ITT Learn How To Fly RC Planes

[GBLynden]

Your First RC Plane

This thread contains the Best RC Plane Beginner Advice I can offer someone looking to get into flying RC Planes safely and with the highest probably of success. While there are many different schools of thought on how to approach this, listed below are the planes and tips I offer folks asking questions in the comments sections of my YouTube videos, which have helped 100’s of people worldwide achieve success in this hobby.

Before you can rip at 100MPH with that cool looking EDF Jet that flies with a 6S brick for a battery, you need to develop the muscle memory to handle split second decision making. That often will make a difference between a pile of foam on the ground or getting your plane safely back on the ground in one piece.

I have found that the best way to get there is select what is best described as an RC Trainer Plane as your first plane. This is generally one that has a high wing placement on the body of the plane and some up angle called dihedral. What that does it is make the plane more stable and easier to fly. They also tend to be less frill oriented meaning they do not have flaps or retracts. For the beginner, those are just an added layer of scale complication that is not needed at the beginning of your RC Journey.

A very common type of Beginner RC Plane are known as a Ready To Fly (RTF) RC Planes. I show and describe a few common offerings below:

Arrows Pioneer - This is currently the best trainer plane for less than $160 IMHO

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



WL Toys Cessna 182 - Price and durability are its biggest selling points, but you should be in high rates for success.

Unboxing & Maiden Flights:



FMS Ranger with GPS - This is more complicated than most trainer planes, but it flies great.

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



Apprentice STS 1.5M RTF - This is the Gold Standard for RC Trainer Planes, but it is a lot of money for most beginners to invest before they are ready to fully commit to the hobby.



Possible Second Planes

These are often High-Wing RC Planes, RC Gliders, and some other slow flyers like the UMX Night Vapor shown:

E-flite UMX Night Vapor

Unboxing:



Shop Flight:



E-flite UMX Timber

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



Durafly Ugly Stick

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



E-flite UMX Radian

Unboxing:



Flight Video With Bugs:



Arrows SZD-54 Glider

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



E-flite Night Radian

Bill's Maiden Flight:



Night Flight:



Possible Third Planes

Once you master flying the 4-channel planes in the second plane list, you may be able to consider the planes listed below as a third plane.

E-flite Turbo Timber Evolution

Maiden Flight:



Durafly Tundra



E-flite T-28 Trojan - A great beginner warbird

Unboxing:



Second Flight:



E-flite Carbon-Z Cessna

Second Flight:



Maiden Float Flight:



Possible Fourth Planes

RC Warbirds

The best first RC Warbird is a mid-winged plane like a T-28. It generally does not matter which brand, though some come with some excellent features such as gyros.

Arrows T-28 Trojan - Tim modified this for way more speed than stock.

Demo Flight After Upgrades:



H-King Moonbeam McSwine

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



H-King A-1 Skyraider

Maiden Flight:



E-flite P-51 Mustang - This is the most advanced option on this list and the most expensive.

Flight Demo:



RC Twins

E-flite Twin Otter

Bill’s Maiden Flight:



Avios King Twin

Maiden Flight:



Avios Albatross HU-16 V2

Maiden Flight:



FMS Tigercat

Tigercat Demo:



RC Biplanes

E-flite Ultimate 3D

Bill’s Maiden Flight:



E-flite Pitts 850

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



FMS 1400mm V2 - This requires 6S batteries, so this is not for beginners to bipes

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



Best First EDF Jets

Arrows Viper

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



E-flite UMX Citation

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



E-flite F-15 64mm EDF

Unboxing:



Maiden Flight:



E-flite UMX A-10 - The CG can be tricky to dial in, but once it is, what a great RC Jet!

Complete Unboxing & Maiden Flights:



Fun Flight:



Freewing Lippisch P.15 64mm - A launch switch and fabric grip tap help with launch success

Unboxing:



Fun Flight:



Please ask any reasonable question below and I will do my best to answer them. For those of you with your own strong opinions regarding a recommended path to success with RC Flight, please be civil as we help those that need our guidance to enjoy this wonderful hobby

[bfdehewdbyywhn]

got one when I was a kid and when it flew more than 50ft away it would fall out the sky

[GBLynden]

got one when I was a kid and when it flew more than 50ft away it would fall out the sky

Oh wow, that sounds like a range and/or stall issue. Do you remember what it was and who made it?

[tunafishha]

What do you like most about RC planes?

[GBLynden]

What do you like most about RC planes?

Oh man, there are so many things! You can go from the rush of flying a 6S EDF Jet 100mph+ by your face for a massive rush or put up a glider to just float around with the birds and suck in the serenity of a beautiful day.

