I am cool as a cucumber during take offs and landings (the hard part), but while I am flying my hands are shaking so bad I could thread a sewing machine while it is running. I have only been soloing for a couple weeks. Give me some suggestions on how to "shake" the shakes. Thanks.

Take someone, that flies of course, with you to the field. Do your normal take off, fly for a little while, or till you get the jitters then hand the plane over for a little while or till you get settled down. I have a friend that was the same way, and after a while of doing this it helped him.

Thanks I will do that.

Along that last post you might try taking a couple of deep breaths and of course blink your eyes. For some reason blinking the eyes seems to releive the stress and helps you calm down. I've noticed this with several students. Again, it helps to just hand the transmitter over to someone else until you calm down enough to fly again.

My right thumb likes to shake a little when I fly, too.. Not a good thing! I find that it helps me to plan out exactly which manuevers I am going to do on a given flight, like "practice stall turns back and forth" or "do 10 touch and go's", so the only thing I am thinking about while flying is performing the required things. If I try to decide what I'm going to do on the fly during each flight it adds a level of stress.

WCB,
Having someone (who can fly) at your side is good advice. Try to remind yourself that it is only sticks and glue that you are flying around, if something goes wrong it's not the end of the world. Except for the really bad crashes, most of the parts will be salvageable. A few new sticks and some fresh glue and your back in the air again!

I think that's a great idea, and certainly one of the best ways to get better at flying. It helps to have a plan. I used to be a much better pilot than I am today, simply because I would decide which manuever I wanted to work on and practice it repeatedly. Now I tend to just bang the sticks around.

I've been flying planes for serveral years, and don't really remember every feeling jittery with them. My helicopter... now that's a different situation. My progress has been very slow, and I am very nervous when I fly it. My hands shake, and that distracts me from my flying. I plan each flight with it and try to stick with what I have decided to do. Some flights I try to improve or try something new, and others I stick to things I am comfortable with.

Having a comfort zone is the best way I've found to alleviate the jitters. For me it's hovering. I have no doubts about my ability to do that, and when I return to a hover my hands slowly settle down. My advice is to practice flying oval patterns until you are completely and totally at ease with them. When you try something new, go back to the oval pattern if your hands begin to shake too much. You'll know it's a safe time when you can just relax and let the plane fly, and when you're ready you can continue to push your limits.

S.P.A.D.

Let the flaming begin

Ditto!

The best way to get comfortable is to KNOW what you are going to do next. Once you have entered a manuever, don't change your mind halfway through. For instance, don't decide to do a roll, then change your mind and fly inverted instead. Complete the roll, because that's what you PLANNED to do.

Hey Same here. I just came home from the field, i took off was flying no problems, overcast skys,got a little to far could not see the plane very well due to the overcast looked like a big black thing in the air with wings. could not tell where i was going. i finally got it corrected made it back to the run way. but i was shaking so bad becauseihad such a hardtime trying to get it under control,i tried several attemps to line up to land and could not do it. sweating shaking so i had to yell to the other guy at the field to help me. he came over and asked what he could do. i got the plane high enough asked him to land it and handed him the transmitter.
I have only been flying a year or so and never had a issue other than mild shaking but this was pretty bad. i think it was bad due to the fact it was a plane i redid over the winter not a 100% ARF. thenexstar,s are a no brainer break a wing eather fix it or buy a new one, but this plane was a custom ARF with a lot of work on my end.
i do what the other guys says alot, i like it when a fellow club member stands next to me andtalks it kinda take theedge off flying, we talk about everything from planes, to girls dont have to be about flying, i guess it helps me relax.
just wanted to pitch in my 2 cents worth.
this is a great site and for the most partall you old timers give good advise to us newbees, and they should, its agreat hobby and if they keep it all to themselfs it would be a dieing hobby instead of a growing one.
My thankstoall of you who have helped out the new guy one way or another.

Keep it stright and level
Poheller

I have been flying for 3 years now and I still have the jitters everytime. Seems like almost all of us have some form of it. Except that its my elbows and not my fingers that shake and it is usually the second flight when it begins to happen, which is odd. Though the elbows dont contribute to flying, holding the TX becomes an issue so I got myself a neck-strap.

