Flight School

We are often asked to recommend suitable models and equipment for people of varying levels of experience, so in this section we intend to provide some general advice.

Before you go and buy your first model and radio system, why not come and meet us one day, where we can give you sound advice and tips before parting with your cash for something you may regret buying later.

At our flying field we have found tail-draggers operate the best off a grass strip, as the grass can cause too much drag on tricycle undercarriage models. Many of the standard tricycle trainer planes have been successfully converted to tail-draggers to improve their handling.

A lot of our members use glow fuel powered model aircraft, however many of us are now transferring to the cleaner alternative of electric power. There are plenty of us to give you advice depending on which direction you wish to go.

Beginners learning to fly for the first time would be well advised to start with a high wing training aircraft. The design of these aircraft (particularly the dihedral wing) ensures that they are stable in flight and able to be flown slowly, which gives more thinking time.

As the level of competence improves, a great many members progress on to High Wing Intermediate aircraft and other fun-fly types such as the Limbo Dancer, Cougar2000 or similar. These are very forgiving fun-fly models capable of most aerobatic manoeuvres, 3D hovering, as well as general flight.

Usually, by the time a club flyer reaches advanced level, they have a better idea of the types of model, and the types of flying they wish to try.

We have several members at our club who have acquired instructor status, so there is plenty of help for the novice.

We operate a 'buddy box' system method of training in our club. This involves the instructor's transmitter being linked to the trainee's transmitter via a cable. When the trainee is ready to fly the instructor holds down a switch on his transmitter, giving control of the aircraft to trainee.

The merit of this system is if the trainee should get themselves into trouble whilst flying and are unable to recover, the instructor can regain control preventing a crash.

The system also gets rid of the precious seconds of passing the controller from trainee to instructor in the event of trouble. Those seconds could easily mean the difference between a flyable model and a crashed model.

Members new to flying are not allowed to go solo until the instructor considers them to be competent enough, however once flying solo we encourage members to train for the BMFA Achievement Scheme as their flying skills progress.

You will find below Acrobat Reader files acquired from the BMFA website which will give you information on the Radio Control Achievement Scheme, or better still visit the BMFA website.

	Radio Control Achievement Schemes
	The A Certificate (Fixed wing)
	The B Certificate (Fixed wing)
	The C Certificate (Fixed wing)
	Silent Flight - Electric A Test
	Silent Flight - Electric B Test