Model licences A and B

[Oakie]

In a nut shell what does the B get you?

Paul

[Friskle]

The ability to fly at shows/Displays etc.

[Oakie]

But not for profit?

[Friskle]

The a & b certs technically mean nothing , other than attaining for your personal achievement, they bare no legal relevance to anything either, eg, have an accident, it matters not whether you have it or not.

Some clubs will not let you fly solo without the A cert, yet from an insurance point of view, the A cert means nothing, the B merely grants a higher competency rating, which you require to fly in front of crowds, displays , shows, and some competition.

It was said a while back, the A is effectively only a choice thing, if you want it, get it, but some clubs demand you to have it, the b is not required by any club to fly solo, unless of course said club flies at shows now and again.

Outside of the " club" world, a & b certs are pretty much pointless.

[kilby]

Friskle basically nailed it.

It is handy when you visit another BMFA real registered club as producing your A or B shows that you have control over the model.

That';s why they insist upon it for shows and gatherings.

[guest325]

I';ve not long ago got my fixed wing A cert, what it really does is prove your ability to fly your model in a safe manner and to be aware of the basic rules and regulations you are expected to observe when you are flying.
It is worth doing and I';m glad I went down that route - after a year of trying to go it alone and several bin bag jobs plus being advised to buy totally inappropriate models by my local model shop joining a club and getting proper advice and tuition it took me  a while to get out of the bad habits I';d picked up.
The b test is only worth doing if you want to fly a demonstrations,  shows etc unless you want the challenge of flying aerobatics to the required standard.
Summary - get off to a club to learn if you';re serious about wanting to fly safety and competently.

[Biffa]

Summary - get off to a club to learn if you';re serious about wanting to fly safety and competently.

I have to say, I fly safely and competently without an A or B

[Friskle]

Of course if you want it, its choice, but in reality it proves nothing, it does not prove that someone with the A, is any more competent or safer than someone without it, its very easy to determine someones competency without the need for the Cert, as said by the BMFA themselves, it bares nothing more than a personal achievement by getting it, in reality, to fly solo, there should be no need for it, its pretty easy to watch someone set up, watch them take off an land to determine whether they are competent or not.

as said i will get it myself, but will get it so i can basically say i have it, but still do not think that people should be forced to get it to allow them to fly solo, that is making it an official thing, when in reality the A cert was intended for personal gain only.

i flew for 3 years without being in a club, and i was competent, imho , a club is ok, but not essential.

[flybywire]

Much like our current driving test really, can';t work out how some folk got theirs?

[mutley2]

Have had my fixed wing A & B licence for 21yrs and have never been asked to show it, was fun getting it though 

[Oakie]

I have to say, I fly safely and competently without an A or B

And have insurance....

[JT]

I have to say, I fly safely and competently without an A or B

 

[guest325]

At the end of the day it';s a personal thing whether or not to go down the achievement award route (I think it improves your confidence in yourself) but the main benefit is that it gives your learning phase structure (which can be very boring), I regularly see people who come to join the club who basically have no idea of orientation although they fly reasonably well; the reason being quite simple - self taught by standing in the middle of a field flying around themselves and turning with the aircraft - not a good idea, I';ve pointed this out because that was one of my own failings!!!
The question of insurance - BMFA offer a service that is very good for the model flyer, well worth what it costs; after talking to them when I first got my insurance I asked the question - what was the main source of claims - turns out it';s damage to 3rd party property, cars and dwellings - personal injury being pretty low on the list.

[Biffa]

I agree. As when many people self teach anything they often do so with mistakes/habits that are hard to correct.

I think if I was starting out all over again from fresh I would approach and most likely join a club. If nothing else I would have perhaps not crashed and smashed so many helicopters

But learning on my own has been fun too

[guest325]

I think another consideration for joining a club is that there is no fear of being chastised for flying over land you shouldn';t be; trespass can be expensive if the landowner is an awkward so and so!!!

[Biffa]

I think another consideration for joining a club is that there is no fear of being chastised for flying over land you shouldn';t be; trespass can be expensive if the landowner is an awkward so and so!!!

That was another thought I had. I am very lucky where I live as there is loads of open land (parks and various fields) and I can also walk right out my front door and fly at a push.

But a club obviously gives you x amount of air to fly in, although FPVing the same field would get boring. Then in most clubs you have to take your turn, put up with the cardigan wearing old boys etc

[Hands0n]

The biggest negative with clubs in my own direct experience is their apparent disdain for multi-rotor aircraft.   I';m not saying all clubs are like that, but I';ve none in my area that have welcoming arms.  I';m enough of a social leper riding a motorcycle without being made to feel the same for flying something that doesn';t have a wing on it!

