Crashing....

[irishmatt18]

Originally Posted by etherbatxx

it's the same with driving a car.

some people can drive for years and 100,000's of miles without having a accident.

others can't go more than a year without dinging it or crumpling it.

heli's are no different

Ok but now we have to examine why they are crashing. Driving to fast? Distractions? Or what? You can't control others hitting you but if your in more than one accident a year it may not be "others". I have been in three accidents but have never been in my vehicle when it was hit. I don't speed unless required, I don't mess around too much on the phone and I pay attention to the road. I stay within my limits. I bet those who crash like that tend to have a different driving record.

The company I work for deals in transportation. We have never had a vehicle to vehicle accident in 50+ years of driving (28000000 miles) two weather related minor incidents involving the single vehicle.

There is a difference between taking risk blindly and taking a calculated risk.

Correct me if I am wrong... As a first time flier that has never touched a bird, you would not buy a 700 and start flipping over in the air 2 ft off the ground would you?

No, you wouldn't but time and time again amateur pilots crash trying to fly like the pro's.... There is no difference between a newbie crashing while hovering or a experienced pilot crashing while piro'ing inches from the ground. Both pushed their limits without being able to safely recover their bird.

[irishmatt18]

Originally Posted by gilligansc

I guess I am more of the "norm":, fly-crash-repeat. Not because I tried to out-fly my abilities, but because it took me sooo long to catch on...or for things to click. Now that I have learned my "stir" orientations, it has opened up a whole new world of tricks I never understood how to do before,and I crash a lot less, but it cost me a bloody fortune getting to this point. Now I actually enjoy spending a little more time on the sim, because I don't get frustrated like I used to. A little time on the sim often, does pay off exponentially in the long run.

Could you have learned the "stir" from higher up? I learned piro flips without crashing once, but I took my time, flew high and learned my orientations to the point to where if I "lost it" I would be able to correct once I went neutral on the sticks and worked them. Not until I could blindly piro flip did I start bring it down to the point where I was comfortable doing them low to the ground. Crash cost - nada...

Im not trying to criticize and those will do what they do, I just hope that someone will read this and take a new look at what they should do in order to minimize crashes.

[GREYEAGLE]

What's in that bag ? - That one was called : It never had a chance

What's in that bag over their ? - It was called Neither

What's in those piles ? Well ???? - Last Month

Keep the customers coming -we wonder why? The one Shot Wonders w/ Bail Out !

[jrman83]

I don't know. This more seems the view from what I will call an ethical flyer. The good stewart to your hobby.

I see staying within boundaries if that is the way you want to be. Some may not feel that way and after all, how do you find where the boundaries are? In a sim? Some may not like to sim. Nothing wrong with pushing boundaries IRL flying.

I haven't sim'd in nearly a year and I feel I have progressed pretty good at the expense of quite a few crashes, but that is the path that I made. Nobody's but mine to take.

I have recently started sim'ng more because I felt like I had plateaued or things got harder and the threat of crashing was more intense.

TBH, I don't want to fly like I care and have just recently started doing so with the more expensive models I fly. I fly more relaxed if I don't think about it and just fly. Staying within your "known" boundaries may seem boring to some.

Either way, there are good ways and bad ways to go about this hobby. Whether it is one way or the other is all about you and nobody else.

[cbrkhan]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

There are many approaches to the hobby. Some fly circuits and slow 8's for decades, others scale and some own 30 models and tinker more than they fly.

Others want to fly low aggressive smack at a high skill level which you cannot learn without crashing, just not possible.

Budget, goals, mood....It all depends

+1 pretty much sums it all.

As for me I tried to do difficult moves right from the start. As the result, I pretty much crashed every time I went out the first year .....

[atkin]

Remember though. If you don't crash, you aren't posting and telling people about it.

If you crash, it's more often an interesting forum topic

[LinusLarsson]

I still have my first set of blades for a Hirobo Sceadu 50. Flew for over a year without really crashing.

And I still don't crash much. A little more nowadays since I do stupider things. My last crash was about two years ago. Have had a few auto tipover also, minimal damage.

Most of my crashing have been inverted auto gone wrong...

