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By Roadrunner71
#404556
If Been watching the Video post R-C's for HG fliers. What I am thinking is this: Maybe, just maybe i can get this Monkey off my back. For i need to fly something really Bad. Yes, i am sio longing to fly some thing, you can see that I am desperate to fly something. O-K here are a few questions that I have. Where do I go from here? I am a long timer HG Pilot who severely injured myself when I blew my landing that occured when I needed to set down after an X0C Flight That began with me launching off our Local Bay Area Mountain Site, Mount Diablo.

O-K here are my Questions: I am a rank Rookie RC Pilot. Where do I start? Should I find a person who is up to speed so to speak to give me some Instruction? What Make and Model R-C should I buy/ Where can i buy Said RC Glider? Are People able to equip their Gliders with a camera that will fee back to the operator a real time image while the operator of said Sailplane While the Sailplane is being flown? Can one equip the sailplane with a Vario?

I am quite interested in flying a Sailplane. I do want to have some feed back. Good By Chris mcKeon 925-497-1059
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By maximilionalpha
#404557
Hi Chris;
For starters, if you've never flown an rc sailplane, or any rc plane, your best bet, is to start off with an rc flight simulator. If you want free, then you can download RCDesk Pilot @ http://rcdeskpilot.com/ . Photo-realistic sceneries too. There are tons of different aircraft,(from sailplanes such as the infamous Parkzone Radian, Radian Pro as well as, many other add-ons that you can download and install for it. Or, you can buy RealFlight RC @ https://www.realflight.com, also a really good training sim. As for which is a good sailplane for a beginner to buy, then I would have to say, the Parkzone Radian. Very docile and easy to control.
By Roadrunner71
#404558
Max I clicked onto that Video I guess that it is called a Video. Well , Callme stupid, or call me dense. But I do not see where you can fly a simulated model plane. Or, I do not see understand how , if I am able to click onto the correct program. How will I control the Aircraft? Chris McKeon 925-497-1059
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By red
#404560
Roadrunner71 wrote: Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:23 pm O-K here are my Questions: I am a rank Rookie RC Pilot. Where do I start? Should I find a person who is up to speed so to speak to give me some Instruction? What Make and Model R-C should I buy/ Where can i buy Said RC Glider? Are People able to equip their Gliders with a camera that will fee back to the operator a real time image while the operator of said Sailplane While the Sailplane is being flown? Can one equip the sailplane with a Vario? I am quite interested in flying a Sailplane. I do want to have some feed back. Good By Chris mcKeon 925-497-1059
Chris,

The first (dozen) RC planes you will need are RC Simulator planes. You can fly many types of planes in the RC Simulator, and it does not bust your bank account when unwanted results may happen. Sure, find any decent RC pilot (mentor) to check out your Simulator set-up before you start, because learning RC flying is not hard, but UN-learning from a bogus control set-up at first is a serious headache (no joke, no metaphor). Once the Simulator is set up correctly, then you can learn easy and quick. Some Simulators can use pilot's foot-pedals, which can also help with your sailplane license, later. There are a lot of good reasons to have a desktop Simulator.

Your first real RC should be a large, easy-going trainer, and there is no problem if it looks like a trainer sailplane. Yes, you can have a video camera in the RC plane which shows what the mini-pilot would see, in flight. Your RC Simulator can probably show you how that would be, as you would see it in flight. The RC hobby shops call that stuff First Person Viewpoint, or FPV.

The RC hobby shops can probably point you to some RC clubs near you, and those RC fliers can be all the help that anybody needs. If one guy does not work with you, find another mentor. RC clubs have a lot of mentors, usually. Just like HG, any new RC pilot needs several mentors, for the best rate of success.

The RC clubs and hobby shops can help you choose your first plane, so talk to many RC pilots about that, but not right away. Get good on the RC Simulator, first.

Your RC mentor can fly your real RC up safely for you at first, then let you fly. If you get into any trouble, the mentor can also take back control and land your plane safely. As you get better on real RC planes, the RC mentor will do less and less, until you can fly the RC plane safely, entirely on your own.

You can get radio gear with a vario built-in, when you are ready to buy your first RC plane. Your mentors and hobby shops can tell you all about that stuff.

