Well @Stuart , one of my favorite subjects... learning how to fly and how to accelerate the process. I used self talk quite a bit when learning, however i did it in a different manner. I assigned names to stick movements and it worked a treat for me and a few other people. So in my opinion self talk is critical but in a slightly different way than what you are explaining.

When learning tricks instead of explaining the move (half flip - 90.deg), I would use stick movement description (ie cyclic 12.00 1/2 arc 6.00) so the stick was the dial of a clock (mode 2 in this case). So in the instance of a piroflip there are many repetative moves so in the above example i would call 12.00 oclock (which is a 1/2 arc to 6.00) then the same move keying of at 6.00 oclock (which is a 1/2 arc to 12.00) . So when you learn the piroflip all you have to do is learn the repetitive moves and give them names.

Personally i feel many tutorials do not go into the depth in order to understand whats happening and provide limited descriptions for controlling the moves. For example in many pirofilip tutorials, what happens if you over or under rotate during the manover - and you will many times. You end up in a position you have not trained for and BOOM dirt nap. So in heligods tutorials they teach you from a variety angles that you will eventually end up in.

I assist with the tutorials on this forum and will help you learn any trick or technique you desire - BUT - you must be willing to put in the time and train with the sim and regular stick time. Go for it @Stuart !

 

Funny this topic was bought up, the other night I was going through a Hirobo helicopter instruction manual, as its a copyrighted manual I can copy and paste it, but here is what its says to do before leaving for the airfield

- Do an imaginary flight.
- Familiarise your fingers with the movement and practice until its natural.
- But the helicopter on the ground turned off.
- While saying things out loud such as elevator up, aileron right, throttle high etc, practice operation of the stick.

They also say that the imaginary flight practice is effective and to do it repeatedly until doing perfection.

If a Japanese corporation (RC helicopters is only one part of Hirobo) had wrote it down on paper, there is weight behind it.

 

I don't talk to myself, but I do think it's necessary to plan you flight a few moves in advance, and always have a bail out for each maneuver that you do (or attempt to do)
Simon

 

When I was learning inverted hover I kept repeating to myself "down is up" so that way if I got into trouble I was ready and programed to pull collective down and id be safe . It worked and now inverted hover is easy .

 

I think it is the way to go, i have found myself repeating the words don't crash.... don't crash.... don't crash....

 

Ive also heard that you say where is it where is it where is it whilst doing an auto

 

Yeah also, i can't find the model its gone

 

Okay this may sound crazy and is really hard to condense into one post but I hope that this give s you an idea on the methods I used to retrain my self from mode 1 to mode 2 and learn many new tricks.

This memory jogger is what I used to lock in some very important stick manoeuvres. The following is just an example of one manoeuvre. When learning - with the helicopter hovering side on - its hard to identify which aileron stick movement brings the helicopter towards you or away from you. So the memory jogger I used to use was move the aileron stick towards the head of the helicopter will always bring the helicopter closer to you (inverted or upright) If you move the aileron stick towards the tail of the helicopter this will always make the helicopter move away from you. (side on hover remember). So to create a memory jogger I used to use the term "Head - Hello" meaning move the stick towards the head of the helicopter and it will come toward you, and "Tail - Ta Ta" meaning move the stick towards the taoil of the helicopter and it will move away from you.

So when on the sim and practicing side on hovering I would repeat those words over and over while performing the appropriate stick move to correct the helicopter. Now you might think that its a very overly simple way of condensing a move but it gives me extreme confidence when executing a fast 3d move with the helicopter flying fast towards me.

For example I may want to piro from upright to inverted while traveling very fast from left to right. If I choose the wrong piro key point the helicopter will head directly towards me instead of away from me. So I know in every instance to start the piro keypoint by moving the aerelon stick towards the tail of the helicopter.

Also I look for common denominators. For example did you know while flying upright the point of the helicopter which is furthest away from you follows the direction of the rudder stick? And when you are inverted it is the point of the helicopter closest to you that follows the direction of the rudder stick. Don't think of head and tail, think of position.

I look for common denominators in every helicopter trick from tick tocks to piro tick tocks to piro-flips etc. I'm not the worlds greatest pilot by a long shot but I can do many tricks due to using this method.

I hope this gives a bit of insight into my crazy world of rc helicopter flying...

 

I think this is an awesome way to create contexts for learning. it makes absolute sense to me.

this is one area I think would help newbie like me to have such a reference.

I am mode 1 but if I understand the application it doesn't make any difference which mode your in, because the action is described in terms of functions instead of left right stick.

we should look at creating a collection of these thinking contexts for all the how to videos on the forum.

one of my current challenges is that you can watch and hear the video, but then get confused and forget when on the sim. at least in the early stages. Having a written reference to print out would be invaluable.

if people keep posting their trick thinking contexts here I will collate them.

 

When inverted nose in (mode 1) the nose follows the left stick

 

Good call @Dave . When you are flying inverted also, the closest point to you follows the left stick rudder and the head of the helicopter follows the elevator.

 

These are great...

 

"So the memory jogger I used to use was move the aileron stick towards the head of the helicopter will always bring the helicopter closer to you (inverted or upright) If you move the aileron stick towards the tail of the helicopter this will always make the helicopter move away from you. (side on hover remember)."

This is golden advice, just perfect, did it today - easy as to remember
Simon

 

Great to hear! This memory jogger is something i use all the time when performing rantom tricks. It gives the pilot much more confidence and after a while of course it become so locked in you dont even have to think about it.

 

I also used your techy yesterday @smakmeharder
2 thumbs up for you buddy great techy

 

I must admit, I did find side on hover (inverted and upright) much more difficult to do than nose in (inverted or upright), until I got that sensational memory jogger advice.
Simon

 

@simon I had f3c precision side on hovering yesterday useing that techy stuff like that id pure gold for everyone