RC Flying?

[Jimalberta]

Just wondering how many rc flyers we have on this forum. If so what do you fly and where ?

 

I am just getting into it and have a Hobby Zone Super Cub as well as an ARdrone quad copter with 2 cameras on it. Been hanging around the flying field at Quatzsite and found a nice one just off boulder in Las Vegas today.

[Ronbo]

I will be getting back into the hobby shortly. I will build an octocopter for my gopro camera

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I don't consider the quadra copters to be much of a skilled R/C vehicle but they are a bunch of fun if you connect a camera. Otherwise, they go up and down. No my cup of tea.

I don't fly much any more but used to fly giant scale R/C planes which does not play well with the full time life style. I was an instructor and loved that part of it as it was not until I found a really patient instructor that I was able to successfully enter this hobby. I got bored of take-off, fly, land and needed to move into extreme aerobatics (i.e. too low, too close, too many crashes) and extreme airframes (getting a GeemBee to fly and land successfully). I got into twin engines and really big gas engines but I think that's why my hearing is slipping (what did you say?). I don't regret any of it and I really miss having my hands on the sticks. I have considered getting into some simple electrics or similar but I think I would bore myself to death in short order. It would have to be an extreme fun fly type plane and I would need to be able to find competitions along the way to test my skills.

Don't get me wrong, R/C flying is GREAT fun. You just need to be a somewhat less Type A personality than me to keep from needing more and more and being better and better. It's just like when I took up bowling. That was fun, but I was not good enough. Hire an instructor, practice everyday, bowl in league 3-4 nights per week and repeat. The good news (for me) is that I have my 300 ring!

[Jim Gell]

I have never been involved in RC flight, but I want to change that after I get on the road and get settled into my truck and trailer in a couple months. I would like to be able to shoot video like this on from the town where I grew up in the Finger Lakes of NY.

 

[Ropeshaft]

My son is an avid RC flyer and once in a while he lets me take the controls. I must admit I’m not very good at it. Being a pilot for the past 40 years I just can’t get used to making a control input and not feeling something in the seat of my pants. I do enjoy going to his RC club events and I’m amazed at the equipment some of the members have as well as their flying talent.

[hdrider]

I picked up a cheap RC helicopter. In fact 2, one is very small and I can fly it around the motorhome LOL!. I mainly wanted to hook my gopro up to it and take pictures but it hasn't been the perfect world so I think I will be buying a Phantom quadcopter.

I do go hang around air fields when we are in an area that has them. And have gone to a couple RC Airshow. But because I mainly want to take pictures and normally don't seem to hang in one spot that long the helicopters or quadcopters enable me to fly pretty much anyplace we go.

[Cyberdave]

I fly electric whenever I and use Flight Sim 6 when it's not possible to fly.

 

Adam,

 

Take a look at some of competitions on youtube. Modern electrics are fast fun and more durable. There are park flyers that enthusiasts use to fly in parks and create a obstacle course. Slow and highly maneuverable.

 

I'm also been trying my hand at building a home made "foamie".

You can build one from plans or your ideas with $1.00 foam board from multiple places like WM/$$ General and online sources. Use new electronics or if your like me, your growing stock of 5g / 9g servos, ESC's and receivers.

 

There is a fantastic forum here; http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/index.php The members are friendly and help full.

 

 

 

[Jimalberta]

My friends are into spads and I want to get good enough at flying to be able to control a spad. Then it gets fun as the spads dogfight. Spads are so cheap and easy to build that it kind of changes the sport a bit. For those of you not aware of what a spad is, it is a plane built from a rain gutter and coroplast sign board. Add a gas engine and electrics and away you go. They are fast and maneuverable and loads of fun. If you crash its no big deal as you can fix it or rebuild it in a few hrs.

 

My ARDrone I bought mostly because of the 2 onboard cameras. It will take still shots or a video of the flight. It sends a direct picture to my Ipad as well as the ability to record directly to a plug in usb flash drive onboard. I want to do aerial shots of places we visit.

