Pahtcub

To any experienced heli pilots, does this huge fear of crashing ever go away? I'm half way through my second gallon and have been hovering and nose in hovering and I'm still super paranoid, hands shaking heart pounding....will that ever go away with practice, or do I need to start trying other things so hovering doesn't seem that bad?

Pat

GroundMagnet

I am completely immune to crashing now that I’ve done it 30 + times.

It’s hard to advance if you’re that worried about it but fly at your own pace and don’t let anybody tell you different.

A SIM helps me a lot at least with the stick movements and bail out moves which by the way don’t work if your trying new things to low.

Stormovic

My Feedback: (29)

It won't go away but it will get better.

`3D

My Feedback: (1)

Couple beers help

WhtBronco

The fear never goes away completely since we are always trying to learn new things. I am not concerned when just flying around or hovering at all anymore, but when I did my first intentional auto I sure was.

I will say it is something you kinda have to get used to since crashing is part of flying RC aircraft. After 17 years of flying planes I realize that crashing is just part of the deal, so it really doesn't bother me anymore. A sim will help the fear subside a great deal since you can practice on it without any fear at all. I've been very fortunate that I have not crashed anything, other than this dang micro heli, in nearly 3 years now. The micro heli I just touched the blades to the carpet once and hit the wall mounted A/C unit in the conference room once as well. Only minor main blade damage though both times.

Lately I have been trying to setup my buddies Blade CP micro electric heli and I am more concerned flying that than I ever was with my Raptor 50. 2 reasons for this, first it's not mine, and second it is much less stable and much harder to fly.

One thing I have found that helps reduce crashes a great deal is to perform regular maintenance on my aircraft after flying them. Check everything, all bolts, nuts, blades, fuel line, hinges etc.. For my heli it takes about an hour after each flying session and has saved it twice now and for my planes it only takes about 10-15 minutes each. As a teenager I crashed a lot. Nowadays I attribute that to poor maintenance and reusing faulty equipment without checking it at all.

Pahtcub

Yeah I've flown a sim for two years now, crashed a bunch with my micro helis practicing in the laundry room, and every time I would fly them while drinking I would always crash cause I would get over compotent. I guess I'll just hover around some more.

Pat

VinceHerman

Don't look at it as a crash. Look at it as an unplanned, upgrade opportunity.

Case in point, my brother Mike has gained enough confidence throwing his T-Rex around that he has been able to move past hovering with his Nitro 30 (shuttle?)
He was doing some impressive (for us) stall turns with 1.5 pirouettes at the top, and tried 2.5
We were ALL impressed with how many pieces the heli ended up in.

Guess who has a 50 sized heli on order?

As Mike's buddy Alex says, "If you're not buyin, you're not tryin"

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

When you loose the nervousness and start feeling confident, order a crash kit and some spare parts.

Maxime

Here's how I see it:



My planes and my heli will crash. I say again: they WILL crash. Be it on the first flight or flight number 1000, but they will crash. that's a fact.



Now that I know they will crash, I think I should enjoy them while they are in one piece, and fly the heck out of them.




Nervoussness have gone away since I understood this thing, and it makes me a better pilot, and I crash less.


You see the point?



And once you start knowing RC people, you will find someone always have the piece that you need or an old plane/heli they want to sell for very cheap... that will keep you in the air.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

One of 2 things will happen to a pilot and one WILL happen.

He will walk to his plane knowing it will be his last flight.

or

He will walk to his plane not knowing that it will be his last flight.

WhtBronco

There's too much concern over crashing, just fly cuz' at some point you are gonna crash. However, common sense and a bit of maintenance will reduce the risk of crashing other than from dumb thumbs. Dumb thumbs can only be reduced by experience and can never be eliminated. Course if you're like me experience comes from learning the hard way, CRASHING. After 17 years I don't crash alot thee days, but I sure did in the past.

Tanner Hall

My Feedback: (1)

if it makes you feel better, pathcub, both alan szabo jr and curtis youngblood had dumb thumb crashes during this year's XFC competition. happens to the best of us...

Pahtcub

Yeah but when they crash they don't starve for two months to fix the helicopter:-) I just can't afford a $300 boo boo right now. So I guess hovering will doo for now:-)

Pat

VinceHerman

You know, that is really the beauty of the T-Rex electric heli. Major boo-boos cost $25. This was the MAJOR element of mine and my brother's progression from hover-only heli pilots to doing FFF and more.
Between the 2 of us, we have about 10 crashes, and none of them were over $25.

Tanner Hall

My Feedback: (1)

i hear you, man. two weeks ago, my L10's ESC shutdown while i was inverted 8 feet off the deck. i cracked a $200 set of carbon frames, puntcured a $300 lipo, AND lost the susual stuff like blades, fly bar, etc. crashes with bigger helis are not fun.

dan003

im just so frightened of the darn thing killing me. only wen im starting it

floatyboy

Hello Pahtclub,

Its really good to see your forum post here. I feel just like you! I have been into rc helis now for about 10 months. To start i got a micro electric, a honey bee 2. Well that took me 4 months to hover with alot of waiting for parts. Once i sorted out the hover I was buzzing everywhere....with crashes! It was rewarding to conqour flying the little thing. Then i went out and bought a Raptor 30, over the course of three weeks i had it assembled. I then found an experienced pilot to go over the heli with set up etc.

I thought that if i could fly this very hard micro then the Raptor 30 would be a peice of cake. However i was'nt prepared for the fact that I'm **** scared of the thing!!! The motors running hard, the blades Whirrr, smoke pissing out everywhere......... and i'm shaking at the sticks and very reluctant to lift her off. I have had about 10 hovers with her and about 10 tanks of gas. Then i crashed it due to me not charging the stupid transmitter properly!! how stupid is that! I know i have the skill to hover and have a bit of a fly around but i just cant break the fear thing. I get anxious just thinking about the fact i'm going to have a fly.
I'm sure its just a matter of time before we break the ice.....i hope.[&o]

Dezynco

We have a joke around here that I'll share....

Whenever you take a new plane (or helicopter) to the field for a first flight, go ahead and give it a good kick before you even try flying it. Then take it home and repair it. That way the "new" will be gone and it'll fly just fine from then on!

Good luck!

dlaque

LOL

I was shaking so bad when i first flew my Raptor 60 (before the fuelage).

Then i realized the Heli was shaking the same way too.. when i stoped shaking it did too

It was then that i finally calmed down and was in awe of the sheer power it had and the control

i had over it.

I shook the same way after i put it in an MD500 fuselage, basically the same heli, same pitch and throttle curves

just a nervous pilot!!!!!

The $$$ factor is the only one to get over, you will crash someday, we all do weather its dumb thumbs or

mechanical failure, sadly its part of this hobby!!!

Radd(Ikarus dude) once posted this "kiss your heli away each time you fly it", if your not afraid of loosing it then you can finally use it!!!

Wish i had the ba**S to go inverted.

Set up your throttle hold and use it when you are starting up, cant cut you to pieces that way

Id like to say that im not nervous when i fly but after not flying for a week or so the first flight i am still jittery,

so after this long winded post i guess my answer to your question is you never get over it, just take your time and

do everything you can to make it as safe and fun as possibe, pre and post flights are a MUST!!!

Do not become complacant and you will be fine.

Happy Flyin'

David

floatyboy

Thanks guys, you are very helpful. I have repaired mine now and am about to go out and see how she goes. thanks


andy

Sawdust48.5

Before you try to get her airborne, have an experienced pilot give it the once over. There can be many hidden factors after a repair.