Anyone still flying?

[Tam_T]

I always notice that this is the only forum that doesn't have any new posts! So sad. So, I will just keep posting hoping someone new who wants to fly will chime in. I have finally got my hover down and am moving on to actually moving the heli from right to left and visa versa. I am lucky enough to have some great guys helping me out and love this sport. I sure wished we had more women flyers posting.....anyone?

[Lynbird]

I'm still flying just haven't been posting lately. Slowly working on flying left to right and back and trying to get up the courage to try nose-in. I'm in no hurry and don't particularly want to crash. I started 6-1/2 months ago and am making steady progress especially since most of my flying has been in somewhat confined spaces. Soon I will have to be inside only again as it will be too cold outside and that means no Raptor 60 for a while.
Glad to hear you are enjoying it as I just can't get any women into this hobby around here.

[courtney2018]

I'm here. I started about 1.5 months ago. I'm flying a Trex 450 (that I'm borrowing from a good friend) and a Blade CP Pro 2. Although I have a Trex 550E on the way.

I've been flying right side up in all directions. Been pulling up hard to do a stalled piro at the top and come back down. Just now getting into backwards flight. I can do flips and rolls as well. Can do tick tocks...just not very well. I tend to wander around a bit. Rainbows seem to be harder.

[Tam_T]

Wow Courtney, I wish I had come so far in so little time. Do you do a lot of sim? I wish I had more time to get some sim time in.

Lynbird, I am about where you are as far as skills go. It's been raining here lately which is a complete bummer and a shot of reality that I will not be able to fly every weekend. Bummer. Looks like it's gonna be clear this weekend, though

[Lynbird]

Courtney,
Just curious... you started to fly what 1.5 months ago? Everything, sim included or just the 450? If you just got into the whole heli thing a little over a month ago you are quite amazing.
I'm just asking because when I say 6-1/2 months that is on the Mini-Titan (450 size) not the sim or mSR. I think I started on the sim flying helis about a year ago and got the mSR for Christmas. Then I built the MT in March. I didn't start flying the Raptor until June and still don't have that many tanks through it yet.
I am glad to hear a woman doing so well and advancing so quickly.
Lynne

[courtney2018]

Yea, I started the beginning of September. I first got the CP Pro 2 and sim at the same time. The weekend after I got the mSR. When the CP Pro 2 arrived I tried to fly it but couldn't get it off the ground without it tilting over, so I put it up and went straight to the sim. That's why I got the mSR so I could get some real life experience in.

I learned to hover in a few days. Once I did I started flying the CP Pro 2. I still fly the mSR but not nearly as much now. I still like flying the CP Pro 2 because its less to fix than the 450. I fly the 450 at the flying field and leave the CP Pro 2 for the house.

I don't think I do alot of sim time, but others have commented on how quickly I'm catching on. I did used to fly planes back in the 80s with my dad so maybe that has helped out. Right now, if I can do sim for 3 hours a week I'm doing extremely good. I just don't have alot of time.

Two nights ago I got inverted nose in hovering down. I feel confident enough that I'm going to try it on the 450 this weekend at the field. I feel like the backwards and inverted flying is coming quicker than when I first started flying. I still have alittle bit to go on that before I feel confident enough to do it in real life. And I learned to do a new trick although extremely bad - piroflips. I can get over to inverted but can't keep the rhythm to get back right side up.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm just kicking butt and taking names. I've crashed plenty of times and had to do repairs. So far the 450 has been fixed 3 times in the 3 weeks I've been flying it. Luckily I've got a good group of guys at the field to help me out. I also fly with a few guys from ReadyHeli which is just down the street from my house. Lots of help there.

I think my sim time is going to dwindle to nothing though. I just picked up a Trex 550E yesterday so I have that to build.

