Do you practice or train when you fly?

[Paul Taylor]

When you want to work on your flying skills, what do you call what you do. Pratice or Training?
This poll will on last 30 days.
 

[Bill Gruby]

   SORRY Paul, I gotta go with practice, to Train is to work,that takes it out of the fun catagory. Even while perfecting your pattern you are supposed to have fun.

   "Billy G"   

[Charlie Pate]

Why practice ,of course;When you say training I have bad thoughts of sweating,straining,Coach little ,blowing his whistle at me and making me run laps.Eating only foods that are good for me ect.---------

[captcurt]

Someone read Phil Granderson's column in MA this month eh?

FWIW, I think most serious stunt types do both.  I try to do both.  I have an old saying about perfect practice makes perfect--from my music days.  But the only way to find perfect practice is to spend alot of training time prior.

Curt

[Mike Spiess]

I train to increase my stamina and speed at which my mussels will carry my bike. I practice my gate starts so I can  do it with speed and be confident of it. That of course is for my bike racing. As for flying I just try not to hit the ground.

[Shultzie]

Someone read Phil Granderson's column in MA this month eh?

FWIW, I think most serious stunt types do both.  I try to do both.  I have an old saying about perfect practice makes perfect--from my music days.  But the only way to find perfect practice is to spend alot of training time prior.

Curt

anyone got a copy...for a scan?  PHIL IS ONE AMAZINGLY GIFTED STUNT FLYER & NO ONE IN THIS WORLD LOOKS MORE AT EASE while flying a competition pattern or in practice...
When he flies....it is as much fun to watch him..as it is to watch his pattern being flown.
check out this photo of Phil....what a relaxed look and hey check out Howard Rush's beautiful plane in the background.
 THE KILLER-PHIL & HOWARD COMBAT KINGS...NOW OWN THE STUNT CIRCLE with their highly honed reflexes!!!!

[Leo Mehl]

I used to train before I got married an now I practice to get out of the house.
 

[Jim Pollock]

Well,

It can be one or both at the same time, because you are in essence being an artist and painting a picture in the sky for judges to observe.  I find the best way to paint is to relax!  I guess my old namesake - actually distant relative Jackson relaxed as well.  At least his paintings looked like he was relaxing....

Jim Pollock   

Relative of Jackson, too bad he got drunk and whacked that tree with his car.

[Bill Little]

Why practice ,of course;When you say training I have bad thoughts of sweating,straining,Coach little ,blowing his whistle at me and making me run laps.Eating only foods that are good for me ect.---------

OK, PATE, JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?  GIVE ME 20, AND MAKE IT QUICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU'RE A STUNT PILOT?   

 

Bill <><

[captcurt]

anyone got a copy...for a scan?  PHIL IS ONE AMAZINGLY GIFTED STUNT FLYER & NO ONE IN THIS WORLD LOOKS MORE AT EASE while flying a competition pattern or in practice...
When he flies....it is as much fun to watch him..as it is to watch his pattern being flown.
check out this photo of Phil....what a relaxed look and hey check out Howard Rush's beautiful plane in the background.
 THE KILLER-PHIL & HOWARD COMBAT KINGS...NOW OWN THE STUNT CIRCLE with their highly honed reflexes!!!!

I'm sure not going to scan a copy of a current, copyright article and then post it to a public forum . Even with proper attribution, I'm not sure of the legality or appropriateness of doing so.

I'm surprised that more than a small handfull of members here would not be AMA members and thus see MA anyway.

You're right, Phil is a rare talent--extremely skilled and able to comunicate his skill from a number of perspectives.

Curt

[john e. holliday]

I guess there are those out there that do not beleive in the AMA.  For the price it is worth every penny to me.  Also how do we convince the AMA there are control line flyers out here if we don't tell them.  The first two articles I read each month are written by Dave Brown and Bobby Hunt.  Now we have Phil giving some really great info in his column.  DOC Holliday

[Shultzie]

I'm sure not going to scan a copy of a current, copyright article and then post it to a public forum . Even with proper attribution, I'm not sure of the legality or appropriateness of doing so.

I'm surprised that more than a small handfull of members here would not be AMA members and thus see MA anyway.

You're right, Phil is a rare talent--extremely skilled and able to comunicate his skill from a number of perspectives.

Curt

CURT...WHAT A  WUZZZZIEEE! U ARE SOOOOOOOOOOPROPER...I WILL JUST GO TO THE DAMNED LIBRARY...AND THEN COPY IT?!!!!

[Dennis Adamisin]

In April its training, in May its practice.  The remainder of the year its REHERSAL

[Leo Mehl]

I used to train but since I retired thos damn barbells are a lot heavier. Now I just look at them and I start to sweat. So now I figure practicing is where it's at.




Stay away from the heavy stuff. It could hert you.

