BEGINNER'S PERSPECTIVE

Model Airplane News, Mar 2005 by Chappell, Jon

I'M A NEWCOMER TO RC AND HAVE JUST STARTED to fly. When I go to the flying field with my trusty Hobbioo NexSTAR (a .46-powered trainer), the older fliers-the ones who aren't familiar with flight Sims-are fairly impressed by my abilities. "It takes years to get reactions to that level," they say of my thumbs. "How did you do that?"

I'm tempted to respond that it's my natural gift as a pilot, but the truth is, I trained for hours and hours on RealFlight G2 before I hit the field, and it accelerated my progress considerably. That's why, as a novice, I was especially encouraged to see that the newest generation of RealFlight offers several features and refinements that are ideal for advancing the skills of beginners and intermediate pilots.

RealFlight G3 includes a virtual NexSTAR as one of its aircraft choices; this was previously available only with the purchase of the NexSTAR model. My 13-year-old son (also a beginner) and I share the NexSTAR, so we can now work with the virtual version and all the other aircraft we aspire to fly without having to switch programs. When flying the NexSTAR and other trainers, we've noticed that the improvements in the flight-sim's physics make the aircraft much less "floaty." This has helped us to develop our landing skills in a more realistic manner.

In addition to training for RC, G3 offers a good way to have some escapist fun, and the 10 new flying fields and 5,000 square miles of new terrain offer ample opportunities for my son and his friends to tour a variety of environments in Chase Mode. While he delights in this "video game" approach of tearing through the many challenges like Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars," I use Chase Mode to set trims and to test the control-input sensitivity of unfamiliar aircraft before I switch to the RC perspective: Fixed Position. But my son and I agree on one point: RealFlight G3 is way better than Grand Theft Auto any day!

-Jon Chappell