Remember, if you can not land the RC Simulator trainers safely, you will not have any better success with the real RC planes. Get good on the RC Simulator, first. I still use mine, for instance when it is raining outside. 8)
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By Roadrunner71
#404561
Thanks Guys: I want to say thanks for all this great feedback. Comparing this to when I was ascending regarding when I was in my ascending in my skills so as to be a Hang Glider Pilot. Those Days were fun Days! The First Glider that I flew was a Moyes Mars down in New Zealand. I will never forget when I experienced my First Down Wind Up hill landing at a Coastal site that is called Kariotahi. Well being the Rookie that I was I believe looking back on it now. I believe that probably my Instructor should Not have let me Launch as conditions were too strong for me at that time anyways. Well we did a Hangcheck. I then launched and I was making passes along the Ridge. Well I encountered a large Gust and I got turned Down wind. Well I was heading straight at the Cliff. Well again here remember that I was a rank Rookie. Well I knew that to Stall the Wing would cause terrible consequences. So there I was with the control Bar buried, the bar was pushed back to my ankles. I was diving, straight down Wind right at the Cliff. I told myself Chris: Wait, Wait< WAIT. I then let the Bar out slowly. THERE i was zooming straight up in the Vertical. Thinking to myself: "Chris is this where I will Die?". Well the Glider bled off energy while I Zooming straight up, until I felt no more Bar Pressure then I executed a Full Arm extension flair. I then found myself Oh, about 3/4's of the way up that Kariotahi Cliff.

That landing was my first and only Down-Wind-Up-Cliff landing to date. What a ride!

Back to Gliders. My second Glider was a Alytair Predator. I love the Predator.

ANOTHER QUESTION GUYS: How steep is the learning curve when one begins to fly R-C Gliders?

I believe that I am going to Google Hobby Shops here in Brentwood California.

Good By Chris McKeon 925-497-1059
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By waltspoint
#404562
It's hard at first, but you get the hang of it quick enough. You'll crash on your first (dozen at least) flights. So start with the computer simulator, where crashing doesn't matter. Then find someone to help you get started in the real world. They can put a controller in you hands to use, which has a cable to their master controller. So the experienced flyer can take over if/when you get in trouble. You can teach yourself, but you will end up doing a lot of repairs and going through a few aircraft.

RC soaring might seem sedate at first, but it goes a long ways. There were some RC guys at Waddell the last time I was there. It was blown out for hanggliders, but the RCs were tearing it up. Super aerobatic, really fast and maneuverable. I highly recommend the activity. Push out, /jd
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By aeroexperiments
#404565
Roadrunner71 wrote: Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:23 pm
O-K here are my Questions: I am a rank Rookie RC Pilot. Where do I start? Should I find a person who is up to speed so to speak to give me some Instruction?
It will help a lot to have someone standing by to help you at first. Since you have hang glider and sailplane experience, your main challenge will just be dealing with orientation and not getting confused when the plane is flying toward you and the controls seem "reversed" in a way. A "buddy box" system is ideal but with a slow-flying thermal glider like the Radian someone can climb the glider up to altitude and then pass you the transmitter and have you fly it till you get into trouble. On the other hand if you are flying a sturdy glider like a Zagi in slope lift there is always the trial and error method, especially if there's no where the glider can get to where you won't be able to retrieve it.
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By red
#404571
Roadrunner71 wrote: Tue Aug 21, 2018 12:09 pmWell: I'm Looking, and hopefully I am learning.
Chris,

Some good ideas there in that video: the first RC plane should be large, slow and easy. You do not want a fast hot fighter, not yet anyway. It's good if you can buy a new wing or other parts separately, in case something gets broken beyond repair. The hobby shop can tell you about the RC planes with replacement parts available.

Set up your RC Simulator controls (and the plane controls, too) as you see in the video below. You are looking from the tail of the plane towards the nose, in this video. Watch the video only until the guy says the word "flaps," because advanced controls like that will come later. You can re-start the video at the right place (no wasted words) and repeatedly, if you bookmark my link.

https://youtu.be/Gi_1Jaz-WUI?t=64

If you use a gamer's joystick on the RC Simulator, the joystick will be like the right stick on the radio box - one stick controls the elevator and ailerons, and twist (rotate) the stick for rudder control. Older game joysticks do not rotate, but you will not need rudder control for a while. Logitech makes good gamer joysticks, with the rudder control. If you do not mind spending money, they make "RC control boxes" for some RC simulators. The hobby shops can help you with spending your money, there. 8)

