is there an age limit for learning to fly

Bmonty40

New member
I'm not sure where to post this question, so i apologize in advance if this isn't the right place. What i am wanting to ask is if there is an age limit for kids to be able to fly RC Airplanes. I have a 3 year old grandson that is the smartest kid I have ever seen. (so smart i have my doubts he is really my grandson).. He loves the planes i have hanging from the ceiling, and is always telling me he wants to fly them... I'm thinking I should start him with my old RF G2 simulator and maybe by the time we finish building him his own plane he might be ready to learn to fly for real... Am I completely crazy? He has been talking with a complete vocabulary, since he was barely 2 years old. But i don't know if laws prevent me from letting him fly an RC plane at 3 years old....Of course with me using a buddy box....
 
Thanks again BrokeDad, sounds like a good idea... i never even thought about that... i have many drones, from ones that will fit in the palm of your hand, to pretty big ones... The small ones seem harder to fly than the big ones, but maybe somewhere in the middle might be a good place to start....
 
"My kid is smarter than your kid" How many times have we heard that? :)
In the past, there has been a rather famous case of a very young man flying large pod and boom helicopters. The kid was very good and advanced quickly. I am against having very young people fly large and dangerous aircraft. I believe that the age of reasoning is between the age of 16 and 60. Some never achieve it. We have age limits on learning to drive. I would be very careful allowing a sub 5yo to fly. Sim is great.

It got me in trouble around here, but I also think there should be an upper limit of being allowed to fly to include an eye exam and mental acuity test.
 
Yea i know what you are talking about, every time i tell someone about him being so smart i think about that... We have three of our own, and several grandchildren, and none i have see in my life compares to him... in fact everyone remarks about him being so smart... He has recently started reading... He is 3 years and 4 months...i started him on a learning program and he is picking it up so fast... Anyway, I'm not going to start him with a big plane for sure.. BrokeDad said something about starting him with a drone. I have plenty of them and we can do that in our yard... Then maybe a small electric with no one around... but an airfield with a big plane i think you are completely right...I would hate for him to hurt someone... I'll wait many years for that...

This is why i asked, I knew you guys would talk some sense into me...
 
There are no laws or rules to be concerned about. Just your recognition and acceptance of responsibility if something bad were to happen. But we all know that that generally will just end in a broken aircraft. It's not an issue of smarts, it is an issue about eye-hand coordination. Can you play baseball with him, and not suffer a broken window, or his getting a goose egg because he missed a catch? Can he cast a fishing rod?
 
This country has an obsession with the "First" in any endeavor. The first 9yo to fly coast to coast. etc etc. these are usually pushed by parents for getting their names in record books. I believe some organizations no longer accept youth age records for this reason. I was driving tractors at 10yo. I had a school driver's license at 14. Experience has taught us that these are not practical. Just because you can, does not mean you should. If you are even asking the question, you really already know the answer in your heart.
 
a good plane would probably be the Mini Apprentice I flew it a month ago and landed it. This is a lot because I just started flying like two months ago! Oh. Also, the Timber X is a great plane to learn on I think the Timber would be the best.
 
I have a umx turbo timber---but it's tail is broken and HH hasn't sent the replacement parts. Some kid broke it:confused: gotta watch out for other people messing with your air planes!!!
 
And if you are going to buy him a radio and you think he'll really be into the hobby for a long time and he is carful with stuff a dx8 to ix12 maybe a dx6 (that is what I have) however if you think he'll be into the hobby for a long time get him something with more channels (whish I woulda) in my opinion. And if you have a big yard like 1 acre or more and nice neighbors and no trees he could fly at home. I fly at my house with the cub but not the umx turbo timber.
 
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I'm not sure where to post this question, so i apologize in advance if this isn't the right place. What i am wanting to ask is if there is an age limit for kids to be able to fly RC Airplanes. I have a 3 year old grandson that is the smartest kid I have ever seen. (so smart i have my doubts he is really my grandson).. He loves the planes i have hanging from the ceiling, and is always telling me he wants to fly them... I'm thinking I should start him with my old RF G2 simulator and maybe by the time we finish building him his own plane he might be ready to learn to fly for real... Am I completely crazy? He has been talking with a complete vocabulary, since he was barely 2 years old. But i don't know if laws prevent me from letting him fly an RC plane at 3 years old....Of course with me using a buddy box....
Wow ! He sounds very smart !!! I would definitely start him on a simulator first. depending on what you have, I believe that RF9 is the best. Or maybe consider getting him one of the trainer editions. I have never heard of rules on age limits for flying RC planes but like 12oclockhigh said, I wouldn't let him fly anything BIG and over 1.3m wingspan first until he has flown some UMX's from Horizon Hobby. Maybe let him start with the carbon cub S or Apprentice (under your supervision obviously) preferably Something with SAFE, panic recovery and under 1.3m wingspan. Fly in a big wide open space until he get's comfortable with it. Definitely get him a DX7 or better like groovybf109e said if he's going to be in the hobby for a long time.... me and my dad got our older neighbor into the hobby and he is doing great in just a couple of months worth of RF8 and an Apprentice. He has REALLY gotten into the hobby since. He has almost as many planes as me now ! I have about 10. He even just bought the Carbon Z Cessna 150 2.1m wingspan and I don't even have anything that big ! LOL.... I'm a kid and have flown A LOT of airplanes from small UMX's to big, fast jets. THE ABSOLOUTE BEST RC TRAINER IS THE HOBBYZONE CHAMP RTF FOR $100 (in my opinion) !!! I learned on that when I was 6. We have had 3 or 4 of those and if you happen to get one...,(hopefully you will consider it) FLY IN 0 WIND ! It will get knocked around like crazy due to not having any gyros and being small. It doesn't have ailerons so that may be a minus. Hope this helped ! ! !
 
And if you are going to buy him a radio and you think he'll really be into the hobby for a long time and he is carful with stuff a dx8 to ix12 maybe a dx6 (that is what I have) however if you think he'll be into the hobby for a long time get him something with more channels (whish I woulda) in my opinion. And if you have a big yard like 1 acre or more and nice neighbors and no trees he could fly at home. I fly at my house with the cub but not the umx turbo timber.
I meant in the future not now.
 
The HOBBYZONE CHAMP RTF looks like a nice plane but unless he his super proficient on the sim I would say something with safe or as3x. If it is super calm where you live then maybe the HOBBYZONE CHAMP RTF would be good I have never flown one but if it is windy then something with gyros. At lest in my opinion.
 
If you already have a spectrum radio or plan on getting one, for an oudoors plane i would say the Sport Cub Hobbyzone Champ sounds nice, or the Apprentice, but for indoors the night vapor if it ever comes back in stock.
 
"My kid is smarter than your kid" How many times have we heard that? :)
In the past, there has been a rather famous case of a very young man flying large pod and boom helicopters. The kid was very good and advanced quickly. I am against having very young people fly large and dangerous aircraft. I believe that the age of reasoning is between the age of 16 and 60. Some never achieve it. We have age limits on learning to drive. I would be very careful allowing a sub 5yo to fly. Sim is great.

It got me in trouble around here, but I also think there should be an upper limit of being allowed to fly to include an eye exam and mental acuity test.
(realizes that I've been flying giant scale since I was 5..) ruh roh
 
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