How to overcome nerves/why do I seem scared to fly?

[Pabs]

Hey folks,

i know it's been asked before (in various guises or different ways) but was wondering if anyone can help push me to actually make some progress in this hobby.

i can't understand why, but I seem to always be nervous around my models, and always have the worry that I'll lose control or have a battery failure meaning my model will disappear into the distance... I only fly nitro at the moment (I love the smell/noise etc) but I'm always concerned - and this is holding back me making any progress whatsoever.

I can can fling my mcpx around much more confidently, and I think this is because I know it can't do too much damage or hurt anyone. Plus it just bounces if I cut the throttle, although I don't think the repair cost of my models worries me too much as have loads of spares.

So do I just need to force myself to fly more often, and gain confidence from practise? Sims bore the pants off me, I don't think it's anything like the real thing either. But flying the real thing I'm normally shaking like a leaf...

i really want to get confident and get my 'A' and look to start flying scale models. Just feel like I'm finding any excuse not to go to the field lately, and wind always puts me off. (Club field is normally quite blowy due to location)

cheers!

[robbo45]

The fear you feel is adrenaline and its the excitement of flying that gives you this,and an old saying is if your not shaking when you land you not pushing your self.i still shake when flying ,but i try and have fun if or when it goes in thats just the hobby.you can always fix it

[Pabs]

I don't think its adrenaline - always being concerned that I'll lose the model due to a technical issue, battery dropping flat or something. I know I just need to man-up and get on with it but especially when it's cold I'm finding any excuse not to fly. Haven't been for several months now... Think I just need to get back out there.

[mattscupoftea]

Your worries seem to come from two directions. . . Equipment failure and 'operator error'.

Equipment failure is something that always has a chance of catching any of us out, and this is why we spend so much time learning, talking about, and building our models. It is also the reason why many people prefer, for example, to strip and rebuild a secondhand heli, or to strip and rebuild preassembled parts in new kits. There is nothing like the feeling of confidence that you can gain from knowing that each part has been checked, cleaned, greased, threadlocked and put together securely.

Having said that, I still like to get a second opinion on any of my builds of fixes - one of the joys of a flying club is that there may well be someone else there who has god knowledge and can be an observer while you talk them through a build, or a setup or whatever. This helps bring out any possible issues or points of failure. Many a time I have talked thru a build or setup prior to a maiden and discovered an issue somewhere with wobbly connections, reversed servos etc. Also, discussing charging methods etc can often bring out things that could cause longer term problems.

If you fly mostly nitro, then battery failure you are talking about would be transmitter or receiver. We pretty much have to just trust transmitter power setups, but when it comes to receiver power, perhaps consider a 'backup guard' - I have an Optiguard in each of my helis now, and this gives me the confidence to know that even if I lose main receiver power, this will kick in and let me auto (electric models) or fly back to a landing (nitro).

When it comes to operator error, then yes practice practice practice.

I can remember to a point (two years back) where I was bricking it every flight - the potential to lose orientation at any point in the flight was strong and this would lead to, at best, a brown-trouser moment and at worst, a nasty crash.
In my experience, there is one thing that changed that. Practice. No - focussed practice. . . Hovering over a real life point (road cone, thin stick with paper ribbon attached, mark on the floor) and being very critical about any movement away from that point.

4 point orientation (tail in, nose right, nose in, nose left) hovers for constantly decreasing time intervals (10s Hover TailIn, turn Nose right, 10s, turn nose in 10s etc . . . Then 8seconds, then 6, then 4 down to 0seconds ie constant pirouette)

Slow (6-10 seconds for 360 degrees) stationary pirouettes in both directions, keeping above that point -1 Right 1 Left - 2R2L - 3R3L etc. Upright and inverted (perfect on the sim first).

Slow pirouette, slow travel - square circuits. . . PiroHover - piro travel to next corner - STOP PiroHover - pirotravel to next corner etc (then inverted)

Once these are nailed, everything (EVERYTHING!) gets easier. New tricks come faster, confidence comes in leaps and bounds as once it 'clicks', you realise that you are never more than an instinctual correction away from upright, safe hover.

LEARN AUTOS! - then even if your engine cuts, you can still land the heli. Once I learned autos, it has been rare that I ever land in any other fashion. They are addictive!

