Choosing Your First Remote Control Plane

First off, I would like to say congratulations to you, because you have chosen to embrace one of the most rewarding and exciting hobbies around - piloting radio controlled (RC) airplane.

To fly radio controlled airplanes was something we had always wanted probably since the time we first saw an RC plane model back when we were kids. Watching veteran pilots control their airborne models flawlessly really inspires new pilots, but it requires more than inspiration to be good at this hobby. The learning curve is very steep, especially at the beginning. So in order to get started, you need a good and suitable beginner plane that was designed for beginners.


Two most important criteria for a beginner plane are: 1. its durability 2. its flight stability. As you might already know, flying RC plane requires a lot of trial and error when you're just getting started. Crashings and hard landings are absolutely normal during the first flights, especially during take off and landing. You don't want a plane that breaks from just a couple of hard landings, because this will cost you a lot of time and money where you should be spending them on learning the basics of flight instead. Choose a very durable and sturdy plane and you'll save a lot of time, effort and money repairing and searching for spare parts.

Beginner planes need to have very good flight stability because this will facilitate the training itself in so many ways. Learning to control the elevator, rudder and aileron can be tough at the beginning. Even real life pilots have difficulties controlling their RC plane's direction because they are so used to being in the plane instead. So in order to facilitate this learning phase, a very slow and stable flying plane is the way to go. Leave the faster planes for later on when you have mastered the controls. because you will learn the flight basics much faster with the slower ones.