Breaking the mental barrier...

[Defuser]

I fly my Trex450 and Trex600 on the Simulator pretty good, but when I actually go outside and really fly them I'm scare to death to attempt any "real flying". What can I do to break the barrier? The only thing I can think of is...on the sim, I'm flying in a huge area and in real life I have a tiny area. I need some mental/thoughts help to overcome this. Oh, I have been flying for a year now too, about 1-2 batteries worth a week. HELP!!

[Skarn]

Man, the only thing I can say is like Nike says......JUST DO IT!

LOL, I know it's easier said than done, but what's the worst case? You wreck? So what, rebuild, learn and move on!

I know what you are talking about...I am the man on the sim, but was very afraid to try anything other than hover. Not long ago I just said to heck with it, and started forward flight, figure 8's and I pulled off my first loop last weekend.....I also crashed on my 2nd loop. The damage was only about $18 and about 1/2 hour to fix.

Good luck bro!
Skarn

[JasonJ]

You need to try to fly in a larger area, or you need to practice on the sim as if you are in a confined area. I have often thought that if I could set up a photofield of my front yard, I would be invincible. I have a field I go to down the road that is much more flight friendly than my yard, and my fear drops to nothing at that field. When I am in my yard I have trees, my truck, my garage, powerlines. Pretty much my yard is only good for hover training and very, very slow forward flight. I do have fun with my little Lama V3 in the yard though...

But right now, with three feet of snow on the ground and more coming down, the helicopters are total shelf queens. My front yard is increasingly dominated by a giant mountain of snow where I have been piling it. Spring will never come....

[DebianDog]

Someone told me once, "look at the helicopter, pick it up, then kiss it goodbye!" :thumbup:

If it lands later... give it a hug :hug:

[n8sx]

I may be completely off on this, but it how I practice the sim and flying (though I can't do much more than hover, if I am that lucky). Don't fly in the sim more than one or two steps more than what you can really do. This makes it so you work on the things you need to learn and repeat. Once you have these down move on to the next move in your list of skills, etc. #1 this doesn't give you false hope in what you can really do vs. the sim #2 it gives the repetition to gain the skills, true skills, not just a sloppy get thru it type of thing. Yes, this is probably the slow way to learn, but so far is helping me, rather than treating the sim as a game. Of Course maybe I am wrong in doing it this way since I can do little more than hover after my first summer of trying to fly. Let me know what you guys think.

[steffgiguere]

The more you fly the more comfy you will get and the mental will follow. Slowly but surely

[teeson]

i mountain bike and a hard part of that is the mental barrier. when ur facing a huge, big scary, dangerous jump, its good to picture a bit, but really by doing that you can scare yourself, or make you think its too easy (as in your case) really though you just stop thinking about being scared and just do it, it comes...

[ltfdrescue]

Be One With Your Heli.... Use the force...

[ChasHeliCop]

I told someone on here once, it's not flying you're afraid of, it's crashing. So, either take it real slow, or go ahead and crash. Sounds strange, but it gets alot easier to fly when you aren't worried about going nose in anymore.

[ZipZap]

If they're both electric, just go down to the closest schoolyard on the weekend.:thumbup:

[WhirlyMind]

When I practice on the sim I select an inside (gym) to fly in.
Makes for a much more confined area, and makes me conscience of the area.

TE

[Maxists The Baddist]

The only way to make it easier is to burn fuel. I don't think there's any mental trick. Just get in as much time flying as you can. The more time in the air you are the easier it will get.

[Defuser]

Trees are an issue too. But what I am sorta doing is easy flying on the sim and confine the area in the sim too. You all have great ideas, so I may just pick and choose a little of each. Thanks!!! I knew the HFreaks would jump out wit great answers.

[TheBum]

Having a large area definitely helped me. I fly at a field mostly intended for plank flyers, so there's plenty of airspace. Also, find yourself a flying buddy who's at a similar skill level so that you can challenge each other. I just started flying with another HeliFreak and I've been amazed how much I've been able to advance in the last couple of weeks just by watching him fly and incorporating some of it into my own flying. I think he's picked up a thing or two from me too.