OP, where do you order your stuff from? Tower Hobbies or Amain or somewhere else?

Normally I order from Hobbyzone as I have a great relationship with them and they are a family owned company. I do order from a wide variety of companies depending on what I want though, and sometimes that is Amain

GB

[Skeptical_Hippo]

Got into this for a little bit.

Bought that Pitts up there, and a Durafly Tundra. The thing I hate the most about these things is how fragile they are. You make 1 mistake and you destroy the entire plane, you also have to crazy glue the fukkin thing back together if it breaks. My friends' planes are all glued and taped together.

I wrecked both planes cause I fly kind of aggressively and I'll never own another rc plane again lol.

After that, I got into FPV drones because they are really strong, and I spent 2 months trying to troubleshoot a ****ing prebuilt Nazgul WITH people who have been flying for years. This whole hobby is tedious, finicky, and annoying. Brb watching 500 Joshua Bardwell videos to try and fix my problem.

It would fall out of the sky from a transmitter connection loss and plummet to earth from 50 feet with my brand new GoPro 8 attached to it. Would end up 30 yards away after flying off the drone. That's if I could even get the goggles to connect.

You have to solder everything and its all ****ing annoying. I would use a DJI for the video work if it didnt have geo fencing.

The stupid batteries only last 4 minutes and you have to use a fireproof bag because they might just explode one day. You also can't drain the batteries past a certain point because you might permanently ruin them.

Hard pass on that entire hobby, good on you for being into it but I will never pick any of that sh*t up ever again. I still have my Taranis X9 Lite and a TBS Crossfire on the back.

I disassembled my entire drone and gave it all away to friends.

I'll just stick to guns, they work and they never break.

[GBLynden]

I had to laugh out loud and pump my fists in the air at the Joshua Bardwell reference. I have been there myself until I decided to just stick with planes instead of trying to keep up with all of the Betaflight updates. Btw, he is looking like he has been hitting the gym lately and not near as puffy as he used to be.

Based on what you are telling me, I am guessing that you skipped some steps in your RC Plane progression because other than a rare crash, that should not be happening. That E-flite Pitts is a hard plane to land on pavement due to its short-coupled nature. It is fun in the air though!

The cool thing about life these days is there are tons of hobby options, so all good if you will not be jumping back in and thank you for your post.

GB

[Skeptical_Hippo]

I had to laugh out loud and pump my fists in the air at the Joshua Bardwell reference. I have been there myself until I decided to just stick with planes instead of trying to keep up with all of the Betaflight updates. Btw, he is looking like he has been hitting the gym lately and not near as puffy as he used to be.

Based on what you are telling me, I am guessing that you skipped some steps in your RC Plane progression because other than a rare crash, that should not be happening. That E-flite Pitts is a hard plane to land on pavement due to its short-coupled nature. It is fun in the air though!

The cool thing about life these days is there are tons of hobby options, so all good if you will not be jumping back in and thank you for your post.

GB

The Pitts was definitely hard, especially that stiff landing gear, it was pretty unforgiving. I gave it a shot, but it wasnt for me. I do still go to the field to hang with my friends who do fly but I just sit back and observe. They let me fly a few minutes as well, but I mostly just chill lol. Repped

[GBLynden]

The Pitts was definitely hard, especially that stiff landing gear, it was pretty unforgiving. I gave it a shot, but it wasnt for me. I do still go to the field to hang with my friends who do fly but I just sit back and observe. They let me fly a few minutes as well, but I mostly just chill lol. Repped

Much respect bro! You did more than most ever will in RC. You friends sound pretty awesome to let you join in the flying too

GB

[Mang1er]

Pretty cool OP. I got a couple eflite sport cubs. A a banana hobby mig. An a6 intruder. Bunch of drones. Mostly just fuk around and crash them into neighbors houses though.

[GBLynden]

Those jets are a big step up from the little Sport Cub lol

If you ever crash into anyone's property, it is a big sign that you need to find a more wide open flying location

I am glad you are in the hobby and that you posted in this thread.

Repped!

GB

[Komytea]

bruh, i went down a YT rabbithole the other night of just watching cool ass RC planes fly, the huge scale ones are sick. wonder how long the fuel lasts?

[GBLynden]

bruh, i went down a YT rabbithole the other night of just watching cool ass RC planes fly, the huge scale ones are sick. wonder how long the fuel lasts?

Nice! A lot of it depends on the size of the plane, the prop, motor, and fuel tank.

The truth is most of them will stay up longer than you will want to fly them for and that is around 15-20 minutes. Heck, some electrics will last that long.



Did you see this one yet?

[GBLynden]

Bump for those of you about to get one for Christmas or will be buying yourself one for Christmas and saying it is from Santa lol