Too old my Ass

[bish]

Well i am 50 this year and have been in this hobby in one way or another for 40 years and can honestly say ii am enjoying it as much now as i ever have.
I am lucky to have both my sons by my side when i go flying which has kept my interest over the last 10 years.
Will i ever be as good as them? not a hope in hell but i dont care TBH i just love this hobby and as long as i do and continue to improve that will keep me going.
We have also met some of the nicest people along the way who have now become great friends.

[Mike W]

I dont rate myself as any sort of flyer as I just fly how I like and progress at my own rate ... I just do it because I have met some great friends through the hobby ... As for age .. if your willing to put in the time and its what you want to do then good luck to you all .I think the older you are the longer / more effort it takes as we where not brought up they way some of the younger ones are now ...

[chris jones2.4]

i was speaking to a friend of mine down here a few days ago and he said hes not going anywhere with his flying but he doesnt mind, he started off many years ago, without HH gyros or high quality blades, no high performance fuels, no high speed servos and he has got used to flying alot slower and smoother gentle flight

[cjcj1949]

I've just turned 49 (I know I know nobody believes me, it cos I have a picture in the attic )
I think I'm still progressing but it is hard to move on to new stuff as its such fun doing the stuff I know faster and lower....

For example today I worked my way down to a personal best low inverted hover of minus half an inch!
But I was in that zone of not having crashed for 6months...so I am still smiling

The key it to be able to balance the worry about crashing with the motivation to progress. As people get older they generally become more risk averse so it canbe more of an effort to progress for us old geezers

I recommend getting a complete tailboom assembly and a spare set of laces and a load of shafts. You are less likely to crash if you have all the spares ready. A complete spare Heli is not the same thing psychologically...I tried that!

This is theft. This is my law. The more spares you have the less likely you are to need them. With enough spares it is impossible to crash. It is well known that when you crash the bits that break are never the bits that you have.

Your second law is very interesting though. I have recently bought a second heli (as spares) because it was going cheap and everything gets broken eventually. Perhaps it is a special case of the first law. Possibly it's the exception. It could be the second law called the "Taking the ****" exception to the First Law.

I'll have to find my original post. It was a few month's back, and someone said they'd contact me if it didn't work.

Flying and crashing is very spooky though. My last crash was a similar negative altitude inverted landing, caused by my refusal to give in when I couldn't quite get a stable inverted hover. I remember thinking that I would show the heli who was boss. At least I managed that.

It is strange that after a certain level of experience, crashing doesn't seem to dent your confidence. Like you it didn't bother me at all.

[Stu girdler]

I see this a whole lot in the forces when comments are thrown around about age and reactions. Personally I believe in a balance of reactions and experience. I know lots of older RC pilots and lots of younger ones. I also know a lot of attack helicopter pilots who are pushing 40 and pilots pushing late 20's.

They all do the same thing, they fly. The difference is what do they pass on. That's the experience piece. We need the older pilots in both worlds RC and actual helis. Without the balance so much will be lost.

Not sure I said this at all well, but it's what I believe.

Cheers
Stuart

[Stu girdler]

Just read my last post....very deep...lol

Cheers
Stuart

[rapidgaz]

Stick time for me mainly, oh and balls.


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[rachel]

I am old , and I am poo ! But hey at least that gives me an excuse as all my new moves seem to end up in a chaos , so maybe I am not that bad after all.

So that's it ,....the secret to eternal youth,,,,, fly helis !
I wonder if I can bottle that ?

It's quite remarkable that the best pilot in our club is older , he doesn't fly smack down etc, but no matter which way up the heli is or where it's pointing he is on it , a master, yes I think so , after all how many younger pilots are there out there who can I'd a chaos with six inches ground clearance but can't hover in all orientations.

IMO masters learn the true way , and that's not straight in to 3D

So happy hovering old dudes you rock !
Rachel (still not very good but trying soooooo hard)

[cjcj1949]

There is one point you have forgotten. Napoleon always promoted the lucky officers. Mind you, he couldn't promote the very unlucky ones. Same with driving. There aren't any bad older Apache attack pilots.

[richieclarkie]

Because I am so young I cannot comment on this thread

[EzSuprastar69]

My Father who's nickname is 'JZ' started flying Heli's 2 years ago, he is 68 this year and basically he is like a recycled teenager, he is doing allsort's of manouevres and im very impressed with what he has achieved, he commented on the only downfall of his age being Speed/Reaction/Learning Curve which is much slower than when he was younger but many beg to differ with him ha ha, keep up the good work Dad!!!!!!!!!

[mikeKendall]

Because I am so young I cannot comment on this thread

+1 If that works for Richie Clarke I'm sure I can get away with it. ( I'm not grey, there natural highlights )


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[kevinh]

Certainly not an age thing for me it's getting time to go flying has been like this since I started flying planks 20 years ago, when kids come along its even worse

This year plan to do more flying than last year can't be hard as I didn't do any at all !! Mind you I'm 40 this year!!!

[Kwickkwack]

No excuse Kev
You will have to come over to see us one day, i am not at CMAC anymore so it would have to be at our other site

[Spasmod]

I'm 41 this year and first started flying heli's on the sim about 4.5 months ago. I thought I'd be too old to learn but I seem to be progressing quite fast according to others, so I don't think age is a big draw back.