Im a beginner and i need help with nerves and how to fly!

FlyingMaddLadd

Junior Member
Hi there im new to flying and i have a Eletric EPP su-29 and i have had 2 flights and im really nervous now after crashing twice aswell, can u give me advice please thanks :D
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
That style of plane generally doesn't act well as a trainer. Do you have a picture of exactly what you're flying? Simulators are a good place to start. Locating a club or other local flyers and spending some time picking their brains and maybe getting some time with a club instructor on a trainer before tackling your jet would be even better. You just can't simulate time with someone experienced or the advice they can give you.

Do you have a club in your area?
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
You should begin with a simulator for sure. You might be able to use your current transmitter for that. What transmitter do you have? I can guide you to set up a basic simulator if you want.
 

bicyclemonkey

Flying Derp
Mentor
The SU-29 is for sure not a beginner plane. You need a high wing, flat bottom trainer because the SU-29 will not have any self righting flight characteristics, the direction it's pointing is the direction it will stay until you give some input. A high wing trainer will correct itself in the air. If you are high enough and let go of the sticks it will stay in the air instead of nose dive.
 

Mike oxbig

15% nitro is my cologne
The guys above have some good advice. Buy a sim, and fly with it often before trying it in real life.

I still practice a lot on Phoenix before trying it out at the field. Try to have a plan or goal of something you want to learn when using the sim. If you are a noob I would recommend take offs and landings first. Then move on to circuits. I always dedicate one flight on Phoenix and at the field to touch and goes just to keep from getting rusty. Learning to fly on the edge of stalling is also invaluable as it could save your plane one day.

You could also contact your local club and see if they have a trainer program. The fields around here have club planes that students can use to learn on without the expense of buying a trainer
 

FlyingMaddLadd

Junior Member
hi thanks for the reply, i am using a simulator which is phoenix rc v4.0 and i am very good on it but when it comes to real flying i get very nervous and dont want to fly :(
 

FlyingMaddLadd

Junior Member
yes i have phoenix rc v4.0 and i have the spektrum DX5e transmitter and im good on the sim but shite in real life lol thanks for the feedback
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
hi thanks for the reply, i am using a simulator which is phoenix rc v4.0 and i am very good on it but when it comes to real flying i get very nervous and dont want to fly :(

That might be because you're afraid to destroy your investment. I can't say. But it's something we all get when we are new. What I can tell you is to get a Bixler from HobbyKing. It is much easier to fly, and it will give you much more confidence. I have gone out about 6 times to fly now, and I'm still a bit tense while flying, but I am no longer nervous about throwing it.

Keep practicing on the simulator, and put that plane on the shelf for now. Then get a Bixler so you can have more relaxed flying.
 

Fishbonez

Active member
hi thanks for the reply, i am using a simulator which is phoenix rc v4.0 and i am very good on it but when it comes to real flying i get very nervous and dont want to fly :(

I get nervouse every time I call it my Pucker Factor
1 being the least
10 being the worst

I get nervouse because I love to fly and do not want it to end after a crash. Crashing can be good as long as you learn what caused the crash and what kind iof corrections do you need to make so you do not make it again. Also I agree with the above posts you are flying an innermediate plane. If you are a beginner put it up on the shelf.
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
You can do a lot on a sim that isn´t like what you do in real life.
Many people fly fine with the sim but get shaky when out on the field.
As told - a fast plane is not the best to start with.
Any slow plane will be a lot better.
Hobbyzone Champ/Cub/Ember are small planes that does not need a big field - but a lot bigger than you think when flying the first times.
EasyStar/Bixler/Floater/xxxx are kind to fly but needs much bigger areas to fly the first times.

There are beginner, intermediate and advanced planes - all fast planes are normally advanced and will get most pilots some nerves the first flights. "Sedatives" does not help ;-)
 

jd7792

Senior Member
G'day mate,
I'm new in this hobby as well,and I bet I can see your nerves and probably raise you a shake or two! Unfortunately that is part and parcel of the hobby. I strongly support the idea of getting the Bixler, I have the Skysurfer, which is, not for the want of an argument, the exact same plane from a different supplier. I have been reading and simulating for a long time now and guess what? First day with the plane gave me two take offs half a dozen heart attacks and the need to order a second plane minus the electronics!
which I did and I still have the nerve problem.
Do yourself a favor and look up some of the Bixler stuff in this forum and look up "Bixler or Skysurfer" on Youtube, I'm sure that will secure the idea for you!
Good luck!
 

TimmyTooTall

Junior Member
Another idea might be to watch their review of Mikeys FPV Version 3 and try building that. It's $4 of foam and some electronics. The best part is that the motor is very well protected from crashes (as well as the rest of the electronics generally speaking) so even if you do wreck chances are you've just wasted $4 and some time. The plane also flies extremely slow and you really have to fight hard to stall it. One important thing that the Joshs always stress and which I think is great advice for newbs is find a really really wide open space (minimum a football field) and get the plane up two or three mistakes high before you start with any heavy turning (think a football field high). My last tip, and this may or may not be great advice, but in my early days I preferred to fly by myself. Most people aren't eternal rays of sunshine like Bixler ...
 

Trondareo

Junior Member
I overcame my fear by flying a lot of simulator, and building a super cheap depron plane. So hot glue is all that's needed to fix it and you don't care about the monetary and emotional investment or the trouble to fix it. Oh, and I also used BBQ skewers for reinforcement. And a Kleine Fogelman wing or flat wing (tried both - work great)
Another good idea is to practice your orientation with a four channel coaxial helicopter. it gives you time to think.
Good luck!
 

Mike oxbig

15% nitro is my cologne
I can remember the one flight of my pulse 40. My first nitro, my first low wing, and the first plane that I couldn't hand launch. I had to fly it at the club I just joined in front of the club execs and my father in law with no real runway training on a tail dragger other than sim time and two sketchy flights before. I needed to take off, fly a right hand circuit, figure eight, and then a left hand circuit and stick the landing to get certified with the club so I could fly by myself. The pulse was the only plane I owned that I could do this with so I had lied and said I had flown it before and was comfortable with it.

I pulled off the test by the skin of my teeth and managed to impress them enough that they gave me my membership, and then tripped and fell on the way to recover my plane from the runway because my legs were shaking so badly! I got razzed pretty hard by them for that.

After that though I got better and better and more comfortable. I watched other pilots crash and realized I wasn't the only one. It's inevitable no matter who you are. It's all part of the game man. you have to accept it

Ill admit though that I still get a little shaky sometimes. I get the butterflies the first time I try a new move or push myself a little harder. I'm trying to nail knife edge passes on my su and my knees tremble a bit when I do.
 

smashanddash

Junior Member
yes do not start with a su-29. the best thing for you to do is just hang that plane up and leave it for just a little bit. Go out and buy a trainer, such as the super sub lp is a great trainer, thats what i started on. or if you are into nitros, start with the lt-40 another great trainer. or you can but the arf lt-40 and make it electric. their are amny planes out thier to choose from just have to look around. like i said super cub lp is a great trainer and it comes RTF and pick up a extra batt. when u buy the plane and get longer flight time!
 

socalrcpilot

Junior Member
yes i have phoenix rc v4.0 and i have the spektrum DX5e transmitter and im good on the sim but shite in real life lol thanks for the feedback

When i first got my P-47 from HK i was so nervous of wrecking such a cool plane (even though it was the cheapest one i had) that i was literally shaking lol. A lot of the senior guys around where i fly gave me assurance in that even seasoned pilots get shaky with new planes. My first plane like many was a super cub lp and that plane can take a hit!! its been nosed in full throttle to pavement ($30 repair including new motor and other bits) twice into a tree, and several times into the dirt and/or bushes. I'd suggest parking the SU-29 and get a cub :)
 

TomNT

Junior Member
Hey MaddLadd, how's it going? I'm a new flyer too and after much research picked the simplest plane: the Firebird Commander2 from hobbyzone. It is not a sexy plane but very easy to fly. Only throttle and rudder, some nifty anti crash help which you can turn off when you get better. You can hand launch and land on grass. The best advice I didn't follow was to get the thing high up before making any turns! So I crashed it on my first flight! Once I followed all the advice in the wee booklet, it has never crashed again. The added advantages: cheap, Ni MH batteries which don't need fancy chargers (I have 3 batteries which keep my plane in the air at 15/20 mins each), it can glide well and comes in slow for landing. I now fly it with a basic wee camera. Oh and I still get nervous every time!
 
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tramsgar

Senior Member
yes i have phoenix rc v4.0 and i have the spektrum DX5e transmitter and im good on the sim but shite in real life lol thanks for the feedback

Sounds all too familiar. Just the sound of the motor revving up can make you shake if you crashed it the last (few) time(s). It's like every fear, if you give into it it will gain strength - you have to force it down by flying, a lot. Do the opposite of what your fear tells you.

Your brain needs to learn that your hands can fly, so why not build a very cheap ugly scratchbuild and fly the shit out of it? If you succeed, that's fun, if you fail, it's a laugh. Once you're confident of your abilities, whatever they are, you'll probably see that your fear recedes. With the fear gone, flying your su-29 or not is controlled by your skill, not by your fear. I've killed a few serious fears of my own, so trust me.
 

MrClean

Well-known member
simulators are good for training muscle memory. Getting you used to the appearance of the controls reversing when you are flying towards you and away. But they lack the 3D visual experience and the realistic ding in your pocket book when you crash. Plus, I'm a wizard on the Simulator and can do rolling circles in Helicopter mode but nobody will let me demonstrate on their ship at the field. So I tire of the simulator fairly quick. Still, you will teach your eye/hand co-ordination muscles what to do when a plane is doing something you don't want to. You only need to calibrate your eyes to the real world.

This IS the flite test forum. I suggest buying two sets of gear and building a couple of of FT Flyers, just one of the swappable designs here, and then taking those out to the field on a calm day and flying them. Follow the swappables and swap to a Nutbar, then a Delta wing and then a Bloody Wonder and by then, you're ready for just about anything really. The fact that it will only cost you, probably, 5-10 bucks of Dollar foam board with maybe some extra props, servos, etc. will take the fear factor out of training. Getting an experienced pilot to buddy box you doesn't hurt either. And for basic control, if you don't mind spending the bucks, a Nite Vapor is an excellent flying, easy flying, absolutely no wind slow flying plane that pretty much just flys out of the box. I handed one to my nephew last week, in the dark, and he was flying it around they're back yard.

I hope the original poster is well into flying by now after a full and fun summer. But to you newbies, get out the hot glue gun, get to dollar for supplies and start building some cheap planes that you have no emotional attachment to, get out there and wreck em.

I always found by the way that NOTHING trains a just capable pilot into a fully confident pilot like Combat. Nothing trains a pilot to know EXACTLY what does what like Pattern. And NOTHING is as much fun as getting out with your buddies and just flying, BSing and maybe having a touchngo grudge match.

Actually, there is nothing quite like group flying CL planes with 3 or more people, but alas unless you've got a bunch of buds who want to give that a go you'll never know. It's like flying RC but everybody is walking around a central point, guiding lines and planes over each other, all over the place. It looks like a unrehearsed ballet and it is wonderous fun. Been in a circle of 15 before. Kind of like a cage match really.
 
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