This session varies with the interest of my students. Some want to build a plane from a kit while most want a RTF right out of the box. At a minimum I cover how some basic repairs are made and what glues are used in the hobby and how they are used and what protections to take for themselves and the furniture. If time allows I cover batteries and chargers briefly during this session. We review how to turn a plane and how to end a turn and I encourage them to think and pretend fly a plane through several turns. If time allows I have the students fly a coaxial helicopter with focus on throttle control and going on from there.

Lesson 4: Flying with the Flight Simulator

If I let my students vote I am sure they would vote to start with the flight simulator with the first meeting. But I also find they don't hear me nearly as well once they are on the flight simulator. I use both Real Flight and Phoenix flight simulators. I enjoy both but I find the lessons on Real Flight to be very valuable for all levels of pilots. I have found the advance lessons for aerobatics and helicopter training to be extremely helpful in advancing my own skills, especially into 3D helicopter flying. Phoenix has videos that are helpful for the beginner. They enjoy the various trainer planes but especially the Super Cub. I expose students to both and it is their choice if they want to buy a simulator and if so which one they buy. During this first session on the simulator I give a demonstration flight with a view from the ground. I don't try to teach after that demo flight but I do answer questions. Mostly I let them fly and crash and just experience the simulator from a ground view. It can be both a very enjoyable lesson for some and frustrating for others. They rotate on and off the simulator and the amount of time depends on the number of students. All too soon the time is up and the lesson is over. For large classes I will offer a "Lab Session" where they have only two pilots for the time period and they split the available time on the simulator.

Lesson 5 Flying with a View from the Chase Position

Here I have the students fly on the simulator with a view from the chase plane. They are right behind the plane as if they were following in the chase position. They are always oriented to their plane and they have a lot more success in flying the simulator plane from this view then they did the previous week from the ground view. FYI I use trainer type planes on the simulator. Students are now able to get a better feel and more success of how they control the plane by viewing from this position.

Lesson 6 More Simulator Flight Time from the Chase Position but with a pylon course to navigate.

This week they can't just take off and fly in any direction. They remain in the chase position but now they have to fly a pylon course. Sometimes we do this at night with lighted pylons just to make it even more challenging for the last flight session of this lesson. The confidence level after this session is generally pretty good with some pilots thinking they are ready for the real world and not needing any more practice. I discourage that and tell them one more session and if they do well then they can fly.

Lesson 7-9 Back to Ground View with the Flight Simulator

At the start of lesson 7 I let the most confident students go first and there is usually a liberal use of the reset button as flying from the ground view is a lot more challenging then from the chase view they were using the previous two weeks. By the end of lesson 7 most of my students are flying much better from the ground view then they were the first time back in week 4.

Lessons 8 and 9 are more of the same. Practice time on the flight simulator in preparation for their first flights. In lesson eight I do a short demo flight where I set the throttle at a nice cruising rate and I make turns just bumping the right stick in very short increments to make turns. It is my way to remind them that short stick movements are all that is needed.

Trainer Planes

As mentioned above I have tried a number of trainer planes over the years and recently have encouraged students who wanted to buy their own plane to get a small plane to learn with for several reasons. The reason I encouraged using small planes is that we have many calm mornings when small planes can function fine outside. They can easily be flown in parks and smaller fields. If you turn the motor off there is little chance they will be damaged in most crashes. My students have for the most part accepted my advice and the planes of choice have been micro planes including: Playmates, Champs and the little Albatros. These planes have worked very well for my students and have generally needed little or no repairs and have held up very well to the mistakes the students have made in the learning process. I still recommend the small planes but I discuss two new and larger planes below that are worthy of consideration and now get my recommendation.

For larger planes there are a number of good ones including the Sensei and the Super Cub. I now use the Sensei on a buddy box to give the students a chance to fly a large plane at one of the flying fields I have access too. The Sensei tracks like it is on rails so it goes where directed. Its response is very predictable so I know what the student is doing if there are any problems. It is large and it can easily be seen what direction the Sensei is heading. I now have two of these planes to use in my training classes and I remain very happy with it as my buddy box plane. I also like that it is powerful enough to handle some wind and yet remain very docile. For Sunday flying I like the drop box it has and the ability to catch a strong thermal and sometimes soar with the motor off. I have ended up flying the Sensei for my personal use much more than I expected I would. It is a great plane.