Hi all

I have been flying since July 05,have been a bit busy with school lately and only flew on calm days before I could control the heli enough to land back in about the same spot, (am comfortable in a bit of wind now). In this time I have taught myself and have not had anyone help me into the air that flies helis, have only managed to get going 14 runs in, and of thoes about 12 times flying. have not crashed! I would like to hear how long after starting, what happened, and in what circomstances 'your' first crash was.

thanks .

Believe it or not a lot of people don't crash when they are first learning to hover, most people have their first crash when they start learning forward flight. Once you start into ff it is so easy to loose your orientation if your not familiar with the basics. That's why a lot of people will tell you to make sure you are "very" comfortable with the basics, tail in, side on (both ways) and nose in hovering before you ever think about going into ff.
It's not a question of "if you will crash", it a matter of "when you will crash", everyone does it, it's just a matter of time. You sound like your doing fine, just take your time and you should be fine, but trust me, you will crash sooner or later, all you can hope for is it's later rather then sooner .

I learn to fly with an LMH so my first cash wasn't very costly. My first crash with a big heli was a Raptor 30, the reason I crashed (in my opinion) was because the heli didn't have enough power to pull out. I come down a little to fast when I was in ff and got to close to the ground before I started to pull out and the heli just didn't have the power I thought it had and it hit the ground. It wasn't a bad crash, it broke the blades, bent the spindle and flybar, but it was enough to break my confidence, it was a long time before I had enough balls to try ff again.

How well I remember.

I thought a great idea was to put a carpet out on the dirt to keep the engine from sucking in dust. Well, as I hovered over the 'landing pad' there was a little gust of wind and the combined downwash of the rotor caused the carpet to flop up and well you can imagine the rest.

Is right what was said about hovering and then FF. I flew straight into a tree.

mmmmm.. so many crashes ago.... I think the real first crash I had was not letting the gyro set on my Raptor 60 then, totally panicking when she started pyroing like CrAzY!!! I was trying to save it and everyone watching thought I was doing HARD CORE 3-D!!! That thing hit a socer goal post so hard it broke the carb off the motor!

Surely my most expensive crash. [>:]

The highest number I ever head was 85 flights before his fisrt crash. Guess what he was learning? Forward Flight. Slow learner.

1 year, and almost 20 gallons before first crash, with an inverted engine leaning out bailout that did not work.
Simulator is your friend.....

Shoot, whippersnappers. Summer of 1981, GMP FP .30 sized Cricket, Sanwa Radio, I don't even remember if I had a gyro. Fired it up in a big ole empty parking lot. Got off the ground and skidded in multiple directions. Then got a boom strike and shattered one wood main blade. Cricket was still sitting there idling, so, in my excitement I added throttle to take off again. Got the oother blade and the rest of the boom.

well whenever it happens, don't copy me.
I wasn't trying to rush it but it was a few months since I did any flying with the heli but it was a calm day and I got going on the coldasack. a few things felt out after the time but I had controll. the heli moved around, landed , I moved too and too much throttle with a side wander and I didn't like things. in the sun I followed and out by this time it was at right angles, I swept it round and piched up speed, a haisty reverse direction and landed on the tarmack. it bounced slowly but it was high so I brought It back down again and that was all I was up for that day, only about 3-4 min all up engine running.

Bin flyin Venture 30 for 6 weeks can 90 both ways, nose in, forward flight ,10 meter hover , very bad figure 8 no crash yet touch wood.My brother thinks it will be soon... i get carried away on my 3rd tank or so
I have spent $300 plus on fuel... havin a blast .....Here is the trick FLY YOUR SIM 3 times a day and twice on sundays Dont stuff around take it serious