RC Planes for Beginners – Tip Two

Learn to Fly first on an RC Simulator

Fresh in the knowledge of the “mode” of transmitter you wish to learn on (from part one of this article series), you are now in a position to source yourself a good simulator to practice on. The key reason it’s helpful to learn on a simulator is that you’ll get good “directional co-ordination” – remember, when your plane is coming at you, leaning right on the rudder will make the plane look like it is going left!

Also you’ll be able to practice landings without having to do lots of repairs. Personally I crashed on the simulator approx 30 times before I successfully landed, so don’t be put off if it takes you a while to get the hang of RC flying, it is a skill and takes time to consistently get right. (But the simulator is heaps of fun!)

Radio Controlled Aircraft Simulators

There’s a free package called FMS, but you’ll need to be handy with computers to connect your transmitter to the USB port. Further to this, the graphics and realism are not brilliant. It’s good for free, but there are better ones around if you have the money for them.

RealFlight G5 and Phoenix

Definitely two of the better ones, both have great graphics, flight instruction lessons, and you can turn on plenty of environmental factors such as wind gusts to increase the realism and the challenge. Both are highly recommended. They also come bundled with controllers in either Mode 1 or Mode 2, so no mucking around with your computer, just plug them in, install the software and you’re ready to learn!

RealFlight has the added bonus of a healthy discussion board, where users can upload their own aircraft. You need to check the ratings to ensure the models contributed are realistic, however there are some lovely examples available (generally for free too!). Phoenix can be found here.

Clearview is another airplane simulator which is reasonably popular in the radio control community – it’s a great option to consider if funds are tight but you’d like something a little more advanced than FMS.

I’ll continue with the next few steps in my next post!

Realflight G5 - perfect simulator for beginners to RC planes