When starting out in any hobby it's always best to keep things simple, or you run the risk of just becoming instantly demoralised and losing interest before you even get going!
Learning to fly a radio controlled (RC) airplane is no different, and although there are plenty of 3 and 4-channel rc planes available that are suitable for beginners to the radio control flying hobby, a simple little 2-channel plane is always going to give you an easy introduction to the hobby, before you move on to bigger and better aircraft. It's a great, and cheap, way of whetting your appetite, if you like.
But what is a "channel" ?...
In the radio control hobby world, the name channel refers to any single controllable function of an RC airplane i.e. something on the plane (or any other type of rc model) that you control from the transmitter, which is the box that you hold in your hands.
To give some examples, motor speed (power) control is a channel, as is rudder control, elevator control, aileron control, retractable undercarriage, flaps, operational lights, smoke systems, parachute dropping mechanisms... All these things would typically occupy one channel each, so if your (very complex!) rc plane had every function listed there, it would be a 9-channel plane.
A simple toy plane with only motor power control would be a 1-channel plane. A typical 'sport' plane with control to motor, rudder, elevator and ailerons would be a... yep, you guessed it... 4-channel plane.
Essentially, the more channels an RC plane has the more complicated it is to fly, and to learn to fly. But the rewards are greater because you can have a lot more fun with a 4-channel plane than with a simpler 2-channel plane.
But as I said at the beginning of this article, it's good to keep things simple when learning; it increases your early success rate!
A typical 2-channel RC beginner airplane will typically be a toy plane, although it has to be said that there are some incredibly detailed scale hand-built models around that might only have two channels (I'm really thinking of miniature planes made for flying indoors, for example).
Some gliders, which might not necessarily be beginner-friendly, are also two channel but this is largely due to there being no motor on the model.
But I digress... Getting back to our simple toy 2-channel RC plane, control will likely be to motor power and rudder - in other words you have speed, height and directional control. The motor will control your speed and height, and rudder your direction.
That said, there are two alternatives to this common configuration...
The first is that ailerons are used instead of rudder, although to be honest rudder control is far more likely on such a simple plane. The other alternative is that the plane has two motors, one mounted on each wing, and no moveable rudder. The motors operate both together and independently of each other and this 'differential motor control' is used to control speed, height and left/right turning.
When both motors operate at the same speed the plane will fly in a straight line, and when you add or reduce power by moving the motor stick on the transmitter the plane will increase or decrease in speed, which will also affect its height.
However, when you move the rudder stick of the transmitter, you change the speed of one motor relative to the other. This imbalance of thrust forces the plane to turn to the left or right, depending of course on which way you moved the stick.
Differential motor control is a simple but effective way of controlling a simple 2-channel toy RC plane, and several planes featuring this type of control can be seen on the Kids Toy Lover website - https://www.kidstoylover.com/products/best-3-in-1-sea-land-and-air-rc-glider-aircraft-waterproof-epp-foam-with-intelligent-balance-by-kidstoylover for example.
But getting back to the more conventional 2-channel beginner RC plane, it will typically have control to a single motor and rudder.
As previously mentioned, motor power will give you both speed and height control, and this is because as you add more power, so the plane's speed will increase because of the increase in motor thrust.
As the speed increases, so more lift is generated over the wings, and so your plane will climb.
Conversely, when you reduce motor power the speed will decrease and less lift will be generated, so the plane will descend.
Having just two channels to think about when learning to fly a radio controlled airplane is a blessing, because you only have to think about controlling one function with one thumb; the sticks on a 2-channel transmitter only move one way - the motor stick moves up/down and the rudder stick moves left/right.
On a 4+ channel transmitter both sticks move up/down and left/right, so you're controlling two functions with each thumb. That's why learning to fly a 3 or 4-channel RC plane is harder, because you need to learn that co-ordination and get used to moving the sticks all ways at once!
The downside, as I said before, is that a 2-channel RC plane is never going to be able to do too much because of its control limitations. But with that said, I've flown several simple 2-channel planes from Kids Toy Lover and have had a lot of fun with them and, to be quite honest, there's something very appealing about their simplicity.
The ZY-530 Stunt Plane, for example, put a huge smile on my face when I first flew it, and I can see any RC pilot of any experience having a lot of fun with one of these.
Final thoughts then.... If you're thinking of getting started in radio control flying (and it is a brilliant hobby to get in to, take it from me!), a 2-channel beginner RC airplane is always going to give you an easy introduction to the hobby, and you'll be flying it around in no time at all.
If you just go out and buy a more complicated 4-channel plane then there's a good chance you will find it hard to fly, and the danger is that you get totally disheartened and turned off the hobby.
Also, a 2-channel plane is never going to cost you much money and that's something important to bear in mind.
For more 'getting started' information about the thrilling hobby of radio control flying, visit my website at www.rc-airplane-world.com.
Happy Landings!
If you or your child are interested in RC and want to give it a try, our team member Pete, an expert in RC airplanes, has written an ebook for beginners. This guide has helped many RC enthusiasts by providing essential knowledge and answering common questions about RC flying. Here is the link to his ebook: The Beginner's Guide to Flying RC Airplanes by Pete. A small investment for big savings— we hope it helps everyone.