I. Do You Have What It Takes?

Surely as you were learning to fly, you noticed that the instructors at your flying field were very busy, especially during evening and weekend flying. There probably never seemed to be an abundance of instructors, even during designated instruction times. For this reason, many newly proficient fliers should consider becoming instructors.

In this text, we will show you how you can become an RC flight instructor. While there are many ways you can give back to your club, instructing for a flying season is one of the most rewarding ways.

Before we begin, let me say I freely admit that there are many ways to teach RC flying, and no two instructors will totally agree on how every concept along the way should be related. The methods I show are rather simplistic, yet they have been proven during ten years of instruction and have always worked well. But you will surely improve on what I show as you develop your own teaching style.

The goal of our instruction program will be to get the student to the point where they can fly by themselves. While you may also wish to assist your students with learning aerobatics as well, this text will only address basic flight. When using my teaching methods, there are four steps (or progression levels) a student must achieve to get to the point where they can begin flying on their own. This makes it very easy to teach, since you can organize every technique needed for flying into four basic steps. It also helps you limit the number of things a beginner must master as they learn how to fly. While you can eventually mix and match certain techniques described during each step to match your own teaching preferences, we recommend that you thoroughly understand our entire process before you begin changing anything.

Also let me point out that this text will stress the teaching of flying skills. We assume you can relate the basics of aerodynamics and flight, control surfaces, and in general, what makes an airplane fly. While we do offer some assistance for helping the beginner pick their first airplane, understand flying safety, and start & maintain engines, there will be many things you need to relate before flight training can begin.

Special notes for beginning instructors:

