On 2/17/2015 6:45 PM, Califbill wrote:
wrote:
On Monday, February 16, 2015 at 7:08:10 PM UTC-5, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/16/2015 6:31 PM, wrote:
On Monday, February 16, 2015 at 12:25:26 PM UTC-5, John H. wrote:
The big difference between simulators/real airplanes and RC airplanes - in sims or
real planes, the nose of the plane is in front of you. With an RC plane, at least
part of the time, the nose is pointed at you. That means the left and right controls
are reversed. This, I believe, is what causes the most problems, at least for me.
Another related difference is that pilots in a real plane has a seat of
the pants, first person view. Not so with RC.
Something that helps newbies to RC is that when the airplane is flying
towards you and the controls are reversed, your can turn your body so
the transmitter is faced the same way as the plane, but look back over
your shoulder at the plane. That way the stick moves to the right, the
plane moves to the right. It's a crutch, but with some more stick time
it'll come naturally.
I don't think there's much at all in common comparing RC flying and
flying a real airplane. Speed scale is totally different. Turns
and maneuvers are not anything close to being realistic to flying an
airplane.
I see it as a fun hobby for many but to compare it to actually flying
an airplane it isn't even close.
If you think about it, it's very similar. The same rules apply, the
aircraft reacts the same way. RC planes can do things that real planes
can't, but they also suffer from the fact that they don't fly quite the
same way. Said another way, the air molecules are still the same size,
while the wings and control surfaces of RC planes are far smaller.
That's why truly scale RC planes don't tend to fly very well.
Good RC pilots can fly very realistically. I saw a jet done up in Fed-Ex
colors being flown slowly and with coordinated turns. It looked very
real, except for the size, although it was still large with about a 10 foot wingspan.
But while you may have not meant it, your attitude is common with "real"
pilots. They think of RC planes as toys. And they crash them when they
first try to fly them, thinking that if they can fly the real thing, they
can fly the toy. They cannot. 
Real pilots hope to walk away from a crash. RC pilots walk towards it!
The airplanes do not react the same way. Lots more mass and leverage
differences in a real airplane.
The more I think about it the more the differences become obvious.
When starting your take off roll, how do you "steer" the RC? Or do you?
When landing, how do you correct for crosswinds? Dipped wing or slip?
What's your pre-flight like. What's a "run up". Magneto check limits?
What's your landing pattern procedures?
How do you stop the plane when you land?
How do you control direction of the plane when taxiing?
Those are but a few very basic issues of "real" flying that I don't
think the average RC pilot deals with.
I have a lot of respect for the RC hobbyist who builds his own airplane
from a kit or from scratch, assembling all the frame and wing sections,
flaps, ailerons, tail, etc. Then he covers the airframe with paper or
cloth and seals it. He wires all the control motors and tests.
Might take him the better part of a year to do at a cost of several
thousand dollars. Then he gets the satisfaction of it's first
successful flight. To me, that's a true RC hobbyist.
Ordering one from Amazon, ready to fly, for a couple of hundred bucks
and a pair of aviator sun glasses just isn't the same thing to me.