[Shultzie]

So often....at least for my old flying habits....PRACTICE SO OFTEN DOESN'T MEAN PERFECTION especially if you go out there and practice your mistakes...over and over again. That is why I still feel  that I have wasted sooooooooo many gallons of fuel over the years...practicing mistakes, often forgetting that main reason why we fly stunt in the first place.
FOR THE PURE JOY OF FLIGHT! That is why bottom line, I AM SO ENVUS OF FOLKS LIKE PHIL GRANDERSON...who always made any flying sessions and or lives a better place to hang.

[Chris McMillin]

So true Donaldo!
I was lucky to have a couple of great coaches when I was hot and heavy into stunt. When I was having trouble I could ask what they thought I could change in my actions, or set-ups, so that I wasn't repeating the same incorrect thing over and over.
 
I think often it is a two-way street, too. Both coach and flyer need to come to one another.

Other times, I have been told by someone a tidbit that at first doesn't seem to be important, but then after reflection becomes a huge difference after I implemented said tidbit. One in particular of importance for me was Ted Fancher telling me about the importance of having my handle straight up and down when trimmed neutral on the model. This was especially helpful on my very nose heavy model.

In Model Aviation this month Phil asks if one has flown two flights that were the same before? I have, one time, flown a bunch of flights that were at least very close to the same. This came after about 800 flights at home (St. Louis then) with coach Gary Hajek in prep for the '92 Nats. It was on Thursday night before the Friday cut,  me and Dave Eyskens had come to a place where if we didn't change anything we would do very well, according to on site coaches Bob Whitely and Jerry McMillin. I kept asking how I was doing, because it was looking and feeling very good to me. Bob and Dad said keeping doing the same thing, don't change a thing. So, I guess we were practicing on that evening.

I'll never forget the crowd that eventually came around to observe, Bob Gieseke, Dave Gierke and Jim Kostecky were there just to watch some guys practicing before the big show. To me it was like the old Nats, a big air base in which we were flying off of a taxiway, plenty of time and room to practice, nice summer evening, and these guys were right out of my memories of the way it was in the Golden Days of Nats stunt.

All that was missing was you, Don.

Get an AMA license!

Chris...

[Ryan Taylor]

I would have to say...
you practice...to get better
and you have fun doing it

when you train, usually someone is yelling at you
although that can occasionally happen
when you fly, say
you pull of a stunt too close to ground
with your dads twister... 

[Dennis Moritz]

I read the article. It both puzzled and interested me. Seems to me the distinction between practice and training that Phil Granderson makes concerns the emphasis placed on conditions during a given flight and dealing with those conditions. When training one emphasizes adjusting to wind, somewhat off motor setting, perhaps even a plane suddenly in a different trim. In other words if the variables are off for a practice flight, push through, adjust, get a feel for handling the plane when not in an optimum mode.

That's my interpretation of the article. It may mean other things as well.

[captcurt]

To me--I think phil was trying to get people to at least THINK about the various aspects of improvement--there are many.  Certainly equipment and knowledge of how it behaves in various conditions is a part of the equation.  I keep a pretty detailed logbook.  I record things like density altitude, fuel used, fuel load, prop, etc..  Sooner or later, I will show up to an event and for whatever reason not be able to get a warm-up or practice flight in.  I can pretty accurately adjust the set-up to get a proper flight by looking at the "Book".

Now, practice v. training--I think anyone that has ever gone out tried out an improved hand position, footwork, or what to think about when entering an manuever, is really training--especially if it was tried at someone else's suggestion.  Then, we go off on our own and practice what we trained to perfect it.

Example--like many others, I learned to fly inverted with my hand palm-up.  I became convinced that this was something I needed to change.  So I tried a couple of things to work it up to vertical.  I was able to do it with loads of concentration (the training part, or experiment) but only after a full season of practicing it did it feel natural and unconcious.

Generally, I think that as a coach works through issues in patterns. he is correcting things that have been practiced and learned improperly.  He must re-train the proper responses to the pilot.  The pilot must then practice all of the new responses until they become the default.

So not to try to spea for Phil, but I interpreted his article as a way to get us thinking in the ways we improve.

FWIW

Curt

[john e. holliday]

Last year I was having trouble with outside maneuvers and nobody could or would tell me what I was doing wrong.  Then while putting in my usual antics it downed on me what I was doing.  I was turning my hand palm down when I would start an outside.  I do not know what got me to doing that, but, I have been concentrating on keeping the hand verticle now.  I think I am a better coach than a pilot.  DOC Holliday

[captcurt]

Hi Doc:

I had a similar problem last season--I couldn't figure out why my insides were tighter than outsides--I was certain it was not the plane because it happened on each plane I flew.  WEll, Big Art nailed it in about ten seconds!  I was rolling my wrist around in the insides but not the outs.  As soon as he asked me about it, I knew.  As soon as I kept things vertical, the problem disappeared--I could have practiced that bad habit for hundreds of flights.

Curt

[Leo Mehl]

Don McClave once told me that I keep making the same mistakes over and over. For some reason I think he was right. My first mistake is going to the field too often. But I learned to make new mistakes over and over.