[dsimpson]

They just had the 2014 Tucson Jet Rally last weekend. I took the flight line tour and listened to the particpants explain their hobby and got a close-up look at a lot of V-E-R-Y expensive toys. The jet engines alone cost several thousands dollars. The Tucson club's flying field is really first class.

[hdrider]

They just had the 2014 Tucson Jet Rally last weekend. I took the flight line tour and listened to the particpants explain their hobby and got a close-up look at a lot of V-E-R-Y expensive toys. The jet engines alone cost several thousands dollars. The Tucson club's flying field is really first class.

We attended that as well. Those guys had a lot of money wrapped up in the toys.

[skp51443]

I haven't flown for years now, I did some powered flying but really liked gliders best. I did run across this article a while back, don't drool on your keyboards!

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/26/drone_plane_madness_with_canon/

[champ_49]

I've tried and tried this flying thing........and about all I have is a pile of scrap and a lot of parts left. And I know your going to say get an instructor. Wish I could but traveling doesn't work well for that either. But the few flights that I did actually make it fly and landed without crashing were enough to make me want to do it more.

 

Dave

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I did the same thing for many years. Tried and tried and tried but mostly crashed. I found a flying field not too far from home and met someone willing to help. He taught me to fly and we became fast friends for many years. I, the student, became an instructor and passed as much knowledge and skill along any time I could as I remember the struggles I faced trying to go it alone.

Flying in circles bores me now so I make the maneuvers the show as well as flying very close to the ground (inverted!) or entering fun fly type competitions. That means I will make periodic unexpected encounters with Mother Earth and my current life style does not allow for the planes, parts and necessary repairs.

[Chouter]

My husband, a photographer, flies a DJI Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter. Loads of fun!

[Jimalberta]

As far as learning goes. I bought a phoenix flight simulator that goes in my laptop. I hook up my rc transmitter to it and learn to fly that way. Its much cheaper . The simulator has many planes and helicopters to choose from. I like that it has my plane as a choice.

[mptjelgin]

I was interested in RC flying in my younger days, but the equipment was out of reach for me ($$). In summer 2012 I was volunteering in Colorado and the assistant refuge manager was an RC enthusiast and introduced me to the new generation of electric motors and aircraft. Suddenly the hobby was affordable and the electric motor aspect eliminates most of the noise and fuss that was associated with the old glow and fuel planes.

 

So I bought a Hobby Zone Super Mini Cub ($99 including radio!) and flew the wings off of it. Literally, in a couple of cases folded the wing on an aggressive loop. But the repair parts are cheap and easily available and I had a ball. You also learn that a bit of reinforcing tape here and there makes the thing bulletproof. In Colorado I was at a NWR that had the advantage of a several thousand acre field immediately adjacent to our campsite, so I could fly whenever I wanted.

 

I decided to "move up" to a larger, faster, more capable 4-channel Park Zone T-28 that is capable of most aerobatics including loops, rolls, spins, knife-edge, inverted, etc. and still very durable with affordable replacement parts. The T-28 has a 44" wingspan and weighs in at about 2 pounds, and fits very easily in our RV. Broken down and in the box it is about 18" wide, 12" deep, and 48" long. As noted above I also purchased a Flight Simulator for my laptop, and I can "learn" the most difficult maneuvers on that without destroying my airplane over and over again.

 

At our current volunteer assignment I found a local RC club with an excellent flying facility and have joined. There are a couple of dozen very accomplished flyers there with an amazing variety of planes and I have learned a ton. They do offer basic training with "buddy boxes" for new members, and that would be the very best way to start if you are interested.

 

In the many hours I have flown there I have seen exactly ONE fuel plane, and it had a wingspan of about 8 feet! Electric power has completely taken over the RC flying arena and if you think those planes aren't capable check out some of the "3D" flying videos that are available online. Those guys are doing maneuvers that look more like a video game than flying, so Bill I'd say that there is plenty of challenge left for you!

 

Our summer volunteer gig is at Farragut State Park in Idaho, and they have an RC flying field in the park and my planes are already packed up and ready to go. I plan to fly several times a week and hone my skills. Then back here next winter and more flying with the club.

