Popped my crash cherry

[Peteski]

I on the other hand get my kicks from trying stuff that challenge my ability, that inevitably leads to a few ins

That's exactly what I use the sim for! I crash a lot on the sim while pushing my limits and then once I master a new move I carry it forward into real life with minimal risk. Without the sim I'd be totally lost and probably wouldn't even bother with the hobby at all. I know some people just hate using the sim, but luckily I quite enjoy it myself. I know others don't mind dealing with regular crash repairs and may actually enjoy that side of the hobby. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with many crash repairs and I simply hate the idea of crashing nice toys! Crashing, at least on a regular basis, is more or less an optional part of the hobby that I chose not to do right from the start. I can tolerate the odd inevitable mishap along the way, but if I was going home with my heli in a bin bag every month or so I'd soon lose interest. My aim for this year is zero crashes, but I'll still be happy if I get through with 1 or 2 hits while still making some decent progress.

[George J]

Fly circuits for ever = No crashes (which is of course completely fine)
Really pushing your flying and being on the limit regularly = Expensive hobby time and heli repairs

That being said I know where I want to be so like Dave and Don and pretty much every other good pilot I know we have put some helis into the dirt!

[A.W]

I guess there will always be crashes, but you can find a good balance between being conservative and pushing your limits where you can limit crashes and still make good progression.

[George J]

Goes in cycles for me, went months without so much as a heavy landing then over the next 3 months put in 3x 700's....2x nitro's were written off (one mechanical though) and the 3rd not so bad. This really knocked my flying so was really holding back and it's taken a while to totally get back into it again which I most certainly am now.
Not worth getting devastated about though, it is part of the hobby however you like to quantify it, buy the parts rebuild and go flying.

[Granpappy]

I tend to be a bit cautious with a new helicopter. But after a while I get bored with being cautious and stop holding back. I then invariably crash but it doesn't bother me so much then. I just rebuild/repair it and fly it again.

[waveydavey]

Get what you're saying Pete, but I get no thrills from the sim at all. I use it almost every night for working out stick movement but theres no substitute for learning and feel of a manoeuvre than the real event. For instance I can piro loop upright and inverted on the sim, I can even just about get the control right for piro ball and piro snake, not neat and tidy but I know what to do. Put it on the field and can I hell get the timing right, nothing to do with heli setup, sim to heli it's to do with real world, wind, mood etc. Some days you're on it, others you're not, some I fly well enough that I will try stuff I shouldn't but that's the thrill of it

[Peteski]

So far I'm finding the sim to real life transitions pretty smooth, although I'm still learning pretty simple stuff so timing is not so critical. I'm very disciplined at the field and only fly moves I can do competently on the sim with no chance of crashing. But I do put in plenty of sim time and that does help with my overall progress. I didn't fly at all in real life over the winter months, just regular sim sessions almost daily, but once I got back out to the field I found that I had still made quite significant progress and perhaps more importantly my confidence had improved too.

[waveydavey]

You need a proper heli Pete, not one of them toy things, no substitute for a 700

[Peteski]

Thanks guys, I do loads in the sim about and hour a night at the moment, I'm managing inverted circuits, I feel like a heli god but as soon as I get the real thing in the air my heart starts to pound and my legs turn to jelly I really can't explain why, it takes all my concentration to do even the most simple of manoeuvres. I hope it wears off as I intend to fly the 450 this season and build something bigger during the winter, at the moment I don't think I could even spool up a 600 let alone hover it.

That's something I suffered from too last year when I first took to the field, but the nerves do calm down as you gain more experience and confidence in your ability. I'm in my second year now and I'm starting to feel pretty relaxed, although it still takes me a couple of packs to fully settle down and fly close to my ability on the sim. But the buzz I get is part of the attraction too and it always feels good to make that final landing of the day safely, knowing that your heli will live for at least another day Also I found that once you upgrade to a better heli, your previous pride and joy suddenly becomes so much more expendable, which also helps with the nerves!

[Peteski]

You need a proper heli Pete, not one of them toy things, no substitute for a 700

LOL, maybe when I get too old to see the little ones Which reminds me I need to get my "ginormous" Goblin 380 built up soon. But honestly the little OXY 3 is all I need to enjoy this hobby, it's a cracking little thing to fly. I'm planning to join a club later in the year when I have a bit more free time (last little one starts nursery in Sept) so then I might seriously look at a proper big heli for club flying. But I'm really not sure I can be bothered with the huge packs and charging regimes or gallons of nitro involved in that scene. I'll see how it goes with the 380 over the summer and how the flying experience compares to the OXY 3. Interestingly I now have both these models on the sim (Heli-X) and the 380 does feel comparatively "bigger" and smoother to fly. I find the OXY 3 sim model is slightly more twitchy than the real thing, but actually quite a good representation overall, so I'm hoping the 380 model will translate to real life in the same way. I flew the NeXt Goblin 380 model for a few months and I found that one quite disappointing - considerably more squirrelly than my real life OXY 3 for example. It was like flying a nervous brick to be honest!

[Grumpy]

It would be 'interesting' if full size pilots took the view that crashing was an inevitable part of the leaning process if you wanted to be 'a good pilot'

[Granpappy]

It would be 'interesting' if full size pilots took the view that crashing was an inevitable part of the leaning process if you wanted to be 'a good pilot'

Lol. Full size pilots don't do tic tocs and piro flips.

[Grumpy]

Lol. Full size pilots don't do tic tocs and piro flips.

But only due to the limitations of the hardware they have to work with. If you look at the fixed wing world they do some pretty crazy stuff and would be seen as 'good pilots' in anybody's book, yet they still manage (in the vast majority of cases) not to spatter themselves all over the runway. (I guess altitude helps!)

[waveydavey]

They ain't got to worry about a constantly changing orientations

[Grumpy]

They ain't got to worry about a constantly changing orientations

Good point! Maybe there is an opportunity to market an 'inversion chair' for RC use that spins you upside down when the heli goes inverted: