John,
I'm a real-time pilot, who thought "Learning to fly models will
be duck soup."
I tried flying the Cessna 182 from the ground using MS
Flight Simulator 98, and promptly crashed twice -- made me a little
nervous. So I picked up a copy of RealFlight Simulator recently off
RCOnline.com.
I crashed the PT-40 Trainer 200 times the first night after loading up the
software. 2nd night, less than 40 crashes. 3rd night, tried the Piper Cub
with fantastic success, getting back to a safe landing on the runway may 50%
of the time.
4th night and ever since - I've been flying the pants of the PT-19 (my
favorite) and the P-51. And I'm now quite comfortable doing figure 8's low
to the
ground out in front of me.
I recommend RealFlight very highly as a means of saving a lot of crashing,
rebuilding, and discouragement out at the model flying site. I'm using
Great Planes' "fake" Futaba TX. I dislike flying without ailerons, but will
have to train myself on rudder-elevator only, since most 2-meter floater
type gliders are not equipped with ailerons.
An experienced R/C pilot tried the program, and said, "No wonder! The
simulator's PT-40 doesn't really behave right." He thought the Piper Cub
simulator, however, was superb. He has a Carl Goldberg Cub which he has
been flying for 12 years -- no crashes.
Another real time pilot stopped over a few days ago. And in three minutes,
he had me doing pretty straight aileron rolls (no loss of altitude). Pretty
cool.
John Page
Medford, Oregon
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