Easier to fly, helis or airplanes?

[SparkleBee]

Hi guys,
Want to get a small rc fixed wing plane, just a little electric foam thing, but ive never flown such a thing! So question is, if i can fly a 450 size heli, will i get on ok with a plane, or are they much harder?! I dont have a sim so will have to learn in the real world. Can fly loops, rolls, and a little bit of inverted with my mini titan at the moment.
Cheers.

[dandeman]

I think you would be able to fly one Lots of people have helis and small foam planes

[heliward0]

planes are esier than helis mate!!... loads.. i think smoothhound has t-shirt that says "PLANES ARE FOR PEOPLE THAT CANT FLY HELIS,,,lol

[Smoothound]

He has indeed

The absolute truth though is it's easier to fly planes than helis but just as hard to fly planes well

[SparkleBee]

planes are esier than helis mate!!... loads.. i think smoothhound has t-shirt that says "PLANES ARE FOR PEOPLE THAT CANT FLY HELIS,,,lol

Hehehe, cool t shirt! Thanks guys, shall get the plane ordered then.

[GravityKills]

I won a depron plane in a competition on Saturday So I'm going to find out as well...

[ivanp]

i have just started to fly planes after playing with helis for a good few years .
Planes are easyer you just have to get use to the plane being further away

[Hangar-7]

I think the order of difficulty/ skill needed in flying is arranged as gliders (less difficult) - electric planes/ power planes (medium difficult) and then Helicopters (most difficult). In other words, excellent hand and eye co-ordination needed to fly a model heli.

Cheers.

[Steve]

The absolute truth though is it's easier to fly planes than helis but just as hard to fly planes well

That's pretty close to the truth.

Are planes easier? No, they're just different in my opinion.

A few weeks ago, we got one of our heli-only club mates to have a go with a plane on a buddy-box out of curiosity. He (Brewber on here) had only ever flown helis before we did this. Sent the plane up and gave him control, and to be fair he flew it around the sky ok. He was clearly using the rudder as his primary turning input (i.e. not bank and yank) and everything looked great. Then someone shouted "do a roll!" So he banged the aileron over and in true heli stylie dropped the throttle to below mid stick through the inverted part of the manoeuvre.

Well we all fell about laughing! No harm was done to the model or the pilot's pride but it just goes to show - you need to switch your head between the 2 disciplines if you're going to play with both. This is exactly the reason why some heli flyers simply refuse to fly planes.

[GravityKills]

I think many heli fliers use planes now and them in the sim, and learn how to use throttle inverted.
I love the acromaster... the best RC car that Phoenix has to offer

[glen_j]

planes are easier to fly although some planes have nasty habits that can catch you out, planes are harder to land than helis and they don't hover inverted either

[moonmanflyer]

My lad got a trainer plane for christmas and we both fly that ok, is alot easier than flying helis but still requires good skill, flying them is one thing, flying them well is another and i would say niether myself or my lad fly it smooth as others i have seen.

[mattydred]

planes are alot easier and less stressfull to fly than helis.

this is my first ever plane flight(30 may 2008).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOdcGbmW6M"]YouTube - mattydred test flying rc r/c ultrafly brushless f16 jet[/ame]

[Disc]

I have to say that planes and helicopters are about the same.

Each one has its own styles and depanding upon the END game there as hard as each other.

Plane always moves forward so from a starting point they seem easier to fly and you start off learning high...

Helicopter you start learning on the ground and can move any direction.

its all about control if your rough/heavy handed then either one will bite you

As for which one is harder a 3D plane is just as bad if you dumb thumb it and you need to get out of trouble becuase it just goes forward and that could be the ground or tree/hedge etc etc.

Helicopter dumb thumb it has more escape options period it can climb out vertically inverted if required.

So depending upon the level you want to reach there not far from each other at all. Although I'd say helicopters you need to know a LOT more about set-ups from the off... although a badly set up plane is no joy to fly either

so overall there not really that far from each other. After all my Plane is the same kind of cost as one of my helicopters so there not cheaper either

But the hardest to land.... Thermal Glider is probably the hardest thing I find to land as you get 1 shot to land no power up to go back round etc etc and tow lines breaking are not fun either at 20ft But only 2 land outs in 20 tow's so not to bad!!!!

[Janek]

Serious Heli flyers are intelligent, gifted, good looking and rich. . . . . . . . . on the other hand, serious plank flyers smell of stale pi$$