Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Helicopters / July 2007

Mozart was giving piano recitals at age 4, John.  Unless you need to compete
with the four year old wunderkind at a fun fly next weekend, I wouldn't
worry about it.

Building the muscle memory required to hover at an unconciously competent
level takes time, and it sounds like you are progressing nicely in this
regard.  If you're looking for your next big challenge before moving on to
forward flight, just try working on hovering nose-in as well as you hover
tail-in.

Ed

Do you have a simulator?  It'll never replace actually burning
electrons, but it does help with muscle memory development.  I do at
least an hour on the sim 4-5 nights/week and I'm convinced it's helped
me progress and has saved two helis from dumb thumbs in that I was
able to recover from an "unusual attitude".  It's also great for
trying new tricks.  Just use it like you would the real heli.  When
you crash, hit the hold switch just like you would on the real heli.

Probably Justin Chi.  He's got a LOT of sim time and if definitely one
of those people who are just predisposed to things like this.

Depends on the person.  I hovered for a LONG time even though I could
fly the sim pretty well.  I just couldn't get over the mental hurdle
and "fear" of crashing.  Several months ago, I just decided to go for
it or bring home broken helis.  I got into forward flight, got
comfortable and broke out some rolls, loops, flips and even an
inverted hover at altitude - all the stuff I'd been doing on the sim
for months.  I did crash one heli, but that was a result of an
autorotation gone bad.

Now, almost everytime I go out, I try to push my personal envelope a
bit.  I've crashed, but have learned it's not a huge deal and with a
nice collection of spares, I can usually repair it at the field and be
flying again in less than an hour.  

You need to decide what you're ready for.  At some point, you'll need
to be able to hover in all orientations.  You've got the tail-in hover
down, why not work on nose-in and side-in?  You can use your current
skills to develop some lateral control as well.  Fly laterally 10-15
feet, stop the heli in a hover and then fly back to your starting
point, hover and repeat.  Do it both left an right.  Do the same
forwards and backwards.  

Have you seen Radd's School of Rotary Flight?  (google is your friend)
A *LOT* of people swear by the methods there.  

Good luck!

You're doing fine mate.  Really, REALLY, does' take time to get into heli's.
A simulator would be a really good move.

Bob....

No and maybe.

It takes time, and when it comes to Helis, it really is something where
you have to pace yourself.

Are you sure the kid was 4?  Was someone pulling your leg?  Got a link?

It really doesn't matter by age.  Flying a heli is a state of mind, and
it can't be compared to airplanes at all.  A heli in forward flight is
somewhat like flying an airplane, otherwise, the similarities end.

You're never too old to learn new tricks.  Just keep at it and, like the
others said, get a good computer simulator and practice your a.s off.
That's what I did, and it saved me a lot of money in parts.

marco