Does Anyone On Here Fly RC Airplanes?

Nightflyer172

Nightflyer172

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Oct 28, 2009
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Fortworth TX
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Seth Jackson
I am just wondering, does anyone on here fly or have flown R/C airplanes? The reason I am asking this question is because I know alot of pilots grew up flying them. I know my dad did for sure
 
I never did but always wanted to. My parents were not real keen on the whole letting me have stuff that would catch fire thing after I accidentally launched a model rocket in the living room.
 
Oops. I know alot of pilots that still do it. I used to do Model Rockets but not anymore because you cant control where they are going. One time I launched one, and it flew up and blew up!!. I just fly Gas Airplanes and Electric
 
I wasn't an avid r/c flyer but I did fly a Litestick (looks like a big toothpick with wings) on occasion and now I own a piper cub. I was hooked more on the real thing from the start.
 
Yep! I enjoy both of them. When I was in 5th grade, I got a really nice electric 172 for christmas, but before I had a chance to fly it, someone else thought they were an expert and spun it into the ground...sigh. Probably a good thing though, that was way too much airplane for me at that experience level. I was very happy with the litestick when I received it a few years later. Nice handling, if you crashed it, it didn't explode into a ton of pieces. The only drawback was it was a fair weather flyer. I still have my old Litestick but it's in some need of repair to the horizontal stab.

The piper cub I'm also really pleased with, its not as hard to handle as you would think for an airplane it's size. A little bit faster than the litestick obviously but looks way cooler flying. I'm a little nervous with it but only in the fact I don't like crashing it because that means I have to buy parts but that's all part of learning to be a better r/c pilot. Thankfully parts aren't too bad. If you break a wing, its $20. I've seen some people put some neat features on it such as skydivers and camera systems. Maybe one day....

Me and my cub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHFIL6baN-E&feature=fvsr
 
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when i was in high school i did a nice job of converting a couple ARF trainers and an ARF 3D plane into kindling. it was a lot of fun.
 
I tried an RC airplane once, way before getting interested in GA.

The scaled results would have made national headlines, and created a rather awful NTSB report. :D I haven't done that since.
 
(My somewhat funny RC plane story follows...)

I have always been fascinated with planes, and wanted to do anything possible to be around them. In early Jr High, I decided to save my lawn-mowing money and buy a trainer RC plane. For training, I went to the local flying field (Pekin, IL). Once there, I could usually find a competent pilot to do the takeoffs/landings, and then I got to fly it while airborne.

Unfortunately, the flying field was about 5 miles from my house, and there were not many practical ways for me to get there (on my bike). So the plane ended up sitting on a shelf in our basement for many years.

I got my PP-ASEL in college, and decided that if I knew how to fly a real plane... "why couldn't I fly my RC plane?". One warm summer evening, after charging the radios, I took the plane out to the family farm, got it running, and took off.

For the life of me, I could not manage to keep the plane straight and level. It was particularly unstable in pitch... I do not know if the radios were bad, if there was radio interference, if the plane was warped from sitting for so long, or most likely - if I was just a bad RC pilot. Regardless the cause, about 45 seconds into the flight, the plane ended up crashing fairly violently (about 1/4 mile away) into the shoulder deep corn field.

I walked rows of corn that evening, and most of the next day, but never found the plane.

I gave our tenant farmer a heads-up and amazingly, a few months later, he managed to find the plane while harvesting the field. He got the combine stopped in time, and once I got the plane back - believe it or not, the radios still worked, and the engine ran.

What remains of the plane is now sitting in my parents basement... awaiting a rebuild once my 5 year old son gets old enough.
 
Nice story. I had to many crashes. A long time ago, We had a abandoned Cessna 195 that sat out in our field and it had birds nest in the cowling and really dusty and it didnt run. So I had one of my gas airplanes out and I took off. Of course I was still young, I did really low flyby's. About 15mins into the flight, I did another flyby (this one was to low) and It flew right into the atenna of the 195. I still remember seeing that fast airplane flying into that and pieces flying every where.













nyoung said:
(My somewhat funny RC plane story follows...)

I have always been fascinated with planes, and wanted to do anything possible to be around them. In early Jr High, I decided to save my lawn-mowing money and buy a trainer RC plane. For training, I went to the local flying field (Pekin, IL). Once there, I could usually find a competent pilot to do the takeoffs/landings, and then I got to fly it while airborne.

