ArchmageAU, how are your skills after 3 years?

[cquillen]

Archmage,

It's been about 3 years since you started the All 8s thread and the "on the right track" thread where you posted your own progress.

I'm curious where your skills are at today. Have you kept up the structured training? What does your sim routine look like now? Have any recent videos of your flying we could see?

Curious minds would like to know.

-Craig

[Angelo A]

+1... simming for me was always just flying on the computer. ArchmageAU gave me some structure and i have improved drastically. Would love to see where you are now.

[ArchmageAU]

Originally Posted by cquillen

Archmage,

It's been about 3 years since you started the All 8s thread and the "on the right track" thread where you posted your own progress.

I'm curious where your skills are at today. Have you kept up the structured training? What does your sim routine look like now? Have any recent videos of your flying we could see?

Curious minds would like to know.

-Craig

I am not as avidly flying these days as I used to. Only about 5-10 flights a month. (Travel, family commitments, other interests, etc...)

3D is not really my thing, but I can 360/360 piro flip in both directions (when I feel like it). I do not like my piro-flips as they move around WAAAAY too much. I can do 720/360 piro flips but they feel uncomfortable and was never a big fan of tic-tocs (I can do them too - badly - but I never really practice them).

The things I most enjoy are smooth moves and autorotations (even on a stock 450X). I more concentrate on precision moves (smooth flying and smooth transitions).

I have not videoed my flying as most would find it excruciatingly tedious. I would start a flight with a slow piro or two (upright and inverted), then a few loops and rolls, stall turns etc.. (big air / mild 3D), then an auto or two, then some 8's and finish with an auto. If there is overwhelming demand to be bored by my flying I may post a video in a month or two.

I also enjoy trying F3C set maneuvers (but man I suck at them). They are sort of zen type flying where you can relax and be one with the heli.

As I say to most people, I fly for me (and help others where I can).

Months ago, I started fast piros (40+/min) in the sim, (to start working on big-air piro moves like piro loop and piro 8), but fell out of practice when other external priorities took over my regular sim times.

A apologies if this disappoints people.

[Steve Graham]

I would never apologize for my skill level, or lack thereof

As you said you fly for you. That's a good way of approaching the hobby IMO because from my limited experience one of the fastest ways I've seen for people to burn out is to set strict or competitive goals.

Your contributions to helping people get going using a well thought out methodology have contributed greatly to the hobby at large

I think if you're finding that there are still challenges this far into your heli journey all it proves is that regardless of your training regimen flying helis is still an incredibly deep pool that very few of us will ever feel like we've ever reached the bottom. That is what keeps me interested and striving towards the next achievement. That and spending time outside with good friends

[cquillen]

Originally Posted by ArchmageAU

A apologies if this disappoints people.

Don't apologize. Your "All Eights" training is a massive and important contribution to the hobby. It makes a tremendous improvement to anyone's flying skill so long as they are willing to put in the effort. I don't think it's possible to overstate how epic it is.

I have to admit that this isn't the answer I was expecting and it makes me a little sad, but you're still one of my heli idols. You're the reason I've still not crashed my 6HVU after 2 seasons.

I wish I hadn't spent so much money on spare parts.

[FailureToFly]

Archmage and I fly periodically. We are both busy and it can be months between flights. Often I ask him when he'll be in the country he's that busy.

I think most go at the heli thing decently hard at first and then back way off due to outside commitments. Its just a mad hobby at the end of the day and work, family and life can easily encroach on time for flying, sim practice etc.

I've myself just taken about 4 months off. Too many failures and frustrations that I needed to take a break and get the desire to fly flowing again.

This hobby isn't just about 3D flying as that is kind of the nth degree aspect and only a fraction of flyers really wants to go there.

The key thing is as Archmage said; the Zen aspect.

This is where I go as well. It's the ability to just lose yourself in a flight and just enjoy the experience; time just goes as does the timer! You definitely don't need to be throwing it down to be one in the moment and enjoy the experience but that's not to say Archmage isn't a competent flyer.

Archmage always works on precise flying and refining the fundamentals and it is often these skills that 3D flyers lack. I always have put in time on this but it wasn't 'til I consciously went back to the very basics for many months that I felt my flying improved. I remember watching him pro hover and thinking 'man, I seriously need to start practising them!' Often people can't do a nice figure 8 but are banging away at pro flips which is kind of crazy.

I also don't think anyone needs to be disappointed nor sad. The thing to consider is that we're all here still flying after a number of years. I'm actually coming up on 4 years next month! How time flies...I'm feeling a bit older too.

I personally look forward to getting back into it and standing out in the cold on a Saturday morning with Archmage and one day having the guts to auto my X3 in front of him.

One thing I've learned is that flying RC helis is just time at the coalface. Enjoying the experience and keeping flying is the key ultimately.

[toadiscoil]

ArchmageAU has been my mentor on this journey. Too bad he lives halfway across the world. But wonderful thing about this forum he still has the patience and will to constructively criticize my boring flight sim videos. Indeed just keeping up with his piro training has helped me tremendously and I have learned lots thanks to him.

I would also like to see some recent video but if you look at his piro hover video on his training it seems as he is pinned by a pole on the center of the Heli which is amazingly impressive. I had to increase the size of the circle to 20m on neXt (started on HeliX migrated to neXt) just to stop from drifting away. But everytime I do it I feel significant improvement. I feel like posting another boring video myself actually

So big thumbs up and virtual hooray to ArchmageAU for taking the time to not only write his posts (has a few more other than the "from tail-in..." training he is famous for) but monitoring his own. He told me after mine was done I had a responsibility to keep looking after it which I have done (I think people are reading it but not really asking questions but I do monitor it)

The only thing I wish was he could be a drive away to fly in person.

[etherbatxx]

Originally Posted by FailureToFly

The key thing is as Archmage said; the Zen aspect.



This is where I go as well. It's the ability to just lose yourself in a flight and just enjoy the experience; time just goes as does the timer!

+1
this sums it up for me too

[PaoloFCantoni]

Originally Posted by etherbatxx

+1
this sums it up for me too

+10 And me!

Paolo

[majorlemond]

I've realised how important it is to have breaks from flying otherwise you just burn out. I'm heli mad most days but love the feeling of flying after not doing it for a few weeks.

You kind of "rediscover" it and get that "this is so much fun!" Feeling back.

[ChopperFreak]

Yay for ArchmageAU!