[Lynbird]

Yep, you are amazing!
The vast majority of flyers do not pick up helis like you have, even the young ones! Maybe we will see you along side of Raquel Beloit(sp?) soon. I fly planes full scale and rc and didn't pick up helis as fast. Of course I probably should push myself more since I am not shaking anymore which means I am getting too comfortable. Now that it will be cold here that won't help my progress so I will be doing more sim. Keep us posted on your flying and your new build.
Lynne

[Tam_T]

Cool! I definitely need to put in some sim time. If I have an hour on the sim since I've started I would be shocked. I try but I get bored so quickly. I'm going to try and put in some time this weekend, though.

I think it's great to have other women flying!

Courtney, you should upload some videos!

[courtney2018]

Thanks! I could probably ask someone to video me but I'm not much to watch. I can take pics of the build. I got a little more than half way finished with it last night. I got a canopy for it which came in the mail yesteraday. I'll paint it something bright so I can see it. Lol. I don't really want to use the stock canopy.

I'll have to look up Raquel. I've never heard of her. There's alot of awesome pilots out there though that haven't "made it". I fly with a few awesome pilots and only one does it professionally (won't mention any names). The others have some small deals for discounts. There's always a chance that you could "make it big" but alot of it is who you know and being in the right place at the right time. I'm more interested in just flying for fun. Its an adrenaline rush everytime I fly! :o)

[Lynbird]

Courtney,
There are some videos of Raquel Bellot in the 12th thread down in this same topic. The thread is titled by her name. I think you will enjoy seeing them.

[Tam_T]

She's awesome! Glad we got some threads going in here, too!

I plan on flying Saturday, and getting some sim time in this weekend, too. You guys are motivating me to get better and the only way to do that is stick time!

[courtney2018]

I just saw some of videos. She is a good pilot. The behind the back flying was pretty neat too. She's definitely impressive.

[Tam_T]

I finally crashed the mini titan on Saturday. Luckily I found parts at one of the local hobby stores and had her back flying by Sunday mid-morning. I was just all over the place Saturday and not sure why. Either it was because I practiced on the sim on Friday night (which feels different), or I was just having one of those days! I had 18 seconds left on my timer and decided, awwww what the heck, I'll just fly her a bit more.....bad decision!!! Thebird ended up behind me and I lost all orientation. I hit the throttle hold but a little too late, although I saved the blades and the main gear. I just had to replace the main shaft, the feathering shaft, and the skids. Not too bad.I'm glad she's all fixed up again!

[courtney2018]

Sounds like you did a good job saving it. Good job! I haven't been able to fly this past weekend. The wind has been pretty strong. I tried the 450 in it on Saturday, but just put it back down on the ground. I think the winds were steady around 17mph and gusting around 25mph at times. It's just not any fun flying in that.

I almost have the 550 finished. Alls I have left is putting the Deans connector on the ESC and going thru the setup. I should have it up by this weekend. Tonight is sim night though.

[Tam_T]

Sweet! I hear a lot of great things about the 550. A guy in the group I fly with has the 550 flybarless. He was telling me he thinks the 550 in general is a nice heli that flies like a big heli, unlike the 500, and is such fun to fly. But, I know a lot of guys that love the 600, too. I haven't flown either, so I have no clue.....someday, someday.

Post about your 550s maiden flight. I'm curious to hear what you think about it, especially the flight charicteristics.

[courtney2018]

I've heard alot of people say that the 550 is the perfect size heli. It's not too small, so you can really see it in the sky pretty easily, and it's not too big either. I think it'll be a good size for me. A step up from the 450, but yet still small enough to fly it in the back of my house - I have a small field behind me.

I've flown a 600 twice. A guy at the field asked me to fly his nitro. I said ok, but only on a buddy box. His radio had a fair amount of expo in it. Every little jitter I had showed up on the heli. First flight was scary, but the second flight all the jitters were nearly gone. The 600 flies really nice. It feels bigger and is more stable than the small helis. I'd really like to get one, but for now it's the 550. The bigger helis really do handle better. They just cost more to fix.

