When learning to hover, i'm going to assume you are learning in an R22. Twitchy little buggers!
Get your head around this first. Pretend you are holding a shoelace with a snooker ball attached to the end of it. Now, holding the end of the string, swing the ball back and forth. Easy isn't it? Okay, now whilst swinging it, try and bring it to a stop quickly. What are you doing with your hand to get this to happen? In effect, you are moving the string in the same direction as the ball which kind of cancels out the motion. Like a pendulum. ( at this point, go and tie something to the end of a piece of string and move it forwards, backwards, left and right, always bringing the weighted object back to a perfect stop.
Ok, now to the real thing. Sitting in the helicopter, the cyclic is controlling the disc above your head (hopefully your instructor will have explained that the blades spinning above your head form a disc) which is what we are referring to.
You now have to imagine that the directional inputs made to the cyclic are the same as holding the shoe lace. Remember i'm just trying to help you get your head around the principal, not teach a hover. When you make a cyclic input, the aircraft starts to move in the direction of that movement after a slight delay. That delay will always be there but in time you will forget about it.
When you want to stop the movement in the direction you are going, move the cyclic back in the opposite direction. Remember what happens with the string? Make small movements. Relax! Relax! Don't stare at the ground. Look out a ways. What you have to do is picture the 'disc' above you as spinning in a flat plane parallel to the ground. If the wind gets under the front of the disc, it'll tip backwards so you will need to correct it with forward cyclic input, etc etc. Just try to imagine that disc as staying flat to keep you in a steady hover over a fixed point. Obviously, the stronger the wind, the more cyclic required to overcome movement. Going back to the string and ball, if you move the string, the ball follows as long as you keep accelerating in that direction until such time as you reach steady velocity and then the ball swings forwards. Initially, That's the cyclic anyway.
Use a reference ahead to maintain heading using the pedals. Small inputs only and just remember left pedal yaws left and right, right!!
The collective makes you go up and down. How easy is that!!
Don't worry about it taking time. I once taught a woman to fly who couldn't get straight and level within ten hours. She succeeded in the end though.
Good luck and any questions, just ask.
Oh, and if the above doesn't make any sense, don't worry about it.
PS I was told once that if you imagine the cyclic as a piece of soft dog poo wrapped in thin tissue, you won't grab it too tight.
