Not a post about a plane called Phycology! More the mind game.

I was wondering what techniques/tipos etc pattern fliers use to maximise their performance.
For example combating nerves, trying to hard etc. Its natural when competing to want to do your best but this can often cause problems. I find flying unere'pressure' my movements on the sticks are slightly jerky not smooth enough.

Any ideas/info/tips/links folks?

Don't drink energy drinks or coffee before you fly that morning, often, you will find yourself in a hury to return from the restroom as nerves, excitement, and the need to relieve yourself can casue you to almost miss your flight. (grin)

Have fun.

Chuck

Shakey fingers are the most obvious sign of inadequate mental preparation.

Performing in the big F3A competitions requires three things:
1. Great equipment
2. Great piloting ability - knowing the equipment, knowing the sequence, knowing the conditions
3. Ability to perform better than you've ever flown in practice in front of the judges

The first two are learned at your home field during practice sessions. The third is learned at big competitions by trial and error ('experience') and from research of how others do it. The research is generally from books in the area of sports psychology.

The first technique I tried was extreme relaxation prior to the flight and even during the flight. I used this in Poland at the 03 WC. It doesn't work too tell, because you fly a little worse than your practice sessions' best. The second I tried at Muncie 05 and France 05 WC. I read about in sports psychology books and in a few research papers. It recommends preparing for the competition flight by psyching yourself up with thoughts of the upcoming flight being excellent and the excellent flight itself (what you will do as the pilot). This one works great for me.

-Adam Glatt

A very good book which I did find of help is:

"The Winning Mind" by the British javelin thrower Steve Backley. He covers many of the areas that make for a well prepared pattern flyer such as Training, Goal Setting and probably most importantly as Adam has said - Visualisation.

Malcolm

What works best for me is being as well prepared as I can be coming into the contest, knowing my equipment inside out and trusting that they are 100% reliable. Then, while waiting for my flight, I just relax by talking to old friends, helping newbies, or just hanging out and joking around. Keeps me loose and relaxed before my flight. Anything to distract me from getting nervous and prevent my muscles from tightening up will do for me.


Jayjay

Indeed, visualisation is the key, along with all the proper prep etc etc. I also look at pilots gone before me to see what the wind is doing etc etc, then before I fly I sit down next to my model and caress it's body for a few minutes and whisper sweet nothings. Just make her feel wanted and loved then she will fly all the better. I then sit down on my trusty tool box, put my fingers in my ears to shut out all noise and go through the flight, including all wind corrections. Basically just focus on the task at hand. I did try listening to music before a flight but it didn't work.

I used to get extremely nervous at comps so I learned to relax myself. For awhile though I took it too far the other way and ended up not keyed up enough. I spoke with a sports pshychologist a couple of years ago and he was going on about adrenaline scales or something. 0 is just normal, like sitting at a pc and it goes up to 4 where you are classed as being bloody buzzing on natural endorphines. Step 2 is optimum where you at a "higher state" than normal, therefore concentrate and perform better. Above this there is a deleterious effect.

One thing I've noticed when I'm "in the zone" is I dont blink. You don't notice until after you land, then you blink and then immediately after cry with pain!

Putting in a flight that is the absolute best you can do is bloody hard. At WC/EC it's one flight a day and unless you're CPLR everyone has to nail every manoeuvre of every flight. Extremely difficult, especially at 7 o'clock in the morning. I guess that's all part of the challenge of F3A

A

So is the totty hiding behind the flag?

M

Hey how about a couple of beers? Don't laugh too hard I know some great flyers who have done this as a practice. One of them was famous for it ad he did really well at the WC's many times.
My secret is to rationalize the worst case senerio. Worst case is I fly terrible. After that the cost of coffee is $1.50 a cup. Best case is I fly great and win the contest in which case the cup of coffee now costs $1.50.
Prepare as much as time allows. Build and buy the best you can afford. Have fun doing it and don't worry about the outcome because it will screw you up.
--Mike

Maybe she's getting undressed?

Was time to give my avatar and signature an overhaul. For the record she now lives permanently with me, her choice of course. If she's not too tired she will be coming to Glenrothes this Sunday Malcolm C'est fantastique!!!

A

For the 6-7 minutes before my flight I like to just kind of seclude myself and focus. This helps me relax and concentrate on the task at hand. I've found if I run out to the plane, rush to the pilots station, forget my score sheets and have to run back, etc. my flights don't turn out very well because I haven't mentally prepared myself for a good flight. Basically I just push everything else out of my head and put all of my brain power towards focusing on the flight.

If I try to come at it too relaxed by talking to friends and BS'ing until my flight is up I'm not thinking straight when it's my turn to fly. If I try to psych myself up too much I start to get over confident and sort of "blow-off" the flight. Just keep yourself in focus and fly the best flight that you can -- that's all you can ask for.

How about practice technique.

Say you have worked a sequence and find youve hit a plateu of diminishing returns. In other words it looks the same everytime you practice.

So some things I have tried, break up sequence, roll the other way, go to a contest, get help from an observer (to hit you with a club until it looks right...oh...well i havent tried that)

others?

The best thing you can do in that situation is get someone else to look at it! 9 times out of 10 a set of experienced eyes will be able to spot something you can't or something that you shouldn't be doing. You should always be looking for a different set of eyes to look at your flying to improve it from every aspect. Going to a contest also helps a bunch. Look over your score sheet once you get it and if you find a maneuver you thought you did really well, but got a bad score on, go to the judge who gave you that score and ask about it. It's impossible to perfect a pattern if you're the only one looking at it. You eventually get used to your own flying habbits and ignore things that you could be doing better.

I used to listen to my walkman, seclude myself from most everyone and go through the sequence in my mind. This anti-social action also yielded a lot of comments, mostly bad It did work to help put me at ease. The more contests I've flown in have reduced the need to do this.

As far as equipment, over the years I have had to deal with more "crap" with equipment than most have from an engine not running as well as others to knowing my plane would die after the spin, making exitting the box and landing the proper way quite a challenge, as it was going to be dead stick. In Temple 4 weeks ago, I almost lost my plane due to and Elvator problem during the sunday morning practice flight, was able to land, then diagnose the problem and still won the first round that day. There has to be a way to seperate what has happened to how we can fly under duress. 2 contests last year, my engine crapped out on the last practice flight of the day, so had to hurredely put in a new engine, set the throttle curve/linkage best I could, then fly truely fly the plane because the throttle was all goofy compared to the previous engine.

Being prepared, score sheets, starter, call sheet are all very important I think.

Then, FUN FUN FUN.

Ed

Many thanks for the tips/techniques folks.

The Winning Mind by Steve Backley is only avaliable second hand. Pity it sounds a good read.

Any other links/suggestion to sperts phycology books that may be relevat to aerobatics?

Ants,

PM me with your address and I'll lend you mine but you might want to consider buying a secondhand one as you will want to refer to it again and again.

Malcolm

hmm... the best flites i get is when im very relaxed and semi sleepy...just awakened frm a nice sleep