• 1) Demand trainer systems. While experienced instructors may be able to teach without a trainer system, as you begin instructing, you will be amazed at how many precarious attitudes a beginner will get their airplane into. Depending on your flying skills, some of these attitudes will not be comfortable to you. It is difficult enough to right a wandering airplane with the trainer system. Doing so after a transmitter is passed can be much more difficult, especially when the plane is close to the ground, as it is when taking off and landing.
• For myself, if the student does not have the trainer system capability (maybe they have a Futaba "Attack" Radio, for example), I can easily help them with the early stages of learning how to fly (steps one and two). As long as we keep the airplane high enough, the plane will never be in danger. Though I have to be much more attentive, I am confident enough in my flying. However, as the student begins taking off and landing, I make it very clear that there will be little I can do to save the plane when it gets close to the ground. More than likely the plane will be dumped (and damaged) several times before take-offs and landings are mastered. As long as the student understands this, I'll work with them. However, if they show any signals (during steps one and two) that they may blame me for the plane's damage, I won't help them learn how to take off & land!
• One more point about passing the transmitter as opposed to the trainer system. With the trainer system, you have total control of when you retake control. When you pass transmitters, the beginner must give you the transmitter before you can retake control. As the beginner progresses, they may protest when you ask to retake control. They may (incorrectly) feel they are still in total control even though you know better. By the time they finally acknowledge that they are in trouble, it may be too late for you to save the airplane. I make it very clear at the start that if the student protests when I ask to retake control, I will stop helping them.
• 2) You control the pace. Beginners tend to get a little anxious. You will eventually develop a feel for when a student has progressed enough to move on to each new step. Until then, take it slow. If in doubt about whether a student is ready to move on, keep on the current step until you are absolutely sure.
• 3) Be assertive with your control of the master transmitter. Especially when first starting, be ready to take control of the plane at the first sign of mistakes. While this may frustrate beginners to some extent, you must be totally comfortable with the control of the airplane. There may be times, for example, when a student is coming close to the flight line. They may be flying just fine, but you will have to take control of the plane to avoid the flight line boundary.
• 4) Patience is the key. Beginners will have difficulty with things you (now) find easy. This can be frustrating. If you show your frustration, beginners will soon lose confidence. You must constantly encourage beginners, stressing positive accomplishments to build on.
• 5) Be on the lookout for new ways to do things. Believe it or not, the best way to thoroughly learn something is to teach it! You will be amazed at how many things you learn from a beginner's questions. They really force you to think through many things you may now take for granted. And in order to explain anything, you really have to thoroughly understand it. For questions you can't answer, look for an another experienced instructor in your club to help.
• 6) Be sure you can fly out of trim airplanes. If you have never taken a new plane off by yourself, you shouldn't take a beginner's plane up for the first time. To get ready to fly a plane for the first time, practice this. Get your plane in the air and have an instructor intentionally throw off one or more of your planes trims. Practice getting the trims back to normal.
• 7) Be sure the beginner has an AMA membership card. Beginners must understand that flying can be dangerous and accidents happen. They need insurance when flying model airplanes every bit as much as when driving a car. (Some of my clubs "hot dogs" require it more!). The AMA and SFA provide insurance to their membership. Remember that the AMA will allow you to register up to three instructors as those designated to help non-AMA members for a period of up to thirty days. These designated instructors and their students will be insured as long as they follow the rules of the AMA.
• 8) Keep their left hand on the stick. Through the first two steps to learning how to fly, beginners will be predominantly using only their right hand. You will eventually notice that they will tend to let their left hand stray away from the left stick. Urge them to keep both hands on the sticks. As they begin taking off (in step three), their left hand will be needed, and it will be easier if they are comfortable with their left hand on the stick.
• 9) Be flexible. As you begin teaching any subject, you will be amazed at the number of ideas your students come up with. Most beginner ideas tend to be a little naive. They simply do not understand enough of the big picture to draw correct conclusions. However, sometimes excellent ideas come from naiveté. Do not be too quick to judge a student's idea as being bad. They may surprise you! We have a natural tendency as human beings to expect people to do things our own way. Yet if we open our minds to other possibilities, we may learn something ourselves.
• 10) Watch for the student's saturation point. We all have a limit to how much new information we can absorb in a given period of time. Student's to RC flying are no exception. Keep in mind that your student will be concentrating very hard during practice sessions (especially on their first few flights). There will come a point when they simply cannot take any more without a break. One common symptom of this will be that the student has been doing just fine for about eight to ten minutes of flying. But all of the sudden, the student starts making mistakes (usually silly mistakes) not normally made. The student may not even understand why they are doing so poorly and begin to get frustrated. As the instructor, you must be able to recognize when the student has had enough. Tell the student they need a break and land the plane.
• 11) Two steps forward, one step back. You must remember that your students will have problems along the way to learning how to fly. At times, things you thought your students understood will seem to be difficult again (especially after long non-flying periods). This can be frustrating for instructors so you'll have to show your patience when faced with this problem. One way to minimize the problem is to do a review of what the student currently knows at the beginning of each flying session. You can review on the ground, reinforcing the students knowledge as well as begin the practice flying by having the student do seemingly simple maneuvers they already know. This also helps you begin a more complicated (and new) topic on a positive note. However, even with reviews, you must be on the lookout for times when the student needs to take the one step back before they can move forward.

Our approach: In section one, we offer several discussions aimed at helping the student. This chapter includes the most commonly asked RC questions, a presentation on what makes the best trainer airplane, a discussion of safety, and the basics of engine tuning. While these presentations are, for the most part, directed to the beginner, we urge you to read them to help with your ability to relate these important topics to beginners at the field. You can also copy this information and give it directly to beginners.

When it comes to actually teaching, we break teaching RC flying into four basic steps. In any form of teaching it is good to limit the number of things a student must learn - and RC flying is no exception.

• 1. Teaching how to master turns and level flight
• 2. Teaching how to set and hold headings
• 3. Teaching how to master take-offs
• 4. Teaching how to land

What we assume: Before taking a beginner up for the first time, there are several things we assume you have explained. We assume, for example, that the student knows the basics of aerodynamics and flight. He or she knows the stick controls on the transmitter (ailerons, elevator, throttle, and rudder) and knows the function of each control. And, of course, we assume the student's airplane has been checked out by a pre-flight instructor and has had at least one trim flight.

