South Jersey RC Society
RC Club Serving Southern New Jersey
South Jersey RC Society

Flight Instruction

Flight Instructors

  • Planes
  • Helicopters
    • Fenton Appleby

Test for Solo Flight Certification at Our Field

  1. Horizontal Figures of Eight  (both left and right)
  2. Three loops in a row  (from both left & right)
  3. Immelmann turn  (both left & right)
  4. Power on stall
  5. One roll (both left & right)
  6. Dead stick landing.
  7. Landing pattern approach (from both left & right)
  8. Take off and landing (from both left & right)

AMA Guide for Introductory Pilot Instructor Selection Criteria and Flight Proficiency Demonstration (Instructor Test)

Helicopter Pilot Proficiency Program  (Click for tests for PPP Levels 1 – 7)

All helicopter pilots flying at SJRCS are encouraged to work on achieving the highest level of proficiency possible.  Each progressive level (up to 7) helps build new skills and will encourage you to become a better pilot.

The intention of the incremental proficiency levels is to give pilots a working time-tested method of improving piloting skills in a progressive format that builds on the core foundation skills learned in the previous level.

Below are members of the SJRCS who have demonstrated a certain level of proficiency in flying helicopters.  Documentation for the seven levels can be found by clicking the above link.

 Level 1

  • Arnold Solof
  • Bill Powers

 Level 2

  • Fenton Appleby

Level 3

  • Dave Halverson

Flight Instruction at South Jersey RC Society

                 We want you to be safe and competent in your new hobby. The club offers new members a free flight instruction program to achieve this.  

                First, we ensure you have a current Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) membership so that you have the insurance required to protect yourself and the club in case of an accident. Then, we will check your aircraft for safe construction and installation of the engine/motor and radio equipment. If needed, we can show/instruct you how to safely start and adjust the IC (internal combustion) engine or the electric motor in your model aircraft. We then give you ground school and flight instructions and work with you until you are competent with your aircraft. This ensures that you are able to take off, do controlled circuits, and land your aircraft without the aid of an instructor.

                When you can fly your aircraft competently, your flight instructor will certify you, and you will then be allowed to fly without the aid of an instructor!  Our instructor programs are one-on-one and tailored to each student pilot. There are NO EXPECTATIONS of how quickly or slowly you must progress. You are free to learn and progress at a speed that is comfortable FOR YOU.

              You can make arrangements with any of the club instructors for training.  For more information, please click on <Contact Us>.

                Our instructors use what is commonly called a “buddy box” (Curtis training with Dave). This is a system that allows both the instructor and the novice pilot to have a transmitter. The two transmitters are connected to each other by either a cable or radio signal.  The instructor controls who is actually flying the aircraft at any given time.  He has a master switch he holds down on his transmitter to give you control.  If he lets go of the switch, he gets control of the aircraft.  This allows the instructor to take control of the aircraft whenever necessary, avoiding crashes immediately.  During your first couple of flights, you will find the instructor taking control back from you quite often as you do things like “over bank” or lowering a wing too much during a turn. The instructor will take control and tell you, “I got it.”  He’ll level the plane back out and give you back control: “Ready, you have the plane,” and so forth.

               Alert: If you are buying your first trainer airplane, we recommend you get one with a Spektrum or Futaba compatible receiver.  Otherwise, we may not have a second compatible transmitter for the “buddy box” function.   Most of the club instructors have Spektrum-compatible transmitters.

                In the beginning, the instructor will take off and land the airplane. The student will only fly after it is airborne and the airplane is at a “safe” altitude.  Generally, that means about 250 to 300 feet.  The student stands next to the instructor.  In the beginning, the new pilot will have their hands full just trying to figure out which way the airplane is heading.  That is normal and only gets easier by practicing.  If the airplane gets out of the student’s control, the instructor will take control, correct the problem, and then give control back to the new pilot once they are ready again. We are only trying to let the students learn how to make turns and keep the airplane at about the same altitude. After a few flights, the student will have a little control, and we can bring it down a little lower but still keep it “safe.”

                The next few sessions will consist of getting as much practice as possible. There are a few exercises, like making a square and a figure eight, but this is the time the student will learn how to stay ahead of the airplane instead of just reacting to what the airplane does, in other words turning left when they want to turn left and vice versa. The instructor may also have them do a little taxiing to familiarize the students with how to control the airplane on the ground.

                After the student has proven that they can make the airplane go where they want, it’s time to start learning the limits of the airplane, not how many G’s the wing will take before it snaps in half.  We are talking about throttle control, stall speed, glide characteristics, and slow-speed maneuvering.  Most trainer planes can fly pretty slowly. They won’t drop out of the sky unless you tilt the wing vertically and make it drop out of the sky.  It takes a few flights to explore the airplane’s limits and learn how it handles at slower speeds and why it does the things it does.  Again, this takes more skill and will be taught as the student improves. Everyone is different, and there is no set time in which they learn.  All that is important is that the student keeps learning.

                About the time the student has learned slow flight, they will be taught how to do take-offs.  Since they already have the skills to fly the airplane safely, they need to be able to keep it going straight long enough to reach flying speed. A good airplane setup will help tremendously when first learning how to take off.  Most importantly, the nose wheel only moves slightly in each direction.  The more the steering moves, the harder it is to keep in a straight line because it is very sensitive to your inputs.  A rule of thumb is to push the airplane forward on the ground and move the rudder stick all the way to the right or left.  If the airplane makes a circle that is smaller than about seven or eight feet,  you may want to adjust your linkage to the nose wheel to make it move less.  The instructor may help the student with the first takeoff by steering and operating the throttle for them while the student flies the airplane off the ground. Once the student has learned to take off, they will take off and trim the airplane until they learn the rest.

                Landing is the most complicated thing because it has many steps to be completed to land.  A common saying is, “Takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory.”  That is, of course, true.  Now, we start putting together all the individual things the student has learned to land.  The first thing is flying the approach pattern. The pattern is a rectangle with one long side across the middle of the field and the other long side on the far edge of the field parallel to the runway.  The pattern can be flown either clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the direction of the wind.  Always take off and land the airplane going into the wind.  Starting at a lower but still “safe” altitude, the student will be directed along the pattern to learn the spacing of each side of the rectangle. Once they have that down, they will be instructed when to reduce the throttle and glide the airplane down in order to fly across the field at about 25 feet. After flying all the way across the field, they will add throttle climb back up to pattern altitude and go around again. They will continue working on this and slowly get better at it until they can slow the plane down and fly across the field at about 10 feet.

                At this time, they will have the “opportunity” to land.  We call it that because there is a doorway at the edge of the field that is about 15 feet tall and as wide as the field. If they can slow the airplane down and fly through that doorway, they will be ready to land the airplane.  If they come in too fast or too high, they will go around again and set up another approach.  Once the student demonstrates that they can fly through the doorway at a reduced speed, they will be instructed to land the airplane.  At that point, they need to continue descending until the airplane is about two or three feet above the ground and level off. Then, as gently as they can, let the airplane sink to the ground and try to keep the nose of the airplane up. Once the airplane touches down, they need to keep it going as straight as possible until it comes to a stop.