Hmmm... I'm also a beginner with HoneyBee FP (for quite a long time so far though - but that's also because I'm awfully busy so I can't afford myself much time flying and practising). BUT, I'm happy to say that I have a feeling that I've got it right this time with my first steps in hovering. So, maybe my points could also help...

Namely, for the first flights - I had the same problem - crashes, crashes, crashes... Seemed impossble to keep it in the air for more that the few secs. No control over it at all.

But then - finally I figured out the problem - the main and absolutelly necessary command is tail orientation and constant corrections.
I was ignoring that fact in my first flights so as heli is fast, and as breeze tends to move it and rotate it almost randomly - very soon I would loose any orientation - and thus heli crashes almost instantly. So, I was kind of depending on a good luck so that it don't turn is such position that could lead to bad crash afterwards.

So, what I'm doing now - as soon as heli is lifted off (and as for this phase, I don't lift it off for any more than some 5 ft high), I concentrate very hard to constantly have tail-in orientation. As soon as I have the tail-in - heli is mine, beacuse I can relativelly easily then keep it controlled.
So I keep tail-in orientation and at the same time I'm correcting movements left-right-fwd-bckwd and that's it!
I can hover like that for as long as I want. And as long as I preciselly keep tail-in - heli is quite safe in hovering at that hight.