10 Actions to be a Better RC Pilot 

Great vidd/tutorial Tim..everything you said and went over in this vidd is absolutely spot on👍👍..especially the part about setting goals for one's self every time you hit the airfield.... new locations are good to..although in my case I don't like to travel far from my home..that's just me..I have an RC airfield 5 minutes from my home and I can fly in my back yard to.. but flying in different weather conditions can be sketchy..I choose nice calm days personally....keep the viddz Coming Tim...I always look forward to seeing a new one....take care..Ray

All great tips...here's a few more... keep plane close enough and high enough so you do not lose orientation... have a skilled pilot help you when you maiden a new plane... always make sure all electronics and batteries are secure and can not shift while flying.. always do a range test... always do a function test making sure servo's etc have no issues before take off... try to avoid flying where sun blinds you... where good sun glasses..there are others also... Its a nice hobby...

One thing you said really struck home with me. Have fun. 10+ years ago I let flying stress me out, I was scared of crashing or someone seeing me crash. One day I decided I didn't care what happened I was there to have fun, it instantly improved my flying massively. The reasons I improved so much so fast are exactly the reasons you said. Now all those years later I'm club president, contest director, leader flight and leader educator. I primarily fly IMAC these days and when people ask me how to improve their skills I always point them to the IMAC basic. It can be flown with basically any plane, none of the ten maneuvers are hard to do. The challenge comes from doing all ten in a row with out messing up. That matches your set flight goals point. Great video.

Great video!! Likewise, I fly lots of different planes just to get "stick time." In contrast, my RC buddy restricts himself only to certain planes - big balsa, nitro powered and other old school stuff. No arfs, no foam, no electric. Because he narrows his range, his actual flying hours are restricted. Even though he's been in the hobby 20 years, even he admits that I'm a more skilled flyer even though I've only had two years. The lesson: fly, fly, fly -- especially different types of planes to widen your experience.

Good points and thanks for the Bronco plans that's a sweet looking little build.

Thank you very much for that Tim. I grew up in rc and got out of it for about 20 years and just recently in the past 3 years I got back into it. I still consider myself a amateur pilot even tho im flying edf's now. But when I go out for the first time and a few times after the season starts I take out my trainer plane and fly it around and do alot of touch and goes just go get myself back in the swing of things. I do use RF9 sim in the winter but like to take that trainer out a few times at the start. Great Job and Im new to your channel and thanks again!!

Good, constructive tips. I particularly like the dead stick approach. When I first started RC flying in the late 70's It was with a Cox 049. All landings were full throttle till the fuel ran out. All landings were dead stick. All my models were 049 powered and I learned to glide them right to my feet almost everytime. It was great fun.

Great as usual. I am looking forward to the series on aerodynamics. Thanks

Solid advice. Thanks for the video.

Thank you! Appricate your efforts.

Great video - lots to think about!

Very good advise. Thanks!

Great tips Tim, interesting about setting goals, normally my goal is to being the plane back home that’s reusable. I still learning, so maybe I should start setting goals. Have a great week 👍🏻

Thank you Tim for these information. I'll to try a better rc pilot and these information will help me 🙂

That was awsome thanx

Great video, thanks! Its all good tips for new comers, and especially the new breed of ‘fly-straight-out-of-the-box types (nothing wrong with that- flying is flying!). One thing though, and this possibly ties in with the landings section, i say to people at my club to explore the full flight envelope of each of your models, and especially learning how SLOW it will fly whilst maintaining control. Everyone wants to see how fast theirs can go, but often little thought is given to the other end of the spectrum. I learn to fly mine pretty much on the stall (at a good height initially!), and that has really improved my landings no end, and you’d be surprised how slowly they will fly as long as you’re not hanging on the elevator too much. Anyhow, love the video. Kind regards from the UK 🇬🇧

Everything everybody needs to know well done

Thank you Tim good advice I have had a beater for years

Hey Tim, thankyou for answering all mga question got my first build flew😁

thank you - very helpful for me and my son ...

Great advice, my buddy Rick used a lot of these tips when I was learning, Jeff in LA USA

I always wanted to have a "Junker", namely Ju-87, but they are so hard to find! Great Planes Ju-87 is my favorite. On a serious note, its all good points, and yours OV-10 Bronco looks pretty good. Thank you for sharing.

Excellent! All true! I’ve been flying RC for 30 + years.

Great video I wish I could see this before 😊

These are great tips. Especially #1. I've been flying for 20years and still use my fun cub to get the thumbs working after winter and before an expensive maiden. Not caring so much let's you try things you wouldn't with your $2k plus models.. Well unless your Rich I guess

Good points. Especially land, land, land and dead stick. If you can land safely, you can get another flight.

Always enjoy your content, Tim. Technically sound content well presented. Thanks for sharing. Great tips.