Fly as much as possible in the wind - Once you make friends with the wind, things get easier.
Wind causes movement in the heli, which leads to you needing to make more corrections per flight. This, in turn, leads to you learning at a faster rate than you would otherwise.
Also wind keeps things interesting and makes autos easier.
Once you have spent weeks flying in windy conditions, you will be amazed at how your flying has improved.

Sim - I have heard people say this about the sim before - When you say it is nothing like the real thing. . . Hm. . . Well, I guess I disagree - Sim took me from not being able to hover through to (so far) learning some medium to advanced 3D manoeuvres in the last two years. I spent probably as much time, if not more, practicing flights to music for F3N comps this year on the sim (and this is compared with going out to the field 2-4 days a week putting in between 15 and 25 flights in a day) and to me the sim feels very much like flying the real thing. Sure, there are differences, but only with specific tricks here and there. Mostly, the sims hit the spot in terms of drilling new moves.
I also know though, that I was brought up in the computer generation (not so much Playstations etc, more ZX Spectrums and C64) and as such, am comfortable 'existing' in the virtual environment. If you are no comfortable with that, I can see how it may not feel right in terms of depth perception etc, but I would say plug away with it for half an hour a day of running exercises, for a fortnight, and then reassess if the sim is of any use to you. You may find, like me, that you have a surge in confidence through newly aquired skills. . .

I believe that if you do a few of the exercises, it won't be long before you are coming back from a flight shaking with adrenaline buzz rather than fear, from your first piro loop, first auto or whatever!

Get out there any fly!

[PKNEC]

Hi Pabs your not alone.
My experiences leads me to believe it's all down to confidence what goes out of control, will and there is nothing more you can do.
No different than driving down the road and you get a blow out.
You except it and move on.
Flying is no different.
My lads and myself have found flying elecs less intimidating than nitro so have elecs only.
But I am convinced it's confidence.

[robbo45]

I used to do the same and one day i went home and kick my self ans said that i can do better,if some thing goes wrong your do your best to sort it and some thing does not go wrong every flight.get back to the field and start slowly,but set your self goals ,and make sure you do them before you go home ,you will settle down but you need to push your self to get over it.you should have seen me at the beginning, i used to do half a fig 8 and land till i stop shaking and then do the other half ha ha

[electricsceadu]

go out and fly
it is the only way to get over your nerves
watch others fly and pick the pilot next better to your skill level
and set a target of reaching what they can do at a given flying day
once you can then move forward onto the next thing they can do
it takes time
try to fly each week as long periods of non flying will put you back a long way


and you say that you wish to fly a scale machine
buy a used one and set a target of flying it in the summer on calm days

[Sheldrake]

I still go through this too Pabs! I had found I was turning up and joining in the crack then a fat boy breakfast (we have a very good cafe on site!) and then thought oh I'll leave it today!!
The remedy for me was to arrive at the field get set up and fly even if only briefly before doing as before, this broke that tension, nerves, self doubt etc. and after the first flight of the day the others are far more useful for making progress.
I hasten to add I am still plodding along learning at my own pace BUT I am really enjoying this hobby and the great friendship of a fantastic club. We have everyone from competent 3d to hovering and it matters not a jot how quickly you progress as long as you are just having fun.
Have a good christmas and get out there in 2015.
Happy landings😀

[electricsceadu]

well said
it is all about having fun and enjoying yourself

[waveydavey]

Theres nothing better for your confidence than a well setup reliable model. Check your model over, make sure it's well maintained ETC Pre flight checks before your first flight and stick to what you know you can do well within your capabilities. Before you know it you'll be over the lack in confidence, although it's still good to have a bit of nerves it sharpens your witts.

[helijohn]

go out and fly

It works for me until I crash or have an incident then I am even worse.

Hey folks,
i can't understand why, but I seem to always be nervous around my models, and always have the worry that I'll lose control or have a battery failure meaning my model will disappear into the distance..........I can can fling my mcpx around much more confidently, and I think this is because I know it can't do too much damage or hurt anyone. Plus it just bounces if I cut the throttle, although I don't think the repair cost of my models worries me too much as have loads of spares.

Sims bore the pants off me, ................. Just feel like I'm finding any excuse not to go to the field lately, and wind always puts me off.

cheers!

Losing control whether pilot error or a machine fault is something that plagues me (but never do I really worry about the bird disappearing into the distance though I suppose maybe I should) and the reason is.............cost followed by time.

