MMatheny

I know this might not mean much to the seasoned, but I did my first controlled hover - 30 secs. in a 10 X 11 ft. room, with a large margin to keep away from the walls, so was probably 4.5 ft square.

I know 30 secs doesn't seem long, but when you are first starting, it's an infinity!!

Also, put in about 2 hrs. on RealFlight - I cannot say enough about a sim - I was getting nowhere fast on my own, finally fired up the sim last weekend (just got my PC set back up after putting in new flooring!) and probably have put a couple hrs on it. (Haven't replaced a part since I did the sim thing before I went back to the real thing!) I fly off the grassland - there is a road with stripes down it, and I take off, hover over to the next stripe, sit it down, the repeat to the next stripe. This really let me get the feel of how to make a machine that begs to fall out of the sky stay airborne.

And scientists say the bumble is aerodynamically unstable and should not be able to fly - what about a heli!!!

First habit I had to get rid of was chopping the throttle when I get into trouble - in a fixed, that's what you did, then just glide down. Darn heli drops like a rock!!!. Now I am learning to fly it out of trouble!

nothinbetr2do

that's how every body starts. good job, if you keep at it you'll get better. i've been at it for around 7-8 months, i can hover a hole batt. and started to move up to moving around. keep it up

thestratcat

My Feedback: (12)

right on dude! [8D]

osterizer

Congratz, man, that's one of the biggest milestones and a heck of a buzz .

s_mcflurry

Ah, the 30 second hover...good times, good times. Congratulations! Full battery hover, here we come!

By the way, terrible pun, osterizer... LOL

osterizer

HelisRule

Wow! Cool doings Mike. Congrats. I'm Axe CP stock-battery-green with envy! Longest stationary hover I've had lasted about 5 seconds at most. I've been in the air longer, but mostly to and fro and then drop like a rock to avoid destruction. Yesterday I actually did a chicken dance, not the heli, as it came at me. It was only a couple inches off the garage floor, but it happened so fast I did some mighty fancy footwork to avoid a shin strike! For a second I thought I was back on the dance floor doing disco! Uh, won't go there. [X(] Anyway, I was amazed when it was all over that neither myself nor the Axe suffered even a minor mishap. Whew!

At any rate, it's Miller time for you; me I'm still looking for that magic pixie dust that gives me more control. But it'll happen. Keep it hoverin'.

soop7667

7 or 8 months?!? No offense, but I started 9 months ago and I'm doing FFF, Loops, Rolls, Tornadoes, and inverted hovering (WITH NO SIM). How often are you flying?

alienteabagger

Rmeber that it takes different people different amounts of time to be able to fly a Heli. Some of us have other things that we dedicate time to (families, children, girlfriends, lives, jobs) and can't get in as much flight time as we like. Then there are some who can fly but don't get into the whole 3D aspect of flying. Then there are the ones who want to get into 3D and can't becuase the $$ isn't there to fund repair projects. Im pretty sure you have banged and smashed your heli quite a bit in the process of learning all those things with no sim time.

A milestone is a milestone no matter how long it takes a person to get to it. Congrats to you on getting the Axe to stay (within a 10' radius) where you put it. Soon you'll be doing orientations and wait until you do nose-in!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nothinbetr2do

if i'm lucky i get a few flights a weekend. that's how often. it's like alienteabagger said, some things are just more important. and i guess it doesn't help that i have 4 cars, 3 airplanes, 1 motorcycle, a boat, and 2 helis. add all that up and a family, i don't get much time for any one rc

MMatheny

Thanx ALL - I'm really getting excited! My goal is to get as good as Alan Szabo!!! (I know - pretty lofty goal!) If you've never seen him or his father fly, go to youtube and search for szabo - they are absolutely amazing!

soop7667

Ya - no doubt - I don't intend to bash anyone. I've too found in challenging to get flight time. I'm a single dad, so it's been especially challenging to find that time. The $$$ for repairs also has kept me from doing more - I spent 4 months with no flying at all during the past 9 due to a lack of funds. Beleive it or not, I haven't crashed my raptor 50 due to any dumb thumbs, however I've had 2 crashes due to misc. problems. One my battery failed from a bad cell, and two by blade failed due to excessive head speed - That was the major one that grounded me for 4 months. (See pic below) I just got a sim a couple weeks ago - the free FMS sim. It ain't that great, but it will teach you orientations if nothing else.

I forgot to say Congrats on your hovering! I'll never forget the feeling I got when I finally hovered my CP Pro for a whole battery the first time - It took 4 days, and it felt like forever. (During that 4 days though I flew, day and night, from one batttery charge to the next.) I ended upspending $400 in parts of a period of 2 weeks. Don't forget to enjoy it, and if you see our heli shaking in the air, check your thumbs first, they might me shaking.

MMatheny

OUCH - looks like a total loss! How did you manage to spend $400 in 2 weeks on your CP Pro?? That's two brand new helis!!

soop7667

Total Loss - No - $400 to repair - Yes. Basically the only thing left good was the engine, muffler, and servo tray + all my electronics. The only thing I didn't find was my secondary receiver for my AR7000.

On the $400 for cp pro parts - It was like head part here and there, lot's of blades, a frame and boom kit, more blades, carbon blade upgrades, umm main gear, servos - Just about everything - Hell I even burned out a 3in1. Mind you I was getting like 15-20 flights a day on it running 3 batteries and 2 chargers - Flying day, and spending nights flying under s street light. I would be up till 4 am flying.

calvino

[X(], that is early, the lack of noise is the key advantage for an electric