[BPWingN]

I am 53 years old, with good motor skills. I have been an avid videogamer for the past 20 years, mainly flight sims. I have had my Ultralight pilots licence, and flown the ultralite for many hours.
I'm not bragging, just giving everyone a bit of insight to help put my story into perspective.

I purchased Phoenix 4 a month ago, and am quite proficient at most of the fixed wing aircraft in this sim. I can take off, barrel roll, loop etc and for the most part land without a problem. This all seems fairly easy. Great! Now....to try an aircraft. I didn't want a Champ, as it is only 3 channel, and I'm far too good for that. Apprentice s15e is sold out everywhere locally. Hmmm...Well, after some internet research, I decided to try the UM P51. I bought it, charged the batteries, and went off to a local wind free high school track to maiden both the aircraft and myself. There was another guy there with his kids and a few micros. I took the Mustang out of the box, bound it to my DX5, tested to make sure all control surfaces functioned properly, and throttled up. I gave it a bit of up elevator,.....and I was flying! I backed off the throttle a bit, not too much, and flew. I turned left, .....oh...too much........right....correct it....oh...too much.....Oh my god this is somewhat twitchy......left......argh......right.....People! ! there are people ahead of my plane! Uh......"Sorry" I yelled as it headed for them. PANIC TIME!
I missed them but did a nose first crash. Not too much damage, a split rudder and dimpled nosecone. 35 seconds of terror....lol.
The other guy flying (feeling somewhat sorry for me I guess) let me try his Champ. What a difference! The pucker factor was reduced alot, and I flew it and landed it.

Anyhoo.....I am not suggesting everyone would be like me, but I got WAAAAY to overconfident from flying the sim. I found actual flying, though very similar, is quite different.
The pucker factor, for me anyway, was amazing.

Some of you have made the transition just fine. Me....not so much. I got impatient waiting for an Apprentice and flew something out of my league.

I plan on going flying again this afternoon..........with my brand new Champ.

[dashpuppy]

The best advice i can give DON'T FLY IN LOCAL PARKS fly at a MAAC field..

[davidmc36]

Originally Posted by BPWingN

Some of you have made the transition just fine. Me....not so much. I got impatient waiting for an Apprentice and flew something out of my league.

That seems to be the only mistake you made really with respect to the actual flying was, a small twitchy airplane like that would usually not be a good choice to start with even with sim time. You should do fine with the champ.

And a field that has no stray people etc. would be the best choice.

[Maxpower]

bound it to your dx5 eh.. with no expo settings in that radio I bet it was twitchy!!! sounds like you were over controlling the whole time.. sorry to hear.. get the champ if you want small and learn to fly that first.

[Dale Hunter]

Peter, I understand the just of this thread. More than the model chosen, it is about the differance between sitting at a monitor, and flying with real world surroundings. Far apart from each other, arn't they.
I wish you best with your advancement into this great hobby/pastime.
-Dale-



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[BPWingN]

I am not going to fly anymore at that field.
I have joined MAAC, and my local club, which is where I went to fly the Champ today.

Oh....and the Champ was a blast.
6 batteries worth.
I was grinning like a school kid the whole time.
The UM P51 is stored away for future usage.
The Apprentice s15e is on order. They're out of stock a my LHS.

[BPWingN]

Originally Posted by Maxpower

bound it to your dx5 eh.. with no expo settings in that radio I bet it was twitchy!!! sounds like you were over controlling the whole time.. sorry to hear.. get the champ if you want small and learn to fly that first.

Yup. DX5 bound to the P51.
No expo made for quite a challenge to say the least.

[YoungestPiperCub]

Originally Posted by dashpuppy

The best advice i can give DON'T FLY IN LOCAL PARKS fly at a MAAC field..

AMEN to That! Most fields even have real people who will help you. Have fun and be safe!

[BPWingN]

Originally Posted by YoungestPiperCub

AMEN to That! Most fields even have real people who will help you. Have fun and be safe!

Agreed. The local field has been supportive, helpful and great.

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

A story as old as RC modeling itself! "I'm going to learn on a P51!" We have all heard that one over & over. (everbody has a dream - not?)

Part of the problem here is the guy behind the counter! He should be saying "I'm not selling you that thing! You'll just take it to the local school yard, give somebody a hair cut, smash it all up & leave the hobby for good!"
"Here is the phone number for the local flying club instructor, go talk to him first, then when you come back with a club membership I will give you a discount on your first proper trainer!" (I'm dreaming now!)

Flight sims are very valueable learning tool but one deficiency is they DO NOT teach you to fly 3 mistakes high! In fact they teach you the opposite because there is no ground referance to go by when you fly high. So you must fly low to have a visual referance.

As for the relationship between RC and piloting fullsized aircraft - two different worlds!
Can you imagine an RC pilot learning full scale on his own?
Buy a nice P51, fuel her up, no proper pre-flight, throttle to the firewall, sticks to the extreems & off we go, rolling, looping & gyrating into the great beyond!

HA!

Congrats on the great "save" BPWingN! You are on the right track now - enjoy!