This article is not intended to tell you what to buy or need. Rather its meant to guide you to move in the right direction in the hobby.

R/C Flying can be one of the most enjoyable passtimes you can partake in. It involves woodworking, electronics, aeronautics, time at the workbench, time at the airfield and time outside in the sun with friends. There are many facets in this hobby - too many to mention here.

The first impression many people get with R/C aircraft is that it appears to be a rich man's hobby. This is not true. For very little money ($300 to $500) a person can get their first plane and field kit. Compare this to other hobbies. You will get many years of enjoyment from this initial investment and if that is as deep as you want to go it will cost you very little more.

But I'm getting ahead of my self. Before you buy equipment - before you join a club, attend some of the listed events or just drop into one of the airfields for a visit. You will find people there ready and eager to answer all your questions about aircraft and flying.

You may think that you could get away with not joining a club and learning to fly on your own. You might be lucky but as a novice flyer many things can happen and eventually gravity will catch up with you and your plane will make hard contact with the ground.

Our instructors are actually flying dual control with a student. In training with the club, both the instructor and the student have control boxes. As long as you are in control the instructor allows you to fly but at the first sign of trouble the instructor takes over and gets you out of trouble. As a student pilot I can attest to this first hand. The club has all the "buddy boxes" for the major brands of transmitters. Check with a club member to see which brands the club has.

Another advantage of joining a club is that part of your club dues are actually MAAC dues. This gives you an insurance policy against 3rd party damage to property. For more information about this policy check at the MAAC website.

YOUR FIRST PLANE

Aircraft come several ways. First you can buy it in kit form. This basically comes as a "pile of lumber" and hardware. This will take time to assemble and many like me built their first aircraft as a winter project. This allowed me to take my time and also get advise from the more experianced builders at hobby nights (Tuesdays during the winter at Andreas Ritter's hobby garage).

Many people wanting to get into the air right now buy Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) Kits. With several hours of assembly you can get right into flying.

Your first plane will be a trainer. Trainers generally have a large dehidral (angle of the wings), large wing area, and flat bottomed wings. This type of a/c is generally more forgiving than an advanced aerobatic plane.

Monday nights, at Wasi Field, is our student night. The field is reserved this night for instruction from 5PM to dusk.