Your first successful flight!

[Papa]

We know why!

Tell us the Who, What, Where and When.

Jack.

[Ededge2002]

Early 80's .  Glow model at Barrie radio control club back when it was up at St Vincent street. A short 3km bike ride for me to visit the field as a spectator. They had a fun-fly and gave people turns on the buddy box. 
If your talking solo then summer 1984 Barrie RC at the field on the old dump on the north west of town.  Paid my own way working at burger king for $3.15 an hour. Parents criticized me for spending so much on "toy planes".  I said "I could be out drinking and doing drugs with my friends" ....

I got a hobby room!

[sihinch]

Much like Ed, I saved my money from a paper round to buy a Futaba radio system, Super Tigre 0.25 and a Yamamoto (ARF kit in the 1980s, uncovered) in about 1986.  I joined a club in Sheffield, UK and after trimming the model the instructor let me fly a few circuits. It was faster than today's foamies, but a nice stable flier.

But because I was reliant on the UK weather, and my Dad taking me to the field, I never learnt to fly it. I did use to drive it around our back garden, with the wings off, using the steerable nose gear, though!

So in 1988 I joined a slope soaring club and learnt to fly a non-scale glider of the edge of a hill in the Preak District, at a place calle Stannage Edge. Very beautiful and the weather (or wind) actually helped! So I learnt to control a model, with ski goggles on, but got a bit bored just flying in to wind with the odd loop. But I went off to Uni in 1990 and then never flew a model until.....

In 2005, Lesley bought me a Multiplex Pico Cub, with a 400 brushed motor.   I never managed to fly that (I had only ever flown once a model was in the air, or hand-launched off a cliff!) before coming to Canada in 2006.  I actually rescued it from my loft at Christmas just gone. 

And then in 2010 I bought a flight sim, and then a Hobbyzone Champ, which I learnt to fly in the park at the end of my street.  That was really the first powered model that I learnt to fly!

[thehaze]

Define successful? 

My first was in 2008. I bought a Hobby Zone Commander 2 (2 channel V-tail) electric from a LHS. Flew it in Newmarket at the Ray Twinney Soccer fields on weekends.

I had a lot of fun with that plane.

[Papa]

SUCCESSFUL

Means it came down as a very close facsimile of the model that went up.

Missing the odd wheel or so still counts as successful.

Jack.

[piker]

I started to build free flight, stick and tissue, planes in the late 70's as a kid.  When I was 12 I had saved up $45.00 toward a $50 kit for a radio controlled glider called the Drifter 2 (see below).  I begged my older brother to lend me the last $5 so I could get the plane, and he DID... believe it or not.  I rushed downtown (Kingston) to Shales Hobby Shop (my home away from home through my teens) and bought the kit.  BTW, Lloyd Shales still comes out to the Kingston Electric Fun Fly.  I spent the next year building that plane, but needed a radio.

Well, with my $10/month weekly paper delivery job I was able to save up $150 by the next summer.  As I traveled to Cape Cod with my parents, the plan was to find a radio in the States to save money.  Somehow we came across a shop in the basement of some guys house, in Boston, and with the help of my Dad, got my first, 4 channel radio on July 3, 1979, for $200.  They were selling for $400 in Canada.  BTW, for $400 you got a transmitter with two joy sticks with trim tabs, and on/off switch, and a battery power meter (no other features).  You also got four servos, a receiver and a 4 cell Rx pack and charger.  That was it!  (see below)

Anyway, I built the plane and learned to fly it by tossing it like my other free flight planes and controlling it to a gentle landing.  Add a bit of a hill to the launch and the glides got longer and longer.  I was great at landing long before I ever got the plane over 10 feet high.  It wasn't until the next summer that I added a Cox 049 to the front and spent the rest of the summer trying to get that damn thing to run.  I got a couple of tense flights out of the plane (the motor was mounted with no downthrust so the plane would balloon like crazy under power) before I gave up on the 049 and learned about high starts.  By then I was onto my second glider and eventually discovered slope soaring.  I did have a couple of glow powered planes in my teens but didn't have much success with them and generally stuck with gliders (I had about 5 or 6 gliders through my teens).  It wasn't until I moved to Toronto that I discovered a Goldberg Electra kit (see below) at Keith's Hobbies, on Yonge St. and thought "An electric motor to take the glider up!  Perfect".  That was in 1988.  I've flown nothing but electric airplanes ever since.

