New to RC flight

Welcome to R/C! Check the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) web site for club locations near you.
Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

One of the best places to start is a local hobby shop. Most of them that deal in R/C stuff will know where the clubs and instructors are.

Paul, Since you live in Hopatcong, you may want to look into The Top o' NJ club which has a field near Waterloo Village or RAMAC which has a field in Great Meadows, NJ. RAMAC meets at 7:30pm the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month in the Cafeteria of the Eisenhower Middle School on Eyland Ave. just South of Rt.10 in Succasunna,NJ. You are always welcome to come and ask a lot of questions. RAMAC web Page is at: Good luck with your search, Ron L.

I found this at the AMA site...
Dave

Hey Paul,
I got an Aerobird Challenger for myself (from my wife)for Christmas. I practiced by downloading a simulator demo I found online. There are a number of them out there. I used Ripmax but I know a number of people use the FMS simulator. These can control your simulated RC plane with a regular joystick or hook up to your transmitter if you have the more expensive kind.
After flying on my computer for two nights and countless virtual crashes I could finally take off, circle the field, perform some loops, and sort of land my virtual plane. I felt I was ready to fly my airplane.
I flew it on a windy day...NOT recommended. 10-15mph Wait till below 5 if starting out. Try a nice level throw into the wind with the throttle at about 3/4 of max. Level off and let her climb a bit while slowly turning to get the feel. I found that after the 2nd flight I wanted the added control that I had in my simulator so I put my aerobird into Pro mode for the added control. Wow, what a difference!
I have only been flying since the week before Christmas and I have the hang of it pretty well. I attribute it to the simulator and flying in various conditions. Here are two links to some short videos my 8 year old and my sister-in-law took of me flying.
and Be sure to sign up for my Aerobird group found on these pages so you can trade your experiences.
Nick