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Choosing your
first glow powered plane
Many first-time
plane buyers try to start with an advanced plane. Let's face it,
a Mustang P-51D or an Ultimate biplane looks
really cool, but your first plane should be intended for
a first-time pilot. One excellent trainer that Hobby People
offers is the
Hobbico NexStar .46 RTF Trainer
. It has AFS (Active Flight Stabilization) which can
automatically correct roll and pitch to return the NexSTAR to
true horizontal once you let go of the sticks.
Stall Speed
Every plane has a
lower limit of speed where the wing simply stops flying. This is
known as the stall speed. Trainers have very slow stall
speeds. The low stall speed is due to the flat bottom
airfoil shape. When a trainer does stall, it recovers quickly
and with little control input from the pilot.
Recover Altitude
Many mistakes a
beginner makes causes the plane to change altitude
(height above ground) before the plane can recover to
level flight. A trainer takes very little altitude to recover
because they are stable and tend to right themselves. This
stability makes the trainer easier to fly and smoothes out
mistakes.
Performance
Because trainers
are slower than other aircraft the student pilot has more
time to think and react. Trainers are also not very aerobatic;
they simply will not do some of the more complicated maneuvers.
This keeps a student's mistakes from turning into out-of-control
disasters.
Learn more about picking your first plane here. |
