How long did it take you to fly confidently?

[jimma]

Ive been flying around 5 months now mainly been using my mcpx, I find flying that ok, occasionally lose orientation but save it using a load a thottle lol . Ive had around 10 flights on my 450 and still struggle to have the confidence to move it around like I can on the mcpx or sim. I can hover it tail in fine but tried nose in once and quickly returned to tail in!

Just curious to know if im a slow learner or not?

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[electricsceadu]

i've known pilots to take years just to master a hover
it will take as long as it takes you, stick time has a lot to do with it
if you don't fly for long periods then it will take a lot longer than flying every week as you'll be playing catch up every time you fly

[vinny155]

After 25 odd crashes on the 450 I started to get confidence

[Sheldrake]

+1 on that!
this weather has not helped either.
Remember this is a hobby and everyone learns at their own pace, depth of wallet!
What really matters is that you enjoy it!

[electricsceadu]

+1 on that!

Remember this is a hobby and everyone learns at their own pace, depth of wallet!
What really matters is that you enjoy it!

very well put

[tomatwalden]

Given that you're flying the mcpx OK, it's not slow learning since you can do it (also on the sim). It's purely confidence. Take your time, and perhaps progress from figure-8's on the 450 rather than trying to scare yourself silly by pointing straight nose in at yourself!

[gorber]

It's not just about speed of learning. I was really fast at the beginning. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was within one month when I was doing nose in, inverted hovering and tic-tocs. But after about 2 or 3 months, I was as good as I ever got, which honestly wasn't much better than at 1 month.

[highlightshadow]

Took me about 6 months to get beyond gentle hovering with orientation (side on) and doing some gentle flight .... everyone says it but it really is true ... one day it'll click... i started doing gentle and wobbly coordinated turns and bit by bit got it together into a lazy 8 ... once you crack it to this point i found progression came much faster

[jimma]

I think its clicked on the sim. Just struggling to transfer it to reality!



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[heliboy]

If it took you one week to become a 3D god.
You would be bored in no time.
Let it take you as long as it does that way you will have longer in the hobby.
Just enjoy learning.

[r4nd0m]

confidently? every time when I was confident the heli was in bits afterwards ... I think it took me about 6 months to fly safely and with the required respect and caution .. thats when I went on to a 700 ... since then it was getting better and better - the odd crash every now and then reminds you to stick with what you are capable to do or to practice harder ... still enjoying it though ...

[rich-6]

It took around 6 months to be able to get past the hover stage in all upright orientations for me, I can hover it pretty well inverted nose in now and currently working on my tail in, I found working on tail in and nose in first side on seemed to just click naturally so I'm hoping the same happens again inverted.

Right side up coming up a year on the sticks I fly as fast as my 600 will go chucking loops and rolls in, My problem is I don't get enough time in.

I wouldn't say you're a slow learner, I tried to progress fast and wrote a 450 off by going fff straight into the floor without throttle hold lol, I bought an mcpx and used that to learn to string forward flight together when I moved onto another 450 I'd fly side to side whipping the tail 180 to build up confidence to do a banked turn.

[gazmk2]

About 6 weeks and I was able to fly half decent circuits and a basic backflip with a 130x, but then I moved onto a trex 250 with a flybar and was right back a square one! I gave up for almost a year and it took perhaps 2-3 weeks of flying my Gaui hurricane 200 and by that time I was proficient in left and right jand figure 8's, hovering in all orientations and even managing half decent loops and rolls.

I was flying a blade nano every few weeks on the year off though so that will have helped a lot.

[Bee_random]

The more you practice the faster you will learn. Many of the kids appears to be 'naturals' and 'prodigies', but they are simply putting in many many more hours of practice. Most of us have families and jobs therefore progress varies considerably. A good read is a book called simply "Bounce".

Spend a lot of time on hovering. Hover the orientations, then hover while pirouetting at varying speeds and directions... Holding position while doing this will teach you not just to hover, but will teach muscle memory that will enable you to master the flight orientations considerably faster than you might think (http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=531380). IMHO if you rush the foundations your progression will be limited and your crash rate higher than necessary.

When something feels impossible... Keep going.
Once you think you've got it on the sim... Keep practicing on the sim for another week before taking it outside.
Once you've got over the first learning curve (the hover), remember that ALL the other moves require the same progression through from incompetence to competence. So don't get disheartened, it's all possible.

Oh, and practice practice practice!

[wadders248]

Give yourself more height with the 450, once you've got more confidence with a bigger heli, you will learn more quickly. I started with an mcpx, had about four at one time, then sold them all when I realised how well a 450 and larger flies. I reckon it took me six months with the mcpx to be confident, though I was flying nearly every day.

The trouble with the mcpx is that any rudder input will 'push' you out of position, so you muscle memory has to work differently for piro'ing left and right, compared with a 450, which with most modern FBL systems will piro on the spot. So the mcpx has to be enjoyed for what it is, but try and get more time on your 450.

After about two years, I've actually bought another mcpx and I use it to practice inverted orientations in a small space and the being pushed-out of position is useful to learn correcting it quickly. To flip and roll into inverted in all orientations with an mcpx requires some quick reactions!

I still also get the adrenaline rush, sometimes with the shakes, probably because I like to keep pushing myself to learn. It's also hard to judge for yourself how much you've progressed, or how competently you fly. The best indicator for me is when someone passes you their TX and asks you to fly their heli.