[Rosquillos]

I only know 1 guy that never crash on mu field. He's been flying the same routine upright figure 8 for 20 years. Never deviate from him routine so never had a crash. It depents in how you crash. Pro's crash all the time. Its part of the hobby. Also know one guy with no crash for 5 years but he flys 100-150 feet up. About 3-4 mistakes high. So he catch it all the time when he makes mistakes, But it hurts everones neck watching it. I remember when I use to race bikes. Some say they never crash or drop their bike. I just ask them if they know how to drag kness when making a fast turn. Answer is it depends how you fly.

[CrashNburn420]

I've crashed a lot and I'm fine with that. No idea how many times though.

Personally I find the sim extremely boring! I have one but rarely ever use it. It might help me crash less but I'm not willing to spend time on the sim.

[Rosquillos]

Originally Posted by irishmatt18

Could you have learned the "stir" from higher up? I learned piro flips without crashing once, but I took my time, flew high and learned my orientations to the point to where if I "lost it" I would be able to correct once I went neutral on the sticks and worked them. Not until I could blindly piro flip did I start bring it down to the point where I was comfortable doing them low to the ground. Crash cost - nada...

Im not trying to criticize and those will do what they do, I just hope that someone will read this and take a new look at what they should do in order to minimize crashes.

Lets see a video of you flying since you dont crash. So I can give you and thumbs up.

[Dogdipstick]

Ive posted this before, but I beleive it still holds true to me at least. Even though we are not flying full scale machines, I would say that these are some of the reasons I have crashed. Besides learning to fly, initially. Rescue helps too.

FAA HAZARDOUS ATTITUDES:

http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com...dous-attitudes

One thing to mention.... The RC helis we fly are most usually high power, invertable agile machines not designed around stability, but agility and speed. Add that to 30fps/s acceleration of gravity, and you can see how crashing goes on.

I will tell you this... I will probably crash a Ferrari at redline rpm much quicker and more often than a F-150, Accord sedan, or a Prius.

My statistical interpretation of the cause of crashing:

Pilot error, mechanicakl failure, or you hit a tree ( foliage incursion).

[jorgeurizar]

Seems that I can´t get away from crashing once every 100 flights. Is ok with me, honestly don´t care, that´s what happens when you take risks.

I mean I could spend hundreds of hours at the sim, but "spare" time, at least for me, is spent at the field.

New moves are mastered high enough, but to really master the move, think you have to bring it a little down and tight, there´s where sometimes mistakes are made, at least for me....

[ic-racer]

Originally Posted by irishmatt18

OK I have been in this hobby for a number of years now. I just don't get it. I understand mechanical and electrical failures but these "whoops" and "Dumb Thumbs" seem to be the norm. Is it just me or am I the only one that can say with the number of flights that I have had, in the thousands, I have had only 4 real crashes. Total. 4...

I was actually thinking the same thing when looking at my box of broken parts I have saved for all my helicopters. Parts broken since last spring when I started this. Almost all of the broken parts are from mechanical or electrical issues. Sudden loss of control or power or parts breaking off. (This is excluding my t-rex 150 which I crashed many times.) The 250, however, only crashed when each servo went out, when the gears slipped, the ESC gave out, I flew with no battery power, etc. I did actually crash it when I tried my first Tic-Toc. But that is the only one.

Part of that is just me, I fly the small helicopters until some part wears out or breaks, rather than 'preventative maintenance."

I would do 'preventative maintenance' on the 550X, but since I have to travel 30 minutes to fly that one, it will never ever see the hours of the smaller helicopters that I can fly a few minutes from home on a moments notice. I suspect I won't 'wear that one out.' Also, that one looks to have better electronics than the smaller ones.

[dl5973]

Originally Posted by irishmatt18

OK I have been in this hobby for a number of years now. I just don't get it. I understand mechanical and electrical failures but these "whoops" and "Dumb Thumbs" seem to be the norm. Is it just me or am I the only one that can say with the number of flights that I have had, in the thousands, I have had only 4 real crashes. Total. 4...