It was fun flying that on the buddy box. He had me doing tricks I wasn't ready for (aileron tick-tocks for one), but was there to save it when I got in trouble. The one thing that the sim doesn't teach is you can stall the blades when changing pitch. I went alittle too far, which stalled the blades, and the tail started to come around. It just takes time to know how much pitch is enough. Plus, the one I flew was FBL, so you can get alittle more pitch out of the blades than on a flybar.

[Lynbird]

That's why I really like the Raptor 60. It's large and heavy so I can fly in windier conditions (except this week with gusts to 50) but it is also scarier and more expensive to crash. Also because it is nitro I can only fly it at the field or somewhere private where no one will complain or be in danger.
Tam I didn't know you had a Mini Titan also. How do you like it? Is it the stock plastic like mine or the metal SE? When I was looking to get a 450 a friend highly recommended the MT over the Trex 450 and I am very pleased with it. What other helis do you have?

[Tam_T]

I really like the mini titan. I was going to buy a 450 pro, but a guy I fly with had a friend selling the MT. It has a lot of upgrades including the metal head (thanks for the link on assembling the bearings, collars, and parts on the feathering shaft).

I didn't fly this weekend but instead went out to the desert to ride dirt bikes and camp. More fun stuff!

I do have an older 450 and I am upgrading a few parts on that so at least I will have something to fly when the MT is out of service.

I like watching the nitros and I love the sound of them. I drive around a nitro truggy out in the desert and decided I really just wanted to stay electric. I've heard great things about the Raptors as well. I was hoping to win the one in the raffle at the fun fly, but instead I got some carbon fiber blades. Better than a poke in the eye!

Anyone have any good flying stories from the past weekend?

Tam

[Lynbird]

Tam, glad you liked the bearing thread and that it helped. I flew 4 batteries on the MT inside on Friday (fieldhouse with 40 ft ceilings and about 3 or more soccer fields long) and yesterday flew 4 outside in a semi-private park. It was very windy and gusty but good practice in hovering in the wind. Idle up helped a bit but it was still work. Unfortunately it is starting to get cold even using fingerless gloves. Today's only in the 40's with 15-25 mph winds and gusty. I did sweep the garage out and move some stuff around so at least I can keep up my hovering.
I'm hoping to get the Raptor to our flying field this weekend. Every Friday I take the MT to the fieldhouse so that helps. Though it is somewhat limiting as I have to stay in a certain area and keep an eye out for planes. It was great this summer (also no bugs, heat, or wind) as there were only a few of us but now with winter starting it will start to get crowded again.
Courtney how's the 550 build going?

[courtney2018]

Its a rebuild at this point. I flew it last weekend. 1st flight went good. Started spreading my wings some towards the end of the initial flight. 2nd flight was going better. Was pulling up to do stalled piro turns. Was flying by going slow about 20 feet in front of me and it does full negative all on its own.

There was only a few things that it didn't destroy. Had to get new sides, landing gear and the usual list of replacement parts. All electronics survived except esc. I had it mounted under the motor. Wont do that again. Taco'd my battery too.

Upon closer inspection it appears that my solder joint for the battery Deans connector wasn't so good. That's the suspect for the crash.

So, just rebuilding everything. It's mostly ready to go now. Just have to replace the feather shaft, 2 links, the bearing blocks and mount the electronics on the new body. Shouldn't be more than about 15 minutes worth of work.

On a side note I've gotten tick tocks down. Working on making my aileron tick tocks look betters and more controlled as well as inverted figure 8s. All in the sim of course. I did try getting the CP Pro 2 inverted the other day. Bad idea. It just didn't have enough to flip over. I think you have to get a running start with that one so it doesn't lose as much headspeed in getting over. It got a little past upright and started falling. I got it level again but it didn't have enough headspeed to keep in the air so it smacked the grouse kinda hard. Broke the tail off and bent the main shaft. Nothing that $6 and some CA glue wont fix. Nothing like the $300 crash with the 550.