Testimony - Did you learn on FMS?

[ckoral]

I bought an Esky 0905A with FMS. It would be very encouraging to know if you learned on FMS and if you used the esky 0905A control.

-I would also like to know what the first plane you bought after learning on FMS.
-Did you take this hobby up alone or had some help from an experienced RC pilot.
-How much training or what skills did you adjust to before flying a real RC plane?
-Did your real first plane have alerons?

Please add any other thoughts if you think it would be good to know. I would really like to know this thing has worked for others.

Thanks

[jimgee1]

FMS is not the best sim available, but the price is right. Thank you Moeller brothers! You are better-off learning on a sim than on an actual model.. I learned that the hard way.. I watched my $300.00 RTF do a lawn dart after only a couple of flights with an instructor. Hone your skills on the sim and the actual model will be easier to fly because it's easier to remain orientated at the field than it is on the sim. Also, every time you crash on the sim you get a brand new plane for FREE! Not true for the Tower Hobby planes.. Stick with it, it's a great hobby...

Jim G.

[Rad]

I have been a long time pilot and RC flier but often use an E-sky to keep my hand in and practise new tricks.
My son is 14 years old and only ever used FMS with an E-sky controller to learn to fly RC planes.
His first real RC flight was my Zaggi glider which he flew and landed first go (followed by 3 more flights)
I then plucked up the courage to let him loose on my Park Zone Spitfire which he flew well straight away and then proceeded to loop, roll, and then land !!!
Great for him, and Exasperating for me considering all the models I smashed learning to fly myself.
If that isnt proof that FMS works I dont know what is.
Incidentally for all you first timers the Parkzone Spit is in my opinion an extremely easy plane to fly and handles beautifully.
If you can fly the BF-109 on the FMS sym and land comfortably you should be able to do the Parkzone Spit too.

FMS may not be the flashiest sym but its reliable and always runs.
thanks for a great teaching aid and a fun toy.
Rad
(A Spitfire would be nice and how about a two aircraft and 2 controller version of the software for dogfights )

[KEW]

I will back up Rad's comments about learning on FMS.

I learned to fly the really hard way - with home built (and very unreliable) radio transmitters, receivers and planes - but that was fifty years ago - long before RC Flight Simulators. Since then I have flown just about everything there is. I have taught many beginners to fly (literally hundreds).

One that stands out in my mind is a young guy who had heard about our Electric Flyers Club. He came along one day and asked if anyone could teach him to fly the Zaggi he had just finished building. I checked it over . He had done a really good job of assembling it so I offered to teach him the basics. I launched it and gave him the transmitter when it had enough altitude. He managed some shakey figure eights and I landed it for him.

The next week he was already at the field when I got there and he was flying his Zaggi - I mean really flying - doing rolls and loops in a very controlled and impressive way. He landed very well, before I could ask him if he needed any help. I asked him where he had been practicing to become so skillful in only one week. He told me that he had been flying the Zaggi all week on FMS and this was his first real flight since his last lesson.

I went home later and checked out FMS for myself. This all happened nine or ten years ago. Ever since then I have always recommended that beginners should get as much practice as possible on a simulator. It really does make a difference.

Good flying,
KEW

[TreeHugger]

That's a nice and a meaningful story, KEW. Thank you for sharing!

Regards,
Frank

[Jack the R]

I started learning on real planes, but FMS has taken my flying to a new level. I started using it when I was learning to fly the Honey Bee heli. It's just so much faster to learn when you can turn off crashes and not have to constantly re-trim or repair the heli. You don't even have to walk over and recover the heli, you just reset the sim with a hot key and go at it again. Wonderful. Now I'm a decent heli pilot, which is unreal considering how difficult it was to get into heli's in the early 90's when I started flying. I can even fly the TREX 450 around well, although a 4 channel Esky radio is not exactly well suited to that model.

[milehighjc]

Im a living experiment with this now.

I bought a HobbyZone Super CUb LP last week. First ever RC, although I did a lot of control line as a kid.

Toyed around with the sim in the hobby shop for a few minutes, enough to be able to take off, fly a bit and dead stick land. Then practiced taxing in my cul de sac for about 30 mins. I was mostly trying to get myself used to the controls when "flying" at myself. My first real flight was Saturday, and the first two attempts were encouraging. ROG take offs, flew a few shaky laps, then landed in the middle of the field (deep grass) dead stick. SAFE!

The third attempt did not go well at all... ROG take off, caught a gust of wind that got me in an unusual attitude, and just couldnt get it back. I crashed hard into pavement nose first from about 30 feet up. Smashed up the cowl, popped the wings, and knocked the motor mount a little loose. Ive fixed it up with some CA, and its ready to go now.