Unfortunately, the flying field was about 5 miles from my house, and there were not many practical ways for me to get there (on my bike). So the plane ended up sitting on a shelf in our basement for many years.

I got my PP-ASEL in college, and decided that if I knew how to fly a real plane... "why couldn't I fly my RC plane?". One warm summer evening, after charging the radios, I took the plane out to the family farm, got it running, and took off.

For the life of me, I could not manage to keep the plane straight and level. It was particularly unstable in pitch... I do not know if the radios were bad, if there was radio interference, if the plane was warped from sitting for so long, or most likely - if I was just a bad RC pilot. Regardless the cause, about 45 seconds into the flight, the plane ended up crashing fairly violently (about 1/4 mile away) into the shoulder deep corn field.

I walked rows of corn that evening, and most of the next day, but never found the plane.

I gave our tenant farmer a heads-up and amazingly, a few months later, he managed to find the plane while harvesting the field. He got the combine stopped in time, and once I got the plane back - believe it or not, the radios still worked, and the engine ran.

What remains of the plane is now sitting in my parents basement... awaiting a rebuild once my 5 year old son gets old enough.
Click to expand...
 
Ouch!! Sorry to hear about the 172. My cub flies nice. It weighs about 15lbs dry. Big airplane!!!! And thanks for the video of the cub. Was that a ARF or a kit? I like to make alot of foam electric airplanes from scratch so if i crash it, I can repair it easily. My latest project is a RV4









Tristar said:
Yep! I enjoy both of them. When I was in 5th grade, I got a really nice electric 172 for christmas, but before I had a chance to fly it, someone else thought they were an expert and spun it into the ground...sigh. Probably a good thing though, that was way too much airplane for me at that experience level. I was very happy with the litestick when I received it a few years later. Nice handling, if you crashed it, it didn't explode into a ton of pieces. The only drawback was it was a fair weather flyer. I still have my old Litestick but it's in some need of repair to the horizontal stab.

The piper cub I'm also really pleased with, its not as hard to handle as you would think for an airplane it's size. A little bit faster than the litestick obviously but looks way cooler flying. I'm a little nervous with it but only in the fact I don't like crashing it because that means I have to buy parts but that's all part of learning to be a better r/c pilot. Thankfully parts aren't too bad. If you break a wing, its $20. I've seen some people put some neat features on it such as skydivers and camera systems. Maybe one day....

Me and my cub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHFIL6baN-E&feature=fvsr
Click to expand...
 
The pinnacle of my RC adventures was a DeHavilland Dash 8 I scratch-designed and scratch-built. Its a high wing twin turboprop build in Canada.
Two 0.45's, all balsa, yes flaps, no retracts.
The first time I flew it was so nerve wracking I could not stand up following the landing - adrenaline surge I guess - legs got weak.
I finally learned how to fly it and enjoyed a year with it. I got good experience at vmc rollovers, when it lost an engine it would flip on its back in a heartbeat. I learned when you lose an engine, pull the power and land. Wherever that may be.
Took it to a few fly-ins and it was a big hit each time, (there was my 5 mins of fame).
Eventually after umpteen repairs (mainly gear and engine mount beefups) it got too heavy to fly anymore and I trashed it.
 
Seth,

Do you have any pictures of your 15lb cub? How big is the wingspan? Who is the designer?
 
schmookeeg said:
The scaled results would have made national headlines, and created a rather awful NTSB report. :D I haven't done that since.
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3 rc planes, 7 major crashes, I'm done. $$/hr is lower in the real thing.

After 3 planes I learned 2 big things I applied to real planes:

1. If I ever built my own plane the control rods would come loose in mid air.

2. Breaking a spin is useless if you can't recover the dive in time.
 
My Attempt at RC Glider Flying



Cool!
Get catalog
Drool
Buy

Build...build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up... build... mess up...

"OK, that's good enough..."

(It's not as cool looking as the box...)

Yay! Nice weather!

Start motor, release -- Yay! Flight!

Wow.. so high!


Hey -- is that right or left spin?

Recover, dadblamfudgit!



uh oh



THUD


Holy balsa bits...

Sweep
 
I did when I was a kid, mostly Guillows kits that I liberally modified.

But I did build one particular model airplane completely from plans. When I was a freshman in high school, we had to build a little airplane primarily out of .020 aluminum (with a few steel parts here and there to teach us about electrolytic corrosion) during one of the semesters. (The other semester, we built three wooden wing ribs, which we assembled into a wing bay the following year).

