paulw1283

I lack confidence when I fly the helicopter. On the sim I pretty much mastered everything ranging from hovering to forward flight, figure eights, and nose in hovers, and literally everything I need for forward flight. I can even do many of those flight "games" relatively successfully.

But when it comes to the real heli, I'm too scared to even do 1/10 of what I'm capable of on the sim. I'm trying to do some forward flight circuit but everytime I do it I can literally feel my legs shake with anxiety. How do I get over this?

Thanks

HeliTB

The only way to get over the fear is to try. The thing to remember is to be up high enough that you have time to correct your mistake. Also, every good pilot of a R/C Heli has crashed and are still crashing.

Ka3muf

Amen to that. If you ain't crashin', you ain't learnin'!!

credence

My Feedback: (2)

Just accept the fact that you will simply crash, eventually. Just fly till you crash, then fly again .

rjm1982

Do it.

If you can do it on the sim you can do it with a real >insert disclaimer about ---properly--- setup heli here< helicopter.

Ive been doing FF for about a gallon now. Still, the first flight of the day everyday i get to knee-knockin and the only way i can get past it is to just kick it into gear and get in FF as fast as possible.

moosemanty

well, the first time is always the worst, you're always the most scared. so just breath deep and try to relax. then just say "hey, i know i can do it so why am i scared?" then just go for it. do your best and don't think about crashing. if you think about crashing you will. if think about succesfully doing it, you will. then after you did it you will not be as scared to do it a second time.....then after a few times your confidence is built up and you can easily relax.
i personaly am always knee-shackingly nervous every time i try something bigger and new for the first time. then after two or three times i am much less tense.

so it's natrual to be a little scared but that just adds to the fun right?

Kevinator9

I find real heli's easier than the sim. Except for when I start to loose it. I know on a sim when I start to loose it nothing bad can come from it but when i start to loose it ith a real one I get really nervous.

reaaz

Paul.. It took me a little while before i started doing stuff that i was used to on the sim (ff, circuits, etc) But, i didn't mind taking the time (7hrs worth off hovering: nose in, left & right side, back, soft landing & slow ff) as this really is the critcal 80% of stable control & recovery from all other manuvers.
In fact i was somewhat aprehensive of "letting it loose" & kinda kept my flying in check. I decided if you don't feel confident enough, well don't rush it, its just burning a little more fuel!

last weekendmade 1st hover flight, made sure the engine was sounding good etc.. then just accelerated the brute into fast fast foward flight & rocked it into circuits, low high speed passes, piroette turns. My legs did do the shaky dance.. but i was confident. All my sim instincts took over & i had a blast. did two more flights like this. Now i'm going to be changing these wood blades after i reattach the rotopod & do about 2hours worth of auto-rotation practice.

So.. well learn to fly the nautral way & then let em loose. And don't fly like you expect to crash, thats never a good mindset. leave the crashing for after you have learned & are doing freestyle.

DebianDog

Someone told me "Pick out a helicopter in your collection and kiss it goodbye!" If you only have one helicopter... the choice is easy.

credence

My Feedback: (2)

This is actually pretty accurate. When you first start to lift off it can always cause a bit of nervousness. Once you get going in forward flight, you'd be amazed at how much you calm down, mentally. That's the whole reason I like flying helis, the rush is always there, they never get boring.
The adrenaline rush I got from attempting my first loop was incredible, even more so than my first hover. My hands felt light as feathers after that flight.

Just keep at it. Being afraid to crash will only limit you. You simply need to accept crashing as the inevitable, punch the throttle, and hope for the best. If you want 100% confidence in your own ability and the mechanical ability of your model, you should probably go to RC cars or trucks instead .

AeroDave

I actually gave up helis 2 different times because I couldn't accept the fact that crashing is part of the game. Its not like it happens all the time, just that it does happen. Once I realized I need to keep a couple of crash kits ahead, and that the "good" flyers crash too, I realized its no big deal. When it happens you rebuild and move on.

reaaz

yup, any time i go to the hobby shop i always look around for raptor 60 parts & grab one or two things. funny thing is i havn't crashed yet & i think i have to much spares! lol

simarRC

being a couple of mistakes up as everyone has already said is probably the only thing to do other than buying spares.

archiebald

The most dramatic difference to me during the learning phase was having my first crash with my Amigo (Raptor 50). It cost about JPY15,000 and the heli was back in the air the following week. What it taught was not to fear crashing - it's not like full scale - your life doesn't end if you crash.

I'll be getting my second heli at Christmas - a scale Lama that I DON'T intend to crash, and soon, with the various upgrades and spares I've bought for my Amigo I'll have enough parts to assemble a third. Since that one will be a "bitsa" version, this is the one I plan to thrash within an inch of its life.

jschenck

My Feedback: (23)

use your sim time to practice recovering from a bad situation. If your sim heli is going down FIGHT IT. Once it does hit, take a moment to analyze what you could have done to save it. Having the ability to recover is one of the best confidence builders.

An exercize I found to be very useful on the sim is to put the rudder trim tab to one side and try to hover in one spot with the heli in a slow piro. Now try to fly it around in a piro. Also, practice tail slides to recovery and of course auto's.

If you can take off and land nose in, shoot auto's and control slow pirouette's then it's just a matter of burning fuel on the real deal. burn fuel!

torombolo

My Feedback: (2)

I use to follow a 3 tank rule. The first tank of the day I could only focus on not crashing and trying to hold my knees from shaking so much. 2nd tank I would let loose a little not to high and nothing fancy maybe a little FF etc. I also notice that after the 3rd tank after my jtters were gone I could absorb more of what I was practicing and learning.
The trick is to BURN, BURN AND BURN lot of fuel...

But I'm still learning so thats just my .02 ΒΆ

kurt10

I got over my fear by getting a crash kit, two of 'em.

w.pasman

(1) make sure your real heli flies the same as your sim
(2) just ignore the fear. Just do the well-trained figure as on the sim.
(3) Stop when the body shakes get too heavy or when something else seems wrong.

Radd

ENJOY THE FEAR...WOULD YOU RATHER BE BORED?

if you really dont like the excitement....take each step and do it until your are bored....hover until your blue in the face...side in until you want to cry....

once your bored sidein...put the gear back on and spin it up nose in...Take it slow and keep it on the ground for a tank just to get rid of the shakes,stars and bugs....then fuel it up again get it light on the training gear for a tank.....stay on the ground....this is to get to know the controls ( they will be backwards ).... after two tanks in a row you will know if you are ready to hover nose in for a second...If your not...fuel up again...( becareful)...( this is only if your confident at tail in..)..after three tanks on the deck...if your not calming down...you might reconsider how much coffee you've been drinking??....

then circuits and figure eights will fall into place like your slipping into a shoe....there will be no guess work wondering if you can handle it when it gets pointing at you or sidein...

Many will tell you to try circuits and figure eights first....but we are talking about someone who can fly but gets the shakes and cant get over the fear wall... ( get rid of the bugs and shakes on the ground or in an area of flight you can handle..Its much safer...)

Have a plan before you fly...and dont just go out and wing it..and hope you can deal with the force of gravity...It always wins.....get some knowledge first...It wont... ( let you down..)