start with?

[mason39]

First time posting. My son and I are getting serious about this RC flying thing. We've been doing some research and we found this forum. Neither one of us have any experience flying RC planes.
My question is, what plane would you guys start with or would you buy an RC simulator like Real Flight 9, learn from that and then buy the plane later? Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks.

[James]

Welcome to Hobby Squawk Mason! My name is James and I am the marketing manager for Motion RC (motionrc.com). You have already taken the best first step into awesome world of RC by asking questions before diving right in. This is an amazing hobby to be in and we are happy you are here.

Before you worry about a first plane, I would say 2 things you can do first.

1. Do a google search for RC flying clubs in your area. Lots of clubs have dedicated RC pilots who can help you learn to fly your aircraft with training sessions etc because flying an RC plane does take practice and skill and the worst thing a beginner can do is buy a plane try to fly then crash it on their first flight. It wastes money, energy and time.

2. I would try an RC simulator first while you are doing step 1 definitely, There are many out there and they can give you a good feel for how an aircraft flies (there are many different types of aircraft and they all fly differently). You will want to be looking for trainer aircraft when the time comes to buy one. But a sim will definitely help you learn some basics like orientation and practice your landings. Flying is is the easiest part, landing and making sure your aircraft stays in one piece is probably the hardest part to learn.

Once you've visited a club and have some stick time with a sim, then you can start with smaller/cheaper RTF (ready to fly) aircraft. RTF in the RC plane world means the aircraft will come with everything you need to fly like a battery, transmitter, receiver, charger and aircraft. Eventually when you advance you will want to purchase a transmitter that can work with multiple models so then you can start purchasing PNP (plug and play) aircraft. These will come with no Battery, Transmitter or receiver because by this time you will buy separate receivers that work with whatever transmitter you decide to go with. There are numerous protocols out there and the receivers for each protocol only work with the transmitter form that protocol (Spektrum, Futaba are examples of transmitter/receiver protocols).

But you would be looking at something like this to start flying on. https://www.motionrc.com/collections...ilability=true
These aircraft are RTF, small and can let you start learning how to orientate an aircraft in the air.

Best of luck to you as you begin your RC journey with your son. My son is 5 and pretty soon I will get the sticks in his hands and I can not wait.

[Monkieman74]

I too, like Mason, am new to the hobby but Im here by chance. I bought a motorhome from a friend of a friend and when I got it home I discovered that there were these r/c helicopters and planes in the storage above the bed. When I contacted the person who sold me tge rv he said he had no intrest in them and to just keep them. So now I just need to find out what I have and if they are functional or not. My only experience in the R/C world is a brief period of time I was the proud owner of a T-Max monster truck. After a bunch of time and money replacing parts I kept breaking I decided to hang up the transmitter. It was shortly after I had the whole front end repaired (hit a concrete park sign about 3 feet off the ground) and was test driving it in the alley behind the hobby shop. Thats when when the dumpster decided to jump out and attack my poor truck. Before I could pay for the first repair job I doubled it up to the toon of nearly $600. So I might not have the particular skills needed for the R/C world. But all this stuff was free and Why not, right? Or perhaps I should just sell the stuff and leave it to the experts? But like Mason I dont know where to start. I mean Theres 5 or 6 Hellies ranging from 4 freaking feet long to a 2 footer and down to little toy ones. The 2 planes need repairs but I dont know the extent. Theres also some sort of simulator (or two) a whole bunch of parts and more transmitters then vehicles. Theres even a truck body, an extra gas motor (I assume for the planes), some sort of Rimfire brushless motor that looks brand new, some (what I think are) parts to a quadcopter..... theres just a lot of stuff and I really cant afford to get into a costly hobby at this time but like I said they came with the motorhome.
That being said if someone could perhaps help me figure out what I got here they will have first dibs on anything if I decide to just sell (pieces or the whole ball of wax). If anyone feels like taking on this headache let me know and I can send pics of what I got. You can Email me at Monkieman74@gmail.com My name is Michael and BTW I ment that I would most likely be the source of sny headache, not the task itself. Thank you for your time and patience for the "new guy" and who knows I might just decide to keep one or two and stick around.

[Twowingtj]

mason39 Welcome to Hobby Squawk! James' advise is spot on.

The only thing I would add is to seek out an actual RC instructor first, if you have one available. You're success in the hobby will be off to a better start if you lay down a good foundation. An instructor can help with that. There have been many folks that self taught with a flight sim and developed unsound habits that they later had to unlearn. A good instructor will often help with your sim training, so you practice the right methods. Then your first actual flights will then go much more smoothly.

If you don't have an instructor available, many of the sims have useful tutorials as well. AMA flightschool is also a good online resource for basics.

