8 Things You Can Do to Become a BETTER RC PILOT!

Here are eight straight-forward, no-nonsense, bite-sized tips to help you become a better pilot.

There is always the opportunity to become a more skilled Radio Control pilot, you just have to provide yourself with the best environment for picking up these new skills one-by-one. With that being said, here are 8 top tips for all RC pilots; from complete beginners to aces.

1. Have a 'throw around' airplane

You should get yourself a plane that you really don't care for much. What I mean by that is: you get better at flying when you stop worrying about crashing. This plane should have:

Low mass
High survivability
Enough agility to learn new skills

Essentially, get yourself a plane you don't need to fix up after every flight. Keep it in the back of your car and always have the batteries charged. Here's myself and Josh having a lot of fun with the tiny Nano Goblin from STRIX. You'll see for yourself that the thing can take a beating, crash into trees, and just keep on flying. It's a great candidate.

2. Fly to crash

You should try dusting off an old plane nearing retirement and use it as sacrificial aircraft. Now, hold up, I know this seems extreme but hear me out! Most of us pilots who've been flying for at least a few years probably know that you acquire quite a collection of old planes very quickly. Before you throw them away, try bodging one back together and get it into the air. As the plane's nearing the end of its life, you can now fly daringly without fear. Try flying inverted, see how low you can go, put your plane into a combat event! Fly knowing that even if you end up crashing, you'll definitely learn something along the way.

3. Keep spare airframes

If you have a favorite plane, invest in some spare fuselages, wings and props to keep it flying if you do happen to suffer a crash. Get familiar with your plane too: dismantle it, clean it, go over how it fits together. This is how you go from having a brand new airplane to a well loved airplane.

4. Land, land, and land again

Ironically, landing is one of the trickiest parts of flying. It takes a lot of practice to judge airspeed, to keep your wings level and flair at just the right moment. To get better, just keep landing! Choose a plane that can keep taking those hits for when you mess up. Progress to something with flaps and gear, if you wish, to give yourself more to think about. Like everything in life, you just have to keep trying - and often failing.

5. Fly a ton of different airplanes

You'll become a more experienced RC pilot if you can get your hands on lots of different kinds of RC aircraft. If you don't have a lot of different planes available to you, you can always get a simulator. Simulators are always good ways to practice, especially if you have over fifty different models on there to fly.

6. Buy some more batteries

If you have yourself a good number of Lipos, you'll be able to fly more when out at the field. For this reason, try building up a decent collection of batteries. Get lots of the same types too. A 2200mah 3s is an extremely versatile type and a good to have lots of. Having standardized batteries will encourage you to build/buy planes that all fit the same battery types, so you can choose to fly one plane more or many different airplanes equally for hours at the field. It gives you that added flexibility.

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7. Take more planes to the field

Make a day of it instead of just flying one battery in one plane. I used to fall into the trap of waiting days for some nice weather and then simply flying for just 20 minutes when favorable conditions rolled around. As with the last point, take lots of batteries and fly lots of different planes. Take your friends and family, some food and coffee and have a brilliant time. You'll find that, when you pack more flying into one day, you'll learn new skills much faster.

8. Learn about aerodynamics

I would hope it be obvious that knowing more about how airplanes fly, and the less common nuances of aerodynamics, makes you a better pilot! Lucky for you, there's an ongoing series of articles on flitetest.com called Aerodynamics Simplified. Here are all of the articles so far:

With the extra knowledge of how complex airframe shapes cut through the air, such as swept wings and stubby fuselages, you'll find yourself better equipped to meet the challenges of flying more advanced aircraft types.