REGINA WINDY FLYERS Flight Training

The Regina Windy Flyers offer free flight training to all members. All pilots must have qualified for their “Wings” before flying without supervision of a club instructor. Our qualified instructors are available to help you get your airplane flight ready and assist anyone beginning to fly or working towards their “wings”. In order to get your wings, a pilot must be able to perform a specific set of maneuvers designed to show basic competencies of flight and safety. Our “Wings” program manual is available by using the link below.

You should NOT try to learn to fly without the help of an experienced RC Pilot. Crashing on your first flight can be so frustrating it might cause you to quit before you even get started.

While learning to fly you may be able to use a Buddy Box setup to help you learn and save your aircraft from disaster caused by inexperience. The instructor will use your transmitter bound wirelessly to the buddy box with similar controls that you will use during the training flight. If a compatible “Buddy Box” is not available, training will be completed with the instructor using your radio and handing it to you when you are ready to take over the aircraft.

The instructor will initially do the take-off and climb to a safe altitude for you. He then will either hold a momentary switch when it is time for you to fly, and releases it to immediately take control back if you put the airplane into an unstable attitude or if not using a “Buddy Box” will pass you the radio and take it back to recover the aircraft. During initial training instructors will always keep your aircraft at a higher altitude to insure ample time for correction. As your abilities increase they will bring your flight lower preparing you for take-offs and landings. The instructor will also land your aircraft for you until you are sufficiently skilled to perform the take-offs and landings yourself. When your skills are sufficiently developed it will be time to take your “Wings Test” and become a pilot with open flying privileges.

Until this test has been passed, the student must have a instructor with them at the flight line while flying. There is NO COST for this training for club members.

Once a pilot has acquired their “Wings” they may fly at the club facilities without further assistance from an instructor. Club instructors are always willing to assist you If you build or acquire a new aircraft that you would like assistance with, whether to pre-flight inspect, give it its maiden flight or assist you in flying it until you have become comfortable with it.

We have a number of club flight instructors willing to assist you in learning to fly and assisting you with pre-flight preparations or answering any questions you may have. Due to weather fluctuations or other commitments there is no set time for the instructors to be at the field, although most nice evening and weekends one or more are there. The best advice is to talk to some of the instructors and find when they normally fly then work with the ones that would work well with when you can be available to fly. Feel free to contact the instructors and discuss availability with them, this may save you a trip to the field to find no instructors are available.

RWF Club Flight Instructors

Darryl Erbach
rwf@reginawindyflyers.ca

Derek Kanak
(306) 775-0009
rwf@reginawindyflyers.ca

Derek Schumann
(306) 541-3050
derek.schumann@reginawindyflyers.ca

Trevor Masson
(306)-536-5923
trevor.masson@reginawindyflyers.ca

Terry Truelove
(306) 535-2484
terry.truelove@reginawindyflyers.ca

Mornings Only

Brian Checkley
(306) 949-4509
rwf@reginawindyflyers.ca

Helicopter and Multirotor Drones only

Dean Clark
(306) 502-4066
rwf@reginawindyflyers.ca

Jamie Clark
(306) 536-4332
rwf@reginawindyflyers.ca

RWF Instructor

Transport Canada Basic & Advanced Drone Pilot License

All pilots of RPAS  (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) also known as “Drones” must have at least a Transport Canada Small Basic RPAS or Small Advanced RPAS License to legally fly a RPAS weighing 250 grams to 25 Kg. This includes all MAAC members flying on MAAC affiliated flying sites.

Acquiring Your Basic RPAS License

Regina Windy Flyers membership requires you to be a MAAC (Model Aeronautics Association Of Canada) member. MAAC requires all members to hold a minimum of a Basic RPAS licence to fly at its members sites in uncontrolled airspace and Advanced RPAS to fly at either controlled or uncontrolled airspace. Regina Windy Flyers field is in uncontrolled airspace therefore only requiring a Basic RPAS licence. If you have questions about obtaining your licence or require assistance we would be more than happy to assist you in obtaining your RPAS licence.

BASIC RPAS FAQ

Fee: $10, additional attempts have the same fee.

About the online Small Basic Exam
You must pass this exam to get your Pilot Certificate – Basic Operations.

The Small Basic Exam:

35 multiple choice questions.
90 minutes to complete the exam. If you run out of time, your exam will be marked based on the answers provided.
A score of 65% or higher is considered a pass.

Online exam questions are based on the Knowledge Requirements for Pilots of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. However, this document is not a study guide.

If you fail the online exam, you must wait 24 hours before trying again. You can re-take it as many times as you wish.

You are given the results of your online exam right after it finishes through the Drone Management Portal. After you pass your online exam
A Pilot Certificate – Basic Operations will be issued after passing the exam. While your pilot certificate does not expire, it’s important to keep your skills-up-to-date.

The Best Way To Learn To Fly

Learning to fly with a experiencienced RC pilot that is willing to train you is by far the best way to learn to fly. Even with the advanced technology in the new beginner aircraft that does not teach you to fly. It helps to prevent crashes by stabilizing the aircraft if and when required but does not help you all the time. Thats where an instructor comes in, they can teach you how to fly and slowly advance you towards you to the riskier parts like take offs and landings where many beginners crash when learning on their own. As well an instructor is there to take over if you loose orientation in the air and fly it back to the flying area achieving a proper altitude then handing control back to the beginner. That is not something the majority of trainer aircraft may achieve on their own yet. As well by joining the Regina Windy Flyers you gain a large wide open flat field with paved runways and lots of open area to land if you miss the runways. Its a far better option than flying from pastures and rutted up gravel or back roads. We have found that more  RC pilots that join a club and learn to fly from an instructor stick with the hobby more often than RC pilots that go out and try to learn and fly on their own.

Why Join A Club To Learn To Fly Your First Plane

Field sign

By joining a club to learn to fly you will likely learn to fly faster, you will most likely protect your investment in your new aircraft and equipment as if you go out on your own, learning to fly can be trial and error with the error sometimes causing great deals of damage. In most cases the assistance of an instructor can avoid these instances saving you frustration, time and added expenses. Being a member of a club is great as the use of the facilities at any time the friendship of other members as well as the knowledge gained in the hobby from meeting others is worth the membership in itself. But once you have learned to fly if you choose to go off and fly on your own that is fine as well, we just want everyone to get in to the hobby happy and safely with as little frustration as possible.

Anyone wanting to learn a little more about the RWF club and learning to fly is more than welcome to drop out to the flying field anytime there are pilots out flying. Most nice calm evenings and weekends during the late spring through summer and in to the early fall there are generally pilots out flying. You may also make contact by email rwf@reginawindyflyers or phoning one of the contacts on the club contacts page to inquire when somebody may be at the field.

What Is The Best Plane Setup To get In To The Hobby With?

There is no perfect answer to that question because there are many great choices with new ones coming out every day. You can choose from new or used but you should look for an aircraft that is preferably a high wing style aircraft and at least 48 to 56 inch. This would generally make it large enough to handle a reasonable amount af breeze and high wing aircraft are generally more stable for learning to fly. You could choose Nitro or electric just depending what way you choose to go in the hobby. You may also look at trike gear ( has a nose wheel ) or tail dragger. Trike gear tend to be a little easier to learn to take off and land with but many new taildraggers work quite well.  As for radio equipment it is best to choose something that will have future use with other models you may own.  There is often times used trainers available locally through members or on second hand sites. Or you can check with your local hobby store the carry new equipment and many times carry used trainers and equipment for sale. They can also offer you advise on what you may or may  not need to go along with the equipment you have bought.