Uriah's Flight Training Log

[Uriah]

Despite their flaws in stock configuration, I just love these little birds. They're excellent training platforms. I've decided to start a flight training thread that simply logs my 3D training regimens on my 300Xs.

I love symmetry and technical 3D, and so I discipline myself to learn all orientations and all directions of every maneuver I learn. My first video in this thread is a video of me practicing piro globes and piro loops in some of the orientations and directions that I've been struggling with. There are clockwise and counterclockwise direction of the actual loops, left and right piros, and inside and outside (skids in, skids out). This amounts to 8 orientations. I find some more difficult than others since I still have preferred directions for every maneuver.

[ame]http://youtu.be/0a17V32FYLA[/ame]

[Dustin Mustangs]

Nice flying, it will be interesting to see where this thread goes. BTW, please tell me those aren't bugs swarming around you. Yikes!

[Uriah]

They are bugs. The SMAC (Smokey Mountain Aero Club) is a very small club and the flying field is built on an old landfill. All signs of the landfill are of course gone, but the grass and foliage around there grows very fast and is very thick as a result. So at certain times of the year there's lots, and lots, and lots, of bugs. It's extremely distracting and I feel like a cow whenever I fly there during "bug season." However, even that is useful for training since it helps me learn to deal with distractions when I'm at fun flys and bigger clubs. The field itself is very beautiful and has a good view, but the runway is not very well suited for very large aircraft. However, since I'm flying helis the runway length doesn't matter.

[kev0712]

Originally Posted by Uriah

They are bugs. The SMAC (Smokey Mountain Aero Club) is a very small club and flyingthe flying field is built on an old landfill. All signs of the landfill are of course gone, but the grass and foliage around there grows very fast and is very thick as a result. So at certain times of the year there's lots, and lots, and lots, of bugs. It's extremely distracting and I feel like a cow whenever I fly there during "bug season." However, even that is useful for training since it helps me learn to deal with distractions when I'm at fun flys and bigger clubs. The field itself is very beautiful and has a good view, but the runway is not very well suited for very large aircraft. However, since I'm flying helis the runway length doesn't matter.

Excellent flying buddy...seems like the bugs wanted to swarm to you....I would too with that heli flying like that through the sky.they are probably scared to death....
Hey, what camera are you using? And I take it that it's a hat cam ?

[Wildcat1214]

Nice flying

I will be interested to see were this goes


Sent from flying shrapnel that once was a heli

[Uriah]

Thanks for the comments guys. Piro loops/globes are very technical and I find them to be a little more difficult than piro funnels, especially when done with a slow piro (fast piro maneuvers are often easier).

I'll be posting videos here on a semi-regular basis. The videos will simply be training flights where I focus on learning one or two types of maneuvers. I'm still trying to work on my chaos maneuvers (piro flips on a rotating axis) and may eventually post a video of me practicing those. Maybe if people are interested I can start adding a little commentary with some tips and suggestions on how to execute the maneuvers.

Originally Posted by kev0712

Hey, what camera are you using? And I take it that it's a hat cam ?

I'm using the Inventio HD 1080P camera glasses. Below is the link. Camera glasses are, in my opinion, the best way to record personal heli video. The glasses have a one button operation and there's no trial and error associated with making sure they're aimed correctly (like you have to do with a hat mounted setup). I would highly recommend the Inventio glasses, but I do suggest you turn up the recording volume on them since they don't seem to have a very sensitive recording volume. I also recommend you disable auto-white balance and simply set it to sunny day. You can adjust the settings by editing a simple .txt configuration file when you connect it to your PC or Mac.

http://www.amazon.com/Inventio-HD-10.../dp/B00GSX8O92

[kev0712]

Awesome man...they are cool as Hell I want to grab a pair but it says currently unavailable...I'll keep searching and keep this thread going man...I'm very interested...

[Uriah]

DoubleCH, this video is for you.



This is a video of me practicing real left and right chaos maneuvers. I didn't successfully do a real chaos throughout this entire video, but I came really close a few times.

