Totally cheesed off and totally deflated

[trident3]

I guess I'm lucky - the club I joined has both aircraft and helicopter flyers, with some people flying both and we all get along fine.

And as for "having to be under 30 to fly a heli" - the first time I took my 450 sport to the field was a few weeks shy of my 50th birthday. With a bit of encouragement I was able to hover it tail-in with training gear. On my second trip to the field which was on my 50th birthday, I flew one battery with training gear, and four batteries without training gear.

I practice on the sim (Phoenix), I listen to experienced pilots, and I'm making progress, having fun and spending money....

T3

[heliplank]

Mark - Please visit again!!!!!!!!! You have greally got the wrong end of the stick.

Finaly had a day off so thought i would pop down to my local club to introduce my self and ask a few things if there was anyone there flying heli's and was shot down in flames and told dont bother with them they very hard and if ur not under 30 forget it and then when i said im looking at electric only i was almost shunned i think in a jokingly way, then told this is what you want an ic trainer as heli's need to much setting up all the time just to keep it in the air.
I now feel really angry at them even tho they was very welcoming and now dont no in which way to go as heli's just call out to me and can now hover the blade sr in phoenix really well only tail in so far.

We do fly ANYTHING. Two helis were flown the day you visited. We have an ongoing "in joke" with electric versus glow engines. Yes you do need quick reactions to fly helis - more than a training fixed wing aircraft for example. Do not feel angry - that is wasted energy, come down again or call the telephone number on the web page.

[trexaddict]

Finaly had a day off so thought i would pop down to my local club to introduce my self and ask a few things if there was anyone there flying heli's and was shot down in flames and told dont bother with them they very hard and if ur not under 30 forget it and then when i said im looking at electric only i was almost shunned i think in a jokingly way, then told this is what you want an ic trainer as heli's need to much setting up all the time just to keep it in the air.
I now feel really angry at them even tho they was very welcoming and now dont no in which way to go as heli's just call out to me and can now hover the blade sr in phoenix really well only tail in so far.

Thats what I would have expected from som plankers it kind of gets to all of us i thinks the fact that they cant do however if I can fly a heli anyone can as im well over 30 and partialy sighted

[Janek]

What utter tosh ! (RIP Tosh )

I'd lay odds that every Heli pilot, with about 5 minutes of instruction, can fly a plank pretty well.

The average pi$$ stained plank flyer can't fly an accurate left hand circuit with his plank, and is lucky to land on the strip without killing anyone.

I recently joined a Plank club, in addition to my Heli club, and while they are a friendly bunch, the average flying skills leave a lot to be desired. If there's a cross wind, no-one flys, except for the Heli pilots flying planks

[barryorbik]

I would strongly suggest having a word with your local model shops, as helicopter only or mixed clubs seem to be a bit of a secret. I spent ages trying to find a local indoor flying venue for my King 2 and MSR and during a chance conversation in my LMS I found one less than five miles away. As for helicopter only clubs I still have a 50 mile plus round trip to the nearest ones, so i joined a more local but mixed flying club for safe outdoor practice with the bigger helicopters. Most of the fixed wing fliers in our club have at least had a dabble with heli's, so they well appreciate just how difficult these things can be to set up and fly but we are still a small minority interest group in the scale of things. On the upside I bought a cheap electric Cessna 182 that uses the same 3S batteries as my heli's and it is nice and relaxing to fly but does become a bit boring after 10 minutes and needs lots of sky compared to my 3 metre square back lawn helicopter hovering practice area.

My advice is to keep up the practice on the sim (and consider an MSR for indoor orientation practice) and start asking around about clubs.

Barry

[davew]

At 54 I had never held a RC transmitter in my hands. I am now 57.

At 54 I tried my mates glider and decided it wasn't for me. I chose helis as I thought I can fly one in the back garden. I have not regretted that decision and to this day but quickly came to realise that there ain't much you can do in the garden!

Other than on Phoenix I've never flown a plane. On Pheonix it seems very, very easy but I'm sure its not.

With the benefit of hindsight, maybe I would have flown planes. Flying sucessfully for me has been a long and difficult process but I have to say very rewarding. Flying planes would have been easier but more significantly much, much cheaper.

I have flown at venues where helis and planes try to fly together and it doesn't really work IMO. I suspect that's the root cause of the jibing and ill feeling that seems to exist. Join a heli only club if you can.

[scallybert]

What you need is Matt Long, he seems to have frightened all the plank flyers away from our club, the last 3 or 4 weeks it's been all heli's.

Yeah, but I'm not sure that he's not trying to frighten the two of us away, as well...

You're wrong about the planksters[*], though. Last Sunday Matt's dad was down with his, Paul had his, and I think your Raptor mate had his too. Though I never saw as many in the air simultaneously as our 3 helis.

TBH, my suspicion is that when friction occurs it's due to airspace congestion or conflicts, rather than pure tribalism. In some respects, I prefer the days where there are more planksters than helis, as I can just go and play in the hovering area, out of anyone's way. A G5 is small enough that you can do more than hover there...

* New, more respectful term for plankers...

[MadCrazyBonkers]

We do fly ANYTHING. Two helis were flown the day you visited. We have an ongoing "in joke" with electric versus glow engines. Yes you do need quick reactions to fly helis - more than a training fixed wing aircraft for example. Do not feel angry - that is wasted energy, come down again or call the telephone number on the web page.

U mite fly anything but 1st inpressions count and urs both sucked and was brill, i was talked to right off the batt and shown down the flight line and told they would have me up in the air not asked in fact i think i did say no thank you at that time but was not listened to, a few times and then the comments on the heli and as for electric weather its an ongoing joke or not i was not part of ur club so at that time the joke did not apply to me if they had stoped for a moment and listen to me they would of found out that i come from an RC background of about 10 years ok it was 1/10th electric buggies which is why i want electric i no how it all works like the back of my hand apart from gyros that is and that im only after electric cos i can fly it just about anywhere as i want to fit a flycam so when i go places taking photos i can also take some video in the air and combine 2 hobbies in 1.

Thanks for all your reply's and the 2 chaps for inviting me to there flying field, I hope to end up flying a nice scale model airwolf maybe as i loved it when i was younger but for now i think i will just look at the Blade Sr or a Belt cp v2.

[heliplank]

See you on Sunday.

U mite fly anything but 1st inpressions count and urs both sucked and was brill, i was talked to right off the batt and shown down the flight line and told they would have me up in the air not asked in fact i think i did say no thank you at that time but was not listened to, a few times and then the comments on the heli and as for electric weather its an ongoing joke or not i was not part of ur club so at that time the joke did not apply to me if they had stoped for a moment and listen to me they would of found out that i come from an RC background of about 10 years ok it was 1/10th electric buggies which is why i want electric i no how it all works like the back of my hand apart from gyros that is and that im only after electric cos i can fly it just about anywhere as i want to fit a flycam so when i go places taking photos i can also take some video in the air and combine 2 hobbies in 1.

Thanks for all your reply's and the 2 chaps for inviting me to there flying field, I hope to end up flying a nice scale model airwolf maybe as i loved it when i was younger but for now i think i will just look at the Blade Sr or a Belt cp v2.

You have said we were "brill" in parts and are just 2.3 miles from you! Please do not waste an opportunity, come and see us on Sunday and just talk and see electric helicopters. We also have Flycam systems in operation so we would seem to fit all your requirements - it really is up to you!

[sacko]

Having a field that close to you, and flying with people who WELCOME heli flyers into their club isn't that common.

Dont miss an oppertunity just because you got off on the wrong foot