Stressed when flying?

[Shrimpfarmer]

The fear will eventually pass, unless you allow it to get out of control in which case your flying days will be over. The fear will not begin to fade though until you can instinctively control the quad whatever way its facing. The fear is caused by you not feeling in control. The answer is to get your skills to the point where you are always in control. Most people don't bother with the basics. I started with RC Helicopters and I paid for lessons to learn to fly that. First I mastered the hover, then the landings, then side to side tail in, until eventually I could fly in any direction.

If you only have one battery then you have to learn in 20 minute chunks. Its really slow getting your skills honed that way. My advice invest in a simulator. You can fly for hours if you want to and every second using the sim will pay huge dividends out in the real world. Its cheap, cost effective, weather independent and a 100% proven route to becoming a good pilot.

I have 2 Phantoms, probably over 100 flights now. Neither of them have ever tipped over, crashed or suffered any damage at all. I fly safely, within my abilities and don't take unecessary risks. I still run the risk of mechanical failure but pilot error is much lower due to training. I have well over 100 hours on the simulator in all weather conditions.

The simulator of choice at the moment is Heli-X. Its the only one with a phantom model. Details in my signature and no I have nothing to do with Heli-X.

 

[htownphantom]

I was and still am nervous when flying my $40.00 Syma X1!!! I haven't purchased my Phantom yet, but will be in the next couple of days. I can only imagine my fear of flying a thousand plus dollar toy. To calm my fears, I hope to find a local RC club, and really become involved with them, and hopefully learn as much as I can. I guess it all boils down to not buying something you can't afford to lose. Also, I plan on attaching a parachute on mine, with a very, very long string that I can pull to me in case of failure! Maybe some helium balloons as well. And a very tall crane hooked to my phantom! Any other safety suggestions would be much appreciated!

heliworld has 1.1.1's on sale right now. I'd advise against tethering your copter.... I don't know if people have done it but I imagine if it got sucked into your rotors you'd be sorry especially if you are flying over people... or cement... or tall trees... Take the time to become comfortable with your machine

LOL,I think he had to have been joking about the tethering and parachute

 

[htownphantom]

The fear will eventually pass, unless you allow it to get out of control in which case your flying days will be over. The fear will not begin to fade though until you can instinctively control the quad whatever way its facing. The fear is caused by you not feeling in control. The answer is to get your skills to the point where you are always in control. Most people don't bother with the basics. I started with RC Helicopters and I paid for lessons to learn to fly that. First I mastered the hover, then the landings, then side to side tail in, until eventually I could fly in any direction.

If you only have one battery then you have to learn in 20 minute chunks. Its really slow getting your skills honed that way. My advice invest in a simulator. You can fly for hours if you want to and every second using the sim will pay huge dividends out in the real world. Its cheap, cost effective, weather independent and a 100% proven route to becoming a good pilot.

I have 2 Phantoms, probably over 100 flights now. Neither of them have ever tipped over, crashed or suffered any damage at all. I fly safely, within my abilities and don't take unecessary risks. I still run the risk of mechanical failure but pilot error is much lower due to training. I have well over 100 hours on the simulator in all weather conditions.

The simulator of choice at the moment is Heli-X. Its the only one with a phantom model. Details in my signature and no I have nothing to do with Heli-X.

While my piloting skills are not that great,the stress I'm feeling while flying is from mechanical failure,not pilot error

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

While my piloting skills are not that great,the stress I'm feeling while flying is from mechanical failure,not pilot error

There is no point worrying about anything over which you don't have control. Just tell your mind to stop bitching about it, it works for me

 

[xgeek]

While my piloting skills are not that great,the stress I'm feeling while flying is from mechanical failure,not pilot error

There is no point worrying about anything over which you don't have control. Just tell your mind to stop bitching about it, it works for me

True but easier said than done. I have only had 16 flights so far and touch wood not one issue, but I am always relived when it's back on the ground and I am heading back home after burning through my 2 batteries :lol:

I took it out to 1100m @ 100m yesterday as I was testing the antennas from Horizon and I was sweating all the way out and all the way back :lol:

 

[BZNCREW]

Very nervous every time.

First flight, I tied a kite string to the landing gear so it couldn't fly away. Yea, I know.

I'm getting better now. Even tested shutting off transmitter to test auto return. It worked. Nervous few minutes though.

After setting up Home Lock in the software (should be default) I tested it coming back home. I lost sight of the bird. Very scared, but it came back. Yay! I think I'm getting over my fears.

 

[kyle925]

Just joined this forum and glad I did. In about a couple of hours, I will be getting & unboxing my P2/zenmuse. Even at this point where I don't have it yet, I am having butterflies in my stomach just thinking about if I made the right decision or not. I have 3 yrs exp w/ NAZA1/Witespy and this P@/zenmuse is an investment to my video production. Will be using this rig for low aerial tracking shots only and not for FPV or high alt use. Quite meticulous w/ prechecks and firmware upgrades. This thread makes me feel better in a way of knowing the percent success rate against flyaways. BTW, I will be doing a video log of my first two months of flight w/ this thing for proof just in case it does happen. Wish me luck.

 

[Firestat]

Back about 10 years ago, I got into flying the 30 size helicopters. The first time I took it up, I crashed it. After spending $200 on it the next day, I crashed it again.

My point is that, despite it's faults, any version of the Phantom is much easier and safer to fly than anything I have flown in the past. It is far more reliable than some of the nitro helis and is a lot of fun.

That being said, I still got some butterflies flying it but that is starting to go away. Makes me respect the aircraft.

 

[Don Promillo]

For me, flying my Phantom is stress relief.

At first I had doubts about landings, but I made the decision to practice them instead of chickening out and catching it instead.

Now landings are part of the fun in flying my quad.

I try to maintain it in good condition and check my phantom regularly for damage or wear, but accidents can still happen. But this is not a reason to spoil the fun moments. I can worry about problems, when they occure.

 

[acall]

I have to agree with everyone else, I have gotten very stressed when flying. But has anyone else had nightmares? Luckily it hasn't happened lately, but for awhile the night after I would fly, I'd have nightmares of it flying off and losing it. Incredibly stressful!

I've had absolutely no issues with my Phantom either, I think it's all based on the stories I've read on here and elsewhere. There was one incident when I was flying very high out over a lake and I knew the battery was getting low so I tried to bring it home but it was before I had my FPV setup and I lost orientation of the craft. I kept flying it and changing directions, trying to get it to come towards the shore, but I felt like it was going farther away. I started panicking to the point where my hands were shaking! Luckily I got it under control and back to shore just as the battery was dying. Looking back at the video, it wasn't flying off but it does seem like it had some sort of issue, I never figured out what it was.

 

[Rowdy13]

I can see it already! There will be special wings at local insane asylums for Phantom owners. These Phantom owners will walk around the asylum grounds naked, in a zombie like state, with both hands up, and their thumbs moving in circular motions, screaming "please come back! Please come back!" I haven't even purchased mine yet, and I've already got a room reserved at my local nut farm! Nothing like a relaxing hobby!