For those of you who aren't familiar with what a real chaos is, chaos are piro flips on a rotating axis. Chaos maneuvers are very technical and require you to learn four different orientations of piro flips in order to successfully execute. You must learn 8 orientations of piro flips if you want to learn chaos with both left and right piros. For more details, please spend $1.99 and buy the video by Bobby Watts and Bert Kammerer titled "3D Tips Episode #2 Piro Flip vs. Chaos" on SmackTalk.com. The term "chaos" is often mis-used and very few people can actually do a real one; in fact, not even Bert Kammerer can do one according to that SmackTalkRC episode. Curtis Youngblood, the guy who invented the chaos maneuver, has also admitted that he can no longer do it.

Training - 300X Real Chaos - 05/31/14 @ SMAC (4 min 25 sec)

Difference between a Piro Flip and a Kaos; interview with Curtis Youngblood (4 min 17 sec)

[DoubleCH]

Originally Posted by Uriah

DoubleCH, this video is for you.



This is a video of me practicing real left and right chaos maneuvers.

Nice! When I practice piro flips and lose the timing to flip can I say I'm in real chaos? I mean not DOING real chaos but IN real chaos.

[Uriah]

Hehe. Well, one of the best things to remember when doing any type of 3D maneuver is to not try to correct the collective if the heli is on a level or semi-level axis when you loose orientation. Your piro flips are looking pretty good and more practice is all you need to make them more instinctive to pull off.

Anywho, I originally wasn't going to post this, but I figured what the heck. This is another video I did this morning of me practicing some big air stuff. Since every mistake is easily visible even to the untrained eye, big air maneuvers are a lot harder to make look good then one would expect. The goal is to make everything symmetrical and precise. You want to enter and exit the maneuvers at the same altitude, you want the loops to be nice and round, and you want to divide the field/airspace up into equal sections. I've hardly ever tried big air maneuvers and it's something I definitely need to work on.

My biggest problem right now with all of my maneuvers is refining them. So for now, rather than trying to learn new maneuvers, I need to focus on making the ones I already know look better. This includes big air maneuvers like in the video below, the chaos, piro globes, piro snakes, piro funnels, diamond loops, piro tic tocs, etc. I know how to do them but now I need to make them look better and merge them into better looking and faster routines with less hesitation between maneuvers.

Training - 300X Big Air 3D - 05/31/14 @ SMAC (5 min 0 sec)

[Uriah]

Below is another video from yesterday of me practicing all 4 orientations of piro rainbows. As with any maneuver, I'm better at some orientations than others. Piro rainbows are some of my favorite maneuvers because they're so elegant and smooth to watch when they're properly executed. As always, the video is best watched full screen.

Training - 300X Piro Rainbows - 05/31/14 @ SMAC (3 min 56 sec)

[Wildcat1214]

Originally Posted by Uriah

Below is another video from yesterday of me practicing all 4 orientations of piro rainbows. As with any maneuver, I'm better at some orientations than others. Piro rainbows are some of my favorite maneuvers because they're so elegant and smooth to watch when they're properly executed. As always, the video is best watched full screen.

300X Piro Rainbows - 05/31/14 @ SMAC - YouTube

Very smooth! Looks like you mastered those months ago!


Sent from flying shrapnel that once was a heli

[sn00p]

Originally Posted by Uriah

I'll be posting videos here on a semi-regular basis. The videos will simply be training flights where I focus on learning one or two types of maneuvers. I'm still trying to work on my chaos maneuvers (piro flips on a rotating axis) and may eventually post a video of me practicing those. Maybe if people are interested I can start adding a little commentary with some tips and suggestions on how to execute the maneuvers.

Uriah,

May be a little boring for you but a lot of us guys are just starting out (or in my case slow leaners). How about starting right back at the beggining and giving some of us guys a little foot up the ladder???

Im talking real basics... Like how to get yourself into the funnel positioning, hurricanes, flips, rolls.... I for one can hover inverted but just cant get my head round getting into the funnel postioning to set it up... im sure this is simple for some of you guys and once you get a few manouvres under your belt it kinda rolls and becomes natural.... But for some of us, just working out what your actually doing let alone how you go about performing the stunt is a very difficult process.

It would be really really nice to have a set of instructional videos from easy peasy right the way up.... This could be your legacy and for the rest of us dumb thumbers a tuitionial step by step curve to success and happiness.

