Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Helicopters / May 2006

Not that close!  Work on both hovering and your circuits.  I tend to
hover for a few minutes, work on circles to the left and right, come
back to hover, try nose-in or some other angle hover work.  I also
vary my altitude with each maneuver - as low as a foot ro so off the
deck and as high as 20 feet or so.  It helps me with orientation.
(That and one day I'm going to land, inverted on my living room
ceiling and it's 22' up there.  ehheh)

Yeah, been there done that.  I've dodged the rotor blades with transmitter
antenna a few times myself.  That's why the "but not too close" ending to
that sentence!  ;-)

I was very comfortable in forward flight long before I learned to hover
nose-in.  It took meeting a person who has since become my best flying buddy
to shame me into learning nose-in.  The only up side of that for me at the
time was that I was confidently doing autorotations at the time and he was
scared to death of them so we each had something to teach the other.  It was
a fun time.

Looking back on it, my attitude is that I wished I had learned the nose-in
hover before I had gotten so solid into forward flight.  It would have saved
me "many" close calls through the years.  You see, I could fly the model
toward myself with no problems.  It was only when it got close to a "hover"
condition that everything fell apart.  The problem was me, not the model.
Even if you're comfortable flying circuits, there will always be times when
you'll find yourself close to that nose-in hover condition and if you're not
ready for it, you risk loosing the model when there's no real need for it.
So, my answer to your question is, learn to hover in all orientations.  You
won't regret it in the long run.

Having said that, let me add this.  Back when I got serious about learning
the nose-in hover, there were two trains of thought as to how to proceed.
One was to do it up high, where you've got altitude to bail out if you get
in trouble.  This one works if you're comfortable flying circuits.  The
other was to swallow your pride and put the training gear back on and learn
the nose-in hover from the ground up, just like you did for the tail in
hover.  I tried the up high method for about three months and could never
lock it in with any consistency.  I finally borrowed a set of training gear
and put it on my Schluter Champion, placed the model on the ground pointed
into the wind, and walked around to the front and attempted my first lift
off.  The first tank of fuel was an exercise in "Katie bar the door!  :-O
The second tank of fuel was better but no where near the level of control
that I needed.  Half way through the third tank, the proverbial light came
on inside my head and all of the sudden, a nose-in hover was no big deal
anymore.  :-D  These days, you guys have the benefit of using a computer
simulator but I've found that some of them don't react much like the real
thing.  Still, they're a way to practice and develop certain base reflexes
without risking the real model.  If you don't have a sim, I'd recommend
going from the ground up.  Don't be too ashamed to put the training gear
back if you have to.  It sure saved my Champion from about a dozen rebuilds
at the time!  ;-)

Also, keep up the circuits and figure 8's too.  As long as you're feeling
reasonably comfortable with them, it's good to mix things up a little.  It
helps your brain recoup after concentrating on one thing for too long!  ;-)

Good luck with this and let us know how it goes!

Fly Safe,
Steve R.