YES! I did it!!!

[Whirly-Girl]

Finally, after lots of confidence-building on the sim and after lots of encouragment, I finally got the guts to keep my heli facing myself and hold it through a consistent nose-in hover. What a big hurdle this has been to do it in real life vs. the sim. I don't know why, but I've tried alot of things on my Raptor that weren't perfect on the sim...except hovering nose in.

I have conquered!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:banana :banana :banana :happyd :happyd :happyd

Now...what's next on my list...

[Jetgirl]

very cool! I am practicing Nosein on the sims and holding it in a hover and spinning.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!11

[HeliDan]

Good for WG!! Maybe I will some day!

ehem............am I in the girls section again?

[NolanManley]

I know how you feel. Next are landing and take offs nose in. :lol:

[TJRIDE]

Finally, after lots of confidence-building on the sim and after lots of encouragment, I finally got the guts to keep my heli facing myself and hold it through a consistent nose-in hover. What a big hurdle this has been to do it in real life vs. the sim. I don't know why, but I've tried alot of things on my Raptor that weren't perfect on the sim...except hovering nose in.

I have conquered!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:banana :banana :banana :happyd :happyd :happyd

Now...what's next on my list...


Way to go Jeanette. I am trying to get enough guts to try more. You deserve a great big pat on the back.

And the headlines read--- Whirley Girl Conquers once again.... :wink:

TJ
:glasses2:

[kjfly]

Whew hoo!!! that is awesome Jeanette!!!
:clappp

I'm still working on the side in hovers but hopefully with the Hummingbird I will be able to practice all winter and then come spring I'll be an old hat at side in and nose in hoover - it could happen you know!!!

Congrats - be very proud - that is a major hurdle - next is doing it inverted!!!

kjfly
:glasses2:

[TJRIDE]

Oh I almost forgot something.....

Heli Gals Rock..... :smokin:

TJ
:glasses2:

[Whirly-Girl]

Oh I almost forgot something.....

Heli Gals Rock..... :smokin:

TJ
:glasses2:

You're awesome!

It was a good day. The guys that I fly with on Saturday mornings are super guys and I really have fun hanging out with them and absorbing their technique. I wouldn't be pushing myself so hard if it weren't for them! :thumbup:

I also worked on multiple stationary flips, cuban eights, and tail slides too...but man, that nose-in hovering was just the icing on my cake today!!!

[BarracudaHockey]

Good job Jeanette! :noteworthy

[Rick Rotorhead]

I can nose-in on XTR and land, but side in always gets away from me. My Twister(=BCP clone thing) is always tough to nose in, the tail spins out and it drops rapidly and unpredictably, but I did it at 10 feet up once, but get it low and too slow and I still lose it.......

Well done W-G

[aaronredbaron]

whirly-girl, you just learned to fly nose in and you are operating a AP biz??? please don't take this the wrong way, but do you fly the AP rig yourself? your webpage looks really good, but the thought of someone flying a camera ship without being completely comforable with nose-in is really scary. You seem pretty cautious and I assume that you operate your biz safely... but I just wonder how it works out, do you fly AP missions tail-in the whole time?? :dontknow

[Whirly-Girl]

whirly-girl, you just learned to fly nose in and you are operating a AP biz??? please don't take this the wrong way, but do you fly the AP rig yourself? your webpage looks really good, but the thought of someone flying a camera ship without being completely comforable with nose-in is really scary. You seem pretty cautious and I assume that you operate your biz safely... but I just wonder how it works out, do you fly AP missions tail-in the whole time?? :dontknow

Hi aaronredbaron!

Thank you for voicing a very important point. I agree with you 100% that someone operating an AP business should be pretty comfortable with nose-in.

Let me clarify and answer some of your questions. I do not fly my AP rig solo. My husband (who also has about 14 years of R/C experience) operates the camera and downlink while I concentrate on the flying. I have only operated in remote areas taking pictures and will continue to do so until I feel that my personal ability is up to my standard. So far, I have not done any AP shots for hire...it has all been for fun and for friends. I haven't pushed the "business side" of AP yet as I want to be as professional as possible and well-prepared. That is why I strive to keep learning more about different setups and flight maneuvers.

Do you really need nose-in hovering capability for AP shooting? No. I have never once had to hover nose-in to take a good shot. I have been completely comfortable with side-in and tail-in hovering for over a couple of years now and with that orientation plus the fact that my camera operator can pan about 180 degrees pretty much covers my shooting area. Besides, I can fly forward flight nose-in...it has always been the allusive low altitude, nose-in hover that I've been afraid to do...you know...the one where you are just about eye level looking at your bird about 30 feet away. That low to the ground has always made me nervous to attempt for some reason.