(I just subscribed)

[Uriah]

Most people think that world class 3D pilots just do amazing routines all the time, but common sense told me that's not the case and that we probably don't see the countless hours of flight time the pros do each year practicing specific maneuvers. I'll never, ever, ever be up there with Bert, Tareq, Kyle Dahl, Nick Maxwell, etc. I just don't have the reflexes to ever get that good. But I originally planned this thread to simply show people how I'm training myself (outside of the simulator, of course) in my quest to become a better pilot and to at least be the best pilot I can be, even if it will never compare to what the real pros can do.

However, I'd love to help people along the way with some instructional videos, but I'm just not sure how many people would watch them and whether the demand is even there. If I was to do instructional flying videos, I'd probably use some of my other birds alongside my 300X fleet, so people would probably end up having to go to my YouTube channel since I'm not sure where on HeliFreak that Will James would allow me to post such a thread. Perhaps I could use this thread for the videos that used just the 300X...

[Livan75]

Originally Posted by sn00p

Im talking real basics... Like how to get yourself into the funnel positioning, hurricanes, flips, rolls....

There are a lot of basic 3d tutorials on youtube...

Freddy Can Fly: check through his vids the 3d stuff starts at lesson 5
https://www.youtube.com/user/33forsaken/videos

Bert Kammerer on SmackTalkRC: 3d basics, I think the vids are about $1 each...
http://www.smacktalkrc.com/archives/...ry/learning-3d

And of course a nice sim... it may not be as fun and exciting but it really works if you want to learn quick... Don't bother with the smaller models...

[Uriah]

+1

Even though there's other videos out there on the topic, it wouldn't hurt for me to do a set of my own since every pilot's techniques and training regimens will be different; and some learners might prefer my techniques over Freddy's, Bert's, or Bobby's. But I'd only be interested in doing it if there's demand for it. Right now all my videos involve nothing more than a super quick post-process to adjust the volume and bitrates, and then I upload them to YouTube. Instructional videos would require a lot of preparation, editing, and additional camera equipment; and I can't see the point in spending the time or money to do it unless there's pilots out there who could benefit from it and would be willing to watch it. So I'm open to the idea but it's not something I'll commit to without further input.

[Uriah]

Inspired by DoubleCH's most recent post in his "Connecting the dots..." thread, I was practicing some low-level left and right piro flips this morning on varying axis and in varying styles. I "tested the grass" a few times during the maneuvers. This all goes towards my chaos practice. Lots of fun.

Training - 300X Piro Flips - 07/03/14 @ Backyard (3 min 56 sec)

[Uriah]

Today, at the request of one of my local flying buddies, I did a flight consisting of nothing but somersaults (stationary flips) and piro flips. If you listen carefully, you can hear my buddy telling me to fly lower - I eventually felt obliged and did so. If you pay close attention to 2:24 - 2:30, you'll see all of the makings of a piro flip. Basically, you're seeing piro flips throughout this entire flight, but rather then a non-stop piroing of tail, I'm doing 4 or 5 flips (somersaults) between each 90-degree or 180-degree piro. When you break it down, a piro flip is really nothing more than a continuation of stationary flips (somersaults) in a specific direction (i.e. flipping away from you) while the tail is piroing. This video is a good demonstration of that. I think this is actually the first time I've ever devoted an entire flight to somersaults. For those of you wanting to learn piro flips, learning stationary somersaults would be really helpful.

Note: The first minute of this video is kind of slow/boring.

Training - 300X Somersaults - 07/05/14 @ CRCF (3 min 59 sec)

[Uriah]

Please excuse the slow and boring first minute. Extreme technical 3D on a 300X. Left and right piro flips, chaos practice (left and right piro), clockwise and counter-clockwise piro globes (inside and outside, left piro and right piro), piro funnels, piro snakes. Almost buried it at 3:20 (eeek) when I was trying a piro flip towards me (the hardest kind of piro flip).

300X Extreme Technical 3D - 07/20/14 @ CRCF (3 min 54 sec)

[Nelsonisms]

Awesome show Uriah. I'm jealous of your flying and your flying site. Beautiful in both regards. Keep em' coming.