Just starting out.

[CCBrown]

Hello all!
I just recently bought a CP blade to teach my self to fly on with plans for a bigger bird sometime in the future. :D But that's only after I get good on the blade... I've already made a few visits to the local hobby store for replacement parts and would hate to think of the price tag if I re-kitted a T-Rex. :shock: :arggg: Espesially on a soldier's budget.
I was wondering... does any one know of a heli flying club in the El Paso / southern New Mexico area?

Chris

[ucgc]

Congrats on the new heli. The CP can be a touchy little fella to fly. If you can fly it, you'll have no problem flying a bigger ship. I'm sure everyone will chime in here and tell you to get a sim. I taught myself to fly on Real Flight (version 1). It was a big help ad saved lots of money :D . Anyway, I went to NMSU (let's say 10 years ago), and it seemed like there was a field up there. The website for the club in El Paso is http://www.eprcflyers.com/. Not sure if it's close to Ft. Bliss or not.
Happy flying

PS is the Copacabana still the place to go over the bridge ? :D

[CCBrown]

Thanks for the info on the club. I'll haft to drop by there one of these weekends and take a look. :D From what I can tell by the map the site has it's pretty close by.

I'm not a real lively one when it comes to going out drinking and clubing so I wouldn't really know.... most of the folks that I know of go to a place called Gram's central station.
Thanks again for everything! :D

[phaed]

heya chris. i'm also a newbie, and a soldier, and just wanted to shout out a hooah to ya.

i'll chime in on the simulator bandwagon. i use g3 and love it. if you don't use one yet i'd recommend it.

p.s. i remember ft. bliss...barely. i think it had something to do with those 25 cent tequilas in juarez.

[Rafael23cc]

I have a Simulator / soldier story to share with you...

Late 2002 a soldier comes to me saying that he had bought a 30 size heli and needed my help to get it going. Winter was already setting in and we could not find a good time to get together. 2003 arrives and we both get deployed to Iraq for one year. we both took simulators there, me to keep my skill up and he was learning, never flown before, not even planks.

We come back and within 3 weeks he was flying foward, no training gear. Within a few months he was doing loops and rolls and basically follwing my footsteps _on my heels_. And sometimes making moves that I did not teach him...

Just to reinforce the power of simulators.

Rafael

[sabregooch]

First off - thank you for being soldiers.

I can relate to the worry of making that next move up from a smaller heli to a larger one and the associated costs.

I'm not going to kid you and say with a Trex, you won't crash - you can and will, but not like the smaller micros - I went from a FP Sabre to the Trex. I can tell you I was so scared to either crash or lose my Trex on the first spool up - I tied a cord to it and a heavy lawnchair!

Witht the smaller heli, kill throttle, crash, oops, crash, oops blade strike, oops skid broke was an almost every session cycle.

The Trex to my delight was nothing like that. Sure, more power, more speed potential, but predictability, stability and control are waaaay different - I've yet to major league bash the Trex - granted I'm a full blown chicken, but I hover 20-30ft, do a little forward and tail, side buzzing around - in moderate winds too.

In fact, I'd say with the level of care and knowledge one gets from the little helos, the transition to a Trex is to put it mildly, shockingly smooth.

I had the exact worry every time I walked into the LHS - I also read all those posts "if you want to learn faster and easier, get a 50 nitro...." yeah right.

Well..... having gone through this part of the experience, there's truth to it.

Last - your comment on getting a bigger one AFTER you get good on the Blade....

I was still 50% crash and break something on the Sabre, but for some God unkown reason, blew the wad and got a Trex - didn't even know what the hell a pitch curve was.

After flying the Trex a couple weeks, going back to the little heli, I was like a completely new pilot - much more confident, stable and NO crashes (except for servo lock) but even then manage to get it down in one piece! Still plenty of respect for the Trex. Jump in now or sooner than you think you should measured by your Blade skills, I'd bet a fully blinged AR15 (for us civilians) you'll be pleasantly suprised!

And again - a huge thank you for those in service or having served on our behalf.