From the Left Seat to the Right Stick

I am a full-scale pilot who, because life happens, had to give up the left seat.  Though I still had the passion, I thought that was the end of my life in the air.  Then along came Flite Test.  This is my story of transitioning from the pilot's left seat to the RC plane's right stick.

In high school, I learned to fly for fun, but wasn't able to finish my pilot's license.  After a stint in Navy submarines, I finished my Private Pilot - Single Engine License.  Later, I worked as a Flight Director on aerostats (balloons) lofting radar surveillence systems in Yuma, AZ. 

Those days are behind me, but I haven't for a moment lost the love of flight. 

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."    -- Leonardo da Vinci

Through the magic of RC flight, Flite Test fanned the embers of my passion for aviation.  I can fly again!

Making the transition from the left-seat position of a private pilot to the right stick of an RC transmitter has taught me flight like I never imagined.  The move from first-person view from the cockpit to third-person view changes everything, of course.  Not the least of which is the challenge of getting my old eyeballs to see a small RC plane in the distance.  Suffice it to say that challenge alone gave me ample opportunity to practice my plane-building skills.

My first FT-Flyer.  What a gem for beginners!

My first airframe was the FT Flyer at the recommendation of my friend and mentor, Mike.  He, having no mentor himself, taught himself to fly by watching Josh and Josh's how-to videos.  I, on the other hand, jumped in with both feet, mostly because I had a lot of confidence in my full-scale flying skills.  This made for some colorful "submarine" language on my part!  

Mike would fly an airframe until it was fully depreciated.  Me, I would swap hulls and build a new powerpod at the first sign of damage.  I wanted to have consistant behavior from my plane during the learning process, and as time progressed, I caught up to Mike.  Now, we both fix minor damage and see if it will still fly.  We have a joke between us:  We fly junk.  By the looks of our planes, you'd think so, too.  But even that has made us more competent, experienced fliers.

Nowadays, I still fly my highly-modified FT Flyer, but it lasts me weeks or months instead of a day or two at the flying field.

Ouch !!  What more needs to be said?

With time and repetition, I developed the muscle memory to fly comfortably and safely, even when other people are in our flying park.  I don't feel task-saturated nearly as often today as I did as little as six months ago.  I fly whenever I have the time, and I make the time a lot!  I have even had the opportunity to be a small part of helping others learn the art of RC flight. 

So, what have I learned in the transition to RC flight?  

It can be done on a budget.  <Thank you Flite Test!!!!!>.  With foam board and hot glue, mistakes in the air are inexpensive in both time and materials.  In most cases, the expenisve bits can be swapped to a new airframe.

Old farts need to fly more than once a week.  It takes time to build the muscle memory needed to fly with confidence.  A week or two between lessons doesn't work.  Lessons need to be reinfoced quickly or they fade between sessions.  Don't short change yourself; fly as much as you can.

A careful preflight is just as important in RC aviation as in general aviation.  Check the controls.  The last crash (sometimes just a hard landing) may have hurt the plane.  Better to fix problems before launch than discovering through the terror of an out-of-control flight.  Scan the field before launch for people or other hazards that may have moved into your space. 

Respect the torque those tiny little motors produce.   They can do impressive damage to fingers, thumbs, and hands.  (Learned this one the hard way.  It took over a month for my hand to heal.)

What "being behind the power curve" means.  And how to fly inverted.  And why you fly 2-3 mistakes high when learning new skills.  And how strong a wing needs to be for high-G maneuvers.  And how to fly in wind WAY over your plane's capabilities.  And I lived to tell about it. 

Wring all the learning out of each plane design.   And don't be afraid to experiment with changes.  Some changes stick, others are a one-flight experiment that's best not repeated, and both are opportunities to learn.  And sometimes to laugh!

Josh Bixler was right -- flying with friends is many times more rewarding than flying alone.

My first night flight of 2017.  Such fun!

The best part is that a flight surgeon can't ground me for having my pacemaker in my chest!

What's your story?  Tell me about the path that led you to RC flight.  If you came from the left seat, what other lessons did you learn from RC?

Create!  Aviate!  Depreciate!  Iterate!

-- Rick