If you're still listening, that Electra had a can, brushed motor on 7 ni-cad cells and a fixed (not folding) 8x4 prop on the front.  It barely had enough power to get out of it's own way, but because I was already a pretty good pilot (at least able to avoid crashing), and and awesome builder  , I was able to get a pretty good climb out of it.  The first was in a school yard on the road up to the cottage.  It was exciting... in a good way.  One more major step after flying the Electra for a couple of years, was the purchase of my Electro-Steak (see below), which several of us have had and enjoyed.  That plane was fantastic and really proved to me that electric flight was the way to go.  That was in 1990.

Sorry to make a simple question into "The story of my life"

[eric]

I got into the hobby late in 2006 after I retired. Andre Wedseltoft lived across the road from me and I saw him flying a model in the parkette beside my house. We got to talking and he invited me to TEMAC where I was instantly hooked.

The second time there I bought an 88" wingspan Super Buccaneer old timer from Michael. He had converted it to electric power and equipped it with a brushed Astro 25 powered by 16 sub C NiCads.

The plane basically flies itself, so the first flight under Andre's tutelage was a piece of cake. Its a matter of simply pointing it in the direction you want it to go and then leaving it alone. Being designed as a free flight model it is super stable with no bad traits whatsoever.

After making a few minor changes and going to 6s lipo power (makes it a lot lighter!), its still a lovely aircraft to float around with on those calm summer evenings.

Eric

[Frank v B]

First flight- As a kid in Holland I was in grade 3 and got a new Webra .09 diesel.  My uncle was an RC pioneer in Holland and a real craftsman (he was a restorer at a museum).  He taught me how to cut wood, start a motor, pre-flight safety check, etc.  He built a solid balsa control line model for me.  He taught me how to fly at another uncle's cottage.  When I moved to New York (grade 5) and could not get diesel fuel, I got a Fox .074 glow engine and flew the hell out of it in our back yard in New York and Toronto.

First RC plane- 1965 (grade 5) in Toronto I saved money from my paper route and bought a Goldberg 1/2A Skylane, Cox .049, Pixie single channel radio and a Royal servo from Klein Brothers Hobbies. Total price was $45.00. Tried to fly it several times but never successfully.  Changed to RC boats with the Metro Marine Modelers in 1967 and did electric scale, sailboats and RC hydroplanes until 1971.   My radio was a Min-X 10 channel reed system with Bonner servos.

First successful RC flight   Went back to modelling in 1986 and went the safe route: Great Planes PT 40 on 3 channels, Magnum .45 Pro, Futaba Conquest 4 AM radio.  Joined Bramalea RC Flyers.  Murray Sparks and Brad Bergman maidened my plane.  I jumped for joy when I finally saw my first RC airplane fly... and land in one piece.  That was May 1, 1986.  Soloed on my 8th flight two weeks later.

First RC electric flight- 1994 after my father died and my mother gave us all some spending money, I went to A&J Hobbies and asked Jack what to buy.  Settled on an Electricub with a geared cobalt 05 on 7 cells.  I modified it to add ailerons.  I flew it a lot and it flew great.  PS: my mother insisted it be spent on toys because Dad would have wanted it that way.  He was a kid at heart.  His wish was my command.

Of course some of my best friends claim I am still trying to have my first successful RC flight after 25 years of glorious attempts and misadventures.

Frank

[Bobmic]

First flight which will probably not count, was a control line with a cox 0.25 motor when I was about 11. That motor didn't start too often and I ended up flying it only once for a couple of seconds.
As for RC at 13, after saving for quite a while I eventually bought a Sanwa 4 channel and a 3 channel 40 size trainer which I built on my bad's baseboard. Unfortunately I never had enough money to buy good equipment and always had battery problems etc.
I did manage to fly it with an instructor that passed the remote in the air and took it back for landing.
Thinking back we had a great field with a very nice paved runway but I had a hard time getting to the field and never learned how to fly.
Next I built a plane somewhat similar to the Pulse XT called QB20 - I decided that I can not wait for an instructor... Not sure what was the problem but it took off and ended up crashing in about a minute.
That was the end of RC for a long time and in 97 I decided that I am old enough to start over and bought a 32 size Hirobo helicopter which was finally the first successfully flight and continued with helicopters for a while. The nice thing with helicopters is that if you undertone how to set them up you can practice and learn how to fly alone.
As for planes my first successful flight was in the summer of 2011 after around 7 years of not touching any RC toys. Bought a mini stick and flew it alone with no problems and no instructor as I didnt know anyone that could help at the time. The plane ended up with a bunch of lights, gyro and a 480 motor...

