Baron’s Hobbies – Online Hobby Magazine

Lesson Learned; Consistancy Is Key In Competition

Posted on March 28, 2009 by aaronredbaron

Spending a week in Las Vegas competing in the Align Ultimate Helicopter Competition, I learned a valuable lesson. Consistency is key! Its not that I did not practice, but I made a major error by not practicing EVERY TIME with the same helicopter and the same setup. Not only did my flying suffer because I had been trying to save my better helicopter for the competition, but I made the stupid decision to make a change in my setup for the competition.

Consistency in the helicopter

Having two completely different helicopters to practice with was a bad move. In addition, a last minute change spelled disaster for my heli. I had my favored helicopter, a Raptor 50 with an aftermarket Kasama head, set up very aggressive with lots of cyclic travel and was using older Thudner Tiger carbon fiber blades. The setup worked flawlessly for numerous flights. But, I choose to change to a popular newer blade, the CY stick banger blade, for the competition. On the first flight in Vegas with the new blades, my Rapor boom struck and ended up in a pile on the runway. Attempting to fly the competion with my heavier Sceadu prevented me from flying the way I had practiced due to the Sceadu’s extra weight. After rebuilding the the Raptor, I promptly blew it up again with another boom strike and another new pair of CY stick banger blades. It was only after the second boom strike that I was able to theorize why the model had imploded. Next year, I will be flying with two identical, interchangeable helicopters.

Consistency in flying

Although my flying was looking great and I felt very good about it prior to the competition, I slacked on developing a completely orchestrated routine. Although some may be able to put together a really great freestyle off the cuff for a competition, I found my nerves affected me more that I had anticipated. Although I did not fly poorly, per se, I did not fly as low to the ground, aggressive, or as smooth and precise as I am able to. When I get nervous I begin to loose my precision, and I tend to fly higher. This lead to a less than impressive showing that did little to satiate my desire to put in a great flight in competition. Its not that I expected to win the competition, but if I would have been able to fly to the best of my abilities under the stress of competition, I would be thrilled. For the future, I am already working on a specific routine that I plan to perfect and get down like the back of my hand. My hope is if I can get routine down really well, I will be able to fly much better under stress. I guess that’s why they say practice makes perfect!