Hope that clarifies and I hope that also helps others realize that you should not jump into making a business out of your hobby unless you are qualified and safe!

Jeanette

[FlyinTiger]

Hey guys...camera man here...I "fly" the camera for Whirly and, although hovering nose in is a good maneuver to master, she's never needed to for a shot. We can pan with the camera or just walk a few feet away and turn around. :shock:

My wife tends to talk humbly about her flying ability. At the field guys often stand back and enjoy watching her fly and comment about how she is smooth and in control at all times. She is never chasing after her aircraft...always planning ahead. I also enjoy watching her fly precision aerobatics with my 50-cc gas plane.

I'm proud to fly with my wife! :glasses2:

[aaronredbaron]

I also took a long time to feel comfortable with nose in. I am sure with practice it will eventually come naturally. For me, there have been times operating AP that I felt really glad I had finally learned nose-in to get a couple of shots, but these were often in high winds, around trees, out over the water... in situalltions when I wanted to be able to fly nose in at a given altitude, and although I could have held it sideways... it would have been fighting wind or other similar limitation. I don't doubt that you can operate safely, it sounds like you are going about it with the right attitude. keep it up, and the ellusive nose-in shall come!! heres a trick that helped me, especially once you are at the point where you are comfortable with forward flight (it sounds like you can do quite a bit more than that!) try flying a figure 8 pattern so you fly towards yourself during the center part of the 8. slow the heli down at that point and continue back into the circuit, back into nose-in, etc... eventually you should try stopping the heli in a nose in hover, and the bail out is to just continue into the circiut, which should feel pretty natural by that point, give it a try, and good luck! :wink:

[Whirly-Girl]

:glasses2:

That is EXACTLY how I did conquer the nose-in!!!!

It is a very good method...I think a lot better than just swinging the tail around and trying to think about the control directions. It just makes sense to continue the circuit as a bail out option.

Hey, great minds think alike! :wink:

[Whirly-Girl]

Flew all day today!

:glasses2:

[WillJames]

Excellent Jeanette, sorry it took me so long to find thi post. You GO Girl!!

Now you can take aerial shots of yourself flying with hte camera pointed straight ahead on the heli!!! :)

Cool!!

[kjfly]

That is awesome Jeanette!!! Very cool pic showing your new ability.
:OMG

I have been bad - been very busy lately and have not gotten on the sim to practice - and of course the weather hasn't been too good lately - don't we just love those rainy Ohio days - NO!!!

I need to follow your lead and practice, practice, pratice.

Congrats again!

kjfly
:glasses2:

[leslie]

Hi all,

Whirly-Girl!! you rock!! great job!!

I've been on travel and I'm just catching up! Kj, cheer up once the rain clear's the snow will come. Are you flying that V4 indoors??

Cheers,
Leslie

[kjfly]

Hey there Leslie.

Well I have to admit - I have been working a lot of overtime and then trying to get ready for the holidays and well, no, I haven't been flying my Hummingbird inside and I haven't been on the sim for a while now - I'm going to be rusty - I've got to kick hubby mechanic off of the sim and get some time in myself - see it only works on his computer, it doesn't like my Mac!

I haven't been here for a while either. Now that the weather is getting bad we'll hear a lot more from each other! Did you get snow yet?

kjfly
:glasses2:

[Whirly-Girl]

Kim,

Speaking of sims and Macs. I just downloaded Parallels Desktop for Mac tonight. See: http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to install AFPD either tonight or tomorrow and try my sim out on my MacBook Pro.

I've almost got my whole family switched to Mac. My dad literally bought a MacBook Pro (identical in specs to mine) right after he saw mine and how flawlessly it worked. He loved the built-in iSight camera. We now use iChat to converse almost nightly with the grandkids. They love it!!! So much better than seeing videos of the kids. They can actually sit there and watch them take a bath or tuck them in to bed at night since we're wireless also.

My sister recently came up and visited for my daughter's first birthday and saw how fluid the video input was and now she wants in on the deal. I think I'm going to set her up with a Mac mini to try out with her current monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I'm going to get her the iSight camera for Christmas if she gets a Mac mini.

Hey kj, do you have an iChat ID? We should video conference sometime! Mine is hibpshman@mac.com.

Jeanette