Beginner RC Hobby

Beginner RC Hobby – How to Get Started

People often want to know how to get started in the RC hobby. Thousands enter this hobby each year. Some want to reclaim fond memories of good times of flying RC airplanes in their younger years. Others want to fly model planes with their children.

Beginning RC enthusiasts soon learn that they can invest a little time and money into the hobby and have great fun. They can also sink thousands of dollars and enormous amounts of time into various aspects of flying RC planes and have more fun than they could have imagined.

Everyone has to start out at the same place. No matter how many dollars you plop down on fancy equipment at the beginning, you must develop basic RC skills before you can get a plane into the air and keep it there.

Oh, you have to land the plane, too. Anyone can get the plane down, but you’ll want to learn to land it without crashing.

Those entering the RC hobby are usually interested in building RC planes from kits or from scratch, in learning to fly RC planes or in a combination of both these areas.

For others, like me at this point, an interest in RC airplanes starts out as a spectator sport. I’m far more interested in remote control as a voyeur, whether doing online research for this website or tagging along at the airfield or RC event with my brother.

Where does one start in aeromodeling as a hobby?

One place is by asking the question, “How does a plane fly?”

People have sought to answer that question for thousands of years. The Wright Brothers, of course, with their early flights in Kitty Hawk, finally proved that man could fly along with his airplane. Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of airplanes and crafted detailed drawings.  Icarus and Daedalus, although mythological characters, no doubt grew out of the musings of countless dreamers who longed to soar toward the sun.

Beginner RC pilots must gain an understanding about how air, on birds as well as airplanes, lifts wings as they move forward. You begin to understand how a lack of speed equals an absence of lift, which causes the plane to fall out of the air, stall and crash. As you learn more about how and why a plane flies, your skills in controlling the plane increase.

An excellent educator packet is available at the Academy of Aeronautics website. It includes hand-outs, templates and an excellent video suitable for educators or anyone in charge of a group of young people interested in basic aeronautics. To read more about this, see RCRodeo’s article, “Learn How to Fly Remote Control Planes: Basic Beginner Aeronautics Lesson.”

Introductory Questions Related to the RC Hobby:

What does R/C stand for?

Radio-Controlled. The R/C hobby deals with flying and assembling or building aircraft controlled remotely by a hobby pilot.

What are R/C airplanes made of?

Most planes are built from balsa wood, lightweight plywood. Some of made from fiberglass or composite materials.

How big are R/C airplanes?

Most remote controlled planes have wingspans that range from two to ten feet, although there are planes that are half the size of full-scale aircraft. They can weigh from about ten ounces to more than 50 pounds. My brother has shown me planes that weigh in excess of 75 pounds or more.

What controls an R/C airplane?

Pilots control their planes with a handheld radio transmitter that sends signals to a receiver inside the aircraft. Small motors called “servos” translate messages from the receiver to move control surfaces of the plane. These control surfaces include rudder, ailerons, elevators and other moving parts of the plane.

What types of R/C planes are there?

Although creative individuals can turn almost anything into a flying aircraft, we generally think of planes such as a Cessna, biplanes, gliders, sailplanes, racers, sports aircraft, Vintage World War I and World War II warbirds. Sleek modern versions perform 3-D aerobatics. If a full-scale version ever existed, chances are that someone has built a remote controlled smaller replica of it.

How does an R/C plane receive power? RC aircraft use nitro or gasoline mixtures for fuel in “glow” planes. Technology has brought longer lasting, efficient and trustworthy types of batteries; so many planes have turned to electric motors run on battery power.

What are the best RC planes for beginners?

There are two major types of remote control airplanes: Electric-powered planes and internal combustion-powered planes. Each type has particular merits.

Electric RC planes are most popular for beginners. They are cleaner, especially since all the mess resulting from using fuels is not necessary. They are quieter, which is especially helpful when flying in populated areas. They are also less expensive, which is a real benefit when learners crash their planes. Crashes happen. Count on it.

Nevertheless, some beginner pilots go for the glow (or fuel-powered) planes. There are ways for them to learn, such as starting out with a buddy or two at the local RC club. Special glow planes come recommended as trainer RC planes.

What is the best method to learn to fly RC planes?

The hobby boasts countless devotees to the sport who learned to fly the old-fashioned way. They went into their backyards and taught themselves. Can you still do this? Of course you can. You can crash your plane and start over just as long as your patience, time and wallet allow. Replacing a demolished aircraft gets to be expensive. Pilots do teach themselves and fly – eventually.

An excellent way to learn to fly is to find a local RC club and hook up with one or two mentors. They know the ropes, understand the problems you will encounter, and often volunteer to man a buddy box with you. What’s a buddy box? Remember your driver’s education instructor who had his own brakes and emergency gear on his side of the driver’s training car? It’s like that. Your RC buddy can take the controls using a buddy box at the precise moment you make a mistake that will crash your plane.

One of the best methods when you’re learning to fly is to do it like real airplane pilots do: use a flight simulator. Home computers allow novice pilots to practice flying right from their own computer chairs, on rainy and windy days, and without any risk whatsoever of damaging their RC airplane. Simulated practice allows for making mistakes over and over again until the pilot knows what to expect and how to correct mistakes – before stepping onto a real airfield with an expensive model plane.

Where is the best place to fly?

Not everyone has easy access to wide-open spaces in which to practice their first RC flights. One of the earliest things to learn in RC flying lessons is where to fly the plane. All too often people set an object flying into the air, and into telephone poles, trees, bushes, lakes, cars, other people and even into themselves. Definitely not smart.

Most important of all is to heed basic advice

Learn the rules and regulations of flying. The AMA, or Academy of Model Aeronautics , has guidelines and established regulations RC hobbyists must follow. Know them. Keep yourself and others safe.

Have patience. RC pilots don’t learn to fly planes in a day. Crashes happen. Yes, they do. Plan for them.

Have fun. Endless fun. Always.