The idea of the little airplane was more to introduce us to aeronautical concepts, sheet metal skills, blueprint reading, and so forth than to actually make something that flew well. In fact, we were told in no uncertain terms that these airplanes didn't fly well, and that we'd almost certainly crash them if we tried.

Of course, that didn't stop some of us from flying them -- or trying to, at least. Frankly, having been an avid model airplane builder since I was an even littler kid, I kinda had a gut feeling that it would never fly. It was too heavy and there were too many problems with the design. But the teacher said that a very few students had indeed managed to fly and land them without crashing; and if they could do it, so could I.

Or so I thought. That arrogance and flight were a deadly mixture was a lesson I had yet to learn.

The problems with the design were myriad. The wing's airfoil wasn't designed to actually produce lift. The ailerons were a modification (the teacher actually had us fill out a mock 337 form citing a mock STC before we added them). Because the airplane was made out of metal and wasn't actually designed to fly, the wing loading was absurdly high; and because the CG was waaaay aft of where it should have been, ballast needed to be added, even after the engine was mounted.

That was, of course, assuming that the standard, wimpy, .049 engine was used. But I used a bigger engine (0.15 maybe?), without the teacher's knowledge -- nor another mock 337 form, which "solved" the CG problem. The teacher later told me that he never would have allowed me to use that engine had he known about it. Others had tried, with catastrophic results. Another lesson learned.

The maiden flight didn't go very well. Mercifully, however, it was short -- I'd guess about 15 - 30 seconds from take-off to impact. Yes, the airplane did indeed take off. But almost immediately it started corkscrewing through the air, its powerful engine screaming like a banshee creeening for the dead. I pulled back on the power, but it was too late. The torque was too much, the wing spar had buckled, and my little airplane tumbled to the ground, never to fly again.

I did repair it after the crash (after filling out yet another 337 form), but I never flew it again. I think my mother still has it packed away somewhere.

I should try to dig it out someday. Maybe if I use a smaller engine, modify the airfoil, beef up the spar....

-Rich
 
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I flew RC a lot in my younger days. Was pretty good at it. Flew pattern planes, trainers, gliders, scale. Took a J-3 cub and flew inverted down the field a few times. Power and nose high attitude to do it. Impressive.

Will do RC helicopters next. When I have time and money.
 
Has anyone ever owned and flew an RC airplane multiple times that didn't eventually crash? Seems like some sort of accident is pretty much always going to happen eventually. I didn't fly a lot of RC airplanes but I did have one somewhat spectacular crash with a friend's. We were flying from the parking lot in an area of one and two story office buildings and he handed me the controls with the plane in the air. He had an "instructor" standing by to take over if he or I got into trouble but no trainer hookup. I made a couple circuits and then suffered the typical confusion of control direction with the plane headed towards us. Within what seemed like about 5 seconds I went from controlled straight and level to an uncontrolled turning dive and as soon as I could I handed the controls to the "instructor". He got the wings level quickly but by then the plane was almost too low to see clearly. About three seconds later with the plane completely out of sight below the top of a nearby building, we heard a loud bang and the engine noise stopped. When we ran around to the other side of the building we thought the plane had hit, we couldn't find a trace of it. I somehow got on the roof and discovered that the plane had run squarely into the steel side of a rooftop HVAC unit and the only recognizable piece was part of the tail. The rest was pretty much just confetti with a few wires mixed in.

I've had quite a bit more experience with RC helicopters but am still a complete novice there. I started with a gas powered one and later got two electric models. One's a coaxial rotor type (Blade CX-2) that's really meant for flying inside a large building and the other is about twice as big and can (theoretically) fly inverted. I've had one minor incident with the CX-2 when I was flying it between cubes at my former office and it caught a rotor on the wall. The larger one is a Blade 400 and it's had two mishaps both of which involved the rotor striking the tail boom.
 
Pi1otguy said:
Basically we can fly in the 1st person, but not the 3rd.
Click to expand...

Which makes it a way different exercise.

I had a Gentle Lady (glider) I was flying and started a turn back from upwind to downwind - from my perspective on the ground, it looked like it was accelerating so I kept coming back on the stick as I was turning - classic stall spin right into the ground.

I fixed it but haven't flown it since.
 
