Originally Posted by
Rotorbee
RELAX!!! Well, easier said then done.
One tip Shawn Coyle has in his book. Take a pencil and hold it with your middle finger on top of the other fingers and then grab the cyclic. As soon as you hold the cyclic to hard, it hurts and you relax a bit. Might work for you.
I remember I was completely stiff during my first hours of hover practice. Took me quite a while not being all over the place. Actually I was able to hover during my first hour and then it went downward. Could hover for another 10 or even 15 hours? Something like that. After a while it got better but I wasn't able to stop forward movement. Always creeping slowly forward ... until my CFI yelled "there is a wall in front of you" (there wasn't). But that startled me and I stopped. Since then I can hover and it is like riding a bike, once you get it, you have it forever.
With more practice you will be able to relax more and more and your landings will be better and better. Don't be surprised, the closer to the ground, the more the ship will move around by itself. That is normal. It will come to you after a while. We all went through this.
It would not be rewarding, if it was too easy, but helicopters are designed to be handled be the average person.
Funny you say that. I managed a hover in my first trial lesson, then it went downhill. Looking forward to getting good at it!