[YoungestPiperCub]

Hello Everyone,

For those of you that don't know me my name is Kevin king. Ive been in the hobby for 4 years and have flown virtually everyday in one form or another since I started. I have started a website where i'm going to be doing video tutorials and write ups on certain parts of the hobby I find it staggering how few good videos there are on how to fly maneuvers and do setup etc. (The Flying Lessons Tab On My Web Page)

I need some help with topics however. When YOU were learning what were things you found challenging or difficult. I.E. What would you have wanted to been taught or what things are you still wanting to learn to do???

Also what tips/ information did you find the most useful?

Thanks very much and I look forward to your suggestions!!!

[can773]

The most difficult thing to learn is how to keep wings level / square in all attitudes, going up, coming down, up high, down low etc. If I had learned to do that 10 years it would have saved me a lot of grief.....I am still trying to figure it out

[Mike Sebastien]

Going Slow. I see so many people having trouble when there airplane goes slow especially on approachs. They just don't get the relationship between pitch attitude, Throttle and aircraft speed. It is such a important part of flying and lots of instructors don't teach that relationship very well.

[williame3590]

For me, the hardest part of the hobby I've encountered is trying to get stuff from the truck to the garage without the wife seeing me do it I'm getting better though.....or maybe she has just given up

Bill

[bobreib]

Some of the simple stuff is important too..
Like how to tell if the plane is coming toward you or still heading out into the boondocks..
Almost lost my trainer because I couldn't tell which way it was going.
Fortunately another club member came to the rescue.

Disorientation is still a challenge and has cost me a couple of models over the past few years.
I also still have problems knowing which way to turn the rudder to compensate for wind drift. It's no problem when flying level, but if you are inverted or doing an upline it is easy to give it the wrong input.
You sure won't run out of topics to discuss..

[Max]

Flying a straigh line from left to right seems to be very difficult for some students. Especially when they are 3 mistakes high. Teaching them to pick a point in space where they want to go to and then mentally drawing a straight line to that point from thier present postion.
Then getting them to fly that line. Many keep thier eyes so fixated on the plane they have no ground reference, so when all they see is blue sky they have no idea where they are and wander all over the place.

Would be cool to see what you end up with

[probird]

Hi Kevin and fellow flyers.
I have only been flying for a couple of years.
I started with the HZ Supercub.(highly recomended for the first flyer).
I bounced that sucker off high power lines and sighn posts and keeps on ticking!
Bought one of the cheap controllers, downloaded FMS and practiced with it to get orientation down.
It really helps with left and right flying and turning.
The most difficult aspect of flying i find is the landing.
Eg. coming in too hot, too high, etc.
Then have to cut the power and dump it into the ground before you run out of runway! LOL.
now i'm up to 4 planes and my boy gets the cub to learn on.

Barry.

[TomG]

trimming, i remember my instructor would change the trims in flight on me and I would have to re trim it. It was hard at first especially both the ail and elev out of trim.

[Arceenut]

How about something fundamental as LANDING. How to set up, how to adjust/determine the glide slope, etc. My instructor (40 years ago) gave me some tricks that I use to this day.

1. To determine the right flight path on final;
Before the flight, stand in the middle of the runway and sight down the runway to pick out a landmark (tree, house, telephone pole etc) that is directly in line with the runway.

2. When landing, fly the plane directly toward you placing the
plane in line with the previously selected landmark. If the plane moves to the left or right of the landmark, it is not on the right path and must be corrected.

3. Pick a spot in the air behind the plane (a cloud, tall tree, or even an imaginary spot in the sky).
Keep the plane aligned with that spot on the approach. This will provide the proper glide path. If the plane is dropping from this point increase the throttle, if it is rising, decrease the throttle or prepare to go around as you are too high or too fast for a landing. Using the elevator to adjust the position vertically will end in disaster.

These two aids will help you set up the approach and glide path. A good approach is essential for a good landing. If the approach is poor, go around. It is much better to go around than to try and rescue a bad approach and make a bad landing ( always hard on the plane).

[Dave Holmes]

I was fortunate enough to have had an instructor emphasize using rudder. I got so used to it that when I am flying both sticks are working all the time, and when I am confronted with a model that is over powered and wants to torque roll on takeoff (I have had a couple handed to me lately to test fly) I automatically kick in right rudder along with aileron to keep it from rolling over, and some of the guys I fly with who have never learned to use rudder very much, are surprised at how easily I get airborne without the darned thing crashing on me.