Just wanted to say Hi. I am new to this hobby. I live over in the Daphne area. I attended the Armageddon event. It was the first time I had ever been to a field. Everyone seemed very nice and my daughter and I enjoyed watching. I am guessing I will get quite addicted to this hobby.

I went ahead and did the online AMA registration last week as I see that can take some time to get your card/number. Other than that, I have done a lot of reading/research on the hobby. I also downloaded a trial RC flight sim program and tried that out.

Any suggestions would be welcome PM me if you like. I guess I am a bit nervous at how to get started.

Some things I found so far that surprised me ....
- Crashes happen a lot.
- Flying is way harder to do than it looks.
- People of all ages seem interested in the hobby
- The local hobby shops are very involved (awesome)
- You don't just go out and fly....you need to learn first.

Anyway...I look forward to meeting you.

-Bill

Thanks for joining this forum Bill and we look forward to your participation.

Probably be about three or four weeks till your AMA card arrives, but you can verify your membership online in a few days as soon as they clear your payment.
The best I remember, you should get an e-mail from AMA stating that they have recieved your application and payment and you can print that to a hard copy and use till the card arrives.

Seems like a lot of information and details to learn at first and it is, but look at all us dummies just flying away and having fun, so you should catch on pretty quick. :yes:

it is lot's of fun, and very addictive :thumbup: it seems a little hard getting started, but when you get your plane out there and let don kovall look at it to make sure everything checks out ok, frits and david will have you flying in no time :bigplane: .great instructors :D. if ama doesn't e-mail you, give them a call and they will tell you your number :thumbup:

Bill,
Here are my comments in response to your post:

- I guess I am a bit nervous at how to get started.
That's not unusual, but no need to be. Come visit us at the field and we'll get you over that.

- Crashes happen a lot.
Not really. Crashes happen a lot at the Armageddon fly-in, where pilots enter events that have a certain degree of danger in them. Some are very crash-prone! The flying last Saturday was not "normal". But some of us crash during "normal" flying too. And for some crashing is just normal... :roflmao:

- Flying is way harder to do than it looks.
Yes, it is.

- People of all ages seem interested in the hobby.
True. Too bad not too many youngsters get into this hobby any more.

- The local hobby shops are very involved (awesome).
Many of the HobbyTown store employees (Rob, Justin and Seth) are members of our club. Jake will be a member soon, too. (Right, Jake?) <_<

- You don't just go out and fly....you need to learn first.
If you want to hang onto your plane for a while, you'd better get with an instructor first! David Lanzo and I are the flight instructors who you'll see on at the field on weekends. Don Koval is the one to see when you are setting up the mechanical and electronic parts of your plane. He is very good at that. Don is at the field each weekend also.
Come learn to fly and next year you will be able to participate in Armageddon also! :lol: :yickes:

If you don't have a plane yet, come talk to us anyway and we'll guide you.

Welcome Bill! :banana:
I'm glad you had fun at Armageddon! I wished I could have been there but I had to be at work!
My suggestion would be to invest in a sim. first and crash all you like on it first!
Then in the meantime, if you want to fly my trainer to get the nervs up before you fly yours I'd be glad to let you. I plan on setting it up anyway when I get back in from work. :thumbup:
Fritz wouldn't mind using it to train I'm sure!
The plan is to try to set it up to get more kids involved and let them fly it too!
What you think Fritz? :D

Hi Bill,

Welcome to the forum and to our field :thumbup:

We will be glad to help you in any way we can :)

If you don't have a plane yet, we can help you pick one to get started and advise you on what you need in the way of field equipment........

Don....................

Welcome to the Forum and the club Bill,We have alot of super people in our club.
I just found out that one of our members has a trainer,it is real nice plane.This
mans name is russell,he will be at the field tomorrow.he wants 50.00 for it.Frits was
teaching him on this plane,I believe its never been crashed.I also agree earlier on the
forum..A simulator is real nice and very helpful.I love mine,I just dont know how to use a pc that good yet.I hope this helps---kenny :thumbup:

Hey Bill,I just thought of something.If you want,check out this web site...
www.spadflyer.com they have some trainers on there for less than 50.00.
Also look at www.spadtothebone.com at the trainer they have on there.I have
enough material to build a spad trainer if you want.I will give you the stuff if you
want to try and build you one.you will have less than 20.00 in the plane itself.If you
want you can call me at 228-217-5905 and I will try and help in anyway.kenny :thumbup:

Thanks for all the replies.:D I hope to meet some of you at the field tomorrow...

I did hold off on getting a trainer yet, I wanted to hear advice from the club members first.

-Bill

Bill,
It was nice to meet you at Irvington Field this past Sunday.
Hope you enjoyed your visit and maybe picked up some usefull RC advice.

Looking forward to more visits and seeing you get started in the hobby/sport.
Alvin

Welcome to the world of RC! Hope to see ya at the field soon!

Haha very funny Fritts!
Jake

Just to give an update..... I did pick up an Avistar ARF. I have been been having fun learning how to put it together. I'm about 50% done now, but I am very slow. :blink:
-Bill