Matt Smith
Heliman
Location: Newton, NJ
| Dragging this back up top. I guess you could say I had an awakening. I haven't been able to put in as much stick time as I'd like, say average 3~4 flights a week, and those have been in less than optimal conditions, so my learning curve has slowed down a little. Last friday, I was eager to fly but it was getting to be dusk, so I found a school parking lot with lights. Two mistakes in one - bad lighting, and flying in an unfamiliar place. I had been working on slow pirouettes with stops at 90° intervals, but hadn't been comfortable with CCW rotation, so I started working on that. Mistake #3. I was having a hard time orienting myself against the background and started to drift a little between corrections. Just about 45° nose in on the third try, I heard some kids rolling up on bikes and figured I'd better land before they got anywhere near me. That little distraction was enough to lose orientation, and between that and the bad lighting, I panicked and chopped the collective instead of hitting hold and bringing the tail around.
So, I made at least 4 mistakes, thankfully it cost me only a servo gearset, a feathering shaft, and new blades. Anyway, now I understand.
The worst part is that prior to the crash, I was fine with orientation at tail-in, nose-in, 90s, and tail 45s and was starting to get comfy with nose-in 45s. Now, a half dozen flights after the crash, I still start panicking when rotating CCW as soon as I pass 90°. I'm afraid to try nose-in or 45° nose in from that direction and can't figure out how to break that mental block. Every time I try, I bail out and swing the tail around as soon as it starts to drift instead of correcting it. My brain just freezes and doesn't tell my fingers what to do. |