I hate the cost of repairs. Someone mentioned a tyre blow-out situation as being similar which I suppose, in a way, it is but we drive because we have to in an 'essentials' sort of way rather than as a hobby. But if our car just went off into the distance or fell in an old quarry never to be seen again what would we think. Ooops, there goes another DeLorean.

You say about spares and such but I ask you this; if you had maybe five or ten nitro 700s in your shed all ready to go and an infinite free next day supply of them, again RTF, would you be so worried? Here's the rub, it seems there is no real solution to the phobia. Worse, it can become a self fulfilling prophesy if not careful. Annoyingly younger folks don't seem to have the sense of fear or danger that develops more as we get older so it could get worse.

But don't abandon hope; I suppose what I am saying is get out there and fly in the knowledge you have done all you can to avoid the inevitable (for want of a happier word) and just accept that if it happens, it happens.

[trillian]

Most of the important stuff has been said but I'll just add a couple things. Regarding the reliability issue, as others have said just regular pre-flight checks, doing a range check etc. and I like to do post-flight checks in the evening and really look as closely as possible for anything that might be getting loose and stuff like that.

For RX power I mostly use a regulator and 2s LiPo on nitros and I always have several charged packs with me and I check the remaining charge after a couple flights. I like having a redundant power connection from the reg to the RX. And of course you can also use a backup like the Opti Ultraguard.

The only electrical failures I ever had were when I was using the old NiMh packs. (only happened once but that was enough).

As far as confidence with the flying skill side of it, the thing is to fly in your comfort zone and then try to slowly expand that comfort zone. When I was learning I had a bit of a stumbling block with nose-in hovering and I made my mind up to conquer it. I was flying a Raptor 50 at the time and I would just take it about 50 feet up and then turn it nose in and if I started to feel too nervous I could just spin it around or to a side-on position. I knew that at that height I had time to get out of any sticky situation. It didn't take too long and I had the confidence to slowly take it lower. I'm using this example but it can apply to any move or orientation that is a hurdle.

There was also a time much more recently when I was using the Trex 500 to work on new moves because compared to something bigger and more expensive I could totally relax flying the 500.

Now I kinda feel like that when I fly the Knight 3D because it seems small and inexpensive as I'm so used to 700 size helis.

Anyway, the bottom line is that once you have all the orientations down then all you need is a little height and you can get out of trouble no matter what and you'll find that those little moments of panic will happen less and less.

[dillwhacker]

+1 to all the above really...
I find it helps a lot if I can get to the field before anyone else, and get a couple of flights in before I know they are all watching me...
I like flying alone in a way, cos I can just practise stuff over & over without knowing peeps are watching every move. But it gets boring after 4 flights, so good with mates also.
And +1 on flying in the wind - had a bunch today in a howling wind that made the car rock, and left the field thinking "I've learned something today".
I never worry about mech failure during a flight - it's the least likely reason the heli hits the dirt TBH.

[SaneAdam]

an old saying is if your not shaking when you land you not pushing your self.i still shake when flying ,

I think that might be a saying you made up lol You should not be shaking when you are flying or landing ideally. It is not an indication of pushing yourself at all. I don't shake even when piro flipping inches of the floor. Its just normal due to lots and lots of practice. I think you may be thinking of the saying if your not crashing you are not pushing yourself.

I used to shake a lot… it is definitely natural for many obvious reasons. It is an intense experience learning to control a helicopter. But also incredibly rewarding. The shaking will stop but only once you feel comfortable.

Shaking is from too little stick time. You need to be flying more. But if you are finding excuses not to get out there maybe you just don't want it enough. You need to get over the nerves and the only way to do that is fly fly fly and sim sim sim. You are limiting yourself if you are not prepared to use a simulator too.

[Grumpy]

IMHO it's all about getting more flight time, there is no substitute. If you are only flying once a week and getting maybe two or three flights then you will probably never build the confidence to get over those nerves. So try to get out flying more often and get more flights in when you do get out.

I'm with you on the sim though, they just bore me rigid! While they are undeniably good for practicing stick movements for new tricks and getting those stick movements commited to 'muscle memory', I'm not sure a sim will ever build the confidence to get over nerves. You just dont get the same 'pucker factor' with a sim.

Maybe a medium size electric heli (a 500 or similar) might be the tool to allow you to get more flights in, with less down time between flights, and also a bit less intimidation.