Beginners and New to Heli's ... Read this FIRST

[4 props]

Take it or leave it but its the truth....

[4 props]

Hi.
Does anyone meet up in the Hull or Yorkshire area. Cheers 4 props.

[Ice-Man]

ok i read this post from start to finish and all i can say is a big thank you to the person who started it Bubblefish my first heli was a blade cx2 flew it a few times in the room then outside i went sort of well the heli is still up that bloody tree ths was last year anyway next was a century kestrel se nitro my brother is setting that up for me as this has never flown when i bought it and he said good job you never tried to fly it but still not had flight as still setting it fingers crossed next week will be the 1st time depends on the weather
but reading all the post on here about the heli and how bad they are i have just bought a new heli to me a trex 700n nitro flybarless but it was cheap well a steal i could not refuse
right to me next bit being new to this what would you say was the best one out the 2 to learn with dont worry im joining a heli club near to me but kestrel or the 700 as i want to get into this as i have lost my job due to ill health being a class 1 hgv driver and heart attacks dont go well as hospital said i would never drive 44 ton lorrys anymore so yes im use to big stuff
but i hope to learn this hobby and start meeting a few of you on my travels regards to you all Ian

[Peteski]

I've learnt to fly in the last 6 months with the aid of a good sim (neXt), a decent Tx (DX8) and a bunch of Blade micros:- mCX2 > nQX (yes a quad!) > mCPX > 130X > 180CFX
It's been a steep learning curve but a great experience. Thanks to many hours of sim practice and not rushing things, crash damage has been very minimal. So my little fleet of micros has had very little downtime indeed and still looks in great shape. I think it's the wrong mentality to simply presume that crashing is all part and parcel of the hobby. If you go into it thinking that you WILL crash while learning, then it can soon become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was determined that I was NEVER going to crash, which is a much more positive way of thinking! It might even sound very naive, but if you put in the sim time and always keep one step behind in real life then there's no reason why crashes cannot be largely avoided. Applying a bit of common sense also helps, simple things like making sure you have enough clear space to fly with your skill set. Anyway this approach has been working really well for me so far. The Blade micros have been great for me too and the 180CFX is amazing.

[myxiplx]

I'm a lot less patient than you I think Peteski, I crashed hundreds of times in my first year. I practised on the sim, but always pushed myself when I was flying the micros.

I'm at the stage now where I can happily fly 3D on my larger models confident that I won't crash them, but I still push myself on the Trex 250, that little thing suffers lol.

[Granpappy]

I don't think anybody expects to crash but it does happen. I don't have a sim but I have a good foundation flying fixed wing. I jumped straight into heli flying with a Trex 450. I also fly mode 1 which doesn't lend it self to heli flying very well. The 450 is still my go to heli even though most of the original parts have long gone. I can now fly basic stuff with enough confidence to know that I wont crash barring a technical issue. I think a really good set up is key to making good progress while learning to fly. The crash issues start to arise when you start to fly out of your comfort zone. This is a natural progression if you want to develop your flying skills. Just taking it steady helps and I never expect to crash but it does happen. I guess you just have to be pragmatic about it. I have a new 500L which I only ever flew once to see what flybarless was all about. It's a lot more stable then the flybarred 450 but it stays on the ground because it's shiny and new and I want to achieve a certain skill level with the battle scarred 450. Once I've achieved that, then I think the 500L will be a breeze and it will become my go to heli. I have no doubt that once that happens then I will be looking at something bigger, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Peteski]

Crashes definitely occur when you fly out of your comfort zone, but for me this is where the sim plays its part. I fly out of my comfort zone pretty much all the time on the sim and as a result of this I crash a LOT on the sim. But in real life I've disciplined myself to keep within my comfort zone and the very few crashes I've had so far have always been when I've broken this golden rule.

However there is one micro I don't include in this "comfort zone" rule and that's my nQX quad! It never gets damaged by a crash so I treat it more like the sim and fly it to the limit, resulting in quite a few crashes but they help with making progress and I can always just pick it up and fly again. It's just a shame it can't fly inverted, so doesn't help in that regard. But I see there is now a 3D version of this quad which I may look into. I've been using my mcpx and 180CFX for learning basic inverted flight so far, but I'm taking it steady to avoid unnecessary damage and I'm finding the stock mcpx a bit limited in its inverted flying abilities. The 180 is just fantastic but I don't want to crash it too often as it will inevitably result in downtime. Plus I can't fly it inverted in the house! The nQX 3D could be my next house fly to take over from the nQX, which I've found to be the best flight trainer of all so far.

[Peteski]

I crashed hundreds of times in my first year

So have I! But 99.9% of my crashes have either been on the sim or nQX. I've crashed my mCPX only a couple of times when trying inverted flips for the first time and I've had just 1 crash on my 180CFX when I got a bit too excited and ran out of talent Not bad after 6 months and I don't think it's really held back my flying in any way. Probably the opposite as it's given me a lot of confidence and repair downtime has been pretty much non-existent. Maybe I could have got into inverted flying a little earlier if I had bit the bullet, but that was more of a psychological barrier to overcome and I think I've finally got there now.

[Thor]

So have I! But 99.9% of my crashes have either been on the sim or nQX. I've crashed my mCPX only a couple of times when trying inverted flips for the first time and I've had just 1 crash on my 180CFX when I got a bit too excited and ran out of talent Not bad after 6 months and I don't think it's really held back my flying in any way. Probably the opposite as it's given me a lot of confidence and repair downtime has been pretty much non-existent. Maybe I could have got into inverted flying a little earlier if I had bit the bullet, but that was more of a psychological barrier to overcome and I think I've finally got there now.

I have to say that I admire your discipline! When I started flying (micros) a couple years ago, I had none of it. Only after moving up to the 360-size have I been able to minimize my crashes. I still have the occassional crash (and still more than you, it seems), but all in all I think minimizing the downtime from repairs really keeps me on the learning curve. Apart from the downtime, there is always a bit of apprehension during the first few flights after a crash, and that does nothing for your flying skills.

[Peteski]

It probably helped me having the Red Bull 130X as my first cp heli. It's really not a heli you want to be taking apart regularly and so I made a really special effort not to crash it!

[Thor]

My first CP was a "normal" 130X, which I promptly crashed into a wall and several other things on its maiden. I got rid of it last year, but I honestly don't know if it ever flew really well given that start ;-)

My experience with micros is that they almost invariably fly worse than before after a crash and reply, while my 360's tend to fly better than before after a crash and repair.

[Holst]

I very rarely crash my 450 but the mcpx used to go in all the time.

I used to fly during lunch, get about 5 flights in, probably 10 crashes.
I guess I crashed it several hundred times in 6 months.
Mostly did no damage as I flew over grass, and I'm very quick on throttle hold now.
The point of the mcpx for me was that I could get away with crashes, otherwise I'd just fly something bigger.

[Peteski]

Well my "no-crashing" approach to learning worked better than I could have expected in 2016, with zero crashes in 405 flights - so it can be done! I did have one or two very close calls though, so you could say I was a bit lucky. As for progress, I managed to nail all my inverted orientations so I can now fly upright and inverted circuits both nose and tail first and self-recover from any random orientation. Also learnt a few basic 3D moves including piro-flips, inverted funnels and simple tic-tocs. But mainly flying big air sport moves within my comfort zone and just working on all flight orientations and transitions. I'm probably at the stage now where I should start pushing myself more and learn new moves, but it's only for fun so no hurry. I'm quite happy with my little fleet too, but would like to add a slightly bigger model if I get more flying time - looking at a true 500 size model.