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Main Discussion > Maybe I am just stuck on stupid...But

bburton56
Heliman
Location: Clinton Township, Michigan

I have a raptor 60. Bought it about a month ago. Ever since I have been waiting and waiting for my simulator to come in. Obviously itching to go. I have a "rotopad" trainer, and have even tried the hula-hoop set up. The bird has flown and been checked out by a "pro", and is ready to go.

THE PROBLEM....I just cant seem to be able to get the hang of it. So far all I have done is start it up on the "chicken sticks" and get it just light on the skids and then get it to where it will come off the ground about 2 inches for about .6 seconds, maybe twice. I appear to really suck at this. I have had numerous planes and gliders....etc.

I dont want to crash this thing, but i am itching to go. I think if I could just spend some uninterupted time on a simulator I would get the hang of it much quicker.

So far I have watched people fly, watched the videos, spent the time on construction, radio adjusting, driving accross down for tweaking, etc, etc, etc and I have flow for maybe 1.2 seconds total. From my stand point this hobby is starting to resemble my flying ability...It sucks.

03-19-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Hivoltage
Senior Heliman
Location: Ohio

Hang in there

I felt the same way. It took me forever to be able to hover. Think of it like riding a bike. It seems imposible to do, but all of the sudden it just sinks in, and then you wonder just what was so hard about it. Just keep practicing and it will come to you. It may take a gallon or 2 of fuel. Good Luck.

03-19-2002 Over year old.

MooneyDriver
Veteran
Location: Kent, Ohio

Hang in there!!!

It does get better! My first hover looked like peter rabbit chasing the bunny next door... boing... boing... boing... It really sucked!

I felt exactly like you do. I couldn't imagine hovering like the other guys.

My simulator really helped. After two weeks spending thirty minutes to an hour per day on the sim, I can do "near" stationary hover till the tank runs dry.

The main thing is to be patient with yourself! I know it's hard. I can't stand waiting for parts, but the sim helps pacify me....

Believe me in a couple weeks you'll be grinning from ear to ear!!!
Hang in there and keep working at it!!!!

-Neil

Hey man, why does my lipo get bigger every time I charge it?

03-19-2002 Over year old.

robb
Senior Heliman
Location: Vienna, MO

I was in your shoes about 2 years ago w/ my Nexus. Everytime I would get it a hair off the ground, I would get nervous, chop the throttle then it would slam into the ground, and stripping the main gear cause the tail would hit earth first. That got so bad that I stocked up on main gears. Then one day it clicked. Don't know how or why, but it did. Same w/ nose-in. Now THAT is hard, but one day while hovering nose-in w/ training gear on (I now have a R30), it clicked and now I can't believe how easy this is.

Keep on practicing. I have my son learning on the sim now so he doesn't have to go through the frustration I did.

Rob

03-19-2002 Over year old.

ZZ3Astro
Senior Heliman
Location: Panama City, Fl

I think you would be a great candidate for a R30.. not that the Raptor 60 is particularly expensive to crash, but generally a 60 is more costly in a crash and certainly more intimidating to someone new. You'd save money in parts and fuel and still have a new condition 60 standing by when you're ready for it. Of course you could certainly use the 60 to learn on.

A couple of helpful things I've learned over the couple of years I've been doing this..

While learning to hover, keep the helicopter BELOW ONE FOOT in alititude.. Do not give in to the temptation to go any higher until you can
- keep the heli within a small area
- have the heli's motion stopped at each touchdown
- can at least hover tail-in and side-in

It is next to impossible to damage a heli with training sticks on it if you keep the altitude below one foot. For each inch you go above this height, your chances of damaging the heli from a mistake increases substantially.

Do not be afraid to crash.. as long as you keep the heli a safe distance, crashes are not a big deal. It happens, these things repair much easier than planes so don't sweat it. When you replace the damaged parts, you end up with a newer heli. And don't worry about scratches and a dinged canopy. In time, your flying will impress people much more than a shiny new looking heli.

