DPete

As long as it's tail in I'm OK left and right face needs work, nose in I just suck. Fun though. That's my progress report heh heh, I give myself a D+

reelquick

Dude , I`m a newbie too.And teaching my self to fly a raptor 50. Been at it for 5 gallons of fuel.
First Boo Boo, $157 2 and $64 ...3rd 7 bucks. Heck ! Thats progress in my book !
I`m stuck at tail in as well, but ya know what I have learned is that its fine, if you can go forward and back 20 yards.
Side to side 20 yards. Tail in.
Forget the side in......I have.......45 in is where i`m at.
And when it gets boring I take it about 20 feet and hover and feel like King of the world.Still tail in of course.With a little 45% angle.
I have put to much pressure on my self to FLY to quick. If your rebuilding your not air born.
I`m gonna work on circles next.
I noticed you didn`t use the C&@$H word in you post, so that to me means your doing great.
The members on this site will help you along,they helped me.

ATVAlliance

The biggest thing that helped me for hovering in all orientations was my purchase of a Blade mSR.

I can only sit at the SIM so long practicing hovers before I start flying around. IF I could fly my real 450 as well as I do the SIM I would be great! But the fear factor is 1000x on the real one for whatever reason, I say $$$$.

Anyway...with the mSR...I was able to actually practice my hovers until I could do them flawlessly, going from one position to another with a couple of piro's into the transition. Soon, I was able to keep the heli within a 3 foot radius transitioning from one hover to the next.

Best money ive spent (on the mSR) next to the SIM. The SIM can only take you so far when learning...especially if you are like me and learning on my own with no instructor.

DPete

I can handle the msr and 120 sr in all orientations, guess I'm more relaxed plus I don't have enough room in the back yard to make a mistake with the 450. Practic practice practice, maybe some day I'll get it

ATVAlliance

I didnt even see in your sig that you already had an mSR...my bad.

I think also that there is more intimidation factor with a 450 size heli and larger. Just the sound of the blades and headspeed of the main rotor makes you feel that one wrong move and you are gonna have to dive for cover...which really is the truth to a degree. Also, and again this is more because I have no mentor/instructor, its hard for me to trust my gyro. It holds...but I have a fear that once I nose the bird over and go into FFF that the tail will kick/spin out and I'll be in a situation that Im not prepared for just yet.

Like you, I find myself being way more conservative when flying the 450 over the mSR...but without the mSR for practice, Id not even be where I am now with the 450.

Also, one of the biggest things that has crimped my flying on the 450 is the weather here. We have had snow on the ground pretty much since November and Ive not flown the 450 at all since before then. I only started flying the 450 a few months prior to winter...guess around June or July so Ive only had a couple months with it.

I think that Im gonna just have to go for broke and start doing circuits with the 450 soon. I find that just flying around in a hover and doing piros isnt very fun to me. Id rather fly my 450 in somewhat of a pattern at the field and get into FFF that can transition into some rolls and loops with some high altitude (for now) inverted. On the SIM, I can fly a pattern and do some mild aerobatic manuevers like rolls and loops and inverted.

Even though I have idle1 and 2 programmed for stunt mode on my radio...Ive never even gotten that far yet on the real 450. Dont have the guts to flip the switch! LOL

Mack66

Hang in there it does eventually get better. I have an Hirobo Sceadu .50 EVO SWM similar in size to reelquick's Raptor.

I started with an e-Flight CX2, then decided that it was too unstable indoors and impossible to fly outdoors. Moved up to the Hirobo and never looked back. Sounds like a big leap and it was, but bigger is definitely better when learning. There is the intimidation factor though, as pointed out already! Still I hovered around tail-in for nearly six months using training gear. Finally one of the experienced pilots convinced me to start hovering in a circle around myself, maintaining tail in. Just moving around helped a great deal, especially in dealing with wind (you get to deal with it in every direction as you progress around the circle). Eventually, I started circling while holding a 45 degree orientation in the direction of flight, still circling around. That led to veering back and forth like a fish inside an aquarium trying to get out. Eventually you just sorta give in and let it fly in forward flight a bit, then stop and reel it back in by hovering backwards still tail in. Finally you can just come around the circle, picking up speed and take off in forward flight tangent to the circle!

If you practice forward flight on the simulator you will build confidence and know what to do when you break out and finally do it.

I think the big message is to learn at your own pace. Some people pick it up and take off, banging sticks on the way. Others hover around for a veeery long time like this old dude. No one has ever criticized my development pace and everyone has been very supportive. I've crashed 3 times, and each time I have a reason for the failure. I am claiming mechanical faults for all of them, but it's really pilot error because I should have found the failed parts in preflight.

I'm now at the point where I can fly in some pretty stiff winds, completely confident hovering tail in, fairly confident in side presentation hovering, forward flight in lazy 8's, and can do stall turns (they're easy and look cool). Just getting used to ST-1 in preparation for my first loop!

On the sim I routinely fly nose in, do loops and rolls, and can hover inverted tail in. Now if only I can get the guts to do it with the real thing.

Practice practice practice. I'm lucky I'm retired so can get lots of stick time at the club.

And finally the best advice I ever got was from an old hand that has been flying for years and years: "Do whatever it takes whatever it takes to keep it out of the dirt."

Mack

reelquick

This is good stuff. Thank`s.
I like the Dirt line.....I`ll remember that.

DPete

I could fly it just might not get it back LOL, actually I can see a little progress as the packs go by. Gonna have it worn out before I get to FFF

Mack66

The first time I went into forward flight I was scared I might not ever get it back! I did, but then had to hover for another 2 weeks before I got up the guts to try it again! Haha. Well maybe not that bad but you get the point. It really is all about confidence and training your hands to do the right thing without thinking (just like you drive a car).

Mack

Solman

I've been flying for about 2 1/2 years now. One thing that I have learned is that you will at times hit a wall and be stuck for a while. But there will be times where you will jump a big hurdle as well. Luckily I 've been jumping more hurdles than walls. It seems like once I got comfortable flying inverted on the sim and then actually doing it opened so many doors. You will learn when you are comfortable hovering all directions and flying inverted that a lot of doors will open after that. If you are using a sim, before attempting a new move, it should be instinct before you try it on the real deal. I did that with inverted flying and absolutely no issues when I did it. I am now doing inverted down to a couple of feet in the danger zone. I am also doing tail slides and working on lots of stuff now.</p>

Mack66

"Hitting a wall" is a good way to put it. I've seen it in myself and I'm seeing it in my friends.

Mack

asker857

I too pretty much suck on my 450 clone whenever I "fly" it, but everytime I feel like I'm at the top of the world!