Nightflyer172 said:
I am just wondering, does anyone on here fly or have flown R/C airplanes? The reason I am asking this question is because I know alot of pilots grew up flying them. I know my dad did for sure
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I grew up flying model planes. Came by it naturally as my dad and uncle were both avid modelers. It was a great way to learn aerodynamics, weight and balance, wingloading etc. Started off with the U-control Cox ready to fly models and then built dozens of other kits. Worst day was "Black Sunday". My two brothers, a buddy and my self took 16 U-control models to the field and cameback with only one flyable (couldn't get the second engine on my Mosquito running).

Built just about all the rubber powered 12-14 inch Guillows kits and several of the big ones too. Personal best was 23 hours and 45 minutes from opening the box to first flight on the Hawker Hurricane.

Graduated to RC in high school after I could save the money and afford the radio equipment. Everything 2 channel trainers to 5 channel. Coolest one was a Seet Stick on floats with an Enya .45. We rigged it with two bomb releases and used it to skip bomb boats on the lake with tennis balls. Never could develop a practical torpedo. I've still got a Cox Aquila glider kit in the basement but can't find the time to build it.

The only model flying I do now is an Air Hogs Twin Thunder electric helicopter my kids bought me for Fathers Day. Only about eight inches long and looks like a CH-47. It'll fly about 20 minutes on a charge and cruises around the house great!! Worth every bit of $60 bucks!

It's hard to beat RC in bang for a buck.
 
Hi, Seth,

Yeah, like many pilots, I grew up flying wind-up balsa, then control line, then R/C because, as with most here, I always loved flying. (by the way "grew up" is a relative term).

Anyway, I flew R/C when one actually had to build the planes and Goldberg was always the best. I learned on an Eagle 50, graduated to a Falcon, then a Skylark and a couple of Anniversary Edition cubs, one standard wing and one clipped wing.

Goldberg ruled back then!
 
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gismo said:
Has anyone ever owned and flew an RC airplane multiple times that didn't eventually crash?
Click to expand...

I am to the point now where I can confidently fly my Super Cub without any worry of a crash. I always fly it off pavement and do real take offs and landings as well. I really wouldn't be worried about strapping a $500 camera or something to it (if it could lift it). When I first purchased it there were a few crash, the most spectator when I snapped the wings in flight.

I'm wanting to build something now - trying to find a balsa model that is fabric covered with a tailwheel, ailerons, and functional landing gear. Max of about 50" wing span.
 
jesse said:
I am to the point now where I can confidently fly my Super Cub without any worry of a crash. I always fly it off pavement and do real take offs and landings as well. I really wouldn't be worried about strapping a $500 camera or something to it (if it could lift it). When I first purchased it there were a few crash, the most spectator when I snapped the wings in flight.

I'm wanting to build something now - trying to find a balsa model that is fabric covered with a tailwheel, ailerons, and functional landing gear. Max of about 50" wing span.
Click to expand...

I've seen several RC crashes that had nothing to do with the piloting skills of the operator.
 
yup, plenty of chances to crash.....and if you are into higher end stuff, you talkin' 5-30 grand fireballs!
 
gismo said:
I've seen several RC crashes that had nothing to do with the piloting skills of the operator.
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Yeah, it happens. Some of the newer radios are a *lot* better at handling interference. Of course there are many other potential failures.

I suppose I just haven't had a failure yet, so I'm fairly confident I'm not going to crash. It'll happen some day.

I'm sure, per flight hour, rc crashes are VERY high. :)
 
jesse said:
Yeah, it happens. Some of the newer radios are a *lot* better at handling interference. Of course there are many other potential failures.

I suppose I just haven't had a failure yet, so I'm fairly confident I'm not going to crash. It'll happen some day.

I'm sure, per flight hour, rc crashes are VERY high. :)
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Ever known any RC flyer to carry insurance on his ships?
 
AMA membership comes with secondary liability insurance on the damage that your RC plane can cause and it also covers your planes from theft but to my knowledge there is no insurance policy that will cover the plane itself due to crashes.

Seth, come on lets see that huge cub of yours...
 
gismo said:
Has anyone ever owned and flew an RC airplane multiple times that didn't eventually crash?
Click to expand...