Flying preferences: Instructors tend to teach what they know in the same fashion they know it. There are several alternatives to almost every important function of flying. Good instructors recognize that their own ways are not only (and in some cases not the best ways) of doing everything.

Fingers or thumbs? - Thirty years ago, I was taught to fly with my thumbs. I have flown with my thumbs all this time and though I'm considered one of the better pilots at my flying field, I freely admit that flying with fingers is better. I've tried to get comfortable with fingers, but (as yet) I have not been able to. As you teach a new person to fly, I would suggest you start them off right from the beginning using their fingers. The further a person progresses, and the more precisely they wish to fly (when pattern flying for example), the more important it is that they be able to fly with their fingers. Take it from me - it is very difficult to switch to flying with fingers once you have learned to fly with your thumbs.

How do you handle the left/right problem? - Beginners have a common problem when it comes to mastering turning. After entering a turn, they tend to forget which way they are turning and give the wrong aileron to exit the turn (sending the plane deeper into the turn). There are several ways you can help the beginner with this problem. One way is to ask them to turn their body to face the plane's heading. If their looking in the same direction as the plane is flying, it will help them remember which way the plane is turning. Another is to get them to keep repeating (out loud) from the beginning of the turn which way they are turning. With either method, the beginner will eventually become comfortable turning and not need the crutch. My suggestion would be to get them to stand in a stationary position when flying (this is especially important if you're not using the trainer system) and get them to keep saying out loud the direction they are turning.

What throttle setting do you use? - When I first begin training, I try to keep the throttle setting just high enough to keep the plane in the air. This ensures smooth docile performance and minimizes the beginner's natural tendency to over control. It also helps them make level turns. However, I have actually had beginners that catch on quicker when the engine is running faster. For some people, a responsiveness airplane is easier to master than a docile one. Either way, keep in mind that you will eventually need to have the beginner practice at all throttle settings from idle through full throttle.

How much control surface motion do you want? - Again, instructors tend to disagree on this point. Since beginners have a natural tendency to over control, many instructors like to set up trainers to be very docile, minimizing control surface motion (possibly with dual rates). This means the beginner must move the sticks quite a bit to cause a reaction from the plane. However, my feeling is that it is better to keep the plane rather responsive for three reasons. First, the beginner must eventually learn the precise control motions needed with sensitive control surfaces (on this airplane or their next one). Second, on windy days minimal control may not be enough to cause any response from the airplane in certain attitudes. Third, as the instructor, you need the plane to be responsive enough to get out of precarious attitudes.

When do you teach rudder coordinated turns? - I generally teach people to fly without them ever having them touch the rudder stick (except for steering on the ground). Most RC airplanes, and especially trainer planes, turn quite nicely with only a combination of aileron and elevator. While I freely admit that rudder coordinated turns make for nicer looking turns, and rudder is helpful when landing in a crosswind, I try to keep turning as simple for beginners to master as possible. However, if you feel strongly that the beginner should learn rudder coordinated turns from the beginning, by all means, teach them in this manner.

Final approach, one turn or two? - If teaching realistic flying, the RC pilot will make two turns during the final approach. One turn will bring them ninety degrees to the runway and the other will bring them right on the middle of the runway. To simplify this, I have beginners making one (180 degree) sweeping turn during final approach.

What is the wind limitation? - Most beginners can learn more easily on calm days. But I live in the Chicago area. If we waited for perfectly calm days, we'd never fly! However, there comes a point when the wind is blowing so hard that it will be impossible for the beginner to control the plane. For the beginners first ten flights or so, I recommend limiting your instruction to when the wind is blowing under 5-8 miles per hour. As the beginner progresses, let them fly on windier days. Remember, your student has not truly mastered flying until they can fly with winds around 10 mph.