how much flying time before advancing?

[quietfly]

How much flying is enough to advance from a "beginner" plane to something more advanced? Until one feels comfortable? Bored? Confident?

[DeaninMilwaukee]

For me it was when I started to feel limited by the plane.
I had reached the point where crashes only came when I was trying something truely foolish, and even then could usually pull it out of the fire.
I moved up to a much faster more aerobatic plane and did struggle for a bit, but picked it up reasonably quickly and am glad I traded up.

[Clayton]

I fell the same as Dean. My beginner plane only got "retired" because I was trying to teach my dad, he should stick to walking.

I got bored of all the rudder elevator aerobatics and flying it in excessive winds. Or flying it as high as I could. Then I knew it was time for something different. Don't be afraid of ailerons but don't get a mig edf either.

Originally posted by quietfly:
How much flying is enough to advance from a "beginner" plane to something more advanced? Until one feels comfortable? Bored? Confident?

Just go with your learning curve. You'll know when you're ready to move up. Just be somewhat conservative when choosing a second model. Many take too large a step up, and end up frustrated.

Don

[ChrisD]

I'm with Dean.

I learned on a T-52 over the winter. There came a pointin late spring when I felt I was way ahead of the plane.

I built a new wing with ailerons and little dihedral, and made the next step.

With that mastered, I decided on a small $30 pylon racer to test my skills. The Simple 400 was the plane.

After my first flight, I knew I had "graduated". After the Simple 400, the X-250 seemed slow, but I saved a $90 airframe with my experience.

Also, time spent on the FMS (free) simulator helped immensely.

When you have time to look away from the plane, scratch your elbow, say hello to a bystander, and then land the plane at your feet, it's time to move up!

[Mitch G]

Originally posted by ChrisD:
When you have time to look away from the plane, scratch your elbow, say hello to a bystander, and then land the plane at your feet, it's time to move up!

One time I had my T-52 waaay up there running an RS-1600 pack when my charger finished charging a pack. So, I shuffled back to my car, put down my transmitter, changed packs to charge another, picked up my transmitter and continued flying. Although most of this feat was possible because of the docile nature of the T-52, it also was a pretty good hint that it was time to get that E-plane flying.

Anyway, I agree with the others. You'll know when you're ready to proceed. But, do so with some caution. I did the stock T-52 -> aileron T-52 -> E-plane route since I didn't feel like having to rebuild too much as I learned ailerons and got used to more speed.


Mitch

[Anks]

I agree, there isn't a set time to move up in my experience. I've just ordered my second leccy plane after only a month or so with a Pico Cub. I've only had two mishaps with this aircraft. One the wings left the fuss due to insufficent epoxy on the ply retaining plates and once for a some reason I hand launched it into the ground! I have never had instruction but fortunatley never actually crashed it in over 40 flights and I have pushed it quite hard.

I did spend loads of hours on flight sims which helped considerably. (I have the Ripmax Sim, Realflight G2 and Cockpit Master if anyone wants a comparison)

I know I will definatley still fly the cub as it's such an enjoyable plane and would recommend it to anyone, however, I now feel it's time to move on to something a bit quicker with ailerons and a low wing so have just ordered the Scorpio Spit. Is this a sensible progression?

[fisher]

Originally posted by quietfly:
How much flying is enough to advance from a "beginner" plane to something more advanced? Until one feels comfortable? Bored? Confident?

Depends on how much money and how badly you hate to build.
-fish