From: Tom Toledo

October 17, 1996

"Fill in the holes" (Ernie Huber quote). Take the time to gain those nagging, missing basic skills, or they will interfere with your progress!!

There is no escaping the learning sequence…we have limited concentration. First we spend it on survival (bailing out). Then we start sorting things out, trying corrections one channel at a time. As channel inputs become more automatic (not requiring concentrated attention), concentration is freed up to do two channels at a time, then three and finally four. Enough repetition and practice finally "burns" the maneuver into our finger memory. We can then concentrate on the real variables of the maneuver, shaping it, pacing it, and fitting it into combinations.

Put in lots of stick time (and quit talking!! <grin>) and fly regularly. Fuel up at the END of each flight, so you’re always ready to go up when you get a chance.

Talk less, fly more….

Tolerate your own imperfection. All maneuvers feel awful and un-learnable at the start, and have resistance points. Remember back to learning to hover: It felt impossible at the start, but once you have it, it seems simple. The learning of all maneuvers follows this pattern.

Use a simulator; it helps with stick time during the winter, evenings, and small segments of time. It helps with productivity: You can practice new maneuvers/orientations directly without slower building up done merely to avoid crashing…

Follow a learning sequence that makes sense. As a beginner, you’re mainly focused on learning hovering full time, however, afterwards it is generally not clear what to do next. Sooo…first find your goals (attend CRH meetings!). Seek out and develop your own flying style, directions and ambitions. Do this by thinking a lot about what kinds of flying and maneuvers you like. Then work up a more-or-less orderly plan of development, what maneuvers you need to work on in what order to reach your goals most directly. Build particular maneuver and orientation skills bit by bit. For example, first on the simulator, and then on the heli. First in calm, then in wind. First tail in, then nose in. Develop symmetrically, all orientations, all directions, all wind directions, and all sun directions.

- Get assessments from advanced pilots. This is very valuable. It can uncover problems and situations you hadn’t thought of. It will help you calibrate your tentative assessments of the capabilities of your helicopter.

- Have specific questions to ask and maneuvers on which you want them to test your helicopter.

- Does your helicopter feel the same left to right, front to rear (cyclic)? Does the tail swing evenly left to right?

- Is the helicopter flying you and not you flying it? For example, are your control linkages developing slop to cause the controls to always require inputs above and beyond the flight requirement? Strive for a tight control system.

- Do you ever inspect your linkages and servo/battery connections and ask the question, "what if?" "What if" the battery comes loose in flight, will it disconnect the plug from the switch or receiver? "What if" the ball link comes loose in flight, is there a way to retain it in case it pops off? Be aware of these and many other scenarios, learn from the crashes of others and place steps to avoid the same happening to you! Like full-size aircraft there are many redundant devices or practices for avoiding crashes that you can use with little or no weight/cost liabilities. Colorado Rotor Heads has some of the secrets to making your heli fly safer and longer!!