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RC Universe Newsletter and Brief Update

All, I have completed both the repair of my tail-wheel and the registration of the RC Transport Vehicle (my 78 Bronco) – all good news for upcoming flying reports.

Until I post video of my tailwheel repair (Troy Built Models product) here is a good newsletter from RC Universe to peruse and enjoy.

RC Universe Newsletter Link

Great Planes RealFlight G4.5 Review

Saturday I received RealFlight G4.5 RC Flight simulator.  I had to purchase a new video card for my PC for it to even work, which was very frustrating because I had purchased a relatively new, very fast computer recently.  But the program does not work with Intel-based graphics cards, so I am told.  So the cost was an additional $150 for my implementation.

Now that it is up and running I am very impressed.  It’s something I have played with at the hobby store a number of times, so I am not that suprised it is so great, I have seen it before.  But for the purpose of the review, I must say its amazingly realistic. 

The crashes, and the way different planes fly seems particularly accurate.  It’s clear that they have tried to represent many of the most common types of planes, and with the available expansion packs there are quite a lot of planes and locations to fly.  My hope is that this tool will get me to where I want to be (flying 40% composite planes) sooner, and with less expense incurred in crashes. 

I tried the helicopters available in the simulator, and I have to say they are as hard to fly as I imagined.  I am able to hover and prevent them from crashing, but not much else.  I will measure how my airplane skills translate to the helicopters as I progress.  My general theory right now is that the coordination developing will have positive affects for all types of RC flying.  Again, I will report on the results after a few weeks.

So if you can afford it (and maybe you can’t afford not to afford it) then RealFlight seems to be a great tool for progressing skills.  I initiall thought it would be poor at training for landings, but after a few evenings of use it is clear that it will be just as helpful in that area as in all others.  I am really amazed that 3D flight, and some of the maneuvers I see my friends do are just as hard as they seem to be.  I guess somewhere deep down I hoped there was a “torque-roll” button hidden somewhere on the transmitter   (there is not.)

Me using RealFlight