[fogger]

Alan's advice is spot on. This helps a lot. It pushes you to focus on something specific to improve and try and impress your buddy. Even better if he is a bit better than you and can coach you to try things you would have not tried. I would have waited months longer to try autos but my mentor said just do such and such, I did, and that day I did one for the first time...

-Fog

[aucmax]

Someone told me once, "look at the helicopter, pick it up, then kiss it goodbye!" :thumbup:

If it lands later... give it a hug :hug:

This must be kinda like the other old saying...

If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, then you will always know that it loved you too. If helis only had a heart and could shed a few tears for this hopeless community.

[crabfu]

yeah big space to ease the tension :) And... bring a photographer, my first inverted hover for more than a few seconds long was when my girlfriend came out to take pics. I always chicken out before, but with wanting to impress her, wanting a cool pic, and her needing the time to focus the camera, telling me to "hold it there", pushed me do it lower, and much much longer than I would have. Surprisingly, as nervous as I was, it worked just like the sim, I just was never brave enough to find out without that extra push :) But yeah... space is good, I wouldn't have done uncomfy stuff in a small space, photographer or not.

-Crabfu

[Mikee]

I have read all the posts and YEP im at that level to.. Sim time is good but when that heli is there and Im moving it about... It happens that "wobbly leg" symptom

I can fly fig 8's all day long but just can't tuck that nose in now matter what I try.. It helps after 5-7 tank fulls but the next week Im there again starting again

It just takes time I guess and stick time in the air.. If it where easy we would fly heli's

Me Im just happy to put the heli to bed all in one piece and fly another day

[liaan]

I did my first loop this weekend.... thats after about 100 flights.. on the sim i can do almost everything now... but also been to afraid to try real life..

as some else said.. it was supprisingly simple if you used to it on the sim. i did couple loops and stantionary rolls .. was just huge mental barrier.. i was actually more than capible..

just go out and say, to hell with it, and do it.

[TGibe]

It is a scary feeling... My way (and as many others have said):

-Watch the finless video on basic FF in this thread http://helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=12337

-Practice on the sim EXACTLY what you want to do at the field.

-Start with tail-in side to side. SLOWLY

-And then increase the side to side amounts until you need to "fly" side to side.

-At some point "just do it"...

Best of luck!
Allen

[TheBum]

Something else I've noticed that I've seen other people mention is not to over-think your flying. Once you start getting in a rhythm, try to avoid consciously thinking about control movements and trust your instincts. When I finally transitioned to flat figure-8s last weekend, I would do just fine until I would start thinking about the control movements, especially in the partial nose-in orientations, and then I'd have to do the ol' spin-the-tail-around-toward-me maneuver to regain my composure.

[ChasHeliCop]

I used to fly the controls, then one day at the field, something just clicked and I found myself flying the heli and was not thinking about the sticks, but what the heli was actually doing. It wasn't anything consciously I did, it just clicked.

[fogger]

the subconscious is amazingly powerful... but sometimes slow to program :)

[trippergreenfeet]

He who hesitates is lost.(crashed as the case may be)

[Jim T]

Something else I've noticed that I've seen other people mention is not to over-think your flying. Once you start getting in a rhythm, try to avoid consciously thinking about control movements and trust your instincts. When I finally transitioned to flat figure-8s last weekend, I would do just fine until I would start thinking about the control movements, especially in the partial nose-in orientations, and then I'd have to do the ol' spin-the-tail-around-toward-me maneuver to regain my composure.

Boy, now there's a statement I can identify with! :thumbup: I've done the same exact thing. Especially doing figure 8's where the heli ends up facing me. Yikes!! I've finally come to the conclusion that I need to just keep holding rudder to break through that little barrier. I feel like once I can do figure 8's in both directions and hover in all orientations, then the real fun will begin.:YeaBaby: Unfortunately, when it comes to flying helis, I've been in the "slow learners" class.

Jim