Getting the RC controls to work correctly on the simulator and on the plane will be the important parts, here. Any decent RC pilot can help with all that. RC mentors can be priceless.
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By DMarley
#404572
Hey Chris
I hate to be somewhat contrary to what Red's saying, because he is correct, but large is usually more expensive. Small, if made well for beginners, is a good option as well.....
https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/ai ... tf-hbz4900

I didn't start with that model, but my nephew did at 7 years old. The thing is nearly unstoppable. Because it is so light, if you plow it into the ground, it more or less bounces, or a little scotch tape fixes the unmentionables. Because it is so light weight, it's airspeed is also very slow, so you need to fly it in calm conditions, or inside a large room or indoor court. A wonderful first aircraft that won't break the bank.
Then you can get your Radian, or whatever.
However, the BIGGIE point is to get yourself some sort of simulator before you fly anything. I still fly RealFlight 7.5. Great practice!
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By red
#404578
DMarley wrote: Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:47 pm Hey Chris
I hate to be somewhat contrary to what Red's saying, because he is correct, but large is usually more expensive. Small, if made well for beginners, is a good option as well.....
https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/ai ... tf-hbz4900
However, the BIGGIE point is to get yourself some sort of simulator before you fly anything. I still fly RealFlight 7.5. Great practice!
Doug,

To each their own . . . I prefer the larger trainers for three reasons.

1. They can be very slow in flight.

2. An RC version of the toy-store "chuck" gliders will cost about US$10~$30 each, and bring your own radio gear. Can't beat that price, and you can buy a second plane just for the spare parts.
https://www.hobbytown.com/flying-eagle- ... fe6/p27944

3. The large size also is easier to keep in sight, because a new RC pilot can "lose" the smaller planes in the distance sooner.

All IMHO, of course . . . 8)
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By Takeo77
#404586
Chris, I'll buddy box with you sometime. I have all the gear and I've been training people for the last 20 ~ years. If you're down in the bay or if we have another Brentwood tow session I'll let you know. Buddy box ( i.e. tandem instruction) is the way to go. But yes, also get yourself a sim.
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By Takeo77
#404587
Incidentally I have an open invite to any hang glider pilot in my area that wants to learn RC. No cost required, just bring yourself and a learning mindset.
By Roadrunner71
#404591
Hi Guys:

Well if though in Hang Gliding speak regarding my status as a Hang-Glider I guess that I am a R-C Model flying Pilot, I am a
RC- Pilot Zero well at this Time. I guess that I should be called a rank, Rank, RANKLY I AM AN AMATEUR.
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By Takeo77
#404592
Most pilots I know fly GA, Part 103 and model aviation, and for me personally all three feed off each other. Right now I'm working on an FPV RC hang glider simulator to help a local HG student beat some rather serious decision making problems in complete safety. Welcome to try that out when it's ready too.
By Roadrunner71
#404593
I really do not see a reason Why I will not be able to adapt to Flying R-C modal aircraft. Looking back on my flying career i went from my First Gliders a Falcon 225. then I purchased a flew my Predator. So i went from the Slowest King-Posted Gliders to the Fastest king-posted King-Posted Glider in the Air. My Predator. With no ill effects. So why not flying R-C's?
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By kukailimoku2
#404594
The biggest adjustment that you'll need to make is due to the fact that you always fly with yourself oriented toward the nose and everything is going "forward". When the RC is flying away from you the controls will make perfect sense, left/right/up/down.

When it's pointing back AT you, however...that takes a little getting used to.
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By Takeo77
#404595
It's not impossible to adapt, it is more difficult to fly RC well because the only information you get is coming in from your eyes, no other senses are in play. Anyway try it and you'll find out real fast.
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By red
#404605
Takeo77 wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 6:26 pmMost pilots I know fly GA, Part 103 and model aviation, and for me personally all three feed off each other. Right now I'm working on an FPV RC hang glider simulator to help a local HG student beat some rather serious decision making problems in complete safety. Welcome to try that out when it's ready too.
Takeo77,

HangSim has a reasonably good Hang Glider Simulator, and you can demo the software for maybe ten minutes at a time. You can re-start the demo (flight) from whenever it ends, to continue that same flight. If you were in a thermal, the re-start will put you back in smooth air, in the same place and height, but no thermal. You can have invisible thermals, or thermals with cottonseed in them to make them visible. Fly the hang glider with a joystick, or a mouse (click/drag the basetube using the mouse cursor).

http://www.hangsim.com/micro-flight/
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