beginner nerves hindering progression - any advice?

[Planehazza]

You'll probably hear my arse pucker.

[Coxy]

The only advice i can give is if you dont feel comfortable after a minute or so hovering then put it down, take a breather and go again when ready, dont think people will judge you, i certainly wouldn't! i have been through the same scenario doing my first loop - xmas week, i came back in shaking, settled down and went and did it again, just remember its not a race or that you are competing against anyone else, take your time and enjoy.

Can i ask why people feel comfortable learning on 450 size models, i was advised to buy a larger model when i started 16 months, and felt so comfortable with it - (raptor 30) i have seen people come with 450's and really struggle, suppose its just a personnel thing, but thought i'd ask...

[pgkevet]

....Imagine if the world of full size aviation had the same mentality

or imagine you have direct visual reference, clear documentation on the flight envelope limits, instant access to your feedback instrumentation and no need to show off. My PPL was all about safety and avoidance of issues. Aerobatic flight (which i did only a tiny bit of) again is more about limiting the degree of that and having a clear approach to recovery. Now go look at the statistics of those that do push the flight envelopes in what we could call 3D flight... Regular Red Arrows deaths, some stunning near misses with the red bull team and one heck of a history of aviation deaths during early developments and trials before wind tunnels. flight simulation, computer predictions and so forth. I doubt any of our helis go through the development trials and math that a passenger jet does...

And, no, If I'm the Pilot up there for real it's an entriely different ball game to throwing a model about. But then again in my several years of PPL flying I did have a near miss or two and lght aircraft go down all the time as well - sometimes aircraft issues and often pilot error.

[Marco666]

Valium

[trillian]

Can i ask why people feel comfortable learning on 450 size models, i was advised to buy a larger model when i started 16 months, and felt so comfortable with it - (raptor 30) i have seen people come with 450's and really struggle, suppose its just a personnel thing, but thought i'd ask...

Me too, I had a 450 in the beginning because it was inexpensive but I didn't get on with it first at all. I got a Raptor 30 and very quickly was able to go out and fly on my own and bring it back in one piece, it was only some time later that I went back to the 450s and liked them.

[KevDavies]

my regime for crashing.....

Crash..... Laugh and point at it, walk over and get the camera out and post it on Facebook. Put it back on bench and laugh some more. Get another heli out of the car, and beat the crap out of it (well as much as my crap flying allows anyway).

Then pull it to bits when u get home and spend some money online for bits

[Gixxer]

I bought a tin of this from Fast Lad 3 years ago, and it's still 3/4 full... Highly recommended!

[madgooner99]

Best money I spent in the hobby was to have lessons

Darren at Rapid Rotors was top banana and he tought me how to teach myself and improve on my own

Ray

[Chrisrw]

Thanks everyone for all your comments. Reassuring to know that I am not necessarily alone in what I have experienced. Most of you have confirmed what I already thought (that nerves are probably not helping) but that things should get better.
As for a bigger heli (Raptor 30 coxy and trillian) I would eventually like a 550 but the money is just not available at the moment (and the 450 is definitely cheaper to crash!). As I started with micro's moving from the 130x to the 450x I did notice that I have more time to react (but I appreciate this would be even grater on a 550). I think one of the recent issues is maybe that I have been flying too low (giving me a false sense of security that if I crash damage could be less) when in fact all I am doing is increasing my chances of running out of space to make a correction (trillian pretty much described my problem!).
Madgooner99 - I had though about lessons - I gather no one does 'buddying' on helis (at least not at our club) so I guess having someone actually looking at how you are flying would be useful. I haven't really had any feedback from the people flying at the club (I guess most there are pretty experienced and it is still a bit daunting flying when others are around). I recently went to the Ashford indoor flying club and that was very useful - lots more people closer to my level and the more experienced people there were very helpful.
Now I just have to work out how to resetup the 450 once the servo's are done....
Any advice on how to do the first test (and to avoid a tip-over if things aren't as they should be)?