Since the crash, I found and have been working with FMS - probably a couple of hours of stick time (just using my joystick). I can now put landings on the runway, and do some pretty whacked aerobatics, figuring unusual attitudes is what I need to learn the most. Im INFINITELY more confident right now, and cant wait to try my next real flight. Will be interesting to see if the sim time translates into better flying. Ill post results.

jc

[ggunners]

Try training in FMS with the wind on to where it just a bit uncomfortable. I use wind about 3 m/s with gusts of .5 or so out of 270 degrees which is close to straight down the runway. Do a few laps that way and then some lazy eights with the wind and bring it in low and slow and see how you handle the wind. After a few hours of wind practice, you'll find the little surprises are not too hard to handle.

[milehighjc]

Well, doesnt THAT make things a little more interesting. Amazing how far a 6.7mph wind blows the SC off course on the base leg. Suffice it to say that Im not hitting the runway anymore

Feels very similar to the handling of my SC the day I augered in. Looks like great practice for the next go.

jc

[milehighjc]

[BobGeezer]

Hi All,

I bought E_sky 0905A and FMS at model club B&B meeting and it has been a boon. I not only had far more stick hours, but saved my Seagull Boomerang from death for 30 months. FMS helps no end with the "flying towards you" learning when you are a beginner. I still use it for recreation and learning to fly the more difficult models even 3 years later after passing A cert a while back. I am now using it for B cert practice and has helped no end with the 2 rolls upwind + 2 reverse rolls downwind. You guys are great!

Rob, Britain.

[fmsuser]

I learned on FMS for over 2 years with a gamepad.
After that time I had enough money to buy a Plane, it was a Christen eagle from Conrad electronic(do you know this in your country? I'm German) with ailerions and a 4 channel transmitter. All was good untill at my 9. flight a blast pushed it straight in earth. But it was wonderfull. It had a 200W BL. so now i have a ARCUS from Robbe.

good flight

FMSuser

[bobk]

I first tried to learn without a simulator ... after carefully building my own EasyGlider.

I figured that I had a private pilot's license, a sea plane rating, a hang gliding rating, a paragliding rating, and an aeronautical engineering degree. How hard could it be to fly an RC? Right? Right?

I soon discovered that everything went fine when the glider was flying away from me (right was right and left was left). I was also able to get by when the glider was at 90 degrees to me. But when it came toward me, my brain had reached the limits of its flexibility, and I suffered numerous crashes followed by many hours of rebuilding.

Then I discovered the FMS simulator sold with the E-Sky? control box through Sure Flight in San Diego.

What a difference!!!!

Even though I was trying to learn to fly unpowered sailplanes, I found that the powered simulations could give me unlimited flying time. Yippee!!

I started out with "follow" mode where the viewpoint was following the plane. That was the perspective that I knew well, and I did pretty good. That gave me a feel for the controls and their responsiveness. It was also just plain fun to fly.

Then I moved to the ground perspective. As expected, takeoffs were fine. I was also fine with a long slow turn. But once it was facing me, I was still haunted with the control reversal problem and I crashed and crashed and crashed. But rather than spending hours of repair, the simulator just restarted itself and I tried again ... and again ... and again.

Eventually, my old brain figured out the mapping, and I was able to fly around the pattern. Before I knew it, I was doing aerobatics and flying other things (like the helicopter!!!). It was a great tool and it led me to many happy hours out on the slope. Thanks very much to the developer of this simulation.

And now that I've mastered the basics of RC flying, I'm passing my E-Sky simulator and one of my Easy Gliders on to a friend's son. In fact, I found this web site while looking for the latest version to pass along with the hardware. I hope he'll have at least as much fun as I have.

Thanks again,
Bob Kuczewski

[lowglow]

I would have to say that FMS definitely helped me learn to fly. I had a good friend who passed away around six years ago, he was an R/C aircraft nut, I spent allot of time watching him build and fly his models, but at the time due to finance I was unable to get involved.
Four years ago I was looking for a new hobby, it was a toss up between karting and R/C aircraft.
I decided that I wanted to learn to build the models as well as fly them so I brought a trainer model and began building it.
In the mean time a friend that owned a bike and model shop asked me to have a look at a flight sim and usb transmitter that a guy had dropped in trying to sell.
I took it home and had a play, it turned out to be FMS, I decided to purchase it myself, on the CD was a link to this place and with the help of ggunners, I started to build my own models for FMS.
I must have had at least a thousand flights on FMS before I got my trainer finished. I joined one of the local clubs and took my model out to learn how to fly the real thing.
On my first flight my instructor took of and handed me the TX, I flew around for a while, I remember the instructor commenting on not having to do much. I handed him the TX and he landed.
The second flight was much the same, except after a couple of circuits the engine died, I was way out over two paddocks and fences about 300 - 350 metres away from the strip and quite low. I began a glide back to the strip, my instructor had a bit of a panicked look on his face and asked if I was going to give him the transmitter back to which I answered, no I'm fine. I flew the model back to the strip and made a nice landing on the strip finishing up a few metres away from us, claps and cheers from all onlookers.
I went solo on my 5th flight.
If it had not been for FMS this would have never happened, I still use FMS to learn new things and often practise knife edge, slow rolls etc.