What is it?

Kinesthetic Instruction is any training or instruction that involves touch and movement. It works for training R/C pilots by allowing the student to stay on the control sticks 100% of the time so the "feel" of the stick can be learned. At the start of flight training, the instructor's fingers are placed over the student's fingers on the control sticks. In the beginning, the instructor does most of the flying, but the student feels all stick movements associated with the flying. Students can immediately feel the stick movements necessary to accomplish take-offs, maneuvering flight, and landings. The idea is that by feeling the correct stick movements needed to fly and land the airplane, the student will learn faster. As the student takes control of the model airplane, the instructor's fingers hover a few inches over the student's fingers. Thus, corrections by the instructor can be made instantly by dropping back down on the student's fingers and then releasing when the student is back in control.

How does it work?

Using Kinesthetic Instruction, the instructor not only teaches the student to fly and land, but does so by actually transferring the skills necessary. The student's fingers are forced to move the sticks correctly, and the result is perfectly controlled flight and beautiful landings from start to finish. As flight time increases the amount of instructor correction diminishes until the student is able to demonstrate consecutive landings without help. Students who solo using Kinesthetic Instruction are not just neophyte fliers, but are capable of landing their model aircraft with precision.

Why is it the best way to learn?

Kinesthetic Instruction is the best method of teaching R/C model airplane flying, because it enables the instructor to provide physical feedback of control stick movements to the student. This results in quicker learning while always maintaining safety of flight.

Safety of flight can be guaranteed when learning to fly using Kinesthetic Instruction because there is no time delay associated with instructor inputs. In effect, the instructor is always on the stick with the student (just like full-size instruction, where the student and instructor controls are mechanically connected). Using Kinesthetic Instruction, all landings will be acceptable, with the instructor doing just those things necessary to make them happen. Research has shown that the average newcomer will need to accomplish 400 to 600 dual instruction landings and/or touch-and-goes in order to demonstrate competency. Using Kinesthetic Instruction, all of those landings can be guaranteed to be damage-free.

Why the Buddy-Cord just isn't good enough

The Buddy-Cord is a device (an electrical cord about 4 ft long) which connects two radio-control transmitters and allows the control of one model aircraft to be switched back and forth between them with the flick of a switch. Thus, the instructor can "take over" (with a short time delay) and "save the aircraft".

What initially sounds like a good idea actually turns out to be a poor device for teaching someone to fly. This is because the buddy-cord prevents the instructor from providing the two most important elements to someone learning to fly R/C: 1) physical feedback from the control sticks, and 2) safety of flight.

Using a buddy-cord, the instructor relies only on auditory instruction while the student tries to "get it" by attempting maneuvers on his/her own. When the student's maneuvering departs from controlled flight, the instructor takes over with the flick of a switch. The instructor then recovers the airplane so the student can "try it again."

The import thing to learn - the recovery technique - is actually denied to the student with that flick of the switch. Since the student is not feeling the sticks move to recover the aircraft, the main impact of the buddy-cord is a lengthening of the time required to learn. The student is literally trying to teach him/herself to fly while listening to the instructor's verbal comments/commands.

The buddy-cord does provide a measure of safety, but only when the student is flying high enough for the instructor to take over (sometimes referred to as "three-mistakes-high"). Unfortunately, to be both cost- and time-effective, the majority of flight training must be concentrated on landings, where the aircraft is very close to the ground. A buddy-cord is almost useless in preventing crashes below 10 feet above ground because of the time delay involved in reacting and switching over the controls. Consider, for example, a landing aircraft going 30 mph (44 ft/sec). If the airplane is less than 10 feet above the ground on final approach, both the transfer of controls and the instructor's correction must be accomplished in less than 1/4 second. Therefore, when using a buddy cord for landing training it is nearly impossible to guarantee that no damage to the aircraft will occur.