Hello All!

I'm some what new to RC planes. About 12 years ago, I bought a trainer, radio etc. I headed out to the field with an experienced flier and tried to get the hang of it. After about 4 or 5 trips out to the flying field and not getting anywhere other than almost face-planting my plane, I shelved it. Well, now I'm going back to it. My intention is to get my plane up in the air, solo, by next September. I'm asuming that my plane will need a bit of going over and if I'm not mistaken, I remember hearing something about the radio frequencies changing that would make my radio obsolete. Is this true?

So, now for my plan.... I purchased a Great Planes RC flight simulator. I don't know if it will help or not, but I have it and will spend the time to get comfortable with the controls.
Any opinions on this???

Would it be a good idea to start off with an RC glider? From what I understand, they are slower, larger and fairly easy to get the hang of. I was thinking that after I was able to fly the glider, I would take out my trainer and have at it!

Does this sound like a descent plan?

Thanks in advance for any opinions and comments.

Hi garskoci,
Welcome to this forum. Thanks for joining.

Now for the easy answers first.
YES...The flight simulator will be a great help in getting you familar with stick movements and starting to get your reflexes correct.

If you are learning on your own, the glider might be a good way to start.

But, since you already have the powered trainer plane and indicated you have a local RC club, I recommend you stick with it and seek the help of local club/flyers.

On the radio concerns.
If your radio system was purchased new twelve years ago, probably be up to current standards. I think that by then new radios were all manufactured with the tighter bandwidth/channels requirements. Again check with local RC people to confirm this on your particular radio.
Most important with bringing your radio out of mothballs after that much shelf time is the condition of the transmitter & flight pac batteries.
Make sure to check them or have someone with experiance do it in order to be confident they will take a good charge and hold the voltage sufficent amount of time. I have seen many times an old radio charged up and inital voltage looked OK, but did not last for the first flight and went in.
If it was me, with that old a system, I would replace both battery pacs. They are about the only thing to wear out weither used or not on a RC radio.

Good Luck with your Model Aviation adventure.
Alvin