My RC airplane that is. Now hold on, don't go thinkin, "An RC? How is that a big achievement?". Well, as a matter of fact, it did take some time to learn this hobby. Most of the terms and stuff you hear at a typical flying field are close to the same terms you here at an airport. Differences like O.S. engine, Saito engine, and Lycoming and Pratt and Whitney. You'll hear things like, "Rotate at 15mph and climb at a 20 degree, climb to about 100 feet, level off and reduce your throttle to half." and "Hey!! The runway's over here!!" if you crash your model. Flying RC is a lot of fun! Just gotta be careful. Some of my family members can't believe my RC airplane is covered by a $2,500,000 liability insurance. The insurance is provided by the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics). Flying the models aren't really hard. It's the optical illusions you gotta overcome. When you're on approach, you could swear that your airplane is lined up with the runway, but when it touches down 10 feet off the side you'll reconsider, like I did. Thankfully, my instructor had a trick up his sleev to help me guage this eye trick. My instructor is around 75 years old and was a WWII fighter. I love hearing his stories about the p-51. Those are always good. Well, I'll end this post. I would just like to recommend getting into RC. It's great fun if you can't fly real airplanes (like me, and can't afford it).
I've thought about getting into it down the road a bit, sounds like a lot of fun, and might be a great way for a dad to connect with his kids. It could be an awesome hobby....gets you outdoors, lots of interesting people, always learning something, etc.
Congrats on your solo flight...I'll bet it was a buzz when you finally touched 'er down O.K., eh?
What type of aircraft is yours?
Do they model them mostly after real-world aircraft or are they more often of their own RC-specific design?
Location: COMFORTABLY NUMB, in U.S.A. *** KOFF ***
Age: 51
Gender: Male
I haven't flown them for a long time, but I do have a P-51 Mustang and an F-4U Corsair. Both Nitro and radio controlled. The P-51 is a 1/10th scale, and easy to fly. The Corsair is huge, a 6 ft wing span, and weighs a good 30lbs, if not more. I use a 6 channel radio to fly both of them.
As for eye perception, on landings, yeah, that is a struggle to get if your starting out. We have to stand at least 50ft from the runway while flying. A good friend now, taught me how to land, by standing at the end of the runway, and letting me know, from my view, where I was. From my view, I was dead on. But I was about another 2 airfields too far away.
The airstrip is next to a lake. About 6 years ago, where there was no houses, are there now. They complained about the noise, and the Mayor then, shut it down.
And that's when I did my last flight. I have to drive into Iowa to fly again. 2 hour drive.....no thanks.
Congrats FSpilot on your accomplishment. I remember when I got mine, and the confidence and security of those that flew too. When your a novice, they put theirs on the ground, and hide them.
However, at the time, we only needed $500,000 for liability insuraunce.
To harkonnen: My model is a Tower Hobbies 40 Trainer. It has an O.S. .40 cubic inch (6.5cc) 2 stroke engine and a Futaba computer radio system. It's a little fast to be a trainer, honestly. But in the air it is very stable. And, your other question is difficult to answer because there are so many diffrent designs out there. I really depends. I would say the ratio of original to scale (modeled after real aircraft) is even.
To rd: Thanks for the congrads on the solo flight. You mentioned you had to stand 50 feet from the runway. At my field, our pilot "gates" are within 15 feet. I wonder why you had to stand so far back. I understand safety is an issue but that seems excessive. I'll give you a little history on our field, too. Are original field was located in a town about 10 miles away from where we are now. It had a paved runway and everything, but subdivision construction shut it down. Are new field is Alabaster, AL and has a 600 foot grass runway, a pavilion, a lake, and a swamp on the other side of the runway. It's a nice place to fly despite one problem: There is almost always a crosswind. This is why I've learned to land in a crosswind so quickly. The mayor of our town loves having or club around and we ar very active in city festivals, parades, and all. Once a week, kids from the local schools get to come out and watch us fly and get talked to about the hobby. Which is great. It's a good feeling knowing that our club is helping our community.
Man I want one of those cameras so bad! Already! If I equip one, I'd rather have an airplane with a scale cockpit so I could mount the thing in there in such a manner that the view would appear to be from the pilot's seat.
Location: COMFORTABLY NUMB, in U.S.A. *** KOFF ***
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Hmmm,
Just found out today, that they rebuilt and opened our R/C airstrip a couple years ago. My brother said you can see it on google earth. So I checked it out.
My, my. What was just a concrete strip and a long open face shed, is now an asphalt strip with a building or two.
I may have to go to go out there and check it out this weekend.
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