Bottom line is have fun. It's a great hobby. It's also great that it's an interest you can share with your son. Both of you enjoy the journey.

Monkieman74 , Welcome to Hobby Squawk as well! There are several RC clubs in the So Cal area. They would be a good resource for helping you figure out what you have. They can also help you determine a value. Who knows, you may make a connection and decide to give the hobby a try anyway.

[Monkieman74]

Thanks for the welcome. I couldnt resist and have started to do some research and repairs on the 24in. hellie. Got the batt. All charged up and am waiting on a set of rotar blades to arrive so I can make an attempt at getting it in the air. U figures what the heck its no skin off my nose to check the hobby out. Right?

[Twowingtj]

Monkieman74, I think it's great that you are going to try out the hobby.

What kind of helicopter is it? If it is a coaxial or fixed pitch beginner heli you could be good to go. If it is a collective pitch heli, I wouldn't recommend that you start by trying to fly it. They can be very challenging to fly, even for the most experienced RC pilot. They, by nature, are quite unstable and the rotor blades add an element of danger.

Your journey into RC will be much more rewarding if you start with something designed with your success in mind. A ground vehicle, beginner heli, or trainer type of plane can help build your skills to where you can fly the heli one day.

Welcome to the hobby and to Hobby Squawk.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks for the welcome. I couldnt resist and have started to do some research and repairs on the 24in. hellie. Got the batt. All charged up and am waiting on a set of rotar blades to arrive so I can make an attempt at getting it in the air. U figures what the heck its no skin off my nose to check the hobby out. Right?

Great advice from everyone above. My wife decided (or I talked her into it) to give flying a try and first thing I did was get her on the Real Flight simulator to just get the feel of the sticks and some finger muscle memory. I then got her an Apprentice, complete with receiver, transmitter and battery and had our club's flight instructor give her some lessons with her Apprentice and a buddy box (where he can take over the flight with his transmitter at any moment). He took off and landed at the beginning, turning the plane over to her in the air, and taking back control whenever she needed. After about 4 flights like this, I set my transmitter up with the buddy box and took over for our instructor (but rarely turned over control to her cause it was so fun to fly-stress free). I also got my 21 year old daughter licensed and I did it with her, but within only a couple flights, she was looping and doing acrobatics-kids, they're born with joysticks in their hands!

The Apprentice STS with Safe comes with everything and HH sells it for around $350 (I know, not that cheap). It has a 60" wingspan so it is easy to see in the air and floats like a bird. You can set it for SAFE mode and the plane stays in a relative stable configuration the whole time, or take safe off and you can do acrobatics. Lands and take-offs like it is on auto pilot (kill the throttle about 20 feet in the air and it floats onto the runway). There are other trainers out there for less, although you may need to install your own receiver and have your own transmitter, if that's your preference, my only experience with trainers is the Apprentice and I highly recommend it. The only problem with it is that it is too easy to fly and when you move up to other planes (like warbirds or EDF's) you'll find that it is a whole 'nuther story.

[F22trainer]

Welcome both of y’all!
You are headed in the proper direction- seek assistance. Local AMA clubs, hobby shops, and this forum are great helpers.
our club in Phoenix took on the task of finding the easiest to fly, reasonably priced, and simple to operate, best model for learners. We tried them all - the Scout got the nod. Mostly because it was rugged, stable had SAFE technology and was also a great platform for training our new Instructors.

[serpentracer]

don't want to promote one brand over the other but the apprentice sts 1.5m is a very easy plane to fly. if you buy the optional gps for it, it can return to where it took off from by itself. and it has a virtual fence and wont go beyond that. it also has an optional landing assist sensor. the plane can basically land itself with a push of a button with these 2 optional sensors.
mods if it's not ok to post this video, feel free to take it down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWTi8ubmf40&feature=emb_logo

[BluesDragon]

I've got nothin'... more then what's been said already. Well except..
Welcome to the Squawk!

[Zardoz]

I started in the hobby 6 months ago so here are my thoughts. The easiest plane that I ever flew was the HobbyZone AerosScout S 1.1m. It is very easy to fly and has SAFE technology built in. It is a slow plane for the most part and very stable. The large wheels make it easy to land on any surface and the rear prop is nice as you don't break it as you are trying to learn to land. Learning to land, you often nose over and break props, at least I did! The Apprentice STS is another plane that I have that is very easy to fly so I can recommend that also. On the down side, The HobbyZone Carbon Cub s+ was not a hit with anyone in my club. We had three people that had this plane and they all had issues with the gps system such that the geo fencing and return to home features were very sketchy. I have moved on to several helicopters and the Timber 1.5m plane which I love. Just starting to get into the 3d world!