Guys,
Just wanted to get an opinion on where my flying skills are.

I have been flying now for 10 months. I have flying tail-in to where it is reflexive for me. I have practiced nose-in on several occasions and am starting to feel a little more comfortable with it, although when I practice landing and taking off nose-in I put the training gear back on for safety. I have started to do circuits around the field and am feeling better about flying with the sides of the heli facing me in a hover. I also discovered yesterday, as I was trying to do small fast circles around myself, that if I moved the tail in towards myself while doing this I could do actually hold the heli tail in, in a nose high 45 degree atttitude while still continuing to do the tight circle around myself!!! That was a blast, although I get dizzy quick doing that!!!
I also can do pirouettes in both directions, but usually at least 20 feet off the ground.

Opinion - Am I where I should be, ahead of the game, behind, what? What should my next goals be?

Thanks in advance.

Wow. It sounds like you have stumbled upon the nose up tornado manoever with you standing in the center! If you could do that with the heli in front of you the whole time, you will have officially learned a "3D" move. Sounds like you are doing well!!

IMHO, I would learn autos, loops and rolls next. Also, practice the finese stuff regularly (i.e., nice scale takeoffs and landings; smooth slow circuits with constant speed and altitude; precision hovering, etc.)

Do you have a simulator? If not, get one and try the more adventurous stuff in there first. I have been flying for three months and I'm trying to learn autos. I practice them in the sim before I go out with the heli and it really seems to help. I did the same thing with forward flight, circuits, rolls, etc. Based on your description, it sounds like you may already be doing fast forward flight, hard banking turns, 45 degree descents, etc. Believe it or not, once you are comfortable flying fast circuits, loops and rolls really are just a matter of courage--it's not that hard. Stay high at first and you will pick them up quickly. I discovered that I could roll to inverted and hold it there the first time I tried (after sim practice)

Ain't this a blast! :bananahea

It sounds to me like you are doing just fine. The time it takes to reach certain goals will be different for all of us. I don't get to fly near as much as I'd like to so sometimes takes me longer calendar wise. A more real measure of progression would probably be my actual flight time in the air.

What ever the case take your time and get comfortable with one stage and move on. Always push yourself a little bit but don't over do it.

Practice doing some slow pirouettes in front of your self. It's harder than it looks.

good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Scott

for a nice "logical progression" method,.. look at the IRCHA pilot proficiency program (PPP) on the ircha website www.ircha.org . If you follow the levels it will guide you through a progressive and logical sequence for training.

Each flyer is different and we all progress at different rates. However, you sound like you're doing very well. I'd say always practice what you know and try to add one new thing once you have the things you know how to do down. Practice that new thing for a while until you are fairly good at it.

For example if you set out to do loops then just do loops. Don't try to confuse yourself by adding rolls in there as well. Once you get your loops down then move on to rolls or stall turns or whatever. You have to build the basics first and get proficient at them. Once you have those basics down it then becomes a matter of putting several of them together and before you know it you have a routine. Jus remeber a that just because you know how to due a stall turn, loop, roll, nose in hover, auto, etc. that you shouldn't keep doing them. You always need to keep practicing everything. That's how you get good and after a time things will start to become second nature to you. That is you'll be able to do a manuever without ever thinkig too hard about it. You just do it.

One last thing; someone once asked Hanno Prettner (world class aerobatic pattern pilot) how he became so good. he said he praticed every day but only for an hour or so. Any more and he would become sloppy and make mistakes. Try not to push yourself too hard. Sometimes if you push too hard then your progress will actually slow.

Good luck and have fun.

Jeff

Thanks for all the advice and words of encoragement. I just came back from several very good flights in about a 10- 15 mph wind and didn't let it bother me one bit. Bumped me around some, but I just ignored it as much as I could.
When I was about 17, I saw Hanno Prettner at the 1977 world pattern championships in Springfield, Ohio. He was fantastic, and although he flies pattern and not helis, I have always looked to him as an inspiration for my flying, whatever kind of aircraft it might be.
Thanks again. I hope someday to be a 1/10 as good as some of the heli pilots I have seem.

Good job! now, go buy a case of fuel and burn it up!! (in the heli of course)

It sounds like you are doing very well. IMO, orientation from every angle and autos are the keys.....dont skip over this like I did when I started. It will come back to bite you! I went from hovering to forward flight, then to loops, rolls, stall turns, inverted stuff......that is where I got into trouble. I found out that a forced auto due to a flameout is pretty tough when ya never tried an auto before, and my first one was while I was in an inverted hover about 20 feet in the air. I managed to do a semi-decent heli saving auto, but at that moment, I decided to get back to the basics that I skipped earlier...orientation and autos.

Basics are everything! Learing how to control the heli in any attitude and position will make all the difference in the world.. Practice Practice Practice! That is the biggest thing Burn fuel and keep learning.. When I first started this hobby back around 84 It took me almost 8 months just to learn to hover! No Gyro, No help and tons of replaced parts from crashing.. I would say your well on you way. Even when I got back into the Hobby over a year ago I still have not progressed alot.. I do what I feel comfortable with and then move from there.. I shake constantly while I'm flying [thank god for expo!] so I don't need any more problems. Learning autos is a very good next step! I love doing auto's I think that is the reason for my slow progress because I started doing them and I can't stop now!
Just keep burning fuel, trust me... you will be were you want to be very soon!