I usually plan my moves on the fly. Since I fly by reflex, I dont think about correcting etc. Usually, the thumbs will finish the move. Still, I wait to finish the move before I decide what I want to do next. It usually rolls and loops that I fly this way, if I want to make a big move such as a spin, flat spin, hover, waterfall etc, I will fly a couple of circuits before I try that out just to calm my nerves. Interestingly, I dont notice the shake when I am making any moves- only when having returned to straight and level. However, it helps to take a few deep breaths and I keep my second flight short as the shaking reduces a lot in the third.

Ameyam

I am usually jittery on my first flight of the day. So, I avoid any maneuvers and just fly ovals for several minutes, then do a few touch and go's to get the bugs out, finally land and relax for about 10 or 20 minutes. Then I refuel and, on my next flight, I start off with ovals, then do some very basic maneuvers and progress from there.

I think we all get jitters during our flying, it's how you deal with them that's important. That's the way I deal with them, and it works for me.

CGr

Think you might be okay when you are concentrating hard (during takeoff and landing, when you are really focused); but get nervous when your mind has a bit of time to wander and think about other matters? Concentration gets better as you go along; but you can force yourself to refocus and concentrate, as well. When you start getting nervous, tell yourself to "Concentrate". Thanks; Ernie P.

I'm with CG. I'm always a little jittery on my first flite of the day, particularly it it's a new aircraft. Somehow though, I find the actual flying to be relaxing and the landings I guess I face with so much concentration I'm not really 'jittery'. I guess we all react differently.

Just think ahead and do one thing at a time. It's when I lost the jitters that flying lost it's thrill for me so I live for those days when I get a plane that is a bit harder to fly. Like one I have right now!! Sweat on the hands, knees shaking and always on my toes from the moment it lifts off to the time it's back into the pits.

Do you use a simulator? I started using a simulator over this past winter and found I had a lot less nervousness and far fewer "oh crap" moments. What caused me to be nervous was having to "think" about what my thumbs needed to do. After an off season on the simulator I rarely had to "think" about what my thumbs needed to do, I just thought about what I wanted to plane to do whether it was flying inverted or a maneuver and my thumbs usually did it.

Like my instructor said when I was a trainee: It is a long connection...the one between the brain and the thumb. If you fly that way you will definately react late.

I always fly a sortie on the sim before I head out to the field. That gets my thumbs going and works out any mistakes that I am going to make. I also fly the same or a more difficult model on the sim and I fly it at about 40% throttle. That way I have just sufficient power on the sim to make the turns and if I pull too hard, the wing tip will stall so I have to manage the turns. That improves control on the real thing

Ameyam

Start on the competition circuit... Once you fly with judges behind you the jitters in your normal flying will seem like nothing

One of the instructors at the field laughs at me when I fly. I still get the thumb shakes. He says he has no idea how I keep the plane flying. Don't know if I'll ever stop. Flight time, flight time, just make time to get flight time. At least that is what I have to do. He is the one instructor that has helped me more than anyone, the guy I like to have around, maiden my planes for me, and keeps me straight on what I should buy next. I am a thorn in his side when thinking about what to buy next, but he is the guy that I like having around when I fly. The thumb twitches aren't so bad when he's there. He is "da man". I certainly would not be where I am now without his knowledge and extreme patience. finally to this guy I say, I will buy the PA addiction before the end of this week!! If you're reading this I know you're saying, "yeah right" but will get it this week and I'm too the point where I really don't care what color it is!!

Concentrating on the task helps with nervousness quite a bit. It's when the airplane does something you didn't expect that you really get the jitters, and that's a result of not concentrating on your flying. Do the simple maneuvers over and over in order to build the confidence that you can control the airplane. It also helps to get up high and practice getting out of mistakes- inverted recovery, stall recovery, and nose dives. The basic issue is having the confidence to know that you are truly controlling the airplane and that it will do what you want it to do.