[Friskle]

Our club generally does not like them, but tolerates multis, once i was put on the committee last year, i made it clear that everyone should be able to fly what they want, and compromises had to be made, times move on, the problem for some, they are still stuck in the 70`s, and think anything RTF  and not IC is blasphemy.

[Hands0n]

Thats kind of the impression that I got.   Coming to the hobby completely fresh, having never flown anything RC with any seriousness (or success) I rapidly discovered that I was going to have to do this all by myself.    Until I discovered this forum...

[Marty McFly]

I';ve not long ago got my fixed wing A cert, what it really does is prove your ability to fly your model in a safe manner and to be aware of the basic rules and regulations you are expected to observe when you are flying.
It is worth doing and I';m glad I went down that route - after a year of trying to go it alone and several bin bag jobs plus being advised to buy totally inappropriate models by my local model shop joining a club and getting proper advice and tuition it took me  a while to get out of the bad habits I';d picked up.
The b test is only worth doing if you want to fly a demonstrations,  shows etc unless you want the challenge of flying aerobatics to the required standard.
Summary - get off to a club to learn if you';re serious about wanting to fly safety and competently.

I totally agree,that the best thing you can do is join a club and do the a test,the reason';s are firstly you will get good advice on purchasing and set up of your chosen model,with regard to the test it should prove your both competent to fly the model and do the nesseary preflight checks,and you have acheived a mile stone when you pass,Marty and the borrowed doggie, :scotland:

[G60jet]

The BMFA are doing a multi rotor A and B from what I have been told.  Later this year

[Hands0n]

The BMFA are doing a multi rotor A and B from what I have been told.  Later this year

Now that would be a turn up for the books. It would [hopefully] nudge the old fuddy duddies into getting into the 21st century finally. 

NB: I';m old but not a fuddy duddie (I hope ... eek!).

[Big A]

The BMFA are doing a multi rotor A and B from what I have been told.  Later this year

Multi-Rotor A http://www.bmfa.org/Downloads/RCAchievementSchemeDownloads/tabid/220/Default.aspx?Command=Core_Download&EntryId=794

Multi-Rotor B http://www.bmfa.org/Downloads/RCAchievementSchemeDownloads/tabid/220/Default.aspx?Command=Core_Download&EntryId=793

Available from 1st September.

[Gaza07]

Thanks for the post BigA 

[Big A]

Thanks for the post BigA 

No problem! 

[kilby]

Multi rotor B requires you to perform a loop?

Maybe I';m a little confused it perhaps they did a little too much cut & paste from the fixed wing version.

Or do I misunderstand the term loop

[teslahed]

The B license is designed to encourage people to get to a display flying level i think so the loop is definitely supposed to be in there.

I think they';ve pitched some of the required skills quite hard (i.e no auto-level in either the A or the B tests) but it should be a pretty good test of piloting skill to be fair.

People that rely on automation and auto-level who';ve only ever flown the DJI naza on easy mode wont be able to pass either test without doing a bit of learning first.

The fact they make you do figure of eights in manual mode on the A test is the hard bit in my opinion - once you can do that you can learn to do most things with only a little more work. A loop is pretty much a party trick - it seems difficult at first because you are briefly upside down. But doing smooth figures of 8 without auto-level as required in the A test is much harder in my experience than a simple loop in the B test.

[guest325]

When I saw the draft of this I thought the same, there will be quite a few fliers who can fly well with the assistance the fc offers but will flounder in non assisted mode. It';s one of my reasons for flying kk2 fc';s now,  cheap and cheerful without too much assistance. I agree that lazy 8';s without self level are hard but at the end of the day it will mean that you are skillful!
I found the discipline to fly fixed wing for my A test very restrictive but now I have done it understand why - it';s all about safety!  Good control of your aircraft is so important for you to fly safely plus the knowledge of the safety procedures to go through before you take off protects you and your model.

[barneyg]

I agree no auto leveling for a lazy 8 seems a tad harsh for the A test but I can understand the reasoning about being able to control your craft in the case of stabilization system failure, that said in the real world if the auto stab features failed the FC is probably going to be so gubbed that the multirotor is probably going to crash no matter how good your skills 

Interesting those drafts seem to indicate you can use the mag for "heading lock" ... would that not mean you can use "simple mode" ?  Technically it wouldn';t be the "stabilisation effect take over control from the pilot" it would just interpret the RC commands differently depending on heading

[Marty McFly]

Personally i dont think its to hard a test,yes for the raw beginner or the person that got used to using auto level,what this does in my opinion is teach good piloting skills,and hopefully the ability to get out of trouble when things go wrong.
marty and the borrowed doggie, :scotland: