What's real - CV sim in particular

[scruff]

Hello all -newbie to heli's - first I'll describe my experiences - then my analysis, (keep in mind, this is in no way a critisim, just me not wanting to be surprised that I can't fly my new swift, when I can fly pretty good on a simulator)

1st - I purchased a walkera - little 4 channel, and spent probably 2 hrs flying time, before I could get it to hover - and I never did get good enough to comfortably do this - ie smashed it into the garage becuase I was impatient.

Since then I've been dying for a swift, so I can do some ap - - so I've purchased the transmitter futaba 7 channel heli radio - - now I've got ClearView and with my limited knowledge, it seems easy too easy to get a hover working - and to my surprise, I can take one of these heli's and fly around and land without to much problem. (note there are differences in the way helis act in CV, so a secondary question is - What heli in CV will most match a swift heli for physics?)

At this time, I am thinking I can - go purchase a swift, get it set up (calibrated) and I should be able to hover it? And if the gonads are there take it up 30 feet - fly a circle or something and land. But BUT - something just doesn't feel right. (maybe just the nerves - probably however the fear of if up 30 feet and a gust of wind blows it sideways - I won't have enough experience to 'react' to straighten it out)

ok as assumptions - let me know if this is correct?
flying a mini - walkera - inherently are unstable compared to a larger heli, so hovering and flying around will be much more touchy?

[jnyoun]

When I learned heli flying the very first time, I had a Realflight G2. I was able to do hovering (tail-in and nose-in) with simulator comfortably. However, the real flying of actual heli was not the same in the sense that I was not able to fly it as I did with simulator immediately. It took me time to get used the real flying. I don't think any simulator will give an immediate success of the actual flying.

I was good at FF and FFF in simulator too. However, everytime when I tried with actual heli, I crashed. I felt something very different. Due to too high cost caused by too many crashes, I almost gave up the heli.

However, later I found my problem was that I was concentrating on wrong spot. I flew airplane for long and I was trying to fly heli as airplane. I figured out that the key point is 'TAIL'. Without complete control of tail, every effort to control the heli turned out to be difficult. So, in simulator, I tried to learn how to control the tail in full extent. And then, once I thought I mastered the tail control, I tried it with real heli. Wow... I was flying every manuver I learned in simulator without problem in one day.

Simulator will not give immediate improvement if you do not practice correctly. There is a learning in simulator, but after my experience, I figured out there is a SMART way to learn in simulator. Just flying around in simulator will not help that much. You have to find out what skill you need and you practice that particular skill in simulator. This is why I confuse sometime when people say they cannot learn the heli flying with FMS. They should do it.

By the way, I am a fan of ClearView. It is very nice sim. I am learning a lot with this simulator. I know the actual flying will not be the exactly same as in simulator (I don't think any simulator can do this), but I have a confidence that the skill I learned in simulator will be my actual skill once I try it with actual heli with some trial and error...

:)

[HankF]

No sim can simulate adrenaline.

If you have $1000 to $1500 invested in your heli, it's damn hard to control your nerves but you must be able to relax to have the fine motor control in your hands to do a good job of controlling a heli. When the juice rises, stick banging commences leading toward crashing from overcontrol. The ideal is to be completely relaxed with your machine just like you are when flying a sim.

Can you fly planks just fine? Then you have the potential to fly a heli.

Hank

[CaPiTaN]

the wind is a big factor to, have u tried turning on wind in clearview?

[scruff]

Thanks guys - I did try the wind, but must not have gotten it on. I did increase the 'real time' to 150 - and that seemed closer to what I experienced with the walkera - this added with the wind- just might cut it.

I assume the big long list of 'variables' is for more experienced stuff?

[jester4]

The "clench factor" is huge!! You gotta keep the nerves down and remember the sim practice. If you can do it in the sim, you can do it in real life (have the heli properly set-up). Before I attempted fff, I messed with it in the sim for many hours, and when I tried it in real it felt quite comfortable. Keep at it...heli flying need patience and a relaxed state...