I see what you're saying.  It's helpful, but for me it just didn't seem to make things go much faster.  Maybe that is because it didn't help that much with the parts that were the most difficult for me to learn.

My previous R/C experience helped me in learning to fly the airplane, but that is the easy part.  It's all the rest that for me was harder (using the radio, dealing with traffic, learning all the rules, multi-tasking, etc).  Everyone is different I guess.

There were also a few things I had to un-learn.  My typical landing technique in R/C is basically a wheel landing.  This comes from years of flying R/C warbirds with high wing loading that "land hot".  It was hard for me to master the technique of doing a good full-stall 3-point landing in the Citabria.  I tended to want to come in faster and "fly it onto the ground" like I've been doing for years in R/C.  I also didn't fully understand the concepts and technique involved in flying coordinated.  It's easy to be sloppy with the rudder when flying R/C (bank and yank), and it's harder to tell when a model is flying coordinated, slipping or skidding.  Good rudder technique is essential in FS, particularly gliders.  Learning when and where to slip or skid, and when not to slip or skid can save your life.

I have a feeling though, that the FS experience is going to give me new perspectives going back to R/C.  We'll see, I haven't done much R/C flying yet since starting again.

Gary

Hi Ed,

Yes, I noticed you still have the Garber Virtual Tour on your website.  Thank you for that.  I just traded emails with Scott (in the photo) last week.  He is doing well, still doing the docent thing at the UHC (Udvar Hazy Center) NASM.  Unfortunately the unrestored collection is a lot less available to the public than it used to be.  No civilians are allowed into the restoration hall at UHC, and Garber is now completely closed to the public.  Too bad.

Gary