The first crash after 9 months of flying was on my Gaui X5. First time I lost orientation because I was just flying it way to far away. Damage, broken skids... I ended up righting it but by that time it was inches from the ground and I just set her down without head speed.

The second time was a belt that came apart inverted on my Furion 6 and I was about 10 ft off ground. Hit TH and landed on head... Damage.... Belt, Because it failed. Tiny nick on blade and it ran fine for 100+ more flights till I sold off bird.

The third crash was a blade SR... Nothing crazy on that one, tail sucked and I was flying it a bit fast... Landed and only split the coating on the wood blade... Glued it back on...
And the 4th and last one the gyro went out causing it to go in. Good thing I got that bird for free...
Crash damage costs total for all crashes, maybe $50.... Ish. Now I did crash another bird.. A 500 once... Was showing a guy how to do autos on my 500. Buddy boxing on his "set up bird" having him try a bail out auto and well bail out wasn't set up. So in this case I showed him how to do a blade stop.............. I don't consider that my fault though.


The point is. I understand pushing yourself. I understand learning new and challenging things but when I see a post with someone saying he totaled up broken blades and it was in the 1000's of dollars I think... Why would someone do that. I mean, sim sim sim and sim... Then take it slow and don't fly outside your limits and keep it high... IF you don't have mechanical failure and you practiced like you should, you shouldn't crash.

Everyone preaches the basics. Hover and orientation. But the same people say they lost orientation and crashed in the next posting. I started off flying planes and I have YET to crash a plane by orientation issues. With a heli once. I fly within my known limits and I do push myself here and there but I fly high and make sure I have enough room to recover. Save yourself some money and do the same.

It is simple

If you fly a smaller heli you will crash more often due to dumb thumbs or disorientation.

If you fly outside your comfort zone you will more than likely crash eventually when making a mistake.

If you fly on a dark overcast day with a smaller heli you will loose orientation and crash eventually.

If you fly very low and hard because that is the flying style you are learning. One mistake and you will crash.

Not everyones depth perception is excellent. Sometimes its difficult to tell how close your flying to a tree.

No one wants to crash deliberately it just happends. Everyone has good and bad days in terms of execution and timing of stick movement.

Mastering hover and orientation can only get you so far. You start crashing when you try new skills for the first time or practice knife edge skills and your timing or stick movement is just slightly off. Most times you will save it but occasionally you just muck it up enough to go in.

[etherbatxx]

a lot of crashing in this thread.

i think i'm going to read somewhere else.

[quebuenman]

Just those who fly crash.

[Thoemse]

I don't think crashing is ok. I started last summer with this hobby and i crashed four times. Two times it was mechanical failer one being caused by me making a mistake while building my first heli.

The third was a dumb thumbs error sort of. I did a huge looping and good too far away afterwards loosing orientation in the process.
The fourth was a problem with my brains rescue being activated with self level and a bad horizon. It was unsteerable and went in.

Way too many crashes in my opinion but then again I push myself.
I met club mates that were hovering tail for months when I first came to the field. Some of them are allways there but they are still hovering around.
I went into forward flight on day two, figuere 8's on day three and am doing, loopings, funnels and a bit inverted by now. I am by no means a talent but I push myself to progress. I rather risk a crash then watch my heli hover tail in until the lipo is empty.

[jrman83]

If crashes aren't okay, what are they? I see nothing wrong with a crash. Excessive crashing, maybe. There is always something to be learned from a crash. Crash, repair and apply what you learned.

[irishmatt18]

Nothing wrong with crashing. I don't think anyone in this hobby has "never" crashed, I just see too many avoidable crashes and they are just brushed off. I see crashing as an excuse for bad habits and a lot of the same "I crashed posts". when you have boxes of scraps from 100's of crashes over the years you need to reexamine your flying habits. 1st crash shame on heli, second crash shame on pilot. 3rd crash..

[Todd74]

Sorry, but flying in such a way that I never crash just isn't for me. I fly low and hard and sometimes I crash. That's that way I like it. I'm not completely reckless and I try to keep the machine far enough from myself that I don't chop my damn head off, but I couldn't care less about the welfare of the helicopter.

If you like to fly high and well within your comfort zone, to each his own.