Good video. So now l'll go and practis some of this things. Gretings from rc. And real ppl a pilot in norway

This is a great video and plan to forward it to my club. I want to add a couple of my observations that I feel many newer pilots in particular need to work on. #1 Slow flight. Impress me with how slow you can fly your plane, not fast. Stall test new airplanes to understand exactly when it will stall, to truly get a sense of the slow characteristics of your planes. Now with this info, land your planes slow and stall properly. Most guys I see flying land too fast, bounce their touchdowns, and then blame the landing gear or something irrelevant to the problem. #2 Ensure that your planes are balanced properly. Particularly not nose heavy. Forward CG's, fast landings, and rich engines are all traps inexperience pilots fall into. Trying to play it safe. These tendencies just lead to bad landings and poor running engines. I personally just experience nose heavy issues with a new war bird. Once I got the CG back where it wants to be, I am able to flare the landing, and get the wing stalled properly for perfect touch downs. Your comments on left and right hand approach practice is spot on. Many clubs are full of "left hand charlies".

Hi Tim, I love your work and thanks for sharing. I can't seem to find the link to download the bronco 2 plans, I've looked at the description but I just don't see it. I really want to build one..

Great advice! My "junker" was named Humpty-Dumpty, still flying the 2.0 version.

I'm building my first 2 planes now. Thanks for the tips, I'm excited to fly.

Another thing, dont be afraid to just take a break for a few years if you get bored, Il leave the hobby and find other hobbies for a bit, when I come back to it I enjoy it again and usually find another aspect ie, I learned to fly at 16 and progressed to fast racing planes and basic acrobatics over a few years, got bored came back to again at age of 30 when electric eas getting good with lithium and brushless motors and learned 3d and flying from water and got into building scale models and some silly fun stuff from epp for local park flying. Bored again then discovered I liked powered gliders and learned some thermal flying, Bored and a break again then I saw dlg ( discus launch gliders ) and just knew I had to do that and that kept me entertained for a good few years. Another break followed by fpv racing drones both building flying and 3d and programming flight controllers sensors and transmitters ( lua on the frsky taranis and opentx etc ), Got roped into reviewing stuff for a while too and then tried out rc helicopters but wasnt my thing. Having a break again now whilst I build and ride ebikes.. Not sure what's next but there will be something lol.

I started with gliders, every landing was dead stick. When I switched to fuel, I was all over the place on landing. But when it went dead stick, a 3 point landing every time. If possible get an instructor at your local field. The club i joined required you to be checked out, if you're a new member with flight experience. Or you needed to fly with the instructor until he was confident you could fly on your own.

Great tips, I'd just put "Embrace an RC Sim" first on the list, all the rest comes easy after that.

What is a good sim programme? The one in this video? Appreciate your advice as I am getting back to flying and want to help my friend fly RC. He was a B777 Capt but confesses his longest RC flight was four second. He needs help🙈

👍

I'm not having fun and doing everything wrong. Thanks

Great video Tim! I have another donation for you. Are you still at the same address? Cheers! Have a great day!

Hi Tim, Great tips, but I have disagree with the junk airplane and fly to crash philosophy. I used to take that approach. But the fact is we get better at what we practice. Practicing crashing will only make you a better crasher. This a major problem with sim training, too, because they train you so effectively to crash, as if it’s routine. When I started flying up to 2 meter carbon blade disk helicopters, it became way too dangerous to crash. So I changed my self training philosophy to my full scale flying philosophy of zero mishaps. I never left my comfort zone. I never flew out of a hover for over a year. It took about two years to teach myself to fly fully aerobatic 3D heli routines, and to this day I have never crashed an outdoor model heli from my 200s to my 800s. Not once. I realized I became a much better heli pilot much faster due to the zero crash policy. So I made that my mindset for all my flying, including the sim. I treat crashing the same dying, and I think it’s me helped immensely. The basic idea is never ever leave your comfort zone, when you are so competent you get bored, that zone naturally expands. And so on. I have 4200 hours in full scale fighters and obviously that is the training and employment mindset. I don’t why I ever entertained “crashing is part of RC flying.” Looking back, its just a complete lack of flight discipline and a lazy approach to become a sloppy pilot. Just my two cents.

What makes me upset is when the field is crowded on a weekend and is everyone is flying in the same pattern due to the location of the wind and then you have some guy practicing 3D flying and has no respect for others at the field and his planes is flying all over the field. I have seen so many crashes when that happens. All the time it is the fault of the 3D flyer. When I was flying a lot I would avoid flying on the weekend. There is a time and a place for 3D flying. When I would practice that I would give some warning to others and I would fly when there was little activity at the field. I learned to fly on the Aerofly simulator when they were first sold in the United States. It was the only simulator that worked with a Mac and I could use my DX7 with the software.

OLD DAYS 1990,s LOLOLOLOL my old days were the late 60,s LOL

I stopped flying after the FAA started treating them like full-sized aircraft with all the same regulations and rules as real airplanes. My six aircraft are sitting on my shelf and started buying RC trucks until they start requiring driver's licenses and annual inspections for those also.

Crashing is fun but a smooth landing feels much better . The simulator is worth the price for sure .

In my opinion, move up to at least a 50cc plane asap. 27-30%. The bigger the plane, the easier it is to fly. And RUDDER. I see so many people crash and trash planes on landing because the don't use the rudder. And spend time setting up your transmitter. Lot's of folks don't spend the time to set up their throws properly or trim the plane out.

When i was an Instructor, I had a saying for beginners... Too Low, Too Slow, Too long, Too bad!