Sure, tons of times. There are a few tricks:

a) start with an easy to fly plane
b) get help on your first few flights from someone more experienced
c) fly it only in a really big field, on days with zero wind
d) buy a simulator, such as RealFlight G4, which lets you practice crashing on virtual planes
e) make sure you enjoy doing repairs as much as you enjoy flying. :)

Chris
 
I hate doing repairs on balsa airplanes. Sometimes if your lucky, the damage wont be that bad.. My cub has not been ran for a while. I need to get it out and flying again. I think there might be a problem with it. It was my airplane that I got for christmas and the one that I soloed. Pretty fun
 
I started out building plastic non flying models ,then all balsa free flight "Ranger" with .020 ,time the fuel and chase them down. then U control:mad2:,never did get the hang of that. Then RC-Falcon 56-.15 enya ,single escapement-build all winter,fly/crash/ fix-fly/ crash /fix-- skip 20 years, Sig Kadet MK II,.40 ,Kraft radios--fly/crash/fix repeat 4 times, change to something slow and easy ,two meter glider fly/ fly/ fly/ fly/-- Sig Kavalier fly/ fly/ fly/fly/ crash, build a swizzle stik O.S .25, get impatient, fly when it's too windy, try and trim, it's gets smaller and smaller downwind, cut the power, look for days, give up looking . Build a Gentle Lady 2 meter glider FLY/fly /fly ,neighbor kids want to see it fly, it's too windy but stretch out the hi-start, up ,up,up,it won't come off the tow hook , dive steep then quick up elevator ,wing snaps in two ,fuselage turns into a dart. Give up RC for awhile, sell everything,10 years pass, buy all new RC stuff. It sit's for a couple of years, I decide to go GA, sell all the RC stuff,buy hanger, buy PA-28-180, take flying lessons,get pp-sel, fly/fly/fly/fly/fly/fly, NO CRASHs:rolleyes:
Conclusion: GA is cheaper and safer(easy on the fingers) than R/C
 
el con said:
I started out building plastic non flying models ,then all balsa free flight "Ranger" with .020 ,time the fuel and chase them down. then U control:mad2:,never did get the hang of that. Then RC-Falcon 56-.15 enya ,single escapement-build all winter,fly/crash/ fix-fly/ crash /fix-- skip 20 years, Sig Kadet MK II,.40 ,Kraft radios--fly/crash/fix repeat 4 times, change to something slow and easy ,two meter glider fly/ fly/ fly/ fly/-- Sig Kavalier fly/ fly/ fly/fly/ crash, build a swizzle stik O.S .25, get impatient, fly when it's too windy, try and trim, it's gets smaller and smaller downwind, cut the power, look for days, give up looking . Build a Gentle Lady 2 meter glider FLY/fly /fly ,neighbor kids want to see it fly, it's too windy but stretch out the hi-start, up ,up,up,it won't come off the tow hook , dive steep then quick up elevator ,wing snaps in two ,fuselage turns into a dart. Give up RC for awhile, sell everything,10 years pass, buy all new RC stuff. It sit's for a couple of years, I decide to go GA, sell all the RC stuff,buy hanger, buy PA-28-180, take flying lessons,get pp-sel, fly/fly/fly/fly/fly/fly, NO CRASHs:rolleyes:
Conclusion: GA is cheaper and safer(easy on the fingers) than R/C
Click to expand...
Oops: forgot to mention buy an Airfield (6Y9) before buying the plane or getting PPL:nonod:
 
tonycondon said:
when i was in high school i did a nice job of converting a couple ARF trainers and an ARF 3D plane into kindling. it was a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

You did that in college, too on at least one occasion, if memory serves.
 
Teller1900 said:
You did that in college, too on at least one occasion, if memory serves.
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yea. what is the saying? don't let anyone else fly your plane unless you can afford to lose it?

I cant even remember how I crashed it.
 
I flew RC helos for a while a few years ago, got way too expensive. Currently I'm finishing up a design for an RC plane I plan to build this coming semester. I'm using a material called coroplast, it's corrugated plastic. Pretty strong and quite light. Planning to use a 10A brushless motor, 11" prop. 54" wingspan, 5 channel (elevator, rudder, aileron, flaps). Using a 2.4Ghz radio. Total cost is about $150 for all the parts and materials.
 
I got into RC flying for a few years during a period when I couldn't fly full size aircraft. It was great fun and scratched the aviation itch a little bit.

As far as crashes being inevitable, I've owned six airplanes. Two I flew for a while with no crashes and then sold them because I moved up to more advanced airplanes. Two I flew for a couple of years without crashes and I still have them although I haven't flown them for four years or so. The other two I lost to crashes. One of those was a mid air with another airplane whose pilot was flying in the wrong direction in the pattern, and the other crashed when I had to dive out of the way of another airplane whose pilot lost control of it. I was so busy avoiding being hit by it that I forgot about my plane and it flew into the ground. After that I decided that flying full sized airplanes is a lot safer.
 
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