Airdonkey

"STEP 5–HOVERING AND MANOEUVRES"

Always be ready to correct the drift by using opposite roll. If you get into trouble at any stage, reduce the throttle, land, change your trousers and try again.
Twister CP manual.

Aggers do stop it!

Voted the greatest commentary ever, during the  5th Test, England v West Indies at The Oval on 9 August 1991. Jonathan Agnew describes Ian Botham's freak dismissal where he fell over his own stumps, with the immortal "just couldn't quite get his leg over".

The late, great Brian Johnston desperately tries to maintain control of his hysteria while attempting to sum up the day's play, while Agnew sinks further and further into helpless laughter.

It always raises a smile.

Progress

Having identified that a framework of respect and discipline was necessary for enjoyment of my hobby, I set about learning to fly again. No videos, no photos, no well-wishers, no audience.  Just me and my dumb thumbs, working through battery after battery. It's been steady progress. There's been a couple of minor incidents, some trashed rotor blades and a broken landing skid, but nothing serious. I'm pleased to report that I've bonded with the helicopter. I now know every part of it and it doesn't scare me at all. Flying has become fun. No longer a tense stand-off, I've learned to relax and enjoy the moment.  It's still pretty basic - mostly tail-in hovering and forward flight with training gear - but it's flying and I'm slowly building my confidence. The crashes are becoming few and far between and so much less severe. I've had an entire week without breaking anything. I'm now progressing to nose-in hovering and circles. There's even a couple of videos, here and here, which show my progress.

I'm enjoying my hobby. It's all good.

Introspection

The maiden outdoor flight didn't go to plan. Since then there's been a protracted period of radio silence, the first few weeks being a dark period in which I doubted my ability to re-build and fly the helicopter and actually enjoy my hobby. The initial inspection after the tree incident revealed only "minor cosmetic damage", however closer scrutiny revealed more significant injuries which necessitated completely rebuilding the tail rotor assembly and replacing the main rotor shaft, which was bent. Getting the parts took long enough and I compounded the misery by initially failing to identify everything that was broken, resulting in more orders for spares and more delay. Airdonkey sat on my table, looking forlorn and broken for about 4 weeks. Even when the ground crew were in a position to complete the repairs and get her airborne again, I didn't exactly rush to it. I had also realised that having spent many hours hunched over a table with the build, the 2 minutes of nervous anticipation and the ensuing crushing disappointment upon crashing into a tree didn't represent a good trade-off in the enjoyment stakes. Put simply, I hadn't enjoyed the flying bit yet because it was too difficult and crashes were inevitable. I wasn't exactly enthusing the prospect of an endless cycle of building for hours and crashing in seconds. I also concluded that my fight simulation work hadn't been disciplined enough. Loops and rolls were all well and good on the computer, but the basics were not sufficiently in place when the stakes were high with my real world helicopter. I've learned the following:

• Building the helicopter is time-consuming and demanding.
  
• Crashing the helicopter is all too easy and highly upsetting.
• Diagnosing all the broken parts after a crash is vital.
  
• Repairing the helicopter is expensive and time-consuming.
  
• Simulator work needs to emulate real life flying.
  
• Flying requires a mastery of the basics and total discipline.

I need a new approach.