Grey silhouetting skies..

[dillwhacker]

Just wondering how difficult you guys find it to fly against a bright grey cloudy sky, compared to sunshine and a blue sky?
I stacked a 500 today for the simple reason that on a dull day with a plain grey sky, I get dis-oriented really frequently during even a simple flight.
Is it a brain thing?
An eyesight thing?
An age thing?
An experience / confidence thing?
Any thoughts welcome!

[KevDavies]

Yeah I lose orientation too on grey skies, even with my goblin and thats bright yellow! Its an optical tric caused by the clouds I reckon

[pgkevet]

I believe it's a loss of depth reference.. tricks the brain into thinking it's another way around.. aging eyesight makes that worse. Flying closer works but obviously has it's limiting hazards

[waveydavey]

A silhouette is just that, doesn't matter what colour the cano is, nor how good your eyesight is or how far you are away. Me, I trust in the inputs I've put in and it becomes feel rather than sight. Still soemtimes ends in what the f+++, but not so often now.

[JoeBailey]

I fly with a dark red canopy anyway so even on the brightest of days it silhouettes to a black blob. I've never found it an issue really.

You just need to think through your moves before doing them and have the confidence in your flying that its going to exit the way you want it to. If its shooting out at odd angles then wait for a better day to practice and work on some old moves. Even going back to basics, four point hovers at various different positions and slow reversed lazy eights etc. it all helps to get you comfortable when flying in crap conditions.

[dillwhacker]

Cheers guys, that helps restore confidence.
Yep - it's like the white vase / two black faces illusion, my brain says one thing, but the eyes say the opposite..
Experience required, methinks.
Taa,
Trev

[dogbiscuit]

another one who has exactly the same issue. I cant tell whats happening when I try new moves. In the sunlight its fine. I was begining to blame this on my ageing eyes, but perhaps that may not be the case then. Add freezing cold stiffening fingers to the mix aswell and its hardly worth flying some winter days now for me. I constantly feel like I'm about to crash

[brin]

have the same problem .puts me off flying when its like that.

[trillian]

It's a real problem for me this time of year. The colour and shape of the canopy makes a big difference though, the more of one solid bright colour the better.

One thing I have been thinking about lately (short of doing a complete night rig) is getting some small red reflectors and see if fitting one facing the rear of the heli would be visible enough to see at a distance if it's pointing nose in or out.

[electricsceadu]

there are a few that i fly with have fitted red leds to the rear and green to the front of the model
it works realy well in the sky
looks daft in day light but works
i think they got the lights from hobby king for £1 each
2 front 2 rear = £4 plus a resistor from the main lipo

[gazmk2]

Just use the Force! It works for me!

[WildWake]

Just wondering how difficult you guys find it to fly against a bright grey cloudy sky, compared to sunshine and a blue sky?
I stacked a 500 today for the simple reason that on a dull day with a plain grey sky, I get dis-oriented really frequently during even a simple flight.
Is it a brain thing?
An eyesight thing?
An age thing?
An experience / confidence thing?
Any thoughts welcome!

All of the above, at this time of year when the sun (if any) is low in the cloudy grey sky you might as well be night flying with out lights.
I found that my 500 nite flyer with standard blades was ideal in these conditions, you can see it better than a 700..
May be fit one led cluster facing to the rear & one of a different colour facing down from the main frames between the skids.
12 LED Cluster - ORANGE

[waveydavey]

I thought I was the only idiot up at this God forsaken time, but no me mate Tye is up too. You at work mate.

The he colour won't do anything for a silhouette, the lighting if any is from below and normally behind so it makes no odds. We were mucking about with a DJI quad yesterday as the light started to go, Phil got around 1000m away and you couldn't see it at all, he has a bright white led on the nose and as he turned back towards the club it shone like a star. So I could see how a little led would work.

[WildWake]

I thought I was the only idiot up at this God forsaken time, but no me mate Tye is up too. You at work mate.

The he colour won't do anything for a silhouette, the lighting if any is from below and normally behind so it makes no odds. We were mucking about with a DJI quad yesterday as the light started to go, Phil got around 1000m away and you couldn't see it at all, he has a bright white led on the nose and as he turned back towards the club it shone like a star. So I could see how a little led would work.

No not at work Dave, it's my only day off, woke up on the sofa at about 2ish... went to turn my laptop off,, but had a little look a things & one thing led to another...
And here we are .... the suns coming up,,,

[jwatts007]

Morning guys...very grey out today...if I cannot see the heli I land and call it a day...