RCers help please (OT)

[wolfee]

I am looking for a program for my computer to learn how to fly my RC plane.

I have down loaded several programs and gave them all a try. but they all seem to be lacking in one dept or another. The best I have found however is the RealFlight G2. After a full day of playing around with the demo, I have accualy got to the point were I dont crash while landing. But I am limited to just the one plane, and it is not a tail dragger like the park flyer I have.

My question is....

Is this as close to RL RC flying as one can get on computer, is there another program that is better?

Thanks for the help in advance

[Mluvara]

Re: RCers help please (OT)

Most of the R/C simulators have gotten to be pretty good. The biggest issue is that none that I have flown really can mimick landing really well and the biggest issue I see is in depth perception on screen. It's obviously difficult to portray real life on a screen, but the simulators do a good job at teaching one the dynamics of flying. For example, when the plane is coming at you which way is right/left, etc. However, those that use r/c sims tend to do much better when they come out and fly.

I tried this one recently at the local hobby shop. Not too bad. http://www.fsone.com/

Some have also said this free one is good.

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

Michael

[RRMERLIN7]

Re: RCers help please (OT)

I have Real Flight G3 and i have one of the planes on there and When i am flying on the computer i sometimes wonder if i am at the park .. the G3 was built by professional RC pilots and is great to use . When i first started i flew with G2 and when i finially got to the field i was landing the plane the first day. ( I have the Spacewalker.. GREAT AIRCRAFT)

Also Realflight has addons u can buy. for G2 and G3

https://www.realflight.com

[Cougar347]

Re: RCers help please (OT)

I pretty much agree with everything that RRMerlin and Mluvara said in their answers to your question. There are a bunch of good sims out there now. I learned to fly R/C on Real Flight G2, and was quite happy with it. However, as my flying style progressed, I moved on to AFPD, because it had the most realistic aircraft physics that I could find. I had become interested in learning to fly 3D, and the Real Flight sim was somewhat limited in that area.

I guess my answer to your question would depend on your needs. You mentioned being limited to one plane, but you also mentioned flying the demo. Do you intend to purchase one of the sims, or are you looking for free software that you can download? If you're looking to purchase a sim, you have several options. As I said, Real Flight G2 and G3 is very good. I happen to like Aerofly Pro Deluxe, sold by Ohio Model Products http://www.ohiomodelplanes.com/. One nice thing about AFPD is that there are websites with literally hundreds of different types of planes that you can download for free. Everything from small electrics to Warbirds to jets. I'm not sure if Real Flight has that option available, or if you have to buy their add ons to get additional planes. I'm not really familiar with the newer version of Real Flight, maybe someone else can comment on the availability of additional planes.

Another nice thing about AFPD is that you can set it up to use your own actual transmitter, so you can get the feel for the different switches and trims that you'll be using when you're flying. I use my AFPD whenever I want to learn a new maneuver or practice an old one. It's a great learing tool because the physics are so realistic. It also has a nice feature, you can adjust the speed, so you can really slow things down when you're first trying to learn a certain maneuver. It's a lot of fun.

There's another new sim out there, I believe it's called Reflex. I really don't know much about it, but it might be worth a look also.

Good luck and have fun.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: RCers help please (OT)

Wow! Times HAVE changed. I learned to fly in 1980 with a 2-channel (rudder,elevator) foam Cox Centurion .049. They were cheap and stable, and made for great little trainers.





The only thing I had available for computer flying back then was Flight Simulator-1 on my buddy's Apple II+. It was slow and ultra basic, and not very good for teaching anything except patience.

[number17fan]

Re: RCers help please (OT)

If you really want to do some model racing, put away the radios, learn to fly C/L and try F2C Team racing! Fast, low, and in traffic all the time.
Control line is also the largest group of competition modelers, not a bunch of "park fliers".
Andrew