[gordonbw]

My first was a Thunder Tiger Windstar at Riverdale Park in September 1999.  The maiden kind of turned it into matchsticks, but I was able to repair it after a couple of weeks.  I was using 6 NiCad cells on a brushed can motor, so it was way overpowered  .  Later that fall I connected with the 14th Avenue crew, who taught me about 7 cells, Trinity Ruby car motors, gearboxes, and Sermos connectors instead of Tamiyas. That winter I learned about scratch building from John Werner and created a Mitch Poling Seagull... the floats are still hanging around. On to a DJ Aerotech Chrysalis e-glider, Rob's second last Duck-E, an FFX Me109, an Aerocraft Apache and lots more. Looking back, I am intensely grateful for the technology evolution In our hobby and how it has increased watts/pound and decreased $/watt.

[Wingnutz]

Flew contol line stuff as a teen. Switch to 2009 and I'm an old guy looking for something to fill my time as my first knee injury heals. Enter RealFlight simulator from the LHS which provides hundreds of easy to fix crashes! Hail the reset button!
Join local GTA RC club, buy glow trainer, enrol in wings program...THOROUGHLY FRUSTRATED! Progress towards wings is really slow with only a couple of buddy box flights a week and the occasional session ending crash. PANIC!!! At this rate, I won't get my wings this season...SO...switch to Dark Side, buy E-flite Apprentice and start flying in large public park. Hand-launch it first time...and manage to stagger around sky somewhere between the blue and the green until battery goes flat...and crash in controlled enough fashion that the model survives intact! Play Hallejuhah Chorus!
Repeat preceding enough times that I can now fly glow trainer and get wings.
Now I can crash all by myself!
P.S. That Apprentice now has over 200 flights.

[Gregor77]

My first successful flight was at the Hoover park.  Flew the Nine Eagles Sky Eagle with a 3 channel radio that was supplied with it.  I did 20+ skips off the ground and it came up slowly... then I went back down again...

I did this for 90% of the summer and one day hand launched it...   It landed in the neighbours BBQ... so much for that... melted.

I finally could do some laps with the nine eagles extra 300 (first normal plane)...It was so small landing was just plopping it in the grass.  later got a E-Flite SE5a and flew that all summer... After that the Supercub and added a camera and had fun till I sold it.

Then went through the whole PZ line up...  Got into the E-flite stuff... Now the normal stuff I have.

Rest is history.

[sihinch]

Then went through the whole PZ line up...  Got into the E-flite stuff... Now the normal stuff I have.

Are you implying that PZ and E-Flite stuff is not normal?

[Andy Hoffer]

1996, at the old 14th Avenue "Squatters" RC Club, east of Woodbine Avenue in Markham.
Great Planes PT-Electric kit, the e-version of the PT-20.  Bought it from East Coast Model Centre in PEI, now Great Hobbies.  3-channel brushed can motor (Great Planes Thrustmaster 550) on 6-7 nicad cells, 8x4 prop.   As an avid model railroader as a kid, electric always made sense to me from the get go, so I never bothered with gas/nitro.  Wonderful easy plane to fly and learn on.  Great on skis in winter.  Still using the skis today on my Super Sportster.  With some effort you could fly it inverted, despite its huge dihedral.  Photos show my son Ronnie who soloed at age 9.  Good old days!

Andy

[flying saucer]

Some great stories here.

My first ever flight was in the summer of 2010. I had purchased a HZ supercub RTF complete with a 3ch FM transmitter and assembled it the night before. The next morning I went out to a local field at 6am, no one was around and winds were calm. With some trepidation and bolstered by the fact the box indicated you could "teach yourself to fly" I went for it! After a short roll I took off and managed to keep it in the sky flying left hand circuits for several minutes. For some reason when I attempted to turn right things got squirelly so I stuck to left turns only. Then it dawned on me "how do you land this thing?". I had no clue how to make an approach or land. Well sure enough the LVC on the ESC kicked in and cut all power to the motor. The model slowly fell out of the sky and was down without any
damage. 3 or 4 flights later I found Temac and flew the model getting solo flying priveleges.