 

So I'd say that the current crop of foam, electric powered RC planes are a great fit for RV'ers like us!

 

Mark

[justRich]

I used to do RC flying.

From youtube - almost five years ago - this was taken with a cheapo Nikon in video mode.

The camper can be briefly seen in the yard.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

I used to do RC flying.

From youtube - almost five years ago - this was taken with a cheapo Nikon in video mode.

The camper can be briefly seen in the yard.

Thanks for the video!

[mb36912]

I have run into a number of RC enthusiasts wherever we have gone. We stayed at the Granger, IN KOA last summer and the owners fly RC power and sail planes. One of the weekend campers that saw me working on mine stopped and told me he has and flies a control line model.

 

I have a several glow planes and a couple of electrics. The glow are a Morris the Knife, a BalsaNova 120, a Speedy Bee, and a Kadet LT40 trainer. The electrics are a Horizon Carbon Cub SS and a Lazy Bee. The Carbon Cub SS can be stored and go anywhere as it stays in its shoebox sized case until I want to fly it. We have a toyhauler so I can keep a couple back there and a couple in the Volvo. Electrics are the way to go today......clean and long flying. I will be converting the Speedy Bee and the Kadet from glow to electric this year. The new small, electric, gyro stabilized heli's and quadcopters are very simple and fun to fly around the campsite. And the new cameras and first-person-view (FPV) systems are adding a whole new dimension to the hobby. The FPV gives you a view and lets you fly virtually from the cockpit. Some really cool stuff.

 

A great way to start is with one of the RC plane & heli simulators; it eliminates the pain and nausea associated with seeing dollars and days or weeks worth of work re-kitting itself and turning into a pile of parts. If not a simulator, most AMA affiliated clubs have a club trainer and instructor at their flying field to work with newbies and get them interested. AMA affiliated clubs and fields can be found on the AMA website at http://www.modelaircraft.org./clubsearch.aspx.

 

It's a great hobby and garners interest wherever you go

[budeneighe]

If you are on I-95 near St Augustine, FLorida, the Stagecoach RV park has an RC field behind it. Joe Petty, the owner, used to have 4 complete air fields and hosted a lot of events but now, he just keeps 1 field up. Great park, too. Mostly pull thrus and can fit most RVs.

[w4swk]

If you are on I-95 near St Augustine, FLorida, the Stagecoach RV park has an RC field behind it. Joe Petty, the owner, used to have 4 complete air fields and hosted a lot of events but now, he just keeps 1 field up. Great park, too. Mostly pull thrus and can fit most RVs.

Sharlene and I have stayed at Stagecoach RV a few times over the last couple years. I have flown with Joe a number of times...he is a very nice man and the we find the park to be superb!

[Bob A]

I'm just getting more serious, now have a flight sim and plan to buy a beaver electric in the spring, been flying little foam planes for a year, it's lots of fun!

[mptjelgin]

I am now carrying three foam RC planes with me. One is a Parkzone T-28 that is a great warbird capable of most "normal" aerobatics. Next is a Parkzone Visionaire that is more of a Pattern/3-D plane capable of doing pretty much everything. Both of these planes break down back into their original cartons when I'm on the road which makes them very compact to store. My newest plane is a little 32" Twisted Hobby Crack-Yak . This one is a small 3-D plane which stay assembled all of the time and can be flown within the confines of a baseball or soccer field (or even a gymnasium, though I've not tried that yet), so it is pretty much ready to go at any time.

 

All three are electric, so all I have to do is charge the batteries and go flying. Great hobby for RV'ers as the whole lot doesn't weigh ten pounds. And when I'm not out flying I've always got the simulator on the computer to work out the really tricky stuff. Better to crash 100 times on the sim than once in the field!!

[Ronbo]

Currently building a hexacopter to carry a go pro. Also have ordered fpv googles

[Gypsy Traveler]

Hubby has a H8C quad copter with a camera. He's looking forward to some fly time when we boondock.