How long has everyone here been flying?

[shaun.kendall]

SInce judging by Laurens plea to assist someone, anyone with heli problems, I guess that somethign is needed to expand this forum. How long has every one been flying helis? What made you start?
I have been flying for about a month and a half now. I used to fly planks, but got so excited by all the heli videos on the web. Szabos and Niotis really blew me away. I wanted to do that. Heck, alot of the pros now seem to have only been flying for a few years and most are quite young, compared to me. Hopefully that means in a year or two I might be able to do something incredible also. I hope. Not a crash, those are impressive also, but not what I have in mind. I was thinking more like hovering inverted. LOL. Maybe a little more impressive. Those chaos look nice.

[flyinfool]

Young people have an easier time learning than some of us old farts.
They still have hand eye coordination and great eyesight.
I have been playing with flying things for 35+ years 30+ in RC and 10+ in helies.
Yea I know, I'm old, got the grey hair and great granddaughter to prove it.
Am I a great pilot, heck no, but I have fun.
Everyone learns at a different rate, I have seen some that could barely hover after over a year and others that were doing loops and rolls by their third flight.

[Laurens]

2 years now, and I'm still having loads of fun :mrgreen:

[Maxx26]

I have been flying since May of 2006, I started off little, doing the hovering and the tail in as they tell you do to. It was the Heli Max 400 pro that I started on. Then after much advice from a buddy of mine, and three crashes with the Heli max, I invested in the G-3 flight Sim and what a difference and improvment it made. Now I have a Cal-5 and am on full forward flight and mild arobatics. This week the big brown stork will be bringing me a raptor. :glasses2:

Of corse I may have to sleep in the garage with it once the wife finds out....... :mrgreen: :dontknow

lol

[spork]

On and off since 1975. Been flying R/C planes, helis, "real" planes, real helis (on rare occassion), sailplanes, hang gliders, and starting next season paragliders. And I'm just beginning to get the hang of it. But having a blast.

[LLB757]

R/C since the late 70's. Started with a Heatkit 5 Ch single stick. It had problems, I got frustrated and quit for a while. Started flying the real thing in 80, Buy 86 I was making enough money at it to get back into R/C. First Heli in 96. Flew Heli's alot thru 2001. Then Job changes after 911 put me back on hold till now.
Spending time on the Sim every night I'm home. Trex in the box waiting to be built.

[tommytt1]

I have been flying and crashing since the early nineties. The more fuel you burn the better you will get, along with sim time. I can't fly that well after all those years, but I love the sport. Take your time with setup and get it right, that will make the learning curve a lot easier. Also get with other heli guys, and that can help with your setup. Don't be afraid to crash, it's gonna happen, and that's that. Try to stock repair parts so you are not down too long, after a few crashes you will know the heli pretty well. Tom :)

[exnexusluver]

I have been flying heli`s for 11 or 12 years.Planks for 20 years.Im a stick banger all the way.lol...I still like to fly my old skool schluters though.I even have a 1977 Kavan that still flies..New Cal5 will be here monday...Smack it flip it and lay it down...

[shesha]

3 years now, no concentration at all, this year make it up. :D

[blue_collar2]

I've been flying off & on for about 8 years. It seems I have a string of crashes and get pissed and stop for a number of months, but I always go back. I'm not a great pilot, probably for 3 reasons: No good pilots around to help me, very limited time to fly given job and family commitments, and poor coordination / concentration on my part. I enjoy both flying and building, but I've had 3 crashes in 3 weeks and may need to take a break.

[shesha]

blue, my recommendation, is spend more time on sim and, fly 2 mistakes high.

[blue_collar2]

Thanks for your thoughts! I have the Realflight G3.5 sim, but I don't use it much because it's just not the same. It seems I can do just about anything on the sim, and I don't take the crashes seriously enough (although I've tried turning the volume way up and that seems to help).

I'm also not clear as to what "2 mistakes high" means. I have trouble seeing exactly what the heli is doing when it gets too high (especially the 30s) and I've had plenty of crashes after only 1 mistake...

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

[shesha]

The problem with the real flight sim, is it does not relate to reality as much as other sims out there, I have both and honestly IMHO the reflex sim is the sim that is close to reality.

I can really relate to the sim as it is nearly 90% close to the caliber30 flying in reality.

Consider the sim as a muscle training tool, and not a tool that will teach new tricks for the time being, you should use the sim so that your brain stops thinking, and your fingers or thubs whichever way you fly, react prior to your brain thinking should i go this way or that way, with time you will see that habit become a normal reaction as opposed to you thinking it should this input and not that.

Others may argue about various sims, at the end of the day it is only a tool that teachs you how to react hence practise makes perfect.

In all honestly, dont take big leaps when it comes to flying helicopters, learning tricks, like timing them or sequencing whichever way you want to call it only gets you so far.

The base principles are the key to ensuring your success, look back to your flying, your weak points, work on them on the sim to get the muscle reaction in place first, then work them in real life.

When you work them in real life, make them 2 mistakes high, there is no predefined hieght as to what is a safe flying level, you be the judge, your height should be high enough to get out of the mistakes 2 times and not that far that you cant even see the heli.

Finally burning fuel, just keep burning it will come.

Everyone has a week point in the early stages I have a dozen of them, and i still work them on the sim and whilst flying, set small goals you will satisfy yourself much more and you will progress much more.

[blue_collar2]

Thanks for the info and encouragement...

[Eraiser666]

second day of flying.
took the first flight yesterday and tonight 3 refuelings :D
and tomorrow i hope for some flying too :D

[heli-cuzz]

Two years at the sticks. The Caliber30 was my first heli.

[Cupra]

I have been flying for just over 2 years and am completely addicted!