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RC Helicopter Maneuver
progression
My
philosophy on RC Helicopter manuevers is that it should be learned in
progressive steps. Now adays, new pilots are wowed and aw'd by seeing
advanced pilots ripping up the sky doing inverted funnels, aileron tic
tocs low on the deck and piro flips. Then they want to jump right into
it and move way faster and try manuevers that are above their skill
level. What often follows is dissapointment and the crashes that
commense. I believe that helicopter flying should be learned in
progressive steps. Steps and manuevers that are prerequesets
as
well as foundations for
the next level of manuevers. In an effort to list out
manuevers I
have catagorized lower levels of manuevers based on skill level and
path of advancement. Manuevers are listed out that help you to advance
to the next level. This list is for Novice and Sport flyers to ponder
and possibly follow if they have not developed thier own path or are
not being mentored by an experianced instructor already. I do
not
go too far in this list of progression because once you hit the
Intermediate and Advanced manuevers, you have a better understanding
and you are better
suited to figure your own path at that time.
Some of my personal
opinions on manuvers and pilot skills are:
- You
only have to advance as far as you wish to. No one, including myself
SHOULD dictate what you should or should not do with your helicopter.
So long as you are maintaining a reasonable amount of safety to
yourself, others and property. I know people who do simple
sport
flying. They enjoy themselves and should not be critisized for doing so
if that is what they desire to do for themself.
- I believe
you should freely be able to follow the path you desire. I do
however feel that if you wish to get better, following a structured
list of manuevers is very helpful, whether it be this list, someone
else's or your own.
- One thing that does tick me off (or just
lose my respect for them) to some extent are pilots who go through
basic hovering, are maybe able to do some circuits then perform a
simple flip then call themselves 3D pilots or say lines like "when I do
3D". In my opinion I think it's acceptable to describe a
manuever
you do but please don't blanket classify such simple manuevers as 3D.
(OK, off my soapbox).
- Feel free to to try manuevers that are
above your current level but know that completing the level you are on
will make you a better pilot. Some manuevers like a standing
tail-in back flip may be at the Intermediate level but are actually not
that hard to peform if you are a novice who can only tail in hover. You
will be able to do it, and to many non-helicopter pilots it will look
impressive, but it won't necessarily make you a stronger pilot or teach
you anything constructive to advance to the next level.
- Do
not discount learning how to Nose In Hover and Learn Inverted before
working on Advanced maneuvers. Inverted and Nose in are basically
"ORIENTATION" maneuvers in the sense that your learning more about
flying the heli where ever it is and what ever orientation it is. This
is in many aspect to me a safety issue. When you've learned these
orientation maneuvers, your able to bail out of maneuvers in a safer
maner because you are not just trying to re-orientat to tail in upright
every time.
- The
SIM IS NOT REAL LIFE!!!! Yes, pefect it on the sim, but doing it on the
sim is not the same accomplishment as doing it in real life with a real
heli. Most experianced pilots will not see simulator accomplishments as
the same as doing it in real life. There is an ajustment to
doing
it with the real thing plus the additional "pucker factor".
Many
pilots will think less of you if you run around saying you can do
maneuver X, Y or Z, then find out your talking about the Simulator.
Nothing is wrong with discussing doing a maneuver in real
life
and mentioning you've done it on the simulator, but don't go around
bragging about what you do on the sim if your not doing it in real
life.
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