Steve

03-19-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

deckerv
Veteran
Location: Wellsville, NY

Realflight G2 helped me learn VERY quickly... I've flown planes for 20+ years now, and just started my 8th tank of fuel on my Nexus 30, my first heli experience.. I thank G2 for teaching me how to fly choppers.. on my 3rd tank of fuel, I was hovering nose-in, FFF.. and on my 6th tank of fuel I was doing loops and rolls and some minor inverted flight.. The way I looked at it.. if you can fly the 3d ships on that sim, you can fly a chopper

Sometimes I find the sims more challenging becuase you lose reference to the ground so quickly if you have any altitude.. In real life as you know.. you still see the ground for most of the flight.. so you can judge if it's climbing or diving.. I even was able to take the training gear off after 2 tanks of gas.. (but that was primarily because they broke mid-flight.. don't buy helimax gear unless you bolt them together). I was suprised how much nicer it flew without the gear on!
Don't give up!! I didn't and I found myself liking heli's more than the planks now!! I have seen the light!!!!!!!!!!

03-19-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

whrlybrd
Senior Heliman
Location: Little Rock, AR

I agree, I have found that my improvement has come as a direct result of amount of fuel burned. Also I set about with a plan in mind for each flight. Much like flight instruction in full scale . Keep it low and progress only when the previous step is stable. Also a good piece of advice I gleaned from another site is to limit your initial sessions to 3 tanks of fuel, one to warm up one to do the lesson and one to seal it. Push it in the beginning and fatigue may bite you (don't ask how I know this)

03-19-2002 Over year old.

dlbell
Senior Heliman
Location: Detroit, MI

Hang in there!!!!!!!!

Barry,

You have to hang in there. Almost everyone in this hobby has felt the same thing you are feeling right now. And most of the pro's out there started out with 30 size helis with mechanical gyros. Just give it some time and you will see improvement.

Keep your head up,

Darrell

03-19-2002 Over year old.

DrScoles
Veteran
Location: Redmond WA

I agree with Steve, maybe you should get a 30 size like a Sceadu or Raptor... Less fear involved and much less intimidating. I didn't get the sim right away(wish I had) and the first few times out were pretty entertaining... The heli flies you!

Mike

03-19-2002 Over year old.

HeliinAL
Heliman
Location: Montgomery, AL

I have a Raptor 60 that I am just learning on and the sim was an unbelievable help.

I have a slow computer so I run the CSM simulator. I spent a good two weeks on the sim. I had some very knowledgable people set up and do a trim flight on my R60.

On my first attempts on a simulator I was frustrated because I couldn't get it do anything more than 30 seconds. Much like it sounds you are doing with the helicopter. The difference is the pucker factor of really crashing. I took the simulator serisouly, but could try a little harder with it because if I did crash....

On my first tank in the R60, its was GREAT. A great feeling. I could hover in a relatively small area and keep it inthe air most of the time. By the third tank I could hover an entire tank @ 16min without touching down. I am now working on touching down without excessive moving and some side hovering.

The problem I have and sounds like you may be suffering a little is impatience, self control, and overwhelming desire to eb able to... JUST DO IT.

Get that sim and spend lots of time on it and once you get started, you start making small jumps in ability and it helps tremendously on the real thing.

The R60 has been much more stable than some of the smaller Helis flying, especially if you are dealing with any wind.

Keep it up and best of luck,

03-19-2002 Over year old.

CHARLIE T
Heliman
Location: La Grange, IL

I am new too.

Yes,this is very hard to do, but take your time.Real filght has been a big help to me .The nice thing about Real Flight use it as needed sell
it for about what you paid for it when its no longer needed .You save that much in repairs costs.
Charlie [newbe in training]

03-20-2002 Over year old.

Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

I could probably write the book on doing it wrong, but somehow things seem to work out OK for me. First off, make sure your remote is set to not be able to pitch down too far, -2 bottom end pitch is more than enough, this will help stop you from 'slamming' it to the ground if you panic.

Second, and I'm sure you've heard this before, burn fuel. It's really that simple. Try to keep it light on the skids. take it out somewhere on concrete where your gear can slide around, and just practice keeping it light but in the same place. The first many times you try this, the heli will no doubt start scooting off in some random direction. Try to slow it down or stop it, but if you get concerned or if it gets maybe 10ft, just cut down the pitch and it will stop. The just center yourself again and throttle back up. Knowing you're in control will help you relax. Keep this up and within a tank or two you will be hopping up an inch or three and it won't be darting off in some odd direction. (if it does, your heli may need to be trimmed still, check with that expert again) Notice that when it gets ready to lift off you'll probably notice the heli is "planning" to go in some direction. Just compensate for this as you are adding pitch.

Some people can sim and then just walk out the door, fire it up, and pop into a hover. Most others take more time. Don't be too concerned if it's taking a little bit to "click" with you, it'll sink in. It's all a matter of your thumbs getting wired up to just naturally react to the movements. Right now you're having to think about every little thing you do, so just concentrate on one thing at a time. As you burn fuel, more and more of those things will become automatic and you won't have to concentrate on them anymore, and that will free up your mind to focus on new things. This will continue to happen until you're flying around without giving it a second thought.

It took me about a galon to get it off the ground and keep it off the ground for any length of time. I didn't use a sim though.

03-20-2002 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Hivoltage
Senior Heliman
Location: Ohio

Right!!

That is some good advice.!!!! I couldnt have said it better.

03-20-2002 Over year old.

XLFLYER
Senior Heliman
Location: Denver, Colorado

I wouldn't sell your g2!!!!! I am getting into 3d flight with my Fury 80 and the sim helps! You can think a maneuver up with g2 then do it in real life. It will cut the time by 3/4s when you start to learn inverted flight.....Sim then fly works great...

I started with a raptor 30 then got the fury 80. I have been flying about 9 months now and I have inverted flight down and am working on my 3d. I can fly better than guys at our field that have been flying for 10 years..g2 is the best....use it!!!!!!

03-20-2002 Over year old.

hakim
Heliman
Location: Mombasa, Kenya.

The biggest "friend" you can have in this hobby is ENTHUSIASM and from your post you definetly have loads of it. Don't give up and one day you'll remember this post and laugh at it. The first time I tried hovering I couldn't imagine how people do it. But just keep at it and remember take tiny steps at a time. As soon as you feel mentally tired, stop and take a break. Don't proceed the next step UNTIL you are ready. Unlike planes, flying helis needs a delicate touch. Just remember SMALL MOVEMENTS. As far as a .60 heli for learning, the Raptor is fine stable heli, but don't add any upgrades just yet.
Good Luck!

03-20-2002 Over year old.

Itsindilas
Veteran
Location: Greece-Athens

Mate ther is only one solution,

1. Fly a simulator (practice a lot of practise).
2. Ask a guy to setup your curves and tune up your engine in your nearest club or flying field.
3. Whenever you are rdy in Sim to hover, start hovering for real, whenever you are nose-in and FFF rdy in sim then fly it for real etc. Always you have to be one step in front in Sim.
4. Before starting ACRO you have to be able to perform AUTOs, so here is the critical decision, only G2 or equal Sims can simulate the AUTO in a realistic way. FMS can help you in hovering, acros (to get used in sticks) but it can simulate the heli flying dynamic model as well.

In my opinion, follow those steps and you will be more safe. It might be painfull to pay G2 or equal now but in the near future you will not spend so much money for crashing parts.

Follow these steps and you will be a winner, cause our primary objective is to be able to do our hobbies without our hobby to eat our innards.

03-20-2002 Over year old.

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