Hi folks
I fly rc planes for years and only just recently I found interest in helis. I bought myself a Trex 450 which I'm building right now. At the same time I'm brushing my skills on my trusty AFPD sim. Interestingly, I don't seem to have much problem flying it. I can now do
flips, rolls, slides etc.. but when it comes to hovering nice and still it seems like the hardest thing to do. Still haven't flown the real rc heli but just want to know, is there any trick to it or is it just me simply needing more practice?

practice practice practice

WRONG!!!! What you really need to do is....


Practice, practice, practice AND then practice some more!!!

Lots of practice.

Use [link=http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html]Radd's[/link]

-Dave

Yes, practice teaches your reflexes so you can handle an emergency situation without haveing to think about. And there is no short-cut to developing this muscle memory, but lots of stick time.

As for hovering, yes it's hard but very necessary. It's been said before that if you can't hover, then you can't land. So don't skip that important step in your learning curve. Take you time, and don't get impatient. It will come.

On Radds, why are all the words on the left side of the page atop one another? What am I doing wrong?

Seems fine for me on Firefox 3.5.7

I checked the link & got the same as you. Go back to Radds link, then click on the compatability button - this will be next to your address bar & looks like a broken page. This should fix it for you, it worked for me.

Duh. Thanks

Sorry for the threadjack Fredo.

OK guys, I get it. I had to do the same thing when I was learning to torque roll my Comp ARF Extra. There was simply no short cut but still a few tips helped me to speed up the process. Like watching the spinner for example, rather than whole plane.
I'm not looking for a secret password how to do hovering motionless, I have done some more practicing on the sim and found I have to concentrate really hard to make it look half decent. It almost look like you have to be constantly ahead of it almost like torque rolling a plane.

Here are a couple of things that helped me.

If you have a programmable radio, use either Dual Rates or Expo to reduce the control over your cyclic (right stick on mode 2). That reduces the typical beginner tendency to over-control. Definitely helps you to keep a steady hover.

Also when just beginning to learn to hover, I found it useful to watch the skids. And if you have training gear on, then that amplifies the visual indication that your heli is tilting. Later on, when you move into forward flight, you will be advised to watch either the head or the nose, not the skids.