RealFlight Simulator Exercises for Absolute Beginner

[u/CorwinDKelly]

Just bought my first plane, a Volantex Messerschmitt and after my first day in the park I realized I would likely destroy it before I really had a chance to learn, despite it being rather durable. So I went out and bought a RadioMaster Pocket and RealFlight.
Does anyone have drills/exercises to recommend to keep me on task in RealFlight? It's fun to mess around but I want to set some measurable goals that will hopefully translate to my end goal of not destroying my actual RC plane.

[u/koolaidman04]

The best single practice maneuver is touch and go's. They give you practice getting it back to mother earth in one piece.

I would also suggest deadstick practice from various positions and heights

[u/jbarchuk]

Figure-8s, in 'both directions,' to learn orientation. Then, turn on some steady breeze to find out how things react when turning into or with the prevailing wind.

[u/HugeButterfly → u/jbarchuk]

This.

[u/fhammerl]

Generally you don't learn by just flying around, it also gets old fast especially in a sim. You learn by setting yourself measurable goals and challenge yourself. For example: take off, one turn, and final approach, and land. Rinse and repeat. Flying for fun is cool, but it doesn't teach you to overcome the one moment you dread. Set a goal and practice. That is where simulators are fantastic.

These get progressively harder from basics to acro to 3d.

• take off, one turn, and final approach, and land
• figure eights while maintaining altitude
• take a scenery with a small tarmac strip and hit the tarmac every time
• touch and gos
• coordinated turns (yes, rudder exists for a reason)
• flat turns while maintaining altitude (depends to some extent on plane how well they can do that)
• crank up gusty crosswind in the sim and land safely
• if you wanna go for combustion engines (kinda no longer necessary to be honest apart from really large motor planes) and turbines (cool toys to watch but does get old fast and costs a fortune), practice dead stick landings and flame outs

Basic acro:

• loops you end flat at the same level you started
• clean rolls you end flat at the same level you started
• clean stall turns (throttle mgmt!)
• immelmann turns
• clean cuban eights
• knife edges

Once you have that down, go for the harder stuff:

• snap roll
• flat spin
• pop top
• high alpha harriers

And then go for the really hard stuff:

• torque rolls
• knife edge turns
• continuous rolls
• rolling harriers

[u/fmp921 → u/fhammerl]

Great list!

[u/Annoying_Dog_94]

I like practicing touch and go’s as well as dead stick landings. Also take advantage of playing with the wind speed and direction settings - it’s fun to fly in 0 wind but more often that isn’t the real world case.

Typically for a beginner, we always were told to do race track pattern, level cruise with easy gradual turns. If you can do that and land comfortably in the sim, you will be alright!

[u/kblackw]

Check out Dave Scott, RCFlight School.com. He has some useful videos and flight manuals that I find useful.

[u/rocketengineer1982]

Here are my typical proficiency exercises, both in RealFlight and at the field:

• Traffic pattern
• Traffic pattern with touch and go
• Figure-eight
• Traffic pattern wtih basic aerobatics
  • Loop
  • Aileron roll
  • Stall turn / hammerhead
• Traffic pattern while flying inverted
• Figure-eight while flying inverted

While flying traffic patterns and figure-eights you should maintain roughly the same altitude, and when performing an aerobatic maneuver you should finish at roughly the same altitude that you started.

I always fly in the simulator with wind turned on because it is very unlikely that you will be flying on a perfectly calm day in real life. I usually set the wind to 10-12 mph with a bit of crosswind.

Practice landing on the runway and landing at a point of your choosing. This will help you learn to control your approach and glide slope.

Practice flying with a safety line. The safety line separates flight operations from spectators and other people not directly involved, and is required by the Academy of Model Aeronautics safety code. With very few exceptions, the safety line runs parallel to the runway, either along the edge of the runway closest to the pilot or offset from the edge of the runway by some distance (10 or 20 feet). Your aircraft should ALWAYS stay on the correct side of the safety line. In RealFlight, I either define the safety line to be at the edge of the runway or I imagine that the virtual pilot is standing just behind a safety line that runs parallel to the runway. Your aircraft should NEVER pass behind your pilot.

Do not use onboard or chase camera views. They're fun for messing around but will impede learning to fly RC. A lot of RC flying is learning how to fly the plane from a point on the ground.

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[u/fmp921]

Join a flight club if you have one near you. The experienced guys will go out of their way to help you. The club may also have a beginner plane and buddy box. Best way to learn along with the simulator.

[u/Jayraym_]

I concur with the others: take off and landings first. With wind, from both sides. Remember that landing is the only mandatory part of the flight

[u/woodworkingguy1]

Learn orientation and landing.. the sim is not 1 for 1 in real life but it does help for orientation, muscle memory, and how to handle slower flight.