any pilots here?

[Big Mike]

I've been bitten by the flying bug. I live out in WV now and there must be a small airstrip nearby. I see light planes flying around almost every day, and it's made me start thinking again about how cool it would be to have an rc plane or two (or three, or four)

So my question is: Do any of you guys mess with planes and do you have simulators? I think I'd rather play around with a simulator first rather than crash a plane right off the bat due to inexperience. My cousin has a nice one (Great Planes Realflight G3) but he won't part with it (or even loan it) and new ones are like 200 bucks. I've seen others (Esky, Dynam) for much less, like 20-40 bucks, but in this get-what-you-pay-for world I'm a little scared to pull the trigger on something that's gonna suck in the end. I don't need every bell and whistle, a bunch of different scenes to fly in, or state-of-the-art graphics. I just want to learn to fly 4 and 6 channel planes w/o destroying real ones.

Any of you guys have any of the cheaper simulators and what do you think of them? Should I just pony up for a Realflight? Or would an Esky be good enough to learn with?

[tjb]

Realflite is your best bet. For the cost it is worth it. I've been into planes for about 18yrs. It's by far the most realistic.


Although once I got into cars I feel more at ease, I can crash a $1200 car and still run (most of the time). But a scale plane around $2000 makes the heart thump if a issue comes up in flight

[JasonInAugusta]

I have Realflight G2, G3.5, FS One, and Aerofly Pro Deluxe.

I spend most of my sim time on G3.5 Can't find G2 (it's here somewhere), FS One is nice too, and Aerofly seems too easy.

FS One or G3.5 would be the way to go.


BTW...FMS is free:
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

[Shaun]

Realflight all the way, I've been flying for about 3 years now.

[Big Mike]

BTW...FMS is free:

So - another route I could take would be a real transmitter (as long as it has a training port) and the appropriate adapter cable?

I'll eventually need a transmitter anyway.

So - if I see something listed as a "trainer box" is this designed to simply link to a new pilot's transmitter so an experienced pilot can take over if bad things start happening? Or will they hook to a PC with the proper interface and software?

[Shaun]

If you want a training box pick up a old radio. it wont need power or a antenna of any sort. You can get a old futaba 6 channel for under $30.