Is FMS easier or harder than the real thing

[pjfrad]

[warren79]

FMS is a good starting point to flying helis,but learning with the keyboard is going to be of no use.You need to get a sim controller or an analogue joystick for the least.Id say that FMS isnt more difficult and if you can fly the heli with a sim controll in FMS then you would be able to fly the real thing with no problems.

[shaul_eiz]

This is a very good question which is difficult to answer:
As Peter said, using the keyboard will take you nowhere - it does not simulate the real thing.
I personally stopped crashing planes (My planes used to last 10 minutes, I now fly the same one for over a year) after a few intensive days on the FMS. So it certainly very useful. Is it more difficult that the real thing? it is easier because you never loose your eye contact, because the sun does not blind you and the wind gusts do not smash your plane during landing as it might in the real world. Also, you are not tense as you are when flying the real thing. However, there are a few things that FMS makes harder - In the real world you do not lose touch with the air-strip, I mean you always know where you stand while in FMS it is very difficult to land on the right location.
Let me summarise - You'll be a fool risking your precious heli before you simulated on FMS for at least 10 hours. Even then, you will find the real thing challenging, though you will have the correct automatic reactions to save it when it misbehaves.

[Rolo]

I have my own model downloaded onto FMS and I find the simulator is pretty true to life on a calm day. There is always the problem of unexpected wind gusts as somebody mentioned, and orientation because you can't always see the ground....that bloomin' wooden shack jumps out from nowhere

[ggunners]

If you turn on the wind in FMS 2.8.5 at 2.3 m/s and gusts about 0.3 m/s at 270 degrees, it is very realistic regarding the wind except that the wind direction is reasonably constant. You can change that by increasing gust speed but it then starts to feel a bit odd as the gusts can come from any direction and really cause havoc.

--- ggunners

[JoeFlyer]

It must be. Because I just spent many, many hours on it; Bought my first plane ever (a HobbyZone Super Cub); And, flew it without any problems. I've had no formal flight training beyond the few articles I've read in the last couple of weeks and the hours I put into FMS and a couple Microsoft simulators.

I'd have to say that FMS is pretty true to the real thing. I mostly practice with the plane called the "SuperCup" and my real plane seemed to perform very similar to the simulation.

I'll admit though that there are alot more emotions with the real thing though. It was both exciting & fun while completely terrifying, at times, to fly the real thing. But, I was able to take off from the ground and make several nice landings...and I think I can owe alot of that to FMS.

I think FMS rocks

[Come fly with me]

I will say this one thing, FMS gave me more confidence and therfore helped me progress faster towards my goal infact before i got FMS i was still on buddy box and after many afternoons the apprpriate weekend was here and i went solo after 2 flights and after 3 days of being solo my instructor said im nearly ready for my A test.

But I would say it is slightly harder flying for real as there is more on your mind and your not as relaxed but hope fully FMS will raise your confidence and make you worry less about crashing as your more confident in flying.

[SimScale]

My own experience is that some FMS models do fly pretty realistically. Some don't at all. So it's a balance of practicing with the right model (par file).

I hadn't flown RC for a pretty long time. All I did was play online (Red Baron 3D) and then I found FMS beta7. It took me a while to find a realistic plane. I think the Old Timer was the best one.

Then I got back into making a real model to fly. The first day flying was like I'd never stopped flying.

The latest model I've made from scratch flies just like Ggunners Painted Profile P-40. It's very similar too: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre ... avenger+36

I hope to get an FMS version built soon. I've made a couple planes in MetasequoiaLE already but haven't got deep into making PAR files yet.

So, yes.. fms can be just like really flying models, IF the PAR file is right.

[MATTS]

Hi, first post on this forum.

... to make a story short :

my RC resumé :
-Been racing RC (Onroad racing) for the past 13 years (Club level and Provincial/state level)
-in RC related On-road/Off-road for the last possibly 20 years
-I am One of the Executives on the commity of RCO (www.rcottawa.com), One of canada's largest RC On-road racing clubs.
-Dyno/CUT/Zapp/Match/Tune my own On-Road cars/motors/batteries.
-www.teamxray.com < Model T2 is my type of race car.

... the RC Heli interest :
-RC ELECTRIC Helicopter have been an "RC" interest for a while now.
-Used FMS in the past but keyboard flying is not what I wanted.
-I was about to buy an Electric Helicopter (E-flight Blade CP / CP Pro) CAD about 250$ here.
-looked around for some info on them, got some mags, read on some forums, looked at some RC Heli and RC Heli parts reviews, talk to RC Heli enthousiaste about them.
-Made the wise decision to buy a E Sky Serial kit.
-Downloaded well over a 1000 PAR file package. FMS folder is about 500 megs

-Discovered it was not the same thing as racing a Onroad Cars on an indoor track

-Tried other PC Simulator's (I tried the excessivly hign end ones)requiering like 1gig of ram and a P4 3.2mhz > not easely configured/tuned for E-Sky remote. to heavy of a load on PC and somewhat too complete for my current skils.
-Practicing 30 to 60 mins a day (when I can)
-Looking forward to getting into RC ELECTRIC Heli next Summer.

-Saved possibly $1000+ on heli parts and related items just to learn.

-Favorite par file : Hirobo Shuttle Challenge
-2 months now since I got the FMS/E-Sky kit and I can now fly inverted, do some stunts and land just about anywhere all without a Chase camera.

important things are in bold.

I would like to Thank: Roman & Michael Möller (FMS) and all of their contributors.

That is the way to get someone hooked to another aspect of the RC world.

Keep up the great work.

Cheers !

[warren79]

Ive also learned to fly with fms a few months before the real thing and never crashed my trainer.I went for lessons at our local club and was soloing 3 days after my 1st flight.Im sure I could of landed on the 1st day that I flew but the wind was pumping.Anyway 1 or 2 weeks after that I built a 3D SPAD and now (3 months later)Im flying 3D.Well at least still learning.FMS 8.5's flight physics is perfect for 3D practice.I would rather recomend IT than AFP or REALFLIGHT because some of the planes are a bit twitchy so your reflexes become very fast.With my SPAD i can torque roll,flat spin,harrier,harrier roll and hover.In 3months I think thats good and if i didnt have FMS I would of still been on my trainer.You must have the proper planes though and tweak them a bit cause some planes fly really crappy.