Popped my crash cherry

[Jay23]

Today is a sad day, after around 35 flights on my 450L the inevitable finally happened....i drove it into the ground . It was my own fault doing barrel rolls where i had no business doing them (too close to the ground), it was 8.10pm, the light was fading but i had just 1 more pack to burn, i hit bailout, but it was too late, my poor heli didn't stand a chance. Damage was a bent boom, cracked blades, snapped skids, stripped torque gears and my confidence. On the plus side i have all the parts except blades and skids so total crash cost was £34 (excluding parts i already have). By some miracle the canopy come away totally unscathed.
I'm a bag of nerves as it is flying this heli, i don't know how its going to feel when i get it back in the air!

[milly0812]

Get up dust yourself off and get on with it. Oh and resign yourself to the fact that you will never beat the number of times Ive binned it LOL

[George J]

That's 100% true...^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Helicentrik]

It does hurt but we all do it and its good you did it on a 450. I've ploughed a 600 in twice in two days and those blades are not cheap. When it starts hurting the wallet you tend to take it a bit easier and realize there is definitely a route to success in this hobby. At least you did not crash in to someone or yourself, that is worth thinking about when considering your abilities. Ive had to duck a few times with my 600 when I was starting out. Good luck next time. It took half an hour to find the battery after this effort. I just put a brand new rotorhead on as well £120. This was in 2008.

[A.W]

Sorry about your crash, its never nice however much or little damage to the heli. Just try and take it as a positive learning experience, I've had a handful of crashes and have learned something from all of them.

As was said earlier dust off repair and go again!

[waveydavey]

Get up dust yourself off and get on with it. Oh and resign yourself to the fact that you will never beat the number of times Ive binned it LOL

As the official club crasher I'm not sure about your claim to the title Don

[myxiplx]

Sometimes getting that first crash out of a way actually helps your nerves, after you've gotten past that first one you know it can be repaired relatively easily and cheaply, and more importantly that you've got the skills to repair it.

Crashing is definitely a big part of the hobby, the psychological aspect can be every bit as hard as actually learning to fly the damn things in the first place :-)

[p1andy]

I does hurt but we all do it and its good you did it on a 450. I've ploughed a 600 in twice in two days and those blades are not cheap. When it starts hurting the wallet you tend to take it a bit easier and realize there is definitely a route to success in this hobby. At least you did not crash in to someone or yourself, that is worth thinking about when considering your abilities. Ive had to duck a few times with my 600 when I was starting out. Good luck next time. It took half an hour to find the battery after this effort. I just put a brand new rotorhead on as well £120. This was in 2008.

Wow you did a good job there, although could have done better since the boom is still attached
I have seen/had some crashes where you wouldnt believe the mess of the heli, would look like someone dropped a bag of heli parts from 20ft onto the ground.

To the OP: Fix her up and get right back into it is the best way to get over the nerves, which wont take long to overcome.

[milly0812]

As the official club crasher I'm not sure about your claim to the title Don

FACE OFF ?? Haha

[Grumpy]

Crashing is definitely a big part of the hobby,

I'd argue with that.. Yes, eventually a crash or two is probably inevitable, but IMHO isn't something you have to accept as a routine event or a 'big part of the hobby'.
I guess we all have different ways of approaching the hobby, some push the their limits all the time with the inevitable results. Some on the other hand choose to fly with a margin for error and can go years without crashing. Neither approach is right or wrong but the amount of crashing we do is to a large extent within our control.

[A.W]

I'd argue with that.. Yes, eventually a crash or two is probably inevitable, but IMHO isn't something you have to accept as a routine event or a 'big part of the hobby'.
I guess we all have different ways of approaching the hobby, some push the their limits all the time with the inevitable results. Some on the other hand choose to fly with a margin for error and can go years without crashing. Neither approach is right or wrong but the amount of crashing we do is to a large extent within our control.

I'd go with this too, for me anyway, my wallet couldn't handle pushing myself so much that I crashed regularly. I give up a bit of speed in progression and fly within capabilities to a certain extent to save the wallet!!

Pretty much all my crashes came in the first 6 months or so of flying.

[Euclid]

Thirty-five flight and £34, I'd say you got away with that. My 450 lasted 5 flights, cost £125 and I still don't know why it went in. As to bag of nerves I know what you mean; my answer was to get a 230x, great confidence builder and now I'm itching for the wind to drop to take the 450 out again.

[Peteski]

I'd argue with that.. Yes, eventually a crash or two is probably inevitable, but IMHO isn't something you have to accept as a routine event or a 'big part of the hobby'.

+1 on this. I don't accept crashing as a "big" part of the hobby either, although I accept that they do inevitably happen on occasion. I minimise my crash risk by learning all new moves on the sim and flying comfortably within my modest ability in real life. So far this approach has resulted in only 1 crash in 200 flights on my main heli, 3 crashes in 150 flights on my beater and zero crashes in 60 flights on my scale micro - all of those crashes came in the very early stages of the inverted/3D learning curve. It's now over 200 flights since I last had a crash on any model, so the approach seems to be working well for me.

[waveydavey]

Sometimes getting that first crash out of a way actually helps your nerves, after you've gotten past that first one you know it can be repaired relatively easily and cheaply, and more importantly that you've got the skills to repair it.

Crashing is definitely a big part of the hobby, the psychological aspect can be every bit as hard as actually learning to fly the damn things in the first place :-)

I can agree with this Ross, my first one was with a 600n probably 2 years or so into the hobby without little progress. I've now had a few more years in the hobby with a collection of dumb thumbs, mechanicals, lapses of concentration, ran out of talent, call them what you want but after every one I clean the heli down, repair the canopy stick some new bits and try again. There are those in the club that as Grumpy says stay within the confines of their skill and are happy to do so, I on the other hand get my kicks from trying stuff that challenge my ability, that inevitably leads to a few ins

[Jay23]

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.