Advice on Teaching Young Kids to Fly

[Diablo2006]

I totally agree with bigbird, weve only really got 1 guy at our club who is worthy of the title "teacher". He doesnt take his finger off the button until about 2 feet off the deck. He keeps a very cool head. What he does that i find helps is asks you lots of questions, both inflight and just generally which really helps when it comes to tests because hes basically told you all the awnsers

[Dangerous Dan]

one wing 1/2 and part of the other is done, My son and I got side tracked this weekend.

[Mithrandir]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Doc
	my 7yo son wants to learn to fly. he's watched me for a few years, and now said he wants to have a go (i just been waiting for this!) my question is this: as he is LEFT handed and I am Right handed, do i teach him like a right handed pilot (I am mode I) or is there a better way? (...and dont say mode 2!!!) Left handed pilots/instructors may be able to shed light on this from their own situation.

Don't sweat it... you and I both know that mode 1 is THE HOT TICKET!!!!
Teach'em mode 1 for sure....

Better yet... teach him GOLF... then he can make a good living and be able to afford good RC Equipment!!! LOL

RC Life'rs are just under developed emotionally... I am living proof!!!

[ibange]

Teaching kids to fly is the way to go. I'm especially close to this idea as I was brought up on R/C

My father started letting me just wiggle the sticks randomly at probobly 4-5. I didnt know what I was dong, but I aparently liked it. He would let the trainer get reasonable low before taking it back and getting it speck high again.

I started really trainig at 6-7, and honestly I' have to ask him how long it was before I soloed as I literall do not have any memories back that far save a few vague memories of a buddy box setup.

now fastforward to my experiences as an instructor working with kids. The only real problem with kids is that they have really short atention spans, and there is no solution to this but age. flying takes intense concentration and most kids at 7 or younger have maybe 2-3 minutes of that kind of conentration in them, then they fade out.

The eagle is a good way to start them out, but i have to second the opinion that electrics are prehaps now a better way for kids to learn. EPP planes are almost indestructible and there are a number of EPP trainers that you can get your hands on these days that will work great for teaching your kids the basics. You could even mix the two for good effect. The discipline of learning to fly a nitro bird will be good experience, and the ability to relax a little and fly something that is almost impossible to hurt is a good way to make learning fun.

Good luck training the next generation!

[Doc]

OK, they can learn same mode as me, at least i can fly their planes that way!

ibange thanks for your comments, which make good sense. good to be aware of the shorter attention span, so we let them learn in short bursts and dont get frustrated when theyve had enough after 10min. a good reason for electric too (quik setup if only one flight that day!)

[Dangerous Dan]

Its been a long time since I updated this thread. Well the kids trainer is finished. When I asked them what color, they said Just Like DaDa's . So here it is. They are doing good on the sim and the oldest one can make basic turns and will hopefully solo soon. The boy bangs the sticks and giggles, back to the sim for him, the twin girl is afraid to move the sticks...LOL This is gonna be a lot of fun.

[thewrap]

Good job. I hope it works out for you. If you want I have some radio stuff that I would be willing to sell to you. Futaba and JR. With recievers. Anyway if you want the stuff just send me an email. jessejames-04@hotmail.com

[Dangerous Dan]

i beleve I have everything I need: