How do people progress

[animal47]

Daft question but what is the best way of moving forward as I seem to be a bit stuck.
I can now hover my mcpx tail in all day long and go fast forward and backwards easily as long as I stick to tail in which is where I am stuck as anything other than tail in and I just go to pieces. I can manage it ok in phoenix but not in the real world.
I see all the vids of people's confident flying and wonder just what path people followed to get to that stage. I think my biggest problem is that I detest any sort of gaming and if I'm honest I really can't stand sim work as it bores me silly, do people ever actually manage to improve significantly without a sim.
I will be 40 in a few months and my heart is set on building myself a 450 for my 40th but will need to gain a lot more confidence and ability first but am really struggling.

[anti]

The MCPX is like a sim in itself. Go find some grass and fly it. I find my flying comes on leaps and bounds when I spend a morning putting a load of batteries through the MCPX.

[cupracing]

The only real path to being a good pilot is lots of Sim time and I mean using it everyday. Inputs will become instinctive then instead of you thinking about what input to do.

[rasman2k]

Hi, I think you've got the best flight sim there is, an MCPX! I've been through the same dilemma as yourself. I really needed to learn nose in for real. I can sim nose in, inverted etc but when it came to doing it consciously with a proper model I would tend to bottle it. So I got an mcpx and just kept flying it in the garden, gradually bringing the nose around until it was fully nose in. Within 6 batteries I was taking off and landing nose in, hovering side on without thinking and within a couple more batts I was doing pirouettes.

What enabled me to do it was the 'crash' costs. It's the most robust, real flying experience for advancing hovering manoeuvres from tail in. Once you can hover in all 360 degree orientations, circuits become so obvious. All IMHO of course

[astra 8vt]

lol i had the problem and im also 40 in 2 months i could hover my raptor tail in move it side to side forwards and backwards but wouldnt fly it around just in case the engine cut out so i got my self some 450 clones built them up and did the same but taking them a lot higher but coouldnt do nose in for the life of me i think i was just scared of crashing the thing so about 2 a month ago i got a mcpx and practiced nose in and with in 4 batts i was hovering nose in so with that i went out with my 450 and thought sod this and just flew it about ( but i do have plane background from years ago ) and now i can fly it around so so ok i think its just its a metal block andim haveing one now with inverted as i can do it all day long on the sim but can i hell with the real thing sims ok for getting to learn stick but when it comes to the real things its compleatly differnt

i just sod around on the sim now and use it to help with stick movements and just general flying around and sodding about and it has helped sort of but i think its more time spending with the heli than sim

i would say get a 450 and take it out and practice with that once you over come the confidence part you will come on a lot better i did and now im at that stage again haveing the balls to try something else

if i could fly like i can on the sim i would be a happy bunny

[JoeBailey]

+1
If your tail in try moving it side to side. Fly off to the left, stop, hover for a few seconds, fly the the right.
Keep doing it and as you get better start turning the tail so you fly accross diagnally, then a bit more and your side on and nose in aswell.
It's not easy by any means, sim time does help alot.

Joe

[animal47]

I guess I am going to have to accept that not every part of learning to fly is fun and that I will have to spend time on the sim whether I detest it or not, sort of sours the whole thing a bit for me as I just dread sim work.
Apart from Radds what other programmes do people follow.
I wish I had more time and somewhere indoors to practise the mcpx as weather tends to spoil playtime most of the time, I do now have another 6 batteries on order so at least when I do get the time and the weather is good I will be able to make the most of it.

[chris jones2.4]

simulator helps many people, get a few hours on it when you can here and there and youll come on leaps and bounds

[astra 8vt]

I guess I am going to have to accept that not every part of learning to fly is fun and that I will have to spend time on the sim whether I detest it or not, sort of sours the whole thing a bit for me as I just dread sim work.
Apart from Radds what other programmes do people follow.
I wish I had more time and somewhere indoors to practise the mcpx as weather tends to spoil playtime most of the time, I do now have another 6 batteries on order so at least when I do get the time and the weather is good I will be able to make the most of it.

more practice with the little one indoors or out and like you said you dont like the sim just spend hour a day on it do 5 -10 mins doing some real practice then dick about on it for a bit the go back to doing some more practice turn the wind up a bit aswell as in the real world theres aways some sort of wind it the bloody uk lol

i found messing around on the sim and doing things i wouldnt even dream of doing with my 450 has helped me more than doing it right and to be honest sitting there hovering bores the shite out of me in 5 months of flying ive crashed 4 times and one of them wasnt my fault but the other 3 were me getting it wrong and as this is a second hobby for me i use clone stuff so it dont cost as much i would say the total for all 3 crashes was about £30 and not being funny a lot of poeple spend that down the pub in one night lol as far as the mcpx goes as said before find some grass and go fly it ive lost count how many times ive crashed that and at most ive broken skids and canaopy but that was crashed into a brick wall but it has helped my flying due to the fact its a twitchy little thing now my old boys useing it and all he could do with his 450 was hover i had him out with it last friday and now hes flying around ok he stacked it a few times but most of the time hes flying it around

[S1roudy]

Sick time,stick time,stick time!! Just fly as much as you can! It all starts to come together!!

[shades]

sim sim sim, and be brave with the heli !

[NoFixedAbode]

I think the trick is, not to just fly just what you know. You will feel more rewards by pushing the boundaries of your skills bit by bit. Learning something new however small gives me a new lease of life and my enthusiasm returns.

[shades]

If you feel stuck then maybe you need to get to a club and fly with others. Most club members will offer some guidance and it will help you tremendously, rather than a soul destroying I've crashed again feeling. Ask me how I know !!! Keep at it, just little improvements each time. You wil get there !

[DaveJones]

I get to turn 40 in not far short of two weeks time and have also just started out with this hobby recently, starting to think from this thread that heli flying is becoming a mid life crisis thing for more than me .

I started with an MCPX at Christmas and went through the same steps as you flying side in was a challenge but I just kept at it, hovering over my bed and quickly jumping back to tail in when things went astray. I saved nose in for when I was outside and had more room to recover in but when I started trying it didn't take to long and I can hold it pretty well indoors now. I haven't yet bothered with a sim, figured my MCPX is so crashable it works as my sim.

You don't say what radio you are using, if you have the out of the box RTF radio think about getting a DX6i so you can adjust the sensitivity, that helped me a lot. I found I dumbed it back down again to help me with the nose in hover.

Just bought myself a second hand Trex 250 and 500 and starting to practise what I can do in the MCPX with the 250, not worked up the courage to fire up the 500 yet. The 500 was today's plan but looks like the weather has scuppered that today.

Happy birthday to those fellow nearly 40 trainee pilots for when it comes.

[hedge]

Flying helis is hard, think about a simple turn... Aileron to bank, elevator to pull it around, pitch to maintain height, tail to bring the nose around - thats both sticks moving together just to do a straight forward turn.

It's not for everyone and it's not a given right that you will be able to do it. However given the tools available and a suitable monthly budget you should be able to get through. Sims are boring but useful to understand what to do and to help learn muscle memory. If like me it bores you to tears just do what you are trying to do in real life for 10 mins a couple of times a week.

Good luck.