Scared of flying circles - need help please.

[NoFixedAbode]

I have been flying for a few years now, on and off. Self taught and not in club. I can loop, roll, flip, auto, backwards auto even fly/hover nose in. I can only do figure 8's one-way and can't fly circles. I have a mental block, when the nose starts to come round I panic. Yet I can do it on sim.

I traced the problem to be when I was just learning, I read when learning figure 8's all ways turn heli away from you never towards you or you will DIE. These words got stuck in my head.

I know practise, practise, but any advice or tips on how to practise this. Or exercises like start with flying squares!

Thanx in advance.

[PeteStewardson]

I know how you feel. I'm stuck in the same thing, I really can't get my head around turns towards me. I've come to the conclusion its something in my head telling me it's not going to work so subconsciously I put in too much rudder so I end up coming out of the turn. Again, like you, I seem to be able to do it on the sim.

So I look forward to the replies here on things to help me progress on this.

[horsham rc]

I'm the same but I don't care . I like FLYING my helicopters not poodling around 3 foot of the floor. I am tring to control my 8s though as want my A this year.


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[del19_82]

Try reversing your 8's so that your doing them clockwise rather than anti clockwise, that way you will get used to seeing the Heli in the correct orientation to the left and right hand side of the circle but in your head your still doing a figure 8


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[themagician]

it's probably easier said than done,so buddy box must be the answer. good luck.

[Nick B]

Flying lessons could help,where in the UK are you?

[panosg]

Same here.
I can loop, invert fly fast etc but 8's and circuits I can't get them. Very strange.

[ronny p]

Can you piro both ways eather side of you? If not practice this as that will help your turns towards you.

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[waveydavey]

It's not as easy as it's made to look is it. You've probably made the same mistake as most in doing things that won't help you progress. You need to establish your orientations before the loop, rolls etc etc. I've seen pilots move into 3D before they can even fly a circuit.

It took me nearly a year to move out of the hover, again a mental thing and it's my money in the air. I ended up getting comfortable flying with height and further away, which gives you perspective and a chance of recovery should it go wrong. I remember using Russ deakins book to great effect as it taught me LAFT (Lead with Aileron Follow with Tail) this helped me enourmously. Only you can find something that works for you but having trust that you've put the inputs in to start, IE your thumbs are pointing the heli in the right direction you just have to hang on and complete the circuit. Doing it off to the right or left will help as you don't get the impression that the heli is nose in to you (not as much as a proper F8 anyway)

[sam cooper s]

This is how I got over it, as I also faced a mental block when it came to turning towards myself......

Imagine you are flying an outward turning figure 8 - the heli flying past you from right to left. You do a right turn to turn the heli away from you, and it is now flying from left to right past you again. When the heli flys past you to your right and you are ready to turn again at the bottom of the figure of 8, you turn it to left , and now it is heading back past you from right to left.

So in doing an outward turning figure of 8 as above, I proved to myself that I am quite capable of turning the heli in both right hand and left hand directions. It was then a case of telling my brain, that if I did this in the opposite way and turned the heli in towards me, and held it steady all through the turn, just in the same way as doing the outward figure 8, but just turning the other way this time, that the heli is not going to crash or kill me, it will just keep on course and complete the turn, ending up flying past as it did before.

It worked for me anyway, just kept doing outwards turns both left and right, and then convinced myself that doing inwards turns is exactly the same manouver, it is just that you are seeing it from a different angle.

Don't get me wrong, the first time was still scary, but as soon as I did it I realised it was fine, and then it becomes as easy as turning outwards.

Hope that made sense !

cheers Sam

[NoFixedAbode]

Thanx guys I feel better now knowing that is not just my head wired wrong. I don't really do piros but will do now. I would definitely be up for buddy that would be like a security blanket. I would even consider lessons. Currently lurking with intent around basingstoke. There is a club not far I think far Ham just outside hook.

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[sam cooper s]

I am also in Basingstoke, I am a member of:

Basingstoke Model Aero Club - Affiliated to the BMFA (helis and fixed wing) which is 15 mins from Basingstoke town centre, and

http://www.fmhc.co.uk/ (helis only) which is a mile or two away from Hook

Maybe worth checking out of you are looking to join a club, feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[AcidDrink]

Try slow piros (10 seconds+) in place in both directions (left and right rudder). it will teach you the orientations needed.
Most problems like this (scared to fly towards etc.) are caused by lack of confidence and familiarity in certain orientations.

Personally I was (and still doing it) practising circuits and slow piros until I hated them, then switching between orientations (flying backwards), then switching between upside down and right side up.

You need to practice it until you don't think about it and I can't really advise anything else except alot of hours on the sim and IRL, preferably every day.

[Scotvar]

Some excellent advice. What I found helped me was to fly the heli further away before I started the turn towards me. This takes away to a degree the fear factor of the heli coming towards you. Once I became more comfortable with this the distance can be reduced.

Paul

[AcidDrink]

Some excellent advice. What I found helped me was to fly the heli further away before I started the turn towards me. This takes away to a degree the fear factor of the heli coming towards you. Once I became more comfortable with this the distance can be reduced.

Paul

Second that. Fly high as well. No point of flying low to the ground